2022- CREATE
Once upon a time, I used to write blogs on a regular basis. It was a fun (and free) hobby that allowed me to continue my creative outlet of writing. Over the span of somewhere between 10-15 years, I wrote about 700 blog entries on this page. I don't know why I stopped, but hopefully this is the restart.
When I finished grad school in 2006, I moved from Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama for my first full-time job. I started sending some long emails to family and friends as a way to stay in touch, and eventually transitioned from those emails (from my Hotmail account, which I still use thank you very much) to this blog, which may be an underused and outdated platform, but hey, you're reading right now, aren't you???
Anyway, writing is something I enjoy doing and need to reconnect with. My undergrad major was Journalism. Despite never working a day in my life as a journalist, I felt that writing a blog helped me keep that skill somewhat sharp. And over the last few years, I just kind of missed it and felt the urge to write again. Here we are.
What's with the name 'Between Mouth and Mind'? That's an excellent pretend question, dear imaginary reader. That four-word phrase is from a book I read in grad school that I'll have to dig back into. I liked it because to me, it was a great description of what writing is and can be. It is a medium that allows us to put into words some things that are somewhere between thoughts in our head, and words we actually speak. For me, writing allows me to more descriptively and articulately get my thoughts out there. You know how nerds people will often say 'the movie was good, but the book was WAY better'? Well, often that's because the book allows you to get deeper into certain things. Maybe that's not exactly what I am trying to say here. Point not proven. Ok, let me try again. Writing is a safe distance between the words I actually say, but also a more filtered version of what's going on in my head. Somewhere between mouth and mind. There you go.
So why restart now? Well, something I like to do in the New Year is pick a one word goal. Not necessarily a specific resolution, but one word to focus on, and you can interpret in different ways. For this year, I am going with the word 'Create'. That can go a few directions, but one of them is to create something with this blog. I have been wanting to get back into writing for a little while. And the other day, one of my favorite recent authors, Harlan Coben, tweeted the following:
May I make a small suggestion for 2022? Spend 5 minutes a day creating. Write anything in a journal, phone, laptop- thoughts, ideas, insights, random words, a poem. You don't have to show it to anyone. It doesn't have to be a novel or short story. Just plant your own seeds.
I loved reading that. That was a push I needed. So, here's to 2022 and 'creating'.
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Quick postscript thoughts... what about all the old blog entries? Do they still exist? Yes, but I took them all down publicly. Maybe I'll go re-post some of my favorites, but I wanted this to feel like a fresh start. As for what I will be blogging about? Honestly, not sure. I need to figure that out. Some of my favorite things though that I could imagine seeing appear here though include notes about reading, some half-arsed sports thoughts, fatherhood (especially since except for one blog when our first son was born, my writings were as a non-dad). Maybe some other deeper personal reflections, coupled I'm sure with some dumb stuff. We'll see where the road takes us.
Until then, thanks for at least reading the first one.
Slainte,
Gary
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