Lots of people say they want to be writers. And this used to make me panic a bit, actually, because I wanted to be a writer and I figured if everyone was a writer, I’d never get any work.

What I discovered, however, is that lots of people say they want to write, but very, very few of them will ever do it.

Phew! (Not to be all about me, but just for a second…)

As with anything, wanting to do something is not actually the same as doing that thing. No, really, hear me out on this: writers write. One more time (in case you are caffeine-deprived): writers WRITE.  You know, write? As in, words? On paper? Or a screen?

I am still near the beginning of my writing journey (about 100 blog posts, ~90 other web articles, some magazine article publication, a self-published ebook under my belt). So I am still learning, clearly. But I have noticed that real, live writers do two things:

1)  They write. I wrote very badly at first (note: I did not mention my 55,000 word really, really bad first draft of a novel in my writing journey. Because it’s horrible. No, I mean it.) And I didn’t write about anything that was all that interesting to anyone, either. I started writing on my personal blog about three years ago. I can’t even look back at those first posts because I’ll cringe. (You can, if you want, just don’t tell me how much hope they bring you, ‘k?) But I wrote. I started writing one post a week. And as I had more ideas, I wrote things on YourHub.com and some pay-per-click places (which I’ve made about 73 cents on). 

Writing requires practice. It’s okay if it’s terrible at first.  Let me re-phrase that; it will probably be terrible at first, so just get that part overwith. Blogging is one of the best ways I’ve seen to develop your own style and voice, so I recommend you start with that.

2) Writers hang out with other writers. Wait, let me amend that; published writers hang out with other writers. I started going to a local writing group LONG before I called myself a writer. In fact, it took a couple of published articles and attending the group off and on for two years before I could stutter out the words “I’m a writer”.

Writers tend to be fairly solitary critters. I think it’s because we are talking in our heads all the time and feel like live people are an interruption of the story or article going on internally. But how on earth are you going to learn about writing and publishing and how to normalize your feelings of “I write drivel! Pointless, crappy drivel! That no one will want to read!” Every writer feels that way, but you would know that if you went to a writing group. No one understands writers better than writers. Even if you have a fabulous person in your life who lets you talk through your really, really, really terrible story, they aren’t going to move you forward and improve your writing like other writers will.

If you want to write, you are meant to do it. You have a story to tell that the world needs to hear; whether it is on a blog, or in your local newspaper, or in a novel. If you want to write, write. And hang out with others who write, too.

© 2010, melissa caddell. All rights reserved. If you steal my stuff, I will also be really, really mad.

I know it’s a little late to be thinking of New Year’s resolutions—most people have pondered this and set their goals much closer to the beginning of January then the end.

But, I need a little more time to process what I am actually willing to do and I find that if I wait a few weeks and kick things around a little, I set more reasonable goals.

All that to say that part of my goals for this year revolve a bit around my blog.  There are a zillion blogs and I have kinda floated around for the last few years, not really knowing what I was doing with mine. 

I think if you read a post, you should get something out of it.  I read several blogs and I get practical info, inspiration,  and sometimes just a laugh.  I started thinking about what people were getting out of my blog, and what I wanted to focus on.  I’ve mostly written humorous posts about our life in the ‘burbs. And, really, there’s only so many of you who might give a click (hahaha!) about that.  I started to get a bit of traffic and realized that I had an obligation as a blogger to provide some value to the eyes hitting my pages.

There are so many things I am interested in at this point in my life that I had to really think about it.  I like writing the funny stuff, but I also spend a lot of my time thinking about other things—social justice, becoming a writer, spiritual stuff, marriage stuff, how a real family can lighten their environmental impact, mom stuff.

Mostly, I have thought about being intentional.  Living a life of intention through all those things I’m interested in.  Since our family life has changed so much in the past few months, it’s given me a chance to think about I really want for us—as a family, as individuals.  What we are meant to do with our lives.

I’d love it if you hung in there with me as I figure some of this out.  {cyber hugs}

© 2010, melissa caddell. All rights reserved. If you steal my stuff, I will also be really, really mad.

Just a little note to let you know that I haven’t posted anything since Nov. 1. I have no spare words. Here’s why:

http://www.nanowrimo.org

But here’s a freebie just for clicking by:

Overheard at Target this week as two women stood hip-deep in Christmas wrapping paper, making selections:

“This will clash under the tree, don’t you think?” As she held two contrasting rolls of paper up.

It has NEVER occured to me to color-coordinate wrapping paper under the tree. Never. I bet she doesn’t let her kids help hang the ornaments, either.

Jeepers.

See you in December!

© 2008 – 2009, melissa caddell. All rights reserved. If you steal my stuff, I will also be really, really mad.

(Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries, is open daily September 26 to January 4 at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science–no additional cost, included with general admission and free to members)

Okay, I am using the term “assignment” a bit loosely. The great moms over at Mile High Mamas asked for bloggers to review the new dinosaur exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I pretty much did the web version of “Ooo! Oooo! Pick me! Pick me!” So, it’s more like I volunteered. BUT, I am going to call it my first blogging assignment. :) ‘Cause, that would make me a bona fide writer, so I’m keepin‘ it.

All that to say, I got to take Sunshine, one of her best friends, Philip and his mom with me to the sneak peek reception. (This means, I had to find something to wear that didn’t especially shriek “suburban mom”, so that was fun and exciting. Grr. )

We are members of the museum and go every few months. We have yet to see everything in it, and it is a fun, interesting place for the whole family (Well, most of the time. Click here for my blog about our family trip to the Titanic exhibit).

However, I am not especially into dinosaurs, so I approached the exhibition with a wary eye. I don’t know much about dinosaurs. (Did you know that there is no such thing as a brontosaurus? Okay, it hasn’t been called that since like 1975. It is now called an apatosaurus. I am so far behind…) But I find research interesting and I’m a geek so I figured it would be fun.

We got there and we enjoyed the snacks at the reception (the dry ice in the lava punch was especially a hit). After the kids had sampled everything (multiple times), we headed to the 3rd floor where the exhibit was.

A couple of thoughts:

1) I think it would be a good idea to see the regular dinosaur exhibit, Prehistoric Journey, before you see the new one. It makes the new discoveries and research that much more impressive.

2) This is not an under 4ish event, unless your kid is REALLY into dinosaurs. If you actually want to see the exhibit, be prepared to do the kid swap and take your little one down to the Discovery Zone or their favorite part of the museum. There is a section of the new exhibit (almost at the end) where little ones can do research “digging” like a geologist/palentologist, but I think anyone under 3 would just throw handfuls of the sand stuff around. At least Toddler would.

3) It was neato to see how much dinosaur research is happening in Colorado!

4) The new technology and research scientists are doing is totally cool and really mind-altering. Well, if you are as far behind on dino research as I am. I found most of the sections pretty interesting. A couple of my favs were the Liaoning Forest diorama–which was almost breathtaking it was so lifelike and beautiful. There is a section called Walk This Way that demonstrates how dinosaurs walked that was really cool (and, I am happy to say, evidence suggests that T. rex couldn’t actually chase people down very fast, as in Jurassic Park–phew!).

4) The kids liked “all of it!” when asked (so helpful for my review). They (both aged 9) watched all the short videos, and stopped at the stations where they could touch stuff. They spent quite a bit of time watching the computer simulations of how the dinosaurs might’ve become extinct. Digging at Dinosaur Gulch lasted about 10 minutes and they happily got their free cast of a fossil at the end of the exhibit.

All in all, a worthwhile experience for both dinosaur enthusiasts and not. Plan to take about 1-1.5 hours to complete the exhibit, not including the new IMAX movie Dinosaurs ALIVE (which was not available to review when we visited).

© 2008 – 2009, melissa caddell. All rights reserved. If you steal my stuff, I will also be really, really mad.