Blogging about Everything Is Blogging about Nothing

I thought when I started this blog that it would be a good catchall - pics from my recent vacation or nature photos, thoughts that I needed to write down or ideas I needed to hash out for my book, and so forth. But it turns out that having a blog with no focus is the same as not having a blog because you never know what to write about so you just don't.

I guess the smartest thing for me to do here is to blog about my writing. Although I certainly don't want to take time away from my writing to do more writing... but if it helps me get back on track, it's worth it. We'll see.

I was rereading everything I had written and a certain scene and some lines stood out to me. I wrote these many months ago (this is a hint of how little I've written in the past months). One of my characters says, "There's a reason they call it falling. Falling in love is something that happens whether you want it to or not." (Want to know who says it? You'll have to wait and read the book to find out.)

I believe this statement to be true. When was the last time you fell in love? Was it yesterday? Or was it twenty years ago? Or are you one of those lucky souls who falls in love with your significant other every time you see him or her again? Maybe you have fallen in love with a new baby, or maybe you went on vacation and fell in love with a place. Even an idea that you can't stop thinking about can be something you fall in love with. Falling, like an earlier blog I wrote about Lucia Joyce, is something that is out of your control.

When I visit national parks and step out of my car or pause on the trail and stand back and gaze at the vista, whatever feelings rush at me are out of my control. It is simply the way I instinctually feel about something. I suppose I could stand there and stare at the reddish depths of the Grand Canyon and try to find fault. Or I could try to devalue the beauty of Glacier National Park by saying, "Sure, it's lovely in August, but the rest of the year it must be a nightmare." That's not really being true to myself, though. Authentic and pure emotion is part of what makes these trips around the sun worthwhile. Falling can be frightening or blissful, but it's always a rush.