I'm going to write

I'm going to write because I've been saying that I want to write for a long time. I think I might be good at it, and I have loads of free time. I don't know who I'm writing for, I don't know what I'm going to write. Well, that last part is kind of a lie. I've decided that this summer I'm finally going to write what I said I would about five years ago: a book about substitute teaching. (Think Baby-Sitters Club meets The Nanny Diaries.)

So, to pump myself up about this, I've been reading Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. As I was reading this morning, I was struck by one of the things she has to say about plot:

I say don't worry about plot. Worry about the characters. Let what they say or do reveal who they are, and be involved in their lives, and keep asking yourself, Now what happens? The development of relationship creates plot.

I think that so much about this is true not only in writing, but in life. As I struggle to figure out what I am doing, how am I investing in relationship? How will these relationships I'm building now affect tomorrow? And as these relationships are built, how will that change the "plot" I'm on?

Maybe this writing thing will end up being more about figuring out who I am than anything else.

(I realize that this is somewhat cheesy. You don't have to tell me. I know. It's kind of who I am. Look at all of this self-realization already!)