Racquel Writes!

I started a writing course last week, in fact, it is a Blog Writing course, it was entertaining and fun and I also learned a lot. It was great to be back in the classroom as a student. It was a bit challenging though because my chosen main subject topic didn’t always go well with the class exercises assigned during the 3-hour class period. I made it work though and was actually pretty damn proud of myself for the Blog ideas I came up with.

I learned last week that my Blog should have an objective and a theme. Really? How about if I just want to ramble and write about a myriad of subjects and topics because that’s what I intend to do here. I really don’t think I need to stick to one main theme to have a voice. Maybe this week I want to write about movies, maybe the week after I want to write about fashion, and maybe the week after that I want to write about sex. Why must I follow a set theme? I don’t want my Blog to be placed in a specific category and I think that is okay. The point of this Blog is to share my opinions – rants, raves, reviews and ramblings on everything, and I mean everything that matters to me; and even some things that don’t matter to me but I have an opinion about. How is that? I don’t need a theme, I don’t want to have a theme, I just want to write whatever whenever.

Am I being a rebel with that kind of attitude? Usually, I am a rule follower and I never want to be the troublemaker who doesn’t follow the rules. As it turns out my Blog Writing Instructor is a successful movie critic Blogger, who obviously knows what the hell she’s talking about; but not all the advice that she gave me I agreed with. Take for example; after another class assignment, where we were required to write 5 Blog ideas and relate it to our main subject topic. Well the theme the Instructor gave us was “The 4th of July” and earlier in the class, the main subject topic I had chosen was “my husband”. If I had any idea my main subject topic would follow me throughout this entire course I probably would have picked something else. I struggled for a minute with coming up with Blog ideas that combined my hubby with the 4th of July and I finally came up with the following:

1. How do I get my hardworking husband to commit to hanging out with friends when he just wants to relax at home on the 4th of July?
2. Planning a 4th of July BBQ with my very anti-social husband, who detests entertaining.
3. Convincing my husband that going to see the movie “The Purge” is not a true 4th of July Holiday tradition.
4. Reminiscing on our first 4^th of July date on Fairfield Beach in Connecticut, where we watched the most amazing fireworks display.
5. Explaining to my husband that he should accompany me to my niece’s, birthday party, who is born on the 4^th of July, is a good thing even though she’s my niece from a previous marriage.

Well, my instructor liked it, she said my Blog ideas were good but she also warned me to be a bit more positive with my Blog. Wait! What? I believe she said, “You should try to keep your Blog positive.” My interpretation of that was that my ideas were too negative. I wasn’t feeling that critique at all.

I write based on my emotions and sometimes I might write when I am high on life and another time I might feel like writing when I’m in a sucky, fucked up mood. That’s life, right? We are not happy, smiley, giddy with contentment all the damn time. I felt like I should have objected to the “more positive” comment critique but I didn’t because she was going around the classroom and the truth is that I did not want to take up too much of her time on my work when my classmates were waiting to hear from her. So the question now is do I send her an email letting her know how I feel /felt? She gave us her personal email and said we could email her anytime, in fact, she encouraged it. Or do I just let that shit go? Since I am a grown woman who is going to Blog about whatever the hell I want whenever the hell I want depending on my mood.

I have always enjoyed writing and it has always been a hobby of mine, but I am not a professional writer and by no means am I holding myself out as one. The objective of my Blog is to gripe and opine about my personal experiences while offering a bit of entertainment, maybe even peppered with a little humor, if I’m in the mood. The reality is that I work in a very serious, tough profession. The practice of Law is very hardcore and I would like a hobby where I can express myself in a light-hearted fun atmosphere. I want my voice here to be real, yet fun, hence the reason I’ll try hard, very hard not to blog about Politics and or provide social commentaries on controversial topics; that’s not my style anyway. I will save my serious no-nonsense side for the Courtroom. Well, that’s my initial plan anyway but you and I know how quickly our intentions can change based on our day-to-day experiences. Who knows a right-winged Conservative or bleeding heart Liberal may piss me the fuck off and I might come here to vent (wink).

So what’d you think about my very first Blog post? Do you have any questions for me? I’d be happy to answer them. Any suggestions or comments? Play nice now…I can be a bit sensitive, as is obvious considering my reaction to my Blog Instructor’s critique.

I think one of the reasons I took so long to start my Blog, apart from me being a procrastinator, was the exposure it brings with it. Public blogging really opens oneself up to all kinds of criticisms, but I’m going to put on my big girl panties and make this thing work because this right here, what I am doing right now, is a bucket list item and I am happy I decided to go for it.

One Love,

Rakkelle