Write From The Heart & Edit With The Head

Some people ask me to elaborate on whether There Are No Coincidences is based upon fact or fiction and I ask if it really matters or not.

They say I haven’t answered the question and I nod and smile.

“You still haven’t answered.”

“And I may never or I might, doesn’t really matter to you or to me whether I do. That story can be whatever you want to make of it.”

As for me, well I am still running with the moon and doing the best I can with whatever tools and resources I have during whatever moment I occupy in time and space.

What I know for certain is there are people who come into our lives who turn them upside down and inside out. If you open the eyes inside your chest and clear the clutter from your soul they will help you wake up and remember who you are and who you might have been.

They’ll help you realize that there is more to life than just going through the motions and force you to contemplate a different way of looking at life than you currently employ.

Put On Your Boogie Shoes

If you believe that the universe sends you signs and signals you might hear KC & The Sunshine Band signing Boogie Shoes as a sign to step outside of your comfort zone.

Or maybe you’ll say there is nothing special about it coming on because it was next on the iTunes shuffle playlist.

If you are me you won’t spend much time thinking about whether it is or isn’t because you are too busy trying to just write. Too busy trying to add layers of substance to the prose you are putting down on paper.

Or maybe I ought to say I am doing my best to just write what I feel and to share the tales my heart has been telling without concern about how they are going to be received.

Because good things happen when I don’t allow paralysis of analysis to influence whether I press publish or not.

Write from the heart and edit with the head means take a moment to make sure you haven’t published a post that is riddled with typos and grammatical errors.

It means you take a moment to make sure that upon emptying your heart upon the page you haven’t violated the boundaries of blogging that you hold dear.

And there are boundaries, there are stories you don’t own so you can’t share them without permission or at least careful thought about the consequences.

It Is Still About Dads and Daughters

One of the people who will most appreciate the part about boundaries is the star of It Is Still About Dads and Daughters.

She is 11 going on 30 and intent on finding her way and place in the world at breakneck speed. She has a million questions and thoughts about life and hits me with as many as she can.

I smile and tell her I’ll answer some but not all.

“I have been heart broken and heartbreaker. Horses are expensive, how about we stick to bikes for now.”

She looks at me and tells me my answers lacked details.

“Want to know something that the women of my life have all complained about?”

I wait for her to lean in closer and then I whisper in her ear, “I don’t give out many details.”

“Daddy, girls like details. I know you know that.”

I smile and tell her that is precisely why I don’t give many.

“Grandma is right, you like being a pain-in-the-ass.”

I smile and nod my head.

“Here is another detail, when you start dating at 98 I’ll still be around to punch the boys in the nose.”

She laughs and rolls her eyes at me.

“You are ridiculous, you’ll be dead when I am 98.”

I laugh and hug her.

****

I tell her she is responsible for my circadian rhythm being screwed up, duck my to get in the car and wave goodbye.

It is the day after her slumber party and I am exhausted. A house full of middle school age girls has worn me out, mostly because they kept hours that would make a vampire cry.

Several of the girls were so attached to the electronic devices they brought along with them they didn’t want to participate in any of the group activities.

I did my best to encourage them to put them down and hang out with the other girls but they ignored my entreaties and kept playing on the tablets.

Part of me thought it was harmless and was willing to just ignore it but my daughter and the other girls were irritated about it so I did what fathers do, I saved the day.

Yep, I pulled the plug on the WiFi and when they lost their connection they went and hung out with the other girls.

Everybody’s Talkin

Harry Nilsson’s on iTunes and I am looking out a window into the dark wondering if I look hard enough if I can find the remnants of the day that was.

Don’t know why, but something about the song makes me think about how many bloggers seem to be in the game solely to chase fame and fortune.

Can’t tell you how many times I read posts about the best way to monetize a blog, how to go viral and a million other comments/posts about social media magic.

Those of you have been around long enough know that sort of crap makes me roll my eyes and that I am one of the grumpy old men of the blogosphere.

Won’t go off on a tear about how a low barrier to entry has flooded the marketplace, but it has.

Instead, I’ll tell you I hope when my children are ready they meet the kind of people that are talked about in the quote at the top of the page.

Those are the kind of people that wake you up and remember life isn’t made for just passing through. I want them to live hard, live long and live well.

That is not too much to ask for. What do you think?

• Saved: Blogging, Children