The Type of Author...

I've been thinking about this post on The Type of Author I Want to Be, on Deborah Burns' blog.  It made me think about my blog.  I like having a blog -- even if it took me a good hour to figure out how to put that clickable side-banner up.  When I comment on other blogs, having it link back here makes me feel like I'm a real person, part of the discussion, except...

...I don't really discuss.  I link to things here, but what can I add?  There are lots of talented people with more credentials than me writing about writing.  If you've missed them, The Other Side of the Desk and Writing Excuses are my two favorites.

But Deborah made me think.  I follow a number of people on Twitter, but I've never written a single tweet.  Maybe I'd just be talking to myself, but Deborah's post made me feel like I should be talking to myself more articulately.

What can I articulate, though, that isn't being said?

I'm primarily a stay-at-home mom.  I plot while I change diapers, read stories, and sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  Being a mom keeps teaching me about writing (and not just the part where both need patience).  I recently blogged about how watching the same movie over and over with my toddler really let me pick apart the scene structure and how the conflict, goals, and stakes were developed.  I also often think about how cultures percieve the world as I watch my baby work on language development.

Maybe that's the linguist in me -- I find it fascinating that my youngest calls his brother's pillow "my pillow" because that's what his brother calls it.  We have all these words for frame of reference -- my, yours, hers, Mom's, Megan's -- that can all denote the same thing.  How do babies learn this complicated system?  Take it one step further, and...how can I use this to develop an alien culture, or an interesting fantasy culture that uses frame of reference differently?

I'm going to keep posting links to cool stuff, and updating news when I have it, but at least twice a month, I'm going to add something from myself -- how changing diapers reminds me to use all the senses in description.  How a babbling baby makes me brainstorm alien societies.  I don't usually write stories about mothers, but being a full-time mom keeps teaching me about writing, patience, and what's important.