Why I Write, Read, Blog

 

Why I Read

I read to cram more lives into mine, revisit places I love or discover new ones. 

It's meeting other people in print. I just finished learning how Marie, Janie, Love and Gayle sorted out their lives. Earlier in the week, I watched as a young Donald Trump borrowed a friend’s jacket for a photo so it would like he had more medals than he’s earned.

Later today I need to decide if I want to visit my loved Edinburgh and follow a detective through its well-know streets solving a murder case or visit a library in Paris where I once did a reading. Or maybe I can walk through Damascus and revisit places I’ve seen before. Or maybe I’ll find a new place to “visit” in pages still to be discovered.

I’ll thumb through pages of the waiting books to decide.

So far this year, I’ve read 28,000+ pages in books. I don’t count magazines or news sites.

I’m eagerly waiting my trip to Three Pines in October when Louise Penny’s new novel is published.

In between fiction, I read biography to learn about historical and present day people. At times I’ll even read (shudder) economics to get a better perspective on the world.

Why I Write

It’s an addiction. Stories pop into my head. People move in with me until I can get their activities, problems, successes from my head onto my laptop. 

I’ve retired the heroine of my mystery series Annie, although a friend made a clock for me that shows how she looks. It has crossed my mind to do a short story of her current life with her husband Roger and daughter Sophie.  An artist friend made a clock for me with the image of how we thought Annie looked.

As a little girl, my mother and I would make up double stories with each of us picking up where the other left off. Maybe a variation of that is the Free Write I do weekly with a friend and my husband. Another way to get the creative juices flowing.

Why I Blog

I was amazed when I realized I’d had over one million clicks over time on my blog. It started on a snowy day when I was visiting Boston and wrote in place of a journal which I’d left in Switzerland.

It has become many things including a chance to vent on politics, show appreciation, test out a short story or book chapter, keep my fear at bay while I was going through cancer treatments or whatever is in my head at the moment.

My blog created one amazing reunion with my ex-sister-in-law who read the blog about the death of my brother, her ex. We had lost touch but she found my blog.

The blog is often my warm up for the days writing.

And The Rest of My Life

Don’t think it’s only my imaginary world that fills my days. There’s the joy of living in Southern France and Switzerland, looking at the very different beauty of both places.

 

Although simple, I love our two flats, one a simple studio with a garden that has plum and mulberry trees the other on a well-flowered street. Switzerland is a post card.

It’s communicating with Sherlock and snuggling with my husband as we watch a Netflix. It is the pleasure of his company and sharing our writings, a walk through the village, meeting with friends from many different countries. It’s the smell of popcorn or going to a favorite restaurant especially when we know the staff. 

It’s a thousand small pleasures each day as I bounce in and out of my many lives.

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