Last month, a virtual friend, with whom I had a brief encounter nearly 10 years ago, sent me an email. This is nothing new, mind you. She started sending out an enewsletter some years ago and I have been a subscriber. The enewsletter is introduced by an email that is usually personalized. But when I got this latest one, I was taken aback. The personalization was in the subject line: “Do you write, or want to Anna?” Was she writing just to me? And more importantly, does she have some sort of extra-sensory perception that she would ask such a pointed question? In the email she wrote: “Would you like to join me in a co-journaling project? I’ve been dreaming about this for a little while. Perhaps you have an idea in mind for a story that you’ve always wanted to share. Maybe you’re looking for a chance to connect with other people that are also here.”
I pondered it for a couple of days and then, I finally sent her the following:
I pondered it for a couple of days and then, I finally sent her the following:
What a loaded question! My first response was an unrestrained “yes!” but the more I contemplated it’s meaning I began to doubt myself.
I have written, a lot. I started a blog a couple of years ago (one of about 7 now!) called “I Am a Writer in My Mind” (iamawriterinmymind.blogspot.com) and I entitled it such because I find that I do my best writing in my mind. Unfortunately, what actually gets to paper (or virtual paper) is only a small fraction of my writing.
Which led me to more questions. Do I, indeed, want to write? If it is so difficult for me to actually do it, maybe I only want to want to write. Or do I not write because I want to write for the wrong reasons? Do I want to write something others will read and if they aren’t going to read it am I less inclined to write it. If a tree falls in the forest…
But back to your question. Do I write, or want to? And would I like to join you in a co-journaling project? I have to answer with a qualified “I think so (?)” (I really am a writer in my mind, aren’t I?) Among the ruins of my blogs is one called “A Woman is the Full Circle.” (awomanisthefullcircle.blogspot.com). It was intended to be a co-journal among a private group of close friends whom I felt were among my wisest (I have sent you an invitation to join). The inspiration for the title and the idea came from this quote: “A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture, and transform. A woman knows that nothing can come to fruition without light. Let us call upon woman’s voice and woman’s heart to guide us in this age of planetary transformation.” Diane Mariechild. And the blog was created at a time in my life full of great change and uncertainty. I called upon the voices of close friends to help guide me. Oh, little did I know what lay ahead for me.
Unfortunately it was a time of great upheaval for many of my friends too and the last time one of them posted was in March 2009. We seemed to all lose our voices then. But oh! How I miss those voices! Why is it so hard for women to share that “power to create, nurture, and transform” with a louder voice. Because we are all busy using our power in our own circles, hoping to cause a ripple effect?
Ripple effect. It brings me back to “an idea in mind for a story that you’ve always wanted to share.” Ripple effects. Chance meetings. Do you remember how we met? It seemed so random at the time and yet, time has revealed that perhaps it was not so random as we might have thought.
I love to tell that story. Dave, Sean and I were standing in line behind you in the ticket line for the first short sci fi film festival in Seattle. It must have been 2004? Sean struck up a conversation with you and I thought he already knew you. Then he introduced me to you, as his partner. You must have been a bit surprised, though you didn’t show it. You calmly turned to me and asked how Sean and I had met! We have had many laughs about that since. He always struggled with explaining that while I was his mother I was also his business partner.
But you and I remained connected by this fine, shimmery, silken thread. And here we are, nearly 10 years (!) later. “Talking” about writing…perhaps together. Ripple effects. Who knew? Who knows…Now because of you I am traveling to distant places I have never–and will never now–travelled.
Thank you for inspiring me to pull the thoughts from my head and put them to “paper.”
And yes, I’d like to “talk”‘ more!
And so…the co-journaling begins…