The Writing
I’ve been writing since I knew how to form words using pencil and paper, which began over 25 years ago. It’s always been second nature to me, and I always have something to say. (I didn’t earn the nickname “motormouth” for nothing!) Over the years, I’ve found that the best way to express my thoughts, especially when others can’t (or won’t) listen is through writing. It’s my creative outlet.
When I was a teenager, the very first technological device I acquired was an electronic typewriter. It wasn’t your typical typewriter because you didn’t have to manually push the slide back in place at the end of each line, and it even had a backspace button that would erase the last character. I eventually traded it for a word processor. Unlike the typewriter, the word processor printed in color and had pictures that were equivalent to a low-end version of clipart. I was really moving up in the world! In late middle school I started learning how to type and caught on very quickly. I was excited at the prospect of being able to record my thoughts more quickly (and without the cramping pain in my left hand!). Once I learned to type, it only accelerated my writing. At one point, I was able to type an average speed of 100+ words per minute!
Over the years, my writing has come in several different forms. When I was very young, I wrote my own books. When I began kindergarten all the way through high school, most of my writing was in the form of book reports (one of my favorite assignments!), term papers, and other school-related projects. I also wrote in a diary or journal. I was always writing.
As I was writing this blog entry, I became curious as to the actual difference between a diary and a journal. I found this article, which was extremely insightful, and couldn’t help but share! For me, the main difference between a diary and a journal is what I’ve chosen to reveal in each. My diaries were typically kept under lock and key because they held sensitive and specific information about my life. I use journals more for “musings” as this article refers to them, drawings, pictures, to-do lists, etc. More insight on journals will follow in a future blog post!
Many of the books I wrote as a kid I illustrated myself. There was something invigorating about drawing pictures with crayon – or colored pencil when I was really feeling fancy! – on notebook paper that made more sense of the stories I was writing. When I was all done with these books (and sometimes even before that), I would bind them with string and tape. Wow, what a sense of accomplishment when each little bundle was complete!
Since I always kept a personal record of writings when I was younger (and was so consistent with it), I now have a series of diaries and journals, and I’ve created a list of volumes to keep them organized by date. Some of these volumes date back to the late 80s! I’m now really interested to go back and read them all. And I plan to as a result of this blog post! I know I’ll find lots of inspiration there, and it’ll bring back a wealth of memories.
The Inspiration
Remember the black and white composition notebooks? I have only fond memories of those thanks to a fantastic third grade teacher who taught the importance of writing early on. Her writing class was so much fun! Once or twice a week, she would assign a topic, pass out our composition books, and tell us to write whatever ever came to mind. We would spend an hour with our imaginations running wild while recording our ideas into the notebook. My teacher would collect our books, and take them home to read our entries, then bring them back the next time we had an in-class writing assignment. The first time we completed this exercise, I was thrilled to see that she had written a note in my book after my first entry! She responded very positively to my writing and provided lots of feedback. It doesn’t sound like much, but she created a spark, an excitement for me to continue writing. And from there, I could hardly wait until the next writing assignment. The back-and-forth writing continued that school year, and it was by-far my favorite thing about elementary school.
The first validation I received from my peers was when I wrote about my aunt’s house in Alabama that I believed to be haunted. I experienced and saw things that were unlike anything I’d ever known before. (I wish I could find that story!) It was passed around my elementary school, and word spread like wildfire until everyone had read it. My readers were intrigued by the story because it’s something they had perhaps never experienced before.
The Name
I came up with the tagline, “A little caffeine and Philippians 4:13” before the blog name. It made naming the blog more transparent and a bit easier because I knew my “why.” Ultimately, I wanted to communicate the “can-do” attitude with a coffee twist. When the original domain and name I wanted wasn’t available, I was disappointed…at first. Now I’m incredibly thankful that didn’t work out because there was still more to come before my blog would have a name. I was going to cross paths with a sweet lady who would have a huge impact, more than she will ever know!
The Story
A couple months ago, my team leader commissioned my husband and me to sell a vehicle for him. He’d bought a Jeep, and according to him, if he didn’t pay someone to sell his old truck, it’d still be sitting in his driveway. Sure enough, the truck sat in his driveway until we picked it up! We were very thankful for the opportunity to earn a little extra cash.
We listed at a non-negotiable price on a Saturday, and if it weren’t for the firm price, we would’ve sold it the same day. We were fine with waiting a little longer to get the price (and the commission) we wanted. We knew what the truck was worth, that we were asking a fair price, and that just the right buyer would come along. We had lots of interest and at least one showing per day until it sold.
On the following Wednesday afternoon, I got a text with a full-price cash offer. The cynical side of me wrote it off as too good to be true since I’d already received several of those texts before, and they’d turned out to be just as I thought. But something seemed different this time. The buyer who was next up fell through, so I called Mr. Full-Price Cash Offer Text Message to give him more information and set up a showing for that same evening – he was definitely a serious (and motivated) buyer. He was also driving from at least 30 minutes away.
We met husband and wife Terry and Robin a few short hours later. Terry took a few minutes to look it over, and then said, “Want to take it for a drive?” His wife Robin responded, “Yes, just let me grab my purse out of the car…” and Terry said, “No,” pointing to my husband, “with him.” While the guys took the truck for a spin, Robin and I, of course, started talking about cars. I told her how we’d bought a 1996 Saturn (the one from this post). I explained how that car was a blessing because that’s how my husband taught himself to do mechanic work. She thought about what I’d said, and then responded, “You said the car was a blessing. Are you a Christian?” to which I answered, “Why yes, I am!” With a chuckle, she said they liked doing business with Christians. Good! When Terry got back, they put a good-size cash deposit down, and he came with the rest of the cash when he and a buddy picked up the truck the next day.
Weeks later I was still thinking about Robin’s and my conversation. It so inspired me. What did “blessed” really mean? I thought about the hustle and bustle of life. People are always encouraging us to “stop and smell the roses,” but we’re busy. But just because we’re busy doesn’t mean we can’t be blessed. And actually, because we’re busy we are blessed! Eventually it materialized – the name for my blog, a name that envisioned everything I was hoping for and aligned with the tagline. Finally. The blog had a name!
The End…or just the Beginning
Writing book reports and term papers, keeping diaries and journals, recording musings on whatever device I had available at the time…creative outlet or not, now I’ve come to realize that those were only the beginning. They were just practice for this blog, my audition for whatever else I’m meant to write!
