Writing

Blogging seems to be a "feast or famine" activity for me. I love the idea of writing every day or two, but at this stage of my life, it just doesn't seem to work out that way. Family life comes first, and it often pushes out the opportunity to sit and post my thoughts.

I have been thinking a lot about the art of writing lately. Most specifically, the art of letter writing. I've been reading a biography of Elizabeth Prentiss, the author of Stepping Heavenward. It is filled with the most wonderful letters written to family and friends. At that time, letter writing was in high fashion and friends would write to each other regularly, often about the most mundane of daily events. Reading those letters today, we gain intimate insights into the lives of those who have gone before us. It made me stop and think. In this age of hastily typed e-mails, what kind of record are we leaving behind for our great-grandchildren? Not only is e-mail correspondence quickly sent and just as quickly deleted, it also lacks the well-thought-out phrases found in letters of old. Our predecessors tended to be far more articulate than most of us are today. It makes me sad to think of those losses, and determined to recover some of them in my own life. I have new purpose behind my blogging and I've set a goal to hand write at least two letters each month.

I'm hoping that my commitment to writing will rub off on my children and that it will inspire a love of writing in them as well.