The big 101

So this is my 101st blog post. Yes, I know most people would have made a big deal about the 100th post, but me, I'm a rebel. I'm all about the 101. It has nothing whatsoever to do with forgetting about the 100th post until I'd already written the last post. Nothing at all. Like everything in my life, this is exactly how I planned it. Yeah. We're going with that.

Anywho, 101 posts. Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal out there in the blogosphere, but for me, the girl with the big ideas and no follow-through, 101 is a big deal. Since I began the blog last April, I have dutifully blogged almost every week and would now consider myself a regular blogger. More importantly, I think this qualifies me as a writer because, as I tell my students regularly, "You can't call yourself a writer unless you write, but if you write, then you are a writer."

I was talking with a girlfriend recently about why I started the blog, and there are a lot of reasons. The most obvious reason is that it will be really fun to have a record of Ella's childhood when she gets older- all the little things she said and did that pictures can't show and that we will inevitably forget. But, the blog is not just for her, it's for me, too. Since childhood I've seen myself as a writer. I use to take my notebook out into the woods and write stories about princesses with long blonde hair who live in magical kingdoms. Then, of course, there was my blue period around fifth/sixth grade that was heavily influenced by Soap Operas (a lot of men getting slapped across the face and women coming back from the dead, that sort of thing). Throughout high school and college, I wrote and found my own little writing communities. And then I got a job and a husband and a kid, and the Lisa Frank spiral-bound notebook got buried under ninth grade essays, laundry, and old, crusty Play-doh. I spent less time seeing myself as a writer and more time remembering when I use to write.

Of course it was not my childhood dream to write a baby blog, but it is a place where I get to share my life through words and that is something I've always wanted to do. The best part is, I don't have to wait for someone to open my dusty old notebooks. My audience is out there listening right now, even it is only my parents. A writer needs to write and a writer needs an audience and my blog gives me opportunities for both. So, I guess this is something else to thank Ella B for. She is my "little, tiny" muse. Oh, and thanks to my mom and dad for reading my blog. Hi Mom and Dad! Aren't you guys glad I'm not writing about people getting their heads chopped off anymore? Yeah, I thought you would be. Though, P.S., I did get an A- on that poem. Just sayin'.

Happy 101! I included a picture at the top so you wouldn't just see all those words and decide to check your Facebook instead.