Sixteen

I've been thinking a lot about writing lately. The 30 day blogfest vow has to be one of the more moronic things I've ever tried to do, but then again, it's been illuminating. I should make up my frackin' mind, shouldn't I? Part of it is the process. My mind is a blank slate when I come to my laptop. Most of the time, I've got nothing and most of the time, when I finish posting, I still got nothing, but occasionally, something unexpected happens in the writing. A great phrase or a finely tuned sentence, something E.B. White wouldn't puke on if he read it. It's been good discipline especially in an area where I am the queen of sloth. It's true, I'm one lazy writer.
Yesterday we were watching the History Channel and they had a program on called Band of Bloggers. It was a documentary on all the blogging that has been going on during the Iraq War. It was fascinating how the soldiers were blogging to show the reality of their days. The internet hook up was installed to keep the soldiers connected to their families and friends at home. But after a while, it became something else. It became a way to tell the truth about their experiences in a way that wasn't being covered by journalists. These soldiers weren't writers at the start of their tours and most of them started their blogs out of sheer boredom. But many of them said that the writing became addictive. You'd think all the blogs would be the same, but they weren't. Some were optimistic and downright triumphant, speaking of the victories in battle and rebuilding that was going on for the Iraqi people. Others were bitter, declaring disaster and hopelessness on a daily basis. Who is right? Who is telling the truth? It's the holy grail of writing isn't it? Who speaks the truth without prejudice? I know I don't have the answer to any of it, but I know that is why we write. We write to make sense of whatever is happening to us, to share it with others so we don't feel so alone. We write to surprise others and if we're lucky, to surprise ourselves. We write to stay connected even when we agree to do moronic things like blog for 30 straight days.