It has been over a year and a half since I posted to my blog.  So much has happened during that time.  Why didn’t I write about it?  I’m not sure.  Well, many reasons.  Probably the greatest one is the inertia that hits me when I contemplate a writing task that requires some form of introspection and creativity.  It’s difficult to write.  And it’s difficult to adequately and honestly express one’s feelings.  I have very little difficulty when it comes to writing tasks that are instructive, factual, or straightforward narrative.  It’s the “deeper,” more personal stuff that daunts me.  Also, maybe I’m a little lazy.  And I want my writing to be perfect – which fosters procrastination.  Ok, so enough about NOT blogging.  Let’s just get on with it.

I signed up for Blogging 101 to force myself to return to Sillisoup, the aforementioned neglected blog.  It’s interesting to revisit my original purpose in starting the blog.  Almost immediately, I deviated from that purpose, because really I just wanted to be able to post thoughts, experiences, and photos.  Also, I discovered that although other family members thought a location to share recipes, ideas, etc. sounded like a good idea, the collaboration never materialized.  Metaphorically, the blog tittle, which originally referred to my family’s signature soup (sausage soup – that name was already taken), could be taken to refer to the “soup” of content that represents the constantly shifting smorgasborg that constitutes my consciousness and interests.

I hope that as the days progress in the Blogging101 experience, I’ll be able to write about some of the significant things that happened during the year and a half I was absent from Sillisoup.  And of course, I look forward to opportunities for contemplation about the now. Further, I will look to my fellow bloggers for input, inspiration, and camaraderie.  Most of all, I hope that this experience will turn into a habit that generates a newly revitalized ongoing blog!

One thing I know about any creative endeavor is that in order to do it well, one must do it, then keep doing it, then do it some more.  That’s certainly true of writing.  Whenever I go into agonies about writing I remember the truest thing I ever read about writing – at least as it pertains to my perspective on it.  It was on a poster put out by a publisher of college textbooks: “In writing, the only hard thing is to begin.”  So here I am, beginning. Again.  Then tomorrow, another beginning.  Perhaps after a while it’ll feel like I’m in the middle and it won’t be as hard.