Valuable but small
Do you ever wish you could be friends with a fictional character? I do. I wish it very often. But I’d say my longing is the very strongest when it comes to my very favorite bookstore-owning, New York-dwelling, Pride and Prejudice-loving kindred spirit: Kathleen Kelly. You know, of the little bookstore. She’s a delight. And I like to think that, if she really existed, we would be fast friends and would discuss children’s literature and the risk of writing and the merits and dangers of technology and much, much more over a cup of tea. At least weekly.
I’ve seen You’ve Got Mail too many times to count, and none of them particularly recently, but I could recite it in my sleep. And there’s a wistful, musing line of Kathleen’s that has been echoing in my mind lately:
Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life—well, valuable but small—and sometimes I wonder: do I do it because I like it, or because I haven’t been brave?
It’s been a year since my last blog refresh, since my halting commitment to post weekly, since throwing to the wind the comfort of writing sporadically in favor of discipline, routine, expectation. I may have missed a week or two (or five, but who’s counting?), but I’ve been happy to say this has indeed been an exercise in bravery, and in broadening, ever so slightly, my small life.
And not unlike Kathleen, I wonder about my life sometimes. Well, most times. I wonder about its size and its scope and the direction it’s taking. And I’ve had this persistent inkling for a while now: I want to take the next step with my blog. That inkling has not allowed me to forget it, or disregard it, or rest. And, to be perfectly frank, I’m still contemplating what it means. But here’s what I’ve got so far. (And I’m excited.)
A new domain: emmabdickinson.com. No more of this emmabdickinson.wixsite.com/abundant-life nonsense. Much too complicated. I'm moving on to shorter and better things.
A new day: Friday. From now on, I’ll be posting on Fridays, not Saturdays. You know why? Because my Saturday posting was feeding my procrastinating, last-minute, “I work better under pressure” nonsense. And I’m moving on. So I’ve actually scheduled an evening, each and every week, to write. I’ll write posts days in advance, with time to ponder and proofread and plan. Imagine.
A new dream: well, a mystery. A mystery to some degree, but what I do know is that it involves you. Yes, you! I’ve long been wondering who’s on the other side of the screen. Who’s reading this? And what do they think? Can they relate? Does this strike a chord? This is the most ambiguous of all my steps, but what I do know is that my posts will now contain a little addition: a question at the bottom! I want to hear from you, I do.
To be fair, this isn’t an entirely new dream. Exhibit A:
All still very, very true.
A new design. (But you already knew that.)
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So, tell me. Do you love it? Hate it? Is there something you’d like to see more of? Did you just stumble upon this space for the first time, or have you been reading silently for months, waiting for an invitation to make yourself known? (This is it.)
Whoever you are, I’d just love to hear from you.
