a pinch of background

Blogging seems to be all the rage these days. Although let's be honest, who really wants to read a blog unless it boasts photos of adorable children, stories about the adorable antics of said adorable children, nuggets of deep spiritual insight, or expansive commentary on one particular topic of interest? Well folks, my blog will exhibit no such thing. My only purpose in creating this blog is to give myself an outlet in which to write.

As a wide-eyed, tragically creative and melodramatic tween, I wrote as if my life depended on it. After school most days I could be found perched in front of my WordStar word processor (Yes, I wrote on a wp and not an actual computer. Extremely nerdy, I know.) furiously releasing my latest imagined character or plot onto its keyboard. I crafted poetry about long-lost lovers, short stories about teenagers overcoming "teen" problems, and even began three separate long form novels on topics ranging from the adventures of a talking doll to the murder mystery solved by a high school sleuth. I read voraciously and I wrote with equal ambition. In high school writing, even creatively, became more about meeting a teacher's penchant for a certain style or AP requirements. In college I was so busy that I didn't write for pleasure at all until my junior year. For my senior project (done my junior year - hey, I was ready to get out of college asap!) as a theatre major I decided to write and compose a children's musical based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Thanks to my long-time mentor and friend, Natalie Snapp, I was able to produce this musical through a children's theatre company called Christian Youth Theater. Writing the dialogue for Gerda, Kay, and the Little Robber Girl and then bringing them to life on stage was maybe the most magical thing I've ever experienced. And for me, it was still mostly about the writing - oddly enough since I am a drama teacher and thrive on helping teenagers find their performer's voice. Did I write while teaching drama full-time? HA. First joke on my blog! ;)

And so if for no other reason than to brush up on my writing and get my creative juices flowing, here in cyberspace hangs this blog. If no one ever reads my posts but my own mother (hi, mom)...and maybe occasionally my husband...I will not be deterred. I'm not promising anything witty or extremely worth-while, but I do vow to write about what makes me happy. Maybe it will make you happy too. After all, that's what a spoonful of sugar is for.