I just read an article by writer Nicholas Kristof ( http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/opinion/05kristof.html ) that talks about women dying in Somalia due to lack of contraception and prenatal care. I went through a somewhat harrowing (at least for me) birth experience with my first child that ended up in emergency c-section. My surgeon literally said to me "you are one of those mother's who would have died without modern medicine." So this issue hits me particularly close to home. Thinking that had I had the-- misfortune, I supposed you call it, to have been born in a remote part of the world, I probably wouldn't be here now, and neither would my children.
That I live in a day and age where this is still happening is a bit strange to me. I have so many comforts, just tonight I was working on getting a nanny/housekeeper hired, that I find it almost embarrassing what I complain about when I read about the harsh realities of what these women/children are living through.
So in honor of my mother, my children and just women in general, I made a donation to the Friends of Edna (cite listed in the article linked above) which is a maternity/ teaching hospital in Somalia. I hope that anyone reading this will consider giving as well.
My baby is crying, so I guess that is all for now. I'm just happy to have the opportunity to be able to be here and take care of her. Please give to those who don't.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Begin at the beginning, right?
So this is my first real attempt at "blogging" so to speak. I mean I write all the time, but this is the first time I'm intending it for an audience. I don't even know where to start. Maybe an introduction to why I'm doing this? I don't really know, except that maybe its a better use of my time than simply surfing the net reading other people's stuff. I've always written. I have several notebooks full of what I thought were full length novels written by me at the age of 10 or 12. Its fun to go back and read them, the words conjur up incredibly vivid memories of where I was at the time I was writing and what I was going through at the time. Books were an escape for me from a young age and writing was even more so. Through writing I could create a life that I wanted to live. A way to escape a life that I wasn't exactly happy in. Not happy at the age of 10 or 12 you ask? Well thats only partially true. But that is a topic for another post, or maybe a novella.
What will this blog contain? I don't know, ramblings maybe. Stories about my life? Maybe. Political snobbery, perhaps. I'm in the midst of writing a novel, I expect some of that will come into play here as well. But for now, it is what it is. The title of the blog comes from a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson which says "The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean." Which I feel is so true. With the advent of easy publishing on the web, nearly anyone can be considered "published" and/or an "author" but that doesn't mean that you can really write. To be able to write in a way that makes people want to read your work and crave more is something more than just putting fingers to keys and tapping away. It requires an insight, either into yourself if you're interesting enough or into something out there. It requires you to be able to create a world of believable characters, even if they are in an unbelievable world or circumstance.
I just finished reading "Water for Elephants" and I enjoyed it, I wasn't blown away but it was a good read. My question for the author would be, what was this story based on? Was there someone in her life who was in the circus or was this all a product of her imagination? Interesting story if it was born entirely from her mind. Interesting either way I guess. Good escapism, realistic and sad through the voice of the old man in the nursing home. Real. I suppose that is probably the key to writing what you mean, make it real, even if its fiction, suck people in, give them something to latch onto, to relate to, to feel. Make people feel something, maybe thats the key? Good, bad, I don't think really matters, just evoke emotion. Maybe thats the goal of this blog... we shall see...
Ok enough, now I'm off to wake my little girls from their afternoon nap and take them to a birthday party. Wish me luck!
What will this blog contain? I don't know, ramblings maybe. Stories about my life? Maybe. Political snobbery, perhaps. I'm in the midst of writing a novel, I expect some of that will come into play here as well. But for now, it is what it is. The title of the blog comes from a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson which says "The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean." Which I feel is so true. With the advent of easy publishing on the web, nearly anyone can be considered "published" and/or an "author" but that doesn't mean that you can really write. To be able to write in a way that makes people want to read your work and crave more is something more than just putting fingers to keys and tapping away. It requires an insight, either into yourself if you're interesting enough or into something out there. It requires you to be able to create a world of believable characters, even if they are in an unbelievable world or circumstance.
I just finished reading "Water for Elephants" and I enjoyed it, I wasn't blown away but it was a good read. My question for the author would be, what was this story based on? Was there someone in her life who was in the circus or was this all a product of her imagination? Interesting story if it was born entirely from her mind. Interesting either way I guess. Good escapism, realistic and sad through the voice of the old man in the nursing home. Real. I suppose that is probably the key to writing what you mean, make it real, even if its fiction, suck people in, give them something to latch onto, to relate to, to feel. Make people feel something, maybe thats the key? Good, bad, I don't think really matters, just evoke emotion. Maybe thats the goal of this blog... we shall see...
Ok enough, now I'm off to wake my little girls from their afternoon nap and take them to a birthday party. Wish me luck!
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