Accepting the Unexpected Journey

Years ago a friend told me that I needed to see my blog as my writing workshop: write and write and see what sticks, both personally and with my audience. And after years of writing and sharing and writing some more, I’m finally seeing the bigger picture of that writing workshop.

More than ever before, this will continue to be my workshop space, a place where I can go to process the many life changes that are coming down the line. I have come to terms with the fact that learning to write for other audiences and spaces as I expand my writing experience and my portfolio means that writing that is solely for me will have to be less consistent. And that’s ok. That move will allow this to truly be the space for the “unexpected journey” as I turn my focus here to my life process and the travel our family does to help me through that process.

And so, as we tiptoe a bit tentatively into 2021, here stands my call-to-arms to all fellow wordsmiths: leave room in your margins for the unexpected. Of course, it’s good to plan. It’s good to organize and to strategize. But a touch of the unexpected is par for the course for any writing project, and we shouldn’t let that discourage us. Rather, I hope we can all embrace at least a few happy surprises in the margins soon to come.

I know that after the dumpster fire that has been 2020, it seems foolishly optimistic to make any kind of resolutions for the new year, but maybe that’s why I decided it was time to do so. I’ve never been good at resolutions. I mean, who is? But I like setting semi-achievable goals for myself as I look to the future. My husband likes to call these my “Sarantees,” promises with good intentions that get forgotten in the shuffle. I guess a year will tell.

For me, blogging is about loving the art of writing and wanting to share that writing with others. It’s about wanting my words to mean something to someone else. It’s about looking back at something I’ve written and saying to myself, “wow, those words came out of my brain.”

I wasn’t going to do it. After all, I’m a teacher who writes, not a professional writer with a huge […]