A friend of mine one talked about how if you gather enough of something together, it doesn’t matter what, it will be valuable.<\/p>\n
“If you gather a whole bunch of dirt, that is valuable, and you can find a way to make money off of it.”<\/p>\n
My husband likes to say “Quantity has a quality of it’s own.”<\/p>\n
Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers came up with the idea that 10000 hours of doing something makes you an expert.<\/p>\n
So.<\/p>\n
I have been doing this blog for 15 years now. It’s likely that with this blog and the other writing project I have done I have achieved the magical and mythical 10 thousand hours.<\/p>\n
But when I started this blog, it went something like this:<\/p>\n
Chris: THere is a new thing. People are writing journals online.<\/p>\n
Me: Oh, I’ve seen that before, like on geocities.<\/p>\n
Chris: This is bigger than that. There is a separate platform for it. It’s a web log, but they have shortened it to Blog.<\/p>\n
Me: What?<\/p>\n
Chris: The platform is called blogger. You should check it out.<\/p>\n
I was for too busy. I was finishing my long delayed senior year of colllege. I had finals and graduation coming up.<\/p>\n
but the idea intrigued me. ANd he showed me the platform.<\/p>\n
Me: This is amazing. I could do this after I’m graduated. But only if I could have a cool name. Is Wonderblog available?<\/p>\n
It was. And the original Wonderblog was born.<\/p>\n
15 years and more than 2 thousand entries have passed. Blogger, Type pad, WordPress and 2 personal domains later, it’s survived a lot of changes.<\/p>\n
It went dark because of persecution, but never completely. I have loved it truly and never let it too far from my thoughts.<\/p>\n
I love how this is MINE, how I will say whatever I want or need to. And some truly beautiful words have come out of this exercise.<\/p>\n
It’s been a beautiful anchor in my life. And I know that it’s impacted the lives of the readers. I know because a few of your write to me every month and tell me so.<\/p>\n
Thank you for appreciating my art.<\/p>\n
And now I turn this around to you. The small thing, the almost-whim that we choose, and keep choosing, adds up. My choice to do this work of wonder that I do was not unique. So many people make the same sort of choice.<\/p>\n
This.<\/p>\n
And his again.<\/p>\n
For me it is words. And for you it could be something else.<\/p>\n
Let it be. Let the efforts and practicing pile up.<\/p>\n
They will, if you follow the small desires.<\/p>\n
And it is rather satisfying, to have a body of work.<\/p>\n
Thank you for sharing it with me.<\/p>\n
What is your body of work? Write me back and tell me, if you want. I’ll be glad to celebrate it with you.<\/p>\n
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A friend of mine one talked about how if you gather enough of something together, it doesn’t matter what, it will be valuable. “If you gather a whole bunch of dirt, that is valuable, and you can find a way … Continue reading