Wow, the gloomy, rainy day on Friday was actually conducive to writing since I spent much of Thursday outdoors enjoying the warm, sunny day. With three posts published, I can continue researching another that I've been working on for several days and then turn my attention to something new.
It's either feast or famine when it comes to writing, at least, for me. The stories either flow out of my fingertips onto my laptop, or I'm stymied or distracted or just can't find anything that interests me to write about.
In 2006, after volunteer editing various groups' newsletters for 20 years, I was introduced to blogs and jumped in for political purposes, using the platform to promote candidates and conservative causes. It was a different world, kind of a sink-or-swim, Katy-bar-the-door environment that chewed up bloggers and spit them out.
Somehow I survived with the help of fellow conservative bloggers in the SWAC area, all over Virginia, and beyond. They were kindred spirits who had been bitten by the political bug and were willing to dodge the darts and barbs shot at them from the opposite side of the aisle, and even willing to sling some of their own.
Add that to the posts at SWAC Girl where I like to put up photos of the mountains, spring flowers, fall leaves, and anything else I see through my window on the world. It's cathartic to write, something I've enjoyed since sixth grade when my teacher, Mrs. Booth at Bon Air Elementary School, encouraged me to continue writing, saying she would one day read my stuff in the
Reader's Digest.
The next year my seventh grade teacher, Mr. Withoeft at Thompson Middle School, encouraged the class to use adjectives, descriptions, and the senses to expand our writing and make it interesting and more readable. That led to short stories, longer essays, research papers, and poetry. Eventually, however, there wasn't time for writing with life and children and home schooling. I poured all that energy into my family.
I truly enjoy freelancing with the
Washington Examiner and still like it just as much as the first day when I submitted a post about the Blue Ridge Parkway. Since then, there have been posts about the mountains, travel stories, human interest stories, and most of all ... politics. Sometimes I feel as if I live, eat, and breathe politics which is pretty remarkable for someone who is strictly a volunteer. I'm grateful for the day an email arrived from a young WaEx editor who asked, "Would you be interested in writing for us?" Little did he know that he added a new dimension to my world. So here I am, still writing, and still loving it.
I didn't quite make the
Reader's Digest, as Mrs. Booth -- rest her soul -- had hoped but I think she would be pleased that I made it to the
Washington Examiner. She personified the saying, "To teach is to touch the future." Here's to you, Mrs. Booth, with my thanks for the encouragement to reach for the stars.
Below are the products of Friday's attention at the keyboard ... three posts about distinctly different subjects. Enjoy!
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell for President?
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is enjoying a 66% approval rating in the latest
Roanoke College poll that was released on Thursday, up from 57% in December. After a
landslide win in November 2009 and after more than a year in the top position, he has been highly praised for his leadership ability. Read more
here.
