Saturday, February 16, 2008

Why Start a Blog?

While I was in college majoring in history and political science I discovered I really liked writing papers on the subjects that interested me. I liked playing with the words and putting thoughts together in a way that made sense. As luck would have it, my professors seemed to think I did this pretty well and gave me good grades on my papers. In a letter of recommendation one professor said, "...her writing stands out in stark contrast to the tortured prose of her peers." That may not be an exact quote, but I am positive the prose of my peers was tortured and mine was not. I am not saying this to brag, but I mention it because it was the first time anyone told me I was good at writing and this was not normal for everyone. In the eight years that followed that encouraging letter other people have made mention of this fact on various occasions in response to various things I have written (often times e-mails). Make no mistake; I am no writer of fiction. I have an imagination the equivalent of dry toast when it comes to spinning stories. The things I write that get positive feedback are usually recountings of seemingly mundane events that happen to me or around me that get funnier in the retelling.

Why is this important? Well, I find myself approaching a crossroads in my life, specifically in my career. As I have been looking for direction in the past few months I keep coming back to the positive comments I have gotten about my writing and I am wondering if it is something I could do seriously. I started doing a little research into freelance writing and was struck right off the bat by this advice: If you want to be a writer you have to write! Seems simple enough I guess. So, over the coming months as I tend to my current professional and personal obligations, I thought I would start posting things for my friends, family, and total strangers to read and comment on so that I can improve my skills and see if there is any possibility of this leading anywhere. I am very curious to find out if people who do not know me will find these postings as humorous as the people who do know me seem to find them.

If the title of my blog sounds a bit odd, let me explain. I have a Boston Terrier named Sadie who has been the one constant in my life through a couple of moves, a trip to grad school, some interesting dating experiences, and a few jobs over the past seven years. She is a continuous source of entertainment and she sheds all over everything, especially in the summer. One day when I pulled out my wallet to buy something and had dog hair on my debit card I thought to myself, "My life is covered in dog hair." Mind you, I am a very clean person and I take good care of my dog, so this dog hair is shiny, well-conditioned, coconut-scented, very clean dog hair. Anyway, I thought it would be a good title for a blog that is essentially about little things, like finding dog hair in places you were not expecting it...

4 comments:

Charlotte said...

You DO have a way with the written word and your prose is definitely NOT tortured! As you continue to put pen to paper...I mean fingers to keyboard...hold onto those "delusions of grandeur" that we discussed recently - YOU ROCK!

Jason Coronado said...

Well Kelly it maybe just that I am drunk on 2 maybe 3 bottles of wine and that I love you to death and that we went on a whirl wind tour of Europe together and that I am an awful speller but your writing makes me laugh

Jill said...

Sis - this is awesome! You do rock, and I have a feeling that reading your blog will always bring a smile to my face. You may not have gotten the rhyming genes, but you're one heck of a writer.

Karen said...

Well, I don't qualify as a total stranger, but in all reality not much more and in reading through your writing I've totally cracked up several times, nodded my head, been driven to contemplation & I think even shed a few tears, so I'd say you've got something there. Good luck in your ventures.