Thoughts on writing

I write entirely to find out what

I'm thinking, what I'm looking at,

what I see and what it means. 

What I want and what I fear.

-Joan Didion

So lately I've been thinking more and more about writing and why I do it and how to get better at it. I've always written daily in my journal but mostly about random stuff that's happening in my life in order to help me to gain some perspective on things.  I'm still doing this but lately I've been thinking more and more about actually writing articles, essays, opinion pieces etc.  I am a perfectionist and although I love to write, I often believe that if I were to try writing something other than my personal journal (that would only be viewed by me) that I would somehow fail and my dream would be lost.  Today I'm thinking that if I don't ever try, my dream will be lost to me for sure.  So it is with that thought that I begin to write once more on this very neglected blog.  Not only will this help me gain some confidence (writing for others, even if only one other person reads this, takes a lot of courage), it will help me practice and get better at my craft. You'll notice that I even changed the layout to coincide with my newfound insight.  I'm not saying that what I write here will be grand but I will be writing for an audience so consider this my playground and feel free to comment on what you read.