Early in my childhood, I fell in love with the art of the written word. I truly had a writing habit. Scribbling words into poems, short stories, philosophical quotes, whatever I could come up with in any bit of time to myself where pen and paper were near. School essay assignments made my heart leap for joy. Then I lost it. My writing habit slowly disappeared.
My responsibilities in life became greater than the free time to let my mind’s wanderings drift onto the page. The next thing I knew I was inching into middle age and hadn’t written anything creative. My habit had been tickled throughout my career. A few menus here, some disciplinary action there and a job description or employee manual later and I would be reminded of the passion.
A job stint in New York City for my hubby a few years ago brought the desire back again. The opportunity to dream of winter days gazing out the window of our third floor apartment over looking Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and finding inspiration again. The dream was about penning children’s stories that would be inspired by the sweet thoughts and actions of my recently deceased mother who had taught all of us to be in awe of the world. Somewhere in her lifetime of crafting she had done her own series of Paddington style bears. I thought I would create a set of books with the bears she had gifted us or given to our children or had displayed in her own home as the teachers of the tidbits of inspiration that would stir children to embrace nature and our world and find the bliss of appreciation. I wanted to bring my mom to “life” through the writing and the children’s love of the books I penned. Grief, doubled by my dad’s passing soon after my mom, stalled me again creatively. My love of the art however was fanned by my mystery shopping work in the city and the requirement of detailed review writing.
A move back to the west had me sidetracked from the “habit” again and then a couple years ago I got the idea to start this travel blog and explore other areas of travel writing. In the beginning, I told myself it was just for fun and to document my travels for sharing in bulk with friends, but now I want it (or something associated with it) for my life’s work and the means by which to wonder to my hearts desire.
Each year, as we’ve traveled, I’ve nurtured the writing habit and then in my “work season” I would give myself a hiatus. The start of this year’s “writing season” I consciously decided to try to educate myself to grow this love of writing into a portable income. I put my writing habit on the back burner in exchange for research and study. I consider myself decently intelligent, at least capable of acquiring new skills but right now I feel like a fish who is floundering out of water in the sea of technology options and yet drowning in the depths of the ocean that is the wealth of information and the avenues that create excitement for me at the potential of this adventure.
So indulge me, will you dear reader, while I work to get back my writing habit? I’ve got to get out of the classroom or my writing habit will not survive. It’s all well and good that I’ve stalled it over these excuses but if I’m ever to find success, the real things I need are the writing habit and YOU.
YOU are the reason I am here. I’d like to hear YOUR ideas on information YOU want. What sites or cities are YOU curious about for a dream destination but just can’t find the time to research? What are YOU curious about in the travel realm? Give me the assignment and I will give you a summary in list style format of what I find. Maybe in practicing the art, I’ll find the path and you will have a one stop shop for your inspiration to #travelwithme.
In the meantime I’ll be posting my research as we narrow down the cities we select to visit on this year’s Thailand Snowbird Escape. We’ll be flying out February 6 so be ready for travel tales!
Comment below or email me at lisa@theinquisitivescorpionstale.com with your destination assignment for me ;-). #writinghabit#comelivelifewithme#cometravelwithme
