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Sunday, August 17, 2008

A shout into the electronic wilderness

Late bloomer. That’s me. In a lot of areas in my life. So why not start a blog? Weren’t they the rage, the new thing, about two years ago? Probably longer. I remember my students talking about them. (I remember thinking that some of them were probably doing more writing online than in school.) These kids are halfway through college now.

And I’m starting my blog.

I want to get back into the habit of writing regularly about anything and everything that interests me. And, there’s at least the potential for an audience.

Writing this way feels a bit strange. I’m always telling my students to plan, to think of writing as a process. Dump your thoughts out onto the page, step back, then try to shape them into something coherent. Rambling, stream-of-consciousness writing tends to be as meaningful as a lump of unformed clay, I’d reason. I’m not ready to let go of that idea completely, but I may loosen up a bit.

I told myself I’d write a song today. I have a title and an idea of the subject. Someone told me to come up with a cool riff. Good advice. Words on a page don’t make a song, even if you label them “verse” and “chorus.”

I haven’t even played guitar at home much recently. Too focused on my bike, and silly little home projects. I need to sit down and strum away, sing some other people’s songs and get my fingers and mind a bit loose. Then we’ll see what happens.

I’m used to being the teacher. If you’re reading this—god help you—feel free to take on that role. Or any other, for that matter.

OK, first blog entry, ever. Done.

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