101

Well, it’s been a long while. People often ask me: Why don’t you write a blog? I’ve always thought to myself, writing a blog is like keeping six pet penguins in your house and trying to become accustomed to living with them. Introduce them to your family? Check. Build an indoor ice land in your living room? Double check. Have to deal with the authorities banging down your door for your indiscretions? Triple… well, you get the point.
This is my first post, and hopefully not my last. You see, the similarities between writing a blog and keeping penguins may not include feathers and beaks, but it does include the mess that is involved, the constant chaos… with an added dose of time consumption to boot. And yet…
Holly Lisle recently published that she was going to quit teaching as soon as she feasibly can. She said, with Steve Jobs of Apple’s death, it’s given her a chance to really look at herself and her own life. I suppose many people admired Mr. Jobs for creating something so amazing and beneficial to the world as a whole. The Apple brand has become such a massive icon in many societies, from America to Korea, to Europe, and probably beyond.
Mrs. Lisle said that she admired Mr. Jobs for having invented something solely for himself and living his life with it til the very end. Mr. Jobs himself once said:
“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” He also said, “We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”
Well, I was thinking about these two quotes and they really inspired me, much as they might have Mrs. Lisle, because Mr. Jobs just did what he really was passionate about. He didn’t give up, didn’t worry about what others thought. He just invented what he wanted to, lived life how he would, and died happy (I hope, and it seems anyway).
So, that’s what I want to do, too. Since I was just learning to write, I was already telling stories about little girls and talking animals and their adventures – picnics and travels and friendships. The stories may have become more sophisticated and detailed since then, but the desire to write and relay them hasn’t ever faded.
A difference between Mr. Jobs and myself is that, well, I have often very nearly given up on my dream to be a writer. I’ve taken long periods of time without writing at all these past six years. Yet, I’m starting to believe again that, if I were not meant to do this, my stories would end and I would quit with this desire. The passion would drain away… and so would a childhood of wasted dreams and words.
Here I am, world. Let’s see where this takes me and let’s see who I meet along the way.