Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Writing.



A few weeks ago I stopped writing my main and oldest blog, sixtyfivewhatnow. It no longer called me to the keyboard every morning before my first cup of coffee. It had a commitment that weighed me down.

Did I have a responsibility to continue?

Some readers had come and gone; some joined without ever leaving a message. Just a handful had been with me from the beginning. I will continue to follow their writings and discover with them what it means to be alive. (Some shared their voyage through the dark days to their death. The most beautiful writing I've ever known: Moanie, Tessa, Renee.Thank you. Your courage and grace and loving souls are gifts for eternity.)

I navigate this intricate world I inhabit, internally and externally by writing about it, by connecting as much as possible to my deepest core. I write to understand and to embrace this sublime act of living.
This is all we owe to ourselves, and to our readers.


21 comments:

  1. Beautifully stated, Rosaria and so true. Your responsibility is to yourself. When you're happy with what you express, then that's what the rest of us want to read.

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  2. true...i think it was good that you changed your venue...a fresh page for a much different journey...and you will write yourself through it...i know i have...i have nothing to compare to what you went through but have lost those close to me and its hard...i'll be along for the journey...

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  3. I hear you. I have a responsibility to my own writing, and the discipline of a blog is a good one for me. I have good friends in this community and have shared the joys and sorrows of my life and theirs.

    I'm glad you are still present for me.

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  4. I loved both of your blogs Rosaria but I can barely manage one blog so I can't imagine trying to have two blogs. I'm just glad I found your blogs and you.

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  5. I enjoyed your blog, but I certainly never thought that you had a responsibility to continue it if it was no longer rewarding for YOU. If you find that you want to go back to it eventually, that will be fine, too. One of the big advantages of these voluntary blogs is that the decisions are ours. Your writing is so real that we know you're serious about it, and because we know that, we respect your decisions.

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  6. you use such a small word, rosaria, all we owe to ourselves...and yet, my god, how we owe this to ourselves. it is an act of vigilance. (i laugh. i stop and look at us, at you and i, and i laugh some more. are we bonkers? are we zealots at getting at a truth? i think this must be so and so it is, we are bonkers together.)

    i have fallen out of blogging in the old way as well, and fallen deeper into learning...i hope...but who knows? trying to pay attention though, perhaps learning along the way.

    i hope you always continue to share the madness of your true life.

    and yes, those women...examples for us all and so much more)))

    xo
    erin

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  7. I always look forward to your wisdom...I sometimes skip posting on my blog, but it often calls me back.

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  8. I agree. The old titled implied you were wondering what next. It seems we all start for different reasons, those of us who stay with it discover we are writing life--the search, the find, the loss, the gain, the wonder, the sadness, the questions, the wisdom. That's why I write and keep reading blogs. we have created this beautiful community with each other.

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  9. A lot of truth and wisdom here, Rosaria. Fundamentally we write from within ourselves and for ourselves before we ever think of sharing what we write. We write because we want to, not in response to an external expectation. When it becomes a burden it stops being so fruitful, but it isn't always easy to recognise that and say Enough. You did and that was right for you.

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  10. I've been called truthful and wise; yet, I feel I lack so much, so often, that truth and wisdom must be ethereal, like drips of fog, never really caught for others, but experienced nevertheless in brief encounters. My mother was a ferocious truth teller; and for that quality I loved and hated her too. My father, on the other hand, was always fudging with truth; he lived in a fantasy world a lot of times, a fantasy that allowed him to do a tightrope act for everyone. I discovered both of these truths when I wrote my memoir, right here in Blogland. I discovered the complexities of life, the enormous truths we never allow ourselves to embrace.

    We need to navigate strange chasms; we need to hold hands and tell ourselves lies to get through our fears and resistance.

    But, we can never know the truth if we don't name it.

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  11. I love reading this blog and your 'Brian' blog ... you do have a rare gift .. I would miss reading your posts. Letting go of Living Boldly was easy for me .. it had become more burdensome than enjoyable. Re: Poetry Matters I enjoy the 'brain exercise' it gives me. I know most of what I write lacks substance. I should be embarrassed to hit the 'publish' button .. though I continue to press it.

    PS: How does Blogger decide when we have 'too many' photos .. how many are too many? You aren't the first person I follow who has been forced to pay .. or as a result has let go of his/her blog.

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  12. I first 'met' you by reading "sixtyfivewhatnow." The title caught my eye somewhere in blogland. Then, I stopped reading it for some reason and mostly read you on this blog. I wondered how you could maintain several blogs. I have such a hard time with just one. Writing a blog should not be chore, nor should it be a response to others. We connect. We share. We learn from each other. We grow from what we read on the blogs of others. You have a gift for writing. I love reading what you write. I hope someday you compile it all into a book.

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  13. I enjoy reading whatever you write -- and have been following you ever since 'sixtyfivewhatnow' was mentioned in 'Blogs of Note' (which seems to have disappeared). Your writing really gives of yourself and I get a real sense of your 'presence' when I read what you have to say. I find you to be very inspirational and hope that you will continue to find a place in blogland that is appropriate for you.

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  15. You, a teacher, and a natural story-teller. You cannot help but write, I think. And thereby amuse and instruct us all, and share with us your "sublime act of living."

    Thank you.

    Christmas blessings, and Bear hugs, from the hibernating Bear a bit further North.

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  16. Writing to navigate, connect, understand, embrace — YES! The rooms may change in which we do it, but the writing goes on, for those all important reasons.

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  17. I enjoyed your SixtyFivewhatnow blog and enjoy this new blog now. Your have good creative and writing skills and should write to please yourself first. I started my blog for my grandchildren, to talk to them about my other country, but I have been writing more about my trips lately – mostly to keep them in my husband’s memory since he has been diagnosed with a memory illness. He also edits my posts, or checks my grammatical mistakes (it is a good exercise for him.) We all have various reasons to write but the responsibility is to ourselves and our own judgment as blog land is in constant movement – it is elusive at best.

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  18. "I write to understand and to embrace this sublime act of living."

    amen to that, dear rosaria. i know this is true, but i will try to keep it more in mind as i navigate this intricate world, as you so eloquently state. xoxo

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  19. Each beginning carries an end attached to it. Or a continuation, like in your case. I enjoyed reading your old blog, but I fully understood the reasons why you closed it. I'm already enjoying the new space. Many thanks.

    Greetings from London.

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