little white truths

I wrote a version of this post not long ago as a Facebook status (we'd just got ourselves a new Golden Retriever puppy) and enjoyed writing it so much that I thought I'd extend it here. 

I've also found myself going back to it sometimes when I need to laugh or remind myself to keep things simple. Whether you have a dog or not, there's a lot we can take from them. More than anything, don't get lost in the rubbish of life. Draw on the daily moments of joy that make everything else fade away. These are the things that sustain us.

Anyhoo. Here's my list.

What we can learn from dogs:

Every now and then - or rather, all too often - something happens in life that's beyond our control and that changes the ground beneath us in such a way that the terrain ahead will never look quite the same.

Yesterday was such a time. And because I'm (thankfully) too old and too world-weary to waste thought on things I can't change, I woke up this morning and announced to my husband that I was going to start a blog. I was going to start a blog and I would do my best to make it a good one, one that might make people smile in recognition of shared plight and shared human-ness, one that might offer a way to fill the spaces, and one that might - just might - bring in a modest income as time passed.

As I sat down to write this just now, I thought of a post I read on Facebook last week: 'Every time something bad happens in your life, just yell out "plot twist" and move on.'

Let's call this moving on.

Anyone who's ever thought about starting a blog (or who has one already) has no doubt considered what their focus might be. I had a few in mind: as a chronic insomniac, I'm something of an expert on sleep and sleep-deprivation; as a writer and editor, I've plenty to say on those topics and in particular the perils of pursuing a writing career; as an ex-lawyer, I've a raft of funny tales about what it's like to work in a law firm; as a beauty junkie, I could add to the hoards of beauty blogs that are useful for so many reasons - and same goes with food, cooking and dining. While I believe (mistakenly or otherwise) that I have much to say on these topics, in the end I decided that I have the most to say about life and the funny things that make us all human. Those things that aren't always talked about but that are just there - like the fact that everyone's elbows do wees in the shower. And of course, a life blog doesn't preclude me writing on any of the topics I've mentioned.

As a writer, your primary calling is to deliver emotional truths. That's what I think anyway. Deliver emotional truths, and deliver them well. Not an easy thing to do, but I'll try.

I've always said that writing is the trade of experience. I've worked hard to make it my trade, and there's no reason I can't continue doing so - despite the plot twist that's just pulled the guts from our finances and switched the terrain from uphill to bloody rocky. Plot twists like that are so damn common - my husband and I are not special and we know it. Just another one of those buggeristic things in life.

Buggeristic is of course not a word. But it should be. Sometimes there just aren't enough words, and you have to go out on a limb and make your own.

Make your own while your limbs themselves search for purchase in the path you must forge ahead.