Challenge

Engraving by Albrecht Dürer

Challenge:  The quality of requiring full use of one's abilities, energy, or resources.

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My, but I was extremely moved by the response the last entry got:  thank you, everyone, for making the effort to click on over here and leave a comment.  Now that I have your attention... (smile)

I thought I would issue a challenge to you bloggers out there, a challenge to look through your archives and mark a moment of change.  What I'm asking you to do is to  identify an entry that illustrates a turning point for you and your journal.  Identify an entry that suddenly set your journal off on a new direction, one never dreamed of before.

My own journal is just a little over a year old.  If you go back to my earliest entries you'll see they are rather sparse little things.  In the beginning, the journal was a way to capture fugitive thoughts, nothing more. 

As I grew in confidence, my journal began to change.  I think it became richer.  As I look through the entries, I can see myself taking on more complex topics.  I also see my attempts at humor.  I have a problem, sometimes, with taking myself and my efforts "too seriously."  I began to learn to relax a bit, to have fun, even as I continued my unending struggle to understand what the imagination is and where creativity comes from.

But the biggest change in my journal came about as a result of the feedback I got from readers.  I look back at my earliest entries and see that most of the time I had no readers at all.  Then there were one or two people who took the plunge and left comments.  It was all so new to me that, in my way, I mixed up names and journals in my head.  It all was so abstract for a long while.

Gradually, friendships began to form.  More and more people expressed an interest in writing and creativity as a topic.  In the early entries, I mainly wrote about abstract ideas and themes.  Reading them, a person would have no idea who in the world I was or why I was even talking about writing in the first place!  In other words, having readers and getting to know those readers made my writing more human.

Then, I began to share more of my personal struggles.  Readers began to share theirs.  And then--presto--my journal had transformed into an organic, living thing.  I found I was spending a lot of time thinking about new directions to take my journal. 

The only thing I was sure of, the thing I knew would not change, was that I wanted to continue to focus on writing, on being an author and what it means.

There are many entries that I consider pivotal ones.  Sometimes the transformation came through my own struggle to understand the topic I'd chosen to write about.  Other times the transformation happened because of something a reader said in his or her comment.

The entry I've chosen as the most pivotal, though, is Mutualaide's Interview Questions.   As some of you recall, last Spring, we were interviewing each other, a process I truly loved because it gave us a chance to get to know one another. 

Here is part of the Mutualaide entry: 

Question # 3.  Having the opportunity to gather with 5 of your 'regular readers' who are they, where do you meet and what do you talk about?  

Okay.  The five regular readers are Vicky, Cynthia, Maisie (Marigolds), Judi, and Beth.  Sorry fellows, this is girls' night out.  First, we loosen things up a bit by going to a Tom Jones concert.  (You fellows didn't want to see Tom Jones anyway, did you?  Tell the truth!)   

At the concert, we laugh until we ache.  We stand on our feet and clap our hands.  We really can't believe Tom Jones can still move like that.  He is, after all, what, in his sixties?  We really do laugh uncontrollably because we feel like teenagers, only a lot smarter (we hope).  We scream a few times and sing along with the music. 

I can't help it, I buy myself a Tom Jones T-shirt, so everytime I wear it I can think about this energy.  

 And then we all go out to a nice restaurant and bar with live Blues music.  I have a beer, probably a Killians.  Beth has a light beer (that is what she usually orders when we go out).  Vicky has a glass of good wine.  I'm not sure about Judi, Maisie and Cynthia ("What's your poison?").  They might be teetotalers, but that's all right, we've all got a natural high going on. 

We say things like, "Can you believe that Tom Jones?"   

And "I can't believe it--we actually went to see Tom Jones."   

And "You aren't going to tell anybody else we actually went to see Tom Jones, are you?"  

 We will all swear an oath never to tell.  

I will say, "My friend Paula went to one of these concerts in Toledo.  That's what gave me the idea."  

Maisie will say, " _________________________."  (Maisie, fill in the blank in your comments)  

I will say, "Maisie, I used to fantasize about Tom Jones when I was 13 years old.  Did you, Vicky?"  

Vicky will say, "______________________." (Vicky, fill in the blank)  

Judi will say, "________________________."  (Judi, fill in the blank).  

Cynthia will say, "___________________________."  (Cynthia, fill in the blank.)  

Beth will say, "________________________."  (Beth, fill in the blank).  

We will then all go for an evening walk next to a river.  We will fold our arms against the cool breeze.  We will  sigh and ask where did all the years go.  It seems like yesterday Tom Jones and all of us were just young 'uns.   Then we will talk about the meaning of life and art. 

This story is to be continued.  But whenever I wear my Tom Jones T-shirt and somebody says, "You didn't really go to see Tom Jones, did you?"  I will say, "What?  Moi?  Are you kidding? No, I got this at Goodwill."  

My reason for saying this entry was pivotal is that it brought together everything I'd been working toward in my journal.

1.  Writing that Tom Jones story was FUN.  So I wasn't taking myself so seriously anymore.  I hadn't had that much FUN writing since I was a little girl making newsletters for myself and my friends.

2.  I wasn't only talking about creativity, I was attempting to be creative myself.

3.  It was interactive:  my new friends, the good sports they are, joined right in. Read the responses for yourself!  They are hilarious!  I was very touched by response and hadn't expected it at all.

4.  The whole experience gave me an incredible sense of well-being.  It lightened my heart, which allowed me to think of ways to carry my own creativity further. 

So, would any of you like to take on my challenge?  If so, go through your archives and choose one entry you think was pivotal.  In the comment section to this entry, leave a link to that entry.  In your comment, explain why the entry was pivotal. 

I look forward to reading your responses!