I. Love. Writing.

To quote a great many bloggers, I'm sorry I haven't posted for so long. I was doing school and doing it very slowly because I got bored but still wanted to be thorough. And, alas, I became suddenly and unexpectedly addicted to Lost. Both gift and curse, all seasons are available, and I consumed them in mere weeks. That's my favorite way to watch a series. I wait till it's complete. That way, if I like it, I can watch as much as I want. With a series as intensely addicting as Lost, though, my methods backfired, I became insane, and I fell behind on a lot of activities. So obviously, events beyond my control conspired against me. . . Actually, I'm just weak.

I want to blog about many issues welling up in my head, but I'll start with something easy, my love of writing.

Typically, my Stages of Writing go like this:

Stage 1 I metaphorically spill out everything in my head, all my thoughts on the subject. Word falls next to word, the topic's hot on my mind, I can't type fast enough. My feelings find words, my repressed snark finds freedom, my ideas find visible form, my voice breaks free, my thoughts burst out, eleven lightning bolts strike a single puddle, and it's very cathartic.

Stage 2 I revise. I revise the content, taking out anything inappropriate, usually topic-wise. I WANT to put in those irrelevant tangents, but there's always another post for them. After cutting, I revise style. I rearrange building blocks, shorten anything possible, clarify anything necessary, insert transitions, move phrases around in sentences and sentences around in paragraphs and paragraphs around in posts, find what works best, and make it sound good, with a bit of rhythm. I don't work as hard at this as I did in Composition class three years ago, because it can become tiresome, but overall? I'm forced to muster my creativity as I rebuild, clarify, and beautify a post. I love it. When revision's done, the post should please people to read, just for the sound of it. More than that, I should better understand my own thoughts, feelings, arguments, and opinions. Have you ever started a post not knowing quite what you thought and finished the post having figured it out? I have. It's a symbiotic relationship. The brain supplies the writing, and the writing organizes the brain.

Stage 3 I publish. It used to be hard to reveal secrets on the Internet. Not secrets like my address, which would be stupid. But secret thoughts and emotions. It still scares me a bit, but it's been very therapeutic so far, just feeling like someone knows how I feel, someone hears me. I never intend to leave blogging for good, no matter how long my irresponsible absences.

Thanks for sticking around, you patient readers of magnificent taste, you.