The Blogging Dilemma

Lately, an old friend contacted me to tell me she has just started a blog. I have been meaning to pop over there, but I realized yesterday that I honestly haven't had the time because my mind is crammed with all the things on my to-do list. Morale of the story - I forgot. Until last night at any rate and that was because I couldn't sleep for thinking about my to-do list.

This made me realize how easy it is to start a blog and have no one read what you write. One of the main reasons is that if you don't read other people's blogs you don't have much chance of them taking the time to read yours. My busy schedule doesn't give me much time beyond the bracket I concede myself to read posts by agents who blog and the messages in all the writing lists I'm on. I use this blog mainly to keep writing, even when I'm not writing as much as I should.

Blogging, to many of us, is like being at the beach. You know you're expected to wade into the water, but you're not sure if you want to. You stick your toe in and then cringe as the water temperature clashes with that of your body. Then you look around. Everybody else is swimming and they seem to be enjoying themselves. You might as well join in. How long you stay in the water before you get goosebumps is another issue altogether.

Nephele Tempest has an interesting blog post at http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/ titled To Blog Or Not To Blog, where she discusses the utility of blogs for published authors and how a website may or may not be an interesting alternative.

If you're a writer or an aspiring one, go take a look.

On Queries

I'm working hard on my agent list before I start querying them with my novel. What I'm doing is so much on my mind that even when I sleep, I dream I'm on the Web surfing agent profiles and reading about them.

It feels good to have the buzz again.

Storytime

There was one particular cartoon I loved watching when I was a child. I think it's a Japanese production and the episodes were all about a particular bee called Maia and the other inhabitants of the woods. They're airing the episodes again on Italian TV and this morning, during breakfast the story of this particular episode, one I had never watched before, enchanted the writer in me in its perfect simplicity.

On one of their nature walks near a stream, a bee named Maia and her friends, another little bee and a grasshopper named Flip, come across a Mama snail trying to convince her three sons that they are now grown up enough to leave on their own. Around her, a group of insects protest that Mama snail is too hard-hearted to insist when the three little snails cannot stop crying and are begging her to let them stay.

Even the ugly old spider, who plays terrible music on a violin to confuse her prey and attract them into her web, says so. Mama snail is indignant at the accusations from the other insects, but wiser, and remains of the opinion that her offsprings must leave.

When Maia asks Flip why this is happening, Flip says it's the natural way of things. Children are born and their mother takes care of them with love, but there comes a time when they must leave the nest and strike out on their own. To hold them back would be a mistake. They must learn to face the world independently, for their own good as their mother will not always be there to protect them.

Maia tells the tiny snails that she, too, is still a young bee, but she faces the woods on her own, with the help of her friends. The three snails, however, are too afraid to leave their mother's side. They do not trust the unknown.While this discussion is taking place, a human throws a lit match into the scrub nearby and the woods catch fire. All the insects are trapped between the fire on one side and the spider's web on the other.

Mama snail starts inching towards the spider's web. If the spider eats her then she'll be satisfied and her children can pass through. But the idea seems too cruel to Maia. Flip is angry at the spider and accuses her of being heartless. But the spider says that if she felt sorry for every insect who appeared before her web she'd starve and be dead by now. Another of nature's undeniable truths.

Maia looks around for a solution and after much debate with her friends, she notices that a natural dam of sticks and leaves is blocking the stream water at one point. They work together to remove it and the water overflows the banks, putting out the fire. The woods are safe once more.

The insects rejoice in Maia's quick thinking. And the three little snails begin to hope that the world cannot be so cold out there if there are friends like Maia who will help them along the way. The fact that Maia is so independent makes them realize that they, too, must leave their mother's side and fend on their own.

Maia gives them hope and courage.

Fascinating!

Epitaph

My paternal grandmother died yesterday. We've been calling her nanna Cettina for as long as I can remember. She was 92 and the most vigorous person I've ever known. She was conscious to the last and I'm glad that I got to see her only days before she passed away.

There are two lovely childhood memories I forgot to mention in my previous post:

nanna Cettina making home-made ravioli filled with ricotta, just for me;

the way she always said she liked having me at her home when I was a little girl, because I didn't make a fuss and was always quiet and good company.

You were good company for me, too.

I love you nanna.

Favourite childhood memories

There are so many of these but some stand out more than others. Let's see...

Going to the beach with my grandfather...just me and him. He would watch me from the beach and let me swim to my heart's content. It was hard for me to explain I wanted to go with my friends when I was a teen, but he didn't need any explanation. I love you grandpa.

Playing at just about anything with my younger sister and my cousin at my grandma's house. We would use all her pasta to play house with. When she finally got to cook the pasta, it was always mixed LOL.

Playing 'tent' with my younger sister.

Looking for crabs with another of my cousins on lovely afternoons at the beach with my aunt.

Going out with the whole family and my very own uncle Sam. I truly loved him. We all did, but he passed away too soon.

Reading fairy-tales...oh, how I loved it. And not just the classic ones. All I ever got for my birthdays were books from my aunts and uncles because they knew how much I adored them. One of my fondest memories is of a family of mice living in a shoe with their tiny furniture and clothes :-).

Thinking little people lived inside a radio . I was very young here LOL.

Mum making us fries at home and putting them in a paper bag, as if we'd bought them from the take-away.

The film 'Grease' :-)

Roots

Roots. They form us, mould us into what we become as teenagers, grownups, adults. No matter how much we run from them, they always catch up. And that's not always a bad thing. In fact it can be good to realize how much of one's family one carries around. The place where I was born, the house I grew up in, the streets, the nooks and crannies, the scenery, the people, the mentality, the culture, the good side and the not so good side...they all add up to mix with the essence of me and make me who I am.

A person proud of her roots.

Pedestals & Co.

I heard a sentence that stuck with me today: "When someone puts you on a pedestal, the only way to go is down."

How many of us put others on a pedestal? People we care about, who can never live up to our ideal no matter how hard they try because as we all know, nobody's that perfect.

It happens all the time and is probably one of the major reasons for conflict in any relationship. Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, parents and their children, siblings, husband and wife, best friends - we all have expectations, hoping the other person will live up to the way we want them to be. When they don't it's a mammoth disappointment all around. It takes time to elaborate what happened and get over the hurt, until we realize that we're all just people. People who make mistakes.

We all deserve a second chance if we really want to make things work.

And this is what I want to write about in my next book. Thanks for tagging me Magnolia.