My youngest son Tyler kindly set up this blog structure for me here on this domain created by my oldest son, Travis. Tyler even put in a sample name to demonstrate how the title would look. I think he might have been having a little fun with me. “Bill’s Braindump: And what a dump.” Thanks son, but no thanks.
(“Braindump” vaguely brings to mind a Dylan line of which I can’t quite remember the specifics. Anyone remember — or clever and non-lazy enough to look up — that early Dylan line, something about needing a dump truck (steam shovel?) to clear my head?)
Anyway, I tossed a few ideas around in my head for a day or two and came up with the current title, “Surfacing: When things floating in my head finally wash up on shore”. I like the word “surfacing,” the idea of rising out of something, slipping free of something that is perhaps even holding one back, or holding one down. Of course it is also the title of one of my all-time favourite albums by the Boomtown Rats, Sir Bob Geldof’s long-lost band, which gave us such classics, as I Don’t Like Monday and Someone’s Always Looking At You.
But it’s the floating in my head part that is the most appropriate. It’s a pretty obvious statement to say that all writing originates in someone’s head. What people may not realize is that it tends to rattle around in there before finally being released, also known as being committed to text. (I’d have said, “committed to paper” except we’re in the digital age and these very words may never actually touch paper, being displayed on computer screens only. I am not the kind of person who needs a hard copy of everything.)
For me, unless facing a hard deadline, writing works best when I am in the right mood to write. It often takes just the right combination of physical, mental, emotional and psychological energy. Perhaps something that could be summed up as a positive mood with the power of effort and concentration to match.
Alas, for years now, it has been a lot harder, due to health reasons, to find that magic combination. Which is why I do so much writing — in my head — in bed, when I’m more often reasonably relaxed, compared to other times. I’ve thought of bringing the laptop to bed, but it’s too large and heavy and the physical exertion would probably increase discomfort levels, cancelling out the reasonably relaxed part.
I’ve even tried writing on my hand-held PC but that process is very slow, with lots of correcting, trying to tap on tiny letters on a tiny on-screen keyboard using the stylus. It slows me down so much and takes so much concentration, that I end up with very little for a lot of effort. Did I mention how tiny everything is? And how old my eyes are?
So I write and rewrite and bounce things around my head and hope that I’ll soon find the right moment to sit down and finally type it out. Let it go. Find relief by finally dumping stuff that’s been going around and around in my head, sometimes driving me a bit crazy. Especially when trying to achieve the mental calmness required to have a chance at sleeping. Hmm. “Finally dumping this stuff.” Maybe Tyler’s suggested title wasn’t that far off, after all.
Anyway, this is all by explanation of how it’s taken me this long to launch my blog when I was so excited to start a week ago.
Between the chronic pain in the leg, and the nasty sunburn, (see Sunburn), it has not been a good week for getting decent sleep or finding the proper mood or energy to sit and type away, until late this week.
You might say I’m finally surfacing from a bad week. And this may serve as a warning about possible future bad days and/or weeks when it might take me a while to write something new on this blog.
Still, I’m approaching this with a positive spirit. One thing writers like more than writing is being read. One thing they love more than being read is being enjoyed, having their efforts appreciated, somehow touching a reader in a meaningful way, whether it is to provoke thoughts and feelings or simply trigger a small chuckle.
My ego — so necessary to a writer — leads me to write this blog. I do hope you enjoy reading it.