Monthly Archives: March 2010

I’m thrilled to call myself a professional writer. I am also thrilled to be finally earning my keep by the written word. For years when I worked another ‘day job’ in order to pay the bills my heart was not really in it. I yearned for a way to make my living through expressing myself and sharing my writing with the world.

My first step was this blog–actually an earlier version of this blog that I started in the fall of 1998, which was before the term ‘blog’ had even come into existence. That blog became a fabulous creative outlet for me and it allowed me to create a bit of a community with other writers and my visitors.

Now that writing for clients is my livelihood, I don’t want to lose that love and passion for it. I still keep a hand written journal, and I keep this blog to write about my take on the world, share my insights and musings and sound off when I need to. But sometimes I notice that when I write a lot on this blog or on Facebook and Twitter, it steals some of the passion from my personal journal practice.

I was listening to on of my favorite podcasts, Tranquility du Jour, and the hostess, Kimberly Wilson was discussing this phenomenon with her guest, Samara O’Shea, who is also a writer. Ms. O’Shea has written books about journaling and letter writing–two of my great loves. Listening to this episode was a gentle reminder that the hand written word should never get lost in the shuffle of iPhones, Twitter and Facebook. We should remember to take some time for quiet solitude where we can ‘unplug’ and write longhand in a journal and enjoy life as it is in each moment.

I love social media because I believe that it fulfills the promise of the Internet’s potential to bring people together, but I also closely guard my journal writing time, and taking the time to hand write letters to the people that I love.

So, don’t let email and Facebook messages take the place of writing letters and keeping a journal. Writing letters is a wonderful way to keep in touch with those you love in a very personal, intimate way. Keeping a journal is a way to keep in touch with yourself as you are right in this moment. I have 2 boxes of journals that I have kept since I was 14 years old. Every now and then I enjoy cracking one open and stepping into the life I was leading when I wrote that entry.

Life is short, but your life is precious and worth recording. Take a moment and write it down.

Yesterday, I attended the Baltimore Natural Hair Care Expo in Baltimore with a friend who also wears her hair natural. For my non-Black peeps, ‘natural’ for Black folk, refers to those of us who choose to not use chemicals to alter the natural texture of our hair. We let the natural texture that God blessed us with shine forth proudly.

The show took place at the Pikesville Hilton, and it looked like they got a nice crowd. There were so many people moving through that show that in places it was difficult to move around. But it was just lovely to be in the presence of so many other people who are embracing natural hair styles. I don’t think I’ve ever been in the same room with so many other people who had dreadlocs!

I collected a bunch of business cards, got some free samples of products I’d like to try and Rae and I both got a hand treatment using Ginger & Brown Sugar polish by Adiva. It felt just blissful on my hands as the sugar crystals gently exfoliated the dead skin from my hands and left them feeling silky smooth and moisturized. I will be snagging a jar of that stuff.

I met Pam, from Koils by Nature in person and thanked her for her lovely skin and hair care products that I ordered online from her. I found her on Facebook, and what drew me to her was her goal of getting on the Oprah Winfrey show. I recommend the Sweet Almond Joy body butter. It smells great, and leaves your skin feeling nourished and moist without feeling greasy.

We met authors, travel agents and natural/wellness providers as well. There is a similar event coming up in DC in April, so all of my local, natural peeps might want to check it out:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=262414266330&index=1

I awakened this morning to the sounds of the National Anthem being played over a P.A. system coming through my open window. I live a block form the course of the National Marathon that is going on today. While I love a good Marathon, it’s a bummer because I get trapped in my neighborhood–at least trapped from going into downtown–until about 2pm. And then when they re-open the streets, it’s absolute bedlam. Oy!

But maybe this year I will walk down to the course and cheer them on. These are people who are undertaking a great challenge and I wish that all of them could win. They’ve got picture perfect weather this year. It’s a nice and cool 47 degrees this morning and this afternoon’s high will be 74. By the time the majority of the runners reach the finish line it will be close to 60 degrees.

I’ve had a good week this week. I interviewed a promising new client, and made some good progress working on my own sites. On Thursday, I attended a local small business networking lunch where I made some good contacts and possibly got some good leads. I plan to attend more of their events because I really need to get out of the house more and interact with other human beings. Working from home has made me a bit of a hermit and I’m not liking it.

So, this spring my goal is to find at least one networking event each week to attend, which will give me some good local exposure and the chance to get out and talk to people and find out what’s on their minds.

While I have not been getting out of the house a lot, I do spend a good deal of time on Facebook. I use it for myself and for my clients, so I’m there a couple of times a day. I met this great guy named Avram Gonzales, who lives in Colorado and has embarked on this campaign that he is calling ‘Inspiraction,’ where he does something different each day and films it on his little camera. This is the video that drew me to him:

I just love his ebullient energy and his passion for living. At my age, I’m not going to be engaging in some of the activities that he does, but he is inspiring me nonetheless to not fall into becoming a stodgy old woman at the age of 42. He is inspiring me to get out there and do something different.

Have a fabulous week and figure out a way to do something different that shakes you out of your rut and shows you something that you’ve never seen about yourself before.