Writing

I started this blog in January 2025 as part of my quest to pay attention to and appreciate things that bring me delight. Over the course of the year I have written 47 posts about delightful things, and while it has made me more reflective and attuned to the world around me, it has also reminded me that I just really enjoy writing.

I've always enjoyed writing, and I've had a blog before (for those who remember my Meat Toast days!), but in recent years most of my writing has been academic. I like that kind of writing too, but it can be tedious and challenging. Writing little personal narratives and reflections like these has been really fun. And, I've found that when I write something fun, I feel warmed up to write the more difficult stuff. It's like priming my writing pump!

As I'm heading into writing my dissertation, I have decided to keep up with this blog for another year. It's kept me accountable to writing something for myself each month and helped me to reclaim writing as a hobby. I'm also grateful to anyone who has liked or commented or even just read the posts that I've shared! Having an audience, no matter how small is encouraging!

Almost a year ago, a friend of mine introduced me to someone as a writer. I immediately balked at the title and denied it, but I've been thinking about it ever since. I thought about running and how people often hesitate to call themselves runners even when they run regularly, either because they don't think they are good at it or because they aren't a professional. I also thought about the poetry class that I teach and how I tell my high school students that they are poets simply because they write poems on a regular basis. No need to be an Emily Dickinson or a Robert Frost. As the saying goes, we are what we continually do.

I am not a professional, and I can always improve, but because I write, I can call myself a writer. I look forward to doing more of it in 2026!