Prolegomenous Preparations

"You can be anything you want to be, just turn yourself into anything you think that you could ever be . . . be free to yourself" sings Freddy Mercury in "Innuendo". No it is no Disney dream, wish upon a star and your dreams will come true, it is not as easy as that. It will take work to turn into what I want to be, and this blog will be a log for much of that work. I want to be a writer, perhaps even an author some day. Of all the writing classes I have taken, seminars and lectures I have listened to, the sole useful piece of advice is simple. So simple it will bore you. So simple that it is totally uninspiring for anybody trying to make something creative or new. Just write. There it is. Clunk! Get to work.

For many years now, since I was a newly-licensed teenager skipping out on training with the swim team, I have thought of myself as a writer. Back then it was a great regimen, leave for practice in the afternoon and I would have nearly two full hours of time to sit in the Ugly Mug Cafe and put my thoughts into a journal before I had to don a towel around my waist, wet my hair and pinch my face to look like I'd just finished a training session with the Cabrillo Threshers. None of the writing I did was much to read. I searched for my inner Anne Frank, chased and trapped by some oppressor, hoping that some external torment would drag out something profound and worthy. In the life that I lead, external torment is something I have gotten used to living without; what came of my writing was a lot of me tormenting myself. Most people call it teenage angst. It turns out I was like other kids, angsty. Who knew?

I have lied to you, there is more writing advice that has trickled into my brain: write what you know. (Advice giving in the field of writing attempts stop those who would write before they start. It is a Herculean force of will to overcome the quotidian demands of writing coaches.) So as the title of the blog suggests, I will use this blog as a way to write, just write, about what I see, taste, hear, and what I know about the world around me, which happens to be southern France. A plus tard!

Ciao!