My Aim

It probably began in grade school: my inability to move forward with any writing endeavor until I had the ideal title. The best fit for my unwritten words. The impeccable paraphrase. 

Perfectionist behavior? Perhaps. Procrastinator behavior? More likely.

But there's something magical about a title. And when I know I have found the right one, all the words that had been tumbling around in my head fall in line like soldiers and come marching beautifully across the page. My heart keeps time, and when I feel I have said everything I've wanted to say, it's as if I've just started breathing.

... that may or may not be why it has taken me so long to start my first blog ...

Thing is, as every journalism-trained writer knows, titles are the first element about your work that will be changed. Same is true for novelists. That snappy title that gets you moving is almost never the title that ends up on the cover or above the fold. So all the hours I've spent toiling over the "perfect" blog title (only to find most of them are taken), have been wasted. I have finally come to terms with it.

I've abandoned my lofty dreams of originality and my secret thoughts about creating a year 2020 cliché-caliber word connection, and have instead settled on a song title. Cliché to the core. But it's not a random selection. It means something to me.

I've loved this Elvis Costello song since the very first time I heard it. It's funny. It's romantic. It's cynical. It's silly. And I love it. All of it. It was one of the first songs that brought lyrics to my attention in a way that made me think. 

I also know I am "writing" a book every day. We all are. To record those experiences and share them with others in a way that connects with them, makes them laugh/feel/think/learn, that's the goal of this blog. And on a personal level, I hope this body of work acts as that "perfect title" for me as a writer. A beginning. One that might get cut or changed or forgotten, but that ends up leading to something great.

It's funny ... a friend once told me that, these days, Costello actually hates singing "Every Day I Write the Book" because it has become such a cult favorite that he has to sing it ad nauseum; and it might not reflect the artist he is today ... Well, I kinda love that, too. Makes him a bit of a perfectionist. Don't you think?