Writin' About the Big Stuff

I love to write. I love to make up stories, inspire others, make people laugh and to inform. I have a folder full stories I wrote as a child. I have numerous journals starting from about 3rd grade (oh those playground woes... they were brutal!) I remember the satisfaction after writing a really awesome paper for my classes in high school and college. I may have even fist-pumped after a few of them...

I started this blog in September for a lot of reasons. First of all, I was unemployed and searching Monster.com and working on my resume only took so much time. I had also caught the blogging bug from reading an article about Catholic mommy bloggers. It is my dream and vocation in life to be a mother, so I would spend hours reading about the blessed chaos of motherhood.

I knew I wanted to write about a variety of subjects. My big brother's blog, Roman Catholic Cop, inspired me to write on Catholic apologetics (which I haven't... I will explain later.) I wanted to write about tales of being a newlywed, a recent college grad with no job, and my future goals as a mom.

I started writing and thought, "Ugh.. my life is booooooooring." But in my head was a bunch of ideas just bursting to be put on the computer screen. Issues like being an orthodox Catholic in an overly secular world, birth control, abortion, my struggles with depression, apologetics, finances, pop culture... the big stuff.

There are two reasons I haven't gotten on my soap box.

First of all- I'm lazy. I want to spend a lot of time on these topics and choose my words carefully. That takes time, patience and discipline. But then Facebook, FailBlog and Awkward Family Photos get in the way of writing about important issues.

The second reason I haven't written on these topics is because I'm a coward. I stand by my beliefs and am not ashamed. However, I don't want to upset anyone or make people uncomfortable. I don't want anyone to argue with me because I am very uncomfortable with confrontation. Plus I have a bit of a temper and have a tendency to get carried away...

I've realized that no matter what "side" one writes for, there's going to be someone that isn't happy. Even if a mother writes on the subject of breastfeeding there is a possibility that she will be lambasted and scolded. If someone writes about depression there will be someone who thinks that author shouldn't be so "open" and let everyone who has a computer know their feelings.

So what does all this mean? Well, I'm going to put my big-girl pants on and get on the soap box a few times. The purpose of this blog is not to be soap-box-ish. I'd much rather write about stretch marks in pregnancy and my latest craving (pepperoni.... mmmmm...) But every once in awhile a sticky subject may come up. Will they make people mad? Perhaps. Is that my intention? Of course not.

I would love to be a free-lance writer. I don't think an editor will pick up my writings about my shopping trip last Thursday or my fears of my future child becoming an ax murderer. That means I need to branch out, get some courage, and work on my grammar and punctuation skills! (That also means I should lay off the FailBlog.....)