Write

Often when I come to write a blog post I have no idea what to say or write. I grope about for some interesting snippet to start with and am filled with self-doubt. Is my pottering about in the garden really that interesting, do people want to hear stories about cute things the cats did yesterday? Still indecisive, I look at the screen and see that black line of a cursor blinking sardonically at me.
When I finished university I really wanted to try to become a writer, but I wasn't bold enough or confident enough in my writing to really put myself out there. I did a few articles for an on-line magazine and then it all fizzled out. I got an interview for a "proper" job and suddenly saving for a mortgage became my number one priority. And now paying the mortgage has replaced that!

But I still have the desire to write, hence this blog where I can write what I choose - mainly my favourite topics; the cats, the garden and the house! Yet despite this I often feel disappointed by my blog posts, they always seem to lack a certain eloquence and flow. Occasionally I cringe inwardly at some of my prose, is it too gushy? Can you liken old nails hammered into aged wood to stars in a night sky?
A rather far fetched daydream of mine is to have my home featured in a magazine such as Country Living or Homes & Antiques but the amateur-ness of my writing and photography always stops me from contacting them and forwarding them my blog.
From high school English lessons I remember our teacher lecturing us to always read as much as possible, as the wider you read the better your vocabulary and writing style become; it seems like many things writing is a skill that needs to be nurtured.

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_with_Rosie

I have always read voraciously, currently I'm consuming with much delight Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. I adore his descriptions in this book which immediately transport me to a green and glimmering Cotswold valley amidst waist-high cow parsley with the sound of cuckoos calling in the trees. While in reality I'm actually whizzing along thorough underground dust and grime in a cylindrical London tube carriage; perfect escapism.
Books like this inspire me and remind me of how writing should be enjoyable. Sometimes I forget to put as much effort into my blog posts as I should but I must not allow that flashing cursor to have the last laugh!