I Quit. And Then I Started Again.

"I WANT TO WRITE, BUT MORE THAN THAT, I WANT TO BRING OUT ALL KINDS OF THINGS THAT LIE BURIED DEEP IN MY HEART.
~ ANNE FRANK ~

I retired.

I quit writing.

Actually, I quit writing before I retired. I'd think about blog posts. I'd try to get started. But that inner critic kept telling me that others had written it before, my thoughts weren't relevant, I had nothing to add to the conversation. And when I did retire in May, it was easy to tell myself that no one would want to read the thoughts of a teacher no longer in the classroom.

I'm not sure what is motivating me now, but I know I've spent the last couple of months preparing to start again.

• I've started a Pinterest board for Blogging and Journaling.
• I've dabbled a couple of times
• I've pulled out a new notebook
• I've scheduled my writing time in my calendar
• I've removed blank pages from my notebook

Yes. You read that last one correctly. I removed blank pages. Well, maybe remove isn't the right word. You know how we all hate the blank page? Well, I dated a week's worth of pages and wrote a writing prompt on them. That way when I sit down to write in the morning, the page isn't blank and I have a prompt to start from. 

I've found that I tend to list things at first, but when I sit down to really write, I have plenty to say. This post started from a list of all the reasons I wanted to start my blog up again:

• I need to write again
• I think about blog posts all the time--why don't I write them?
• It makes me feel good to write
• I need to write to sort things out
• I miss it
• I miss connecting with my blogging friends
• "Write like it matters and it will." Libba Bray

What I really forgot when I quit was my very first blog post, written on another site, was that I wanted a place for me to write, and Coffee With Chloe is that place.