Write It So

I love the name of my blog.

I know it seems odd - it is not a play on my name, it isn't especially fancy or weird, but it is perfect. The name is a play on a quote on my favorite television show from childhood, Star Trek: TNG - "Make it so", the signature line of Captain Picard. It is geeky, silly, but I use that line all the time and every time I see it or hear it, it brings me back to Sundays watching television with my Dad or sitting on the floor doing homework while re-watching the adventures of starship NCC-1701 D.

Write It So...it also means more. It is what I want to do - write it, whatever "It" may be, to an exacting degree. Just so.

The problem is...I have had a hard time getting there. My voice is not working for the stories I want to tell. Hell, I can't decide on the story I want to tell. I seem to keep getting lost in the details...the first few paragraphs expand into pages, but they still aren't telling anything more than should be in the first few paragraphs. I can see the characters, but have no idea where they go. The science fiction short piece I have been ruminating on for two years can't find its foothold in my imagination. The children's book doesn't have the right tone. The personal essays are just too damn...personal. The semi-autobiographical fiction is way too close to my real life, meaning I would offend just about everyone in three counties were I to make a single sentence of it public.

Where to go from here...

My new goal: every day, write. I want to update this blog much more frequently. For one, I want to record much more of Penny's sweet daily life. She is so amazing, so wonderful, and I don't want to forget so many of the little things. How she struggles to climb up onto the couch just to give me a kiss and then goes back to her toys. The way she starts making kissing noises about ten feet away from you, like she is the shark from Jaws coming in to gobble you up. How her soft frizzy blond curls still are concentrated on the top and back of her head, making her look like a mixture of a cherub and a psychotic clown. How she squeals with my mom's new puppy and doesn't get upset, even when the puppy treats her like a chew toy. How she has all of a sudden gone from small steps to running around the house.

I also need to find my voice. I need to see where these stories go. Perhaps none of them will ever go farther than Google Docs, but at least I will know I am pursuing my goal.

I can clean when Penny is awake. While she naps, I plan on writing.

Go.