I have not posted in a quite some time. I am delighted, however, to return after some absence. My hope: to come here much more often, and to again use Xanga as a place to share and commune with like minds, with fellow writers, fellow seekers, and those who share interests, thoughts, or just like friendship. I will seek to simply put what I have to share out there, not expecting or demanding comments and responses to prove that it is worth my time posting it. I used to find that if I did not get enough feedback, enough support to show that writing was worth my time, I would loose the motivation. Now, however, I do not think I will let that dictate my choice to just write.

I have a rich life, a lot going on in it: many things to share, thoughts to write down, events that have happened, stories to tell, and stories to create and tell. I am and always will be, first and foremost, a writer.

What has inspired me to blog again is the recent movie that just came out: Julie and Julia, based on a blog a woman named Julie made, as she attempted to cook her way through Julia Child’s early cookbook on French cuisine- doing all two hundred and sixty something recipes in a year. She, too, was a writer- and, much like myself, had trouble finishing things, leaving them half written, and never really being able to pursue publication.

It made me realise something that she did: I do not have to be published to achieve what I want. What I want, most of all, is to share my stories- to have others read them, and enjoy them. I do not need to be published to do that: I can simply share them, here, and if others read and find them fulfilling, enjoyable, worth reading… then it will naturally spread.

Ironically, I also am a cook. I have no formal training, but I taught myself. My guide, my “cooking bible” as it were, also happens to be from the very French cooking school that Julia Child was trained at: Le Cordon Bleu. I now cook for a living, though not in a prestigous role, it is a satifying one. My job, now, is to work at a high-end grocery store originating in Florida, but also here in SC, called “Publix”. I am a meals clerk in their Apron program: I cook recipes designed for customers to take home and cook themselves, a “simple meal”, that is both rich in flavour, variety, creativity, and even gourmet at times- but easy to make, clean up, and relatively simple/quick. I always have something new to cook, and I get to put my talents to the test now and then: and the pressure to cook is not the same as it would be at a restaurant.

Still, I must say, cooking my way through a cookbook like Julia Child’s… well, if I could afford to do it at all, that would be something I myself would truly enjoy!

My other passion, of course, besides cooking: fantasy and some science fiction fantasy writing. “Speculative fiction”, as some would call it. I have been re-reading my favourite author and series just recently, in fact: The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan (recently deceased, I must sadly say). If you enjoy good reading, whatever genre, then I encourage you to try the first book of his magnum opas … “The Eye of the World”, book 1 of the Wheel of Time. It is worth your time: I promise.

Until next my friends,

Patrick