“Look, I’m afraid that’s just how blogs work. You have to pick a niche.
“What, and restrict myself to writing about the same topic, over and over?
“If you want anyone to read it, yes. Those are the rules. People need to know what they’re getting when you publish a new post. So…what’s it going to be?
“Well, I thought I’d just write about creative projects I’m working on…ideas I’ve had…things I’ve noticed…hippos in little booties…“
“What? Where?”
“Oh, they’re gone now. They were behind you, mooning at your silly rules.”
I’ve always struggled with writing biographies for myself…probably because there tend to be lots of nouns involved, and I prefer verbs. Nouns are very final; as though the world has determined which boxes you belong in, applied the requisite rubber stamps to your forehead, et voila! You are now “a wife, a mother and an arm knitter”. Your path in life stretches out before you.
Four decades in, all I really know is that I’m deeply suspicious of boxes. As soon as I fall into one, I find myself squirming to get back out before I’m trapped inside forever. The world is a huge, swirling ocean, and I’m not content to splash around in a garden puddle for the rest of my days.
Why “Flying the Ship”? Well…have you ever felt like an alien in disguise, dispatched to Earth on a secret mission to observe its strange little hominids? Are you waiting for the Mothership to get in touch so you can deliver your report? Has it taken your entire life just to figure out how to get your weird little spacecraft off the ground? And are you still crashing into stuff when you do?
No? Just me then.