Writing

For me, getting to writing actually started with music a lot. I used to listen to my transistor radio in the 1950s which was a little yellow one about the size of my hand and I listened to KFWB and KRLA in Los Angeles because they were Rock and Roll Stations then in the 1950s on AM then. And everyone I knew listened to those two stations and listened often to Casey Cassem or Wolf Man Jack as the announcer. Then when I was 8 years old since my 5 years older cousin played the piano and my parents were Ministers (part time) someone in our church gave us an upright piano and I started taking piano lessons with my cousins piano teacher, Mrs. Hall there in Glendale. I practiced my songs  about once each per day and told people that was all I would do. I told them 1/2 hour of practice every day was enough. I wasn't going to practice an hour and somehow that was okay with them. It worked for me I know and by 9 to 12 years of age I could play popular songs and by 12 I could play difficult classical pieces on the piano. However, I was shy and hated piano recitals where friends and family would come to watch about 30 of us sweat while we played something we had worked on the previous year or so. I said to my teacher at 12. "I'll keep taking lessons but I won't play in recitals anymore that is just too difficult to emotionally endure. About that same time I started playing in church on a Steinway Grand piano and a Baldwin Organ. I did this until I was 21 years of age because I left our church about then because likely I had outgrown going to church as a young man I guess.

But, writing was all a part of this creative part of me. They say that playing or listening or writing music develops amazing parts of your brain and I think I agree with this too. I found I could understand my own feelings and others feeling better as I played music and sang along often with what I was playing. People often ask me why I didn't become a professional musician. Mostly, it is because I never liked Smoke filled rooms or being around people drunk or on drugs. So, for me music was about singing or playing in church and being around God and not about smoke filled rooms or alcohol or drugs.

So, writing, music and singing all have always been a part of each other for me in many ways. However, then in 1985 (when I was 37) my father died suddenly and I found when I played music or sang I couldn't deal with my feelings anymore. So, I didn't play or sing as much after that because I never really was able to usefully process my father's passing. So, at this point writing became much more important because I could write usually without having to deal with all the emotions I felt when I played music or sang. I play, Keyboards, piano, Organ, synthesizer, pipe organ etc. I also have taught myself guitar and flute as well over the years so I would have instruments to play while out camping and backpacking in the wilderness alone or with friends and family.

So, writing is a very creative and wonderful thing to do for me. Unless I'm really in pain about something and I need to let it out and try to understand something. Then when I write often I will find tears coming down my cheeks which is very healthy if you are in a controlled environment and safe when you do this.

But, blogging on line like this blog you have to be very careful to protect your family and yourself especially if your blog goes all over the world like mine does. Though most people are good some people are always crazy, so you have to be careful what you say to protect yourself from the crazy ones worldwide.

So, if you write a blog like mine, imagine going into a homeless area anywhere worldwide and reading whatever you write out loud. Would you survive reading what you are writing anywhere worldwide?

This might be an important question to ask yourselves before you publish anything online.

Or sometimes I will write something and realize a few minutes later or even a day later that this isn't being received in any way like I intended it to be so I just delete stuff if it is not having a good effect on people worldwide.

Because in the end if you are not helping people with what you write then you might be hurting them with what you write.

If you are not trying to enlighten and help people's lives be better, then what are you doing?

By God's Grace