Writing

I have been writing fairly regularly for the last two years.  It is good practice for the next stage of my doctoral program.

It has helped me identify and organize my ideas about concepts, constructs, and research interests.

I realize that this blog has become my annotated bibliography - soon to be very helpful as I develop a potentially unwieldy 70-page dissertation proposal.

Thoughts and reflections that could linger on the brain, sometimes well into the night, now have a place to live.

I write in the first person because I believe that the deeper we go, the more likely we are to find the universal.

I started writing a public journal to document the information that I was drawn to and my reactions - to note my growth and development.  This was good advice, from a mentor, that I didn't follow through on when I earned my master's degree.

It's cool to hear from teachers, colleagues, friends/family, writers and students about what they get out of this blog.  Like when a colleague called after a post on resilience-building in the military because they had an enlisted relative.  Or when I hear from people pursuing their own paths - in writing and academic projects.  Or when someone told me they read the blog on their iPad during sleepless nights - going back to favorite posts.  One colleague suggested I offer CEUs.  I will look into that idea.

I try to focus on the positive and challenge notions of the impossible.  It's a drop in the bucket but a counterpoint to the sea of doom, gloom and negativity that sells in the press. 

My intention is to be painfully, brutally, lovingly honest.  In this way, I am having an intimate relationship - with myself and with you. 

Paolo Coelho, one of my favorite writers (friend him on facebook for regular nuggets of inspiration on your newsfeed), wrote a post recently:

Writing is a socially acceptable form of getting naked in public. 

What gets me about the quote is the freedom that comes from the vulnerability.  Stripped down to my essence.  Ahh, just in time for summer and for middle-age.