A Beginning

I'm going to start by saying that I know I'm not original. Starting this thing was an idea inspired by Jo...she inspires most of my semi-public writing, so it follows.

That point made, I feel I ought to explain the title I chose for my *gulp* Blog [I've completely caved to internet trends...a blog! how embarrassing--yet fun at the same time]. So...on with it...my title.

As many of you know [I'm assuming only my friends will ever bother to read this], I took a class on Buddhism in Literature last semester, and not only loved it but absorbed and was inspired by many of the ideas I came across in my reading and discussion. I went so far as to post little excerpts from my notes by my desk, and when I find myself being completely irrational or stupid I read through them and remember that, at one time, I wasn't a complete idiot. That I actually had legitimately good thoughts. Anyway, one of these postings is "Belief and Technique for Modern Prose: list of essentials," by Jack Kerouac. It's an incredible list of guidelines for writing and, in my opinion, for living. Though my admiration for Jack Kerouac has dwindled since reading On the Road, this particular bit of his work still finds its way into my mind's ramblings. Of course, this may be because it's hanging right in front of my face whenever I sit in front of my computer. Possibly.

So, this list. It's fantastic [I'm not going to put the whole thing here, because I'm lazy and that would take up a lot of time and space, but I'm hoping that if I hype it up enough you'll be inclined to spend a little energy and google "Jack Kerouac Technique for Modern Prose"]. In trying to create a title for this online-journal-blog-thing-whatever-the-hell-it-is, I racked my brain for something clever, but accessible...I considered all the screen names I ever had, and rejected all...I went through my list o' words and picked out a couple I could use, but rejected those, too, because I didn't want people to have to use a dictionary just to understand my heading...I even considered naming the site after inanimate objects within my sight [ Blueberry. Bottle. Rosebud Salve. Crumpled Napkin.] Finally, I read through the papers hanging from my desk hutch, which, if you haven't understood already, include Jack Kerouac's list of essentials. I figured one of the ones underlined in my purple ink would be appropriate. "Be in love with yr life" No...that wouldn't quite match the usual tenor of my writing. "Blow as deep as you want to blow" No...that could be misinterpreted. "Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition" No...it would provide an excuse for my rambling and badly punctuated writing, but would bore the reader so much that they'd never want to read the actual blog. "Accept loss forever" No...one of my favorites, but where "be in love with yr life" was too happy to be the heading for my collection of thoughts, "accept loss forever" was just a bit too depressing. A bit.

Finally, I came to it. "Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind." Perfect. This is what I want my writing to be: an attempt to put on paper the pattern of thought and feeling that is contained--imprisoned--in my head.

And so, after much digression and perhaps a few unnecessary words/sentences/paragraphs, I have achieved my goal and shown you how I chose the title that I did. It was cruel of me to leave the explanation until the end, but, as some people like the sound of their own voice, I like the feel of my own writing. It's basic human vanity. You must understand.

I hope that I will, at some level, be able to "sketch the flow" in future entries, but it remains to be seen if I'll even remember I have a blog, come tomorrow.