Welcome to the Marrowroot!

Hi, and welcome! I’m glad you made it. I’ve started a brand new blog because, to put it bluntly, my last blog failed. Well okay, it didn’t exactly fail. It was only up for 3 months and I guess it just wasn’t working for me anymore. Let’s call it a relationship that started out all hot and steamy, but things got weird quick and the two of us just grew apart. I won’t go into all the reasons why I believe this happened, I covered that somewhat in said blog’s final posting. However, I might touch on them simply as a means of comparing the things I’d like to do differently.

And here I am. Starting fresh on a new site with a new vision. This time I think I’m in for the long haul. At least, I hope I am. So in this first post, I’m going to jot down some thoughts on what I hope to accomplish with this blog, give potential readers (that’s you!) a rough idea of where this thing might be heading.

My basic vision is for this to become a sort of online writing journal. Now by that I don’t mean I’m simply going to write about writing. That was a big part of why I think my last blog failed–too narrow of a scope. Inevitability, I will write about writing, but I want the focus to be much wider than that. I already keep a handwritten writing journal, and in this I scribble any thoughts and ideas I have for stories, poems, etc. I put interesting dreams in there, random words floating in my brain, potential titles, rough sketches of poems, plot lines, character models, bits of overheard conversations, well you get the idea.

So one of the things I’d like to do is make this blog a sort of extension of that, a kind of manifestation of the workshop in my head. My hope would be to give readers a better understanding of how certain written works come about–the evolution of a story or poem, that sort of thing. Now most writers will tell you they have no idea where their ideas come from, and to a point this is true. But when inspiration strikes, I’ve found that there is usually something that sparked it. Perhaps it’s not fully realized at the time, or perhaps the source is later forgotten, but it’s usually there. A picture, a sound, a dream, a memory, there’s usually something. So in a way, I’d like to try to chronicle inspiration itself, if that’s even possible. For example, if I post something on here, or even just jot it down in my handwritten journal, and that something later develops into a story, I could link back to it and say, hey this was where it all started, this was the seed I planted and now look what it’s become. And for those of you who don’t care about all that, hopefully you’ll find the posts themselves to be interesting, or at the very least, of some other personal value to you. If you don’t, then you’re probably not reading anyway.

I’d also like to post more samples of my writing. Be it the occasional poem, rough draft of a short story, or even excerpts from longer works in progress. Perhaps I”ll pose challenges to myself like some other writers do–post a new poem or story every day for a week/month–something like that. I like that idea. It certainly helps to keep the waters churning. Most markets don’t seem to care if something was previously posted to a personal web site or blog. Some do, yes, but hey, there’s plenty of fresh markets out there to submit to, so why should I feel obligated to keep it all hidden until it’s been ‘officially’ published? Besides, I’m feeling in the mood to share.

And finally, to keep things wide open, I want this blog to be about life. Yep, plain ol’ larger-than-yo-momma life. This of course relates back to the original concept of it being a writing journal, since everything in life is fair game for plucking subjects to write about.  What’s that, you ask? What kinds of posts can you expect to see on the cosmically grand subject of life itself? Well gee, I’m not entirely sure yet. I reckon we’ll just have to wait and see what develops.

I really can’t come up with anything else right now. That last one pretty much covered, well, everything–even death is part of life. So I now have a full spectrum of topics to blog about. Keep in mind that this is still very much a work in progress, so you’re likely to see it change in the weeks/months to come. That is, if you stick around. I hope you will. Or at least, drop by from time to time to see what’s new. My posting schedule might be erratic for a while, but I do want to keep it fairly regular so it doesn’t get all moldy. At least once a week would be a good place for me to start, but hey, nothing is written in stone (unless of course it is written in stone).

Wherever this thing goes, I want it to be deep. I want it to be personal, yet still relevant to the thoughts and experiences of its readers. I want it to bleed on display for others to both learn from and enjoy. And if that’s asking too much, then let’s hope it’s at least moderately entertaining. Thanks for reading this far and I hope to see you back! Again, welcome to the corridors of a writer’s mind…welcome to Marrowroot!