Becoming a Writer - No Time Like The Present
- btolstedt5
- Oct 2
- 3 min read
I enjoy writing. It seems that the more I write, the more I want to say. Before I get to that, here's a little background.
When I was young, I wrote all the time and fully expected that my stories would be published once I figured out where I had to send them. It's like the time I wrote to NASA because I wanted to be an astronaut. NASA wrote me back. The letter was addressed to "Master Buffy Tolstedt." I guess I should have said that I wanted to be the first nine year old girl in space. The local paper even wrote a story on it. I was famous.
Like most kids, my desire to be an astronaut soon became the desire to be a ballerina, or a teacher, or an architect. I guess I landed on teacher only after professional flutist wasn't in the cards. (Who has time to practice that much anyway?!?) Every once in a while I would think about being weightless in space. I think I would have been sick though. (Being weightless was really the only reason I wanted to be an astronaut anyway.) I told my third grade teacher I was going to be a teacher and my parents were confident that I was going to be an architect when I got my first set of Legos. Even with all the early career changes, becoming a writer was always in the back of my head patiently waiting it's turn to be next.
Since there's so many new things for me right now, I thought I might as well throw writing into the mix too. I started this blog in June and I always enjoy writing it. I like telling funny stories and maybe giving some helpful tips now and then. They are fun to write and keep me out of the bars. (Ok, I'm kidding, but I did enjoy hitting the bar with a friend this afternoon.)
I have the desire to write about tougher subjects and possibly help in a deeper way. I like to make people think. I want to express my opinion and challenge others with different viewpoints. So I got brave and started publishing my essays in Substack. I've been a member of Substack for a while and enjoy the realness I find there. If you are not familiar with Substack, it's a place for writers to publish their work and send it directly to a subscriber's email. You can set up a free account, browse and subscribe to content for free, and pay for premium or extended content if you want more. I've found the free content thought provoking and Substack doesn't have the things that annoy me about other social media outlets.
If you want to check out my first post in Substack, the link is below. It's raw, honest, and unfiltered. I let the post sit there for a while before I told anyone I wrote it. It has some reads and nobody has trolled me yet, so I thought I could make it available to people I might know. Feel free to subscribe and engage. I will answer questions if you have them. My next essay will be about my thoughts on education and teaching. It will probably be just as unfiltered. If you are not up for raw or unfiltered content, don't worry, I am continuing to write this blog with honest thoughts, funny stories, and a tip or two. As always, if you enjoy my stories or even the essays on Substack, I would appreciate a like or a subscribe. Even sharing with a friend that I said a crazy thing on the interwebs would make my day.
I'll close with this: "I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine." -- Neil Armstrong
Comments