Crawling out of the Cave…

So, it's been a while since I updated my blog. Oops. However, I blame life-interference – lots has gone on in the last, oh, five years, I'd say. And, May 2011 turned out to be like the Coles Notes version of all the ups and downs of those five years – like the last hurrah at the end of a cycle.

Anyhow, I'm chalking it all up to life lessons, ya know? What doesn't kill me makes me stronger – that sort of thing. And I do believe that – someday, I'll look back and say, yes. All of that needed to happen so that I would be ready for where I am now.

However, in the present, my daily mantra has been "All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well," a little prayer borrowed from Julian of Norwich, a 14th century anchoret. Easy for her to say – she walled herself up in a cell so she could devote her days to prayer and not have to deal with the rollercoaster of regular life!

But, getting back to this blog, the trouble is…I don't know what to say. I keep thinking, what do I know, or what have I experienced, that could possibly be of interest to anyone? I think a great deal about the division between author and book. I read a quote a while back that went like this "An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere." (Gustave Flaubert, FYI), and yeah, I agree with that. So where does that leave an author in this day and age where we're encouraged to have an online presence? Does that online presence muddy the waters, so to speak? I can't help thinking it does, and yet, here I am, writing a blog post, ruminating about…well, I don't even know!

Initially when I created this blog, I intended to write about the writing life, how to live and breathe creativity, but the thing is, I'm not sure I know all that much about that, and there are lots of other writers who do, and have written wonderful books that convey so much knowledge and wisdom about how to live this strange life we artistic types live. It's not easy, let me tell you, though I suspect I'm preaching to the masses here. And, most of what I know about living a creative life comes through the filters of being a musician, not a writer.

So where does that leave me? I'm not sure. Ha, how's that for a revelation? I guess the thing is that really, life isn't divisible into neat boxes – the "creative" box, and the "laundry" box (which is very full at the moment), and the "family" box – it's more like a washing machine full of unsorted clothes, all tumbling around together, muddling up colours, so when you take the clothes out, you discover your white pillowcases are now pink, but that's okay, because pink is a nice colour too, right?

Anyhow, the long and the short of it is that I'm going to try to write something here on a weekly basis. I don't know what (I'm open to suggestions!), but what I hope I'll accomplish, even if it's on the smallest of scales, is to help others find their way through the murky woods…where all sorts of stories lurk in the shadows, waiting, waiting…

(Oh, and just because, here's my cat hiding in the garden…)

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