Inschallah

One of my favourite writing mentors, Hope Clarke of Funds for Writers, had an inspiring editorial in one of her newsletter the other day. She reminded us to write not for ourselves, but for our readers. I wrote back to thank her for the inspiring message.

She replied to thank me for writing her. She had thought the editorial was nothing special that week. Which goes to show, you never know how your words will affect someone.

Sometimes I write for myself. It's my blog and I'm allowed. Sometimes I don't know who I'm writing for, or why. But if I let the message flow, something good comes out, or it may be something that doesn't seem particularly good to me, but perhaps for someone else. Inschallah!
Hugs for Haiti :-)

So Gott will heißt Inschallah, glaube ich. Manchmal sehe ich den Sinn meines Handelns nicht, aber ich tue es trotzdem, weil ich mich dazu berufen fühle. Die meisten meiner Taten sind banal. Doch wenn ich sie im Sinne der Hingabe an das danze Grosse errichte, vielleicht werden sie dann heilig?

Editor/Redaktion

Thank God for great editors. The best ones aren't necessarily those with big names.

There was Elise Revere who accepted my very first story published this side of 21. And the Byline editor who was easy to get along with, or Lisa Trainer who rejected my material in such a sincere, polite way, I had to write and thank her. Angela Cox of Freelance Market News always had a positive, inspiring word. Jenny Shelley of OneUp became a friend. And most recently EW Oates at You & Me astounded me with her rapid processing of my piece. I re-read it yesterday and felt the tender tweaking that made the words just right. The whole essay flowed better thanks to her. It's amazing how one or two tiny things can make a huge difference.

Life doesn't have editors. There are coaches and counsellors galore, but the final edit is mine. I am responsible for what I put into the world. My blog isn't perfect, and neither am I. We're works in progress, developing and growing each day. And the greater purpose and direction? Only the big publisher knows. I just submit in my small way.

Das Leben ist wie ein Schriftstück wo ich selbst sowohl den Inhalt als auch die Schriftstellerin bin.

Why/ Warum?

Lately, I've been re-examining my main motivation for blogging. The Thousand Thanks action gave this blog form and purpose, but now that sense of direction is waning. Once you accomplish a goal, its relevance tends to fade. Funny how we keep setting ourselves new ones anyway.

Actually, I could just as easily not blog. But Nancy I. Sanders recommended it. Hope Clarke suggests its indispensible. These are writing experts who know what they're talking about. And they say a writer needs to write daily. The blog has been my committment to writing. But I also feel committed to writing something with purpose, something worthwhile that can help shape, if not change the world. My musing on how much snow fell yesterday won't cut it. But what will?

Today I am grateful to the pioneers who put this valuable tool at my fingertips by inventing the technology of the weblog. Tomorrow I figure out what exactly I want to do with it. Happy day!

Warum sollte ich einen Blog haben? Ich verkaufe nichts, will nichts, macht nichts. Ich blogge (ist das richtig Deutsch?) umd das Bloggen willen. Und wer das lesen soll, weiß ich auch nicht. Doch bin ich dankbar für die Technologie, für den PC, und alles drum und dran. Ich blogge, weil ich kann. Und den tieferen Sinn des Ganzen suche ich mir an einem anderen Tag.

Ending/Aus

Thanks to the two Spanish ladies who hugged me and each other after witnessing the kindness of the stranger who helped me with my luggage at Victoria Station in 2003.

I love good endings. We had one yesterday. A lot of people finished the language course. We watched a fun video where some Australian asks people on the street about their purpose in life. One of my purposes--I have many--is to bring things to good ends. And the way I achieve that is by making them good all the way. That doesn't mean this course didn't go through tough times; we had our crises and problems, too, but we sought and found resolution as we moved along. Now it's over with no regrets. We did our best.

We can move on happily to whatever's coming next. Yay!

Gestern ging ein Kurs für einige Teilnehmende zu Ende. Wir haben vom Morgen bis abend gefeiert mit Blumen, Kuchen und ein Haufen von Schokolade. Vielleicht waren wir nicht besonders strebsam im Unterricht, dafür hatten wir viel Spaß. Und das ist doch auch was wert.