Sunday Scribblings #134 - Bragging

This week Sunday Scribblings: bragging.

"I don't like myself. I'm CRAZY ABOUT MYSELF!" -- Mae West

What's awesome about you? You can pick one awesome thing, or list as many as you can. Don't be shy!

I've never been good at bragging about myself - bragging about my children, that's a big YES! But bragging about myself is hard. Although I dabble in any number of things, I wouldn't say I was profeccient at any of them.

One thing I am really proud of is the monthly column I write in the Mercer's Magazine, a subsidiary of our local newspaper, The Harrodsburg Herald. I have been writing personal essasys in the magazine for over 12 years, with no signs of slowing. Although I get much positive feedback from my family and other readers, I mainly write the column for me. It is a personal way for me to relate the memories of my past.

Recently, I've become involved in a writing workshop at the local public library. The gentleman leading the class has been very informational and he has helped me improve my writing tremendously. Last night, I was invited to attend a meeting of his personal writing group - a group of writers from the community who have been meeting together for years. After much soul searching to overcome my anxiety, I made myself attend. I'm so glad I did.

I have never been much of a social butterfly, but in the three years since my baby sister died, I've been hiding away more than usual. I realized this summer if I was ever going to break out of the comfort zone I have surrounded myself with, then I was going to have to become social again. This has been a slow, agnoizing process for me.

I first started my blogs, mainly to get my work out into the universe of the world wide web. By doing this, I was moving out of my comfort zone, but not far enough for me to interact with people face-to-face. After a few months of blogging, I joined my first face-to-face book club. I had been reading the monthly books all year, but hadn't the courage to attend. One month this summer I challenged myself to go, and I have been attending for the past four months. Each month, my comfort level grows and grows.

My next step was signing up for the afore mentioned writer's workshop. I had tried this several years ago, but dropped out after the first class. This time I was determined to stick with the entire 8-week course. I am proud to say I am 6 weeks into the course and loving every minute of it. I have become comfortable with the other participants and we are starting to share ideas.

So you see, attending the writer's group last night was another big step for me. I wasn't totally comfortable being with people I didn't know (although I did know about half of the people), but I will continue to attend. It may not be bragging, but I'm proud of the efforts I have made this year, and I plan to continue working on putting myself into the public eye.

Who knows? Maybe I can make myself participate in a poetry/short story reading that will be taking place in our community the weekend after Thanksgiving. I couldn't make myself attend the last public reading, but with the encouragement of my new friends, I may give it a whirl.

Pride in myself is a hard pill to swallow, and bragging just makes the pill much harder to go down.

Write On Wednesday

Becca at Write On Wednesday had the following writing prompts for this Wednesday:

How about you? Do you consider yourself a writer? Do you think blogging is “real writing?” What does it take to be a “real writer”?

I have just recently started calling myself a writer. I written articles for the local paper for 12 years, but always considered my "main" job as an RN my "real job". However, writing has started to consume more and more of my life - and I don't consider it work. Writing is what I do for a living - it's what makes me, me.

Yes, I do consider blogging as writing! Blogging is the main reason I now call myself a writer. If it wasn't for the hours I spend at my keyboard updating several blogs, I'd probably lose my mind!

To me, a writer writes - and that's what I do! So I think a writer should spend part of the day honing their craft and then trying to get it out into the world for others to read. At least, that's my hope with the writing I do. I don't write to be famous or publish lots of books (although I can't wait to get that first one published), I write because if I didn't, I think my mind would explode.