Warm welcomes all around!
My name is Coralee. I am a wife, a mother and a recently outed writer.
There, I said it.
I like to write.
For years it has been a well-kept secret. An affair that took place privately, hidden in the mountains of half-finished journals tucked away inside my night stands. Shared with only a select few expert secret-keepers.
Occasionally I would slip, blurt out to some unsuspicious friend, “Want to see something?” Then as they took the piece from my fingers a heavy sense of embarrassment would wash over me, inevitably forcing me to leave as they read my words.
It’s a funny thing approval. I received praise, shocked looks of proud disbelief and publication, yet with every positive reaction/achievement, I still felt as though I was letting a precious secret slowly bleed out of me.
Being a writer was weird.
Creating art with words is not like painting where people can see your creation and immediately form their opinion. It is not like photography, my other love, which produced immediate results. With my writing, I was asking people to commit their precious time all the way to the end of my words before they could see the whole picture. But, I couldn’t help myself, words were my heart’s work.
Deep down I always knew.
It’s as if from the moment I learned to read, I began a love affair with the sound of syllables across my tongue, an unending passion for the fluid movement of sentences. I was in grade six the first time I broached the possibility that I may be a writer. I thrust a copy of a short story into the hands of a visiting author at our school. I cannot remember her name, but she had shiny brown hair and a non condescending smile. She read it.
Right there on the back exit steps. (It was a very short story)
“I think you should write about what you know.” Her words hung in the air between us and drew not only the breath out of my chest, but the hope out of my young dreams. Then she smiled. “Keep writing. I think you’ve got something.”
I am sure this young author has no recollection of a conversation with that twelve-year-old army brat me, standing in the hall of a school that has since been demolished in favor of a strip mall.
But I do.
Then, years later, (very recently) a young cashier asked me what my fake tattoo said. (yes fake at the time, don’t judge.)
“Tell me a story.” I answered.
“Are you a writer?”
I stumbled on my reply. “Yes.”
And there it was.
I had spoken my truth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Musefully Mendaciloquent is a blog which I hope will connect writers. It is a window into my journey with my writing goals, one you can peek through whenever you get the fancy. Wipe the dirt from the pane and watch me learn and share and make mistakes as I go along.
In the end, I hope to inspire you, to find your writer’s voice and to tell your story. We are all striving for the same goal, to create, to be heard and to ponder the art of lying.
I can’t wait to hear your voice along the way.
Write on, be passionate, find your inspiration.
Coralee.
I love the comparison to painting and photography. It’s true but I had never thought about it – with writing you are asking for more of a time commitment and their trust in you to take them to an ending that will move them.
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I still haven’t decided whether I’m ready to call myself a writer or not. I’m strange about labels. However, I understand the difficulty of having someone read your work. You feel like you are asking a lot of them and laying your soul out in front of them. Even when I receive any compliments on my writing, I have a hard time accepting them. I tend to compare myself to people that have made this their entire life, whereas I’m a teacher that also enjoys writing. I’m glad you found your enjoyment of writing early. It took me until about college. What can I say? I’m slow!
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It really is like laying out your soul. I have a career too, but in my heart i need to write, its good to finally share it. Thank you for your lovely comment. π
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Hey, thanks for visiting my blog. I can really relate to what you have to say here. I wish I had known when I was young that there were so many other writers who were feeling as unsure and had trouble saying, “I’m a writer.” And by the way, I had to look up the 100 dollar word in your blog title. π I’m not ashamed to admit that.
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Haha i’m glad you looked it up. I love weird and wonderful words, although it’s fun to spell when sharing. Thanks for the note π
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Hi beautiful! Thanks so much for stopping by my page and following along.. I completely relate with you here – I kept my blog completely to myself & my small circle of admiring friends/family until literally about a week ago… And I’ve had my WP up and running for like a year now?! There were many reasons for this, but one BIG one was that I was truthfully afraid to have my stuff seen by a community of people/strangers. It takes a LOT of courage to put words on paper, to express ourselves in any creative way that truly reflects our authentic selves – BUT even more courage and vulnerability to share with the world and declare ourselves “Writers”. Brava to you, my lady. Looking forward to following along with you here β€ love bunches, Luna
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Thank you for this wonderful comment and for following me. I look forward to reading more if your posts, i’m glad you decided to start to share.
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I can completely relate to everything you have said about yourself. I still feel shy to share my writing and when I do pluck up the courage I have that little bit of doubt creep back in as I hand it over to be read. Love the posts on your blog so far and looking forward to reading more.
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Thank you for stopping by. It’s strange the feeling of intimidation, isn’t it? I’m glad to hear you are sharing, even if just to your comfort level. Thank you for your words, and for taking the time to comment. Welcome π
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Definitely a very strange feeling. I need to post more often on my blog and maybe it will become easier to share. I do think because it’s something we enjoy and at times ‘need’ to be doing there is this constant fear of being rejected or simply mocked.
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I completely agree. Beauty (and any form of art including writing) is in the eye of the beholder. But, sharing makes you realize the beauty exists to more than just your eyes. In your own time it will become easier.
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I love your eclectic artsy look at life. Enjoy that journey each and every day!!
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Aw thank you, what a sweet compliment π
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I like to paint with words too. π Nice to meet you. β€ Laurie
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Loved it, can’t wait to read more of you posts
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Thank you for the ping back! And the nomination!
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I’ve nominated you for the Liebster Award.
It’s can choose whether to accept it or not but if you read this post hopefully it’ll explain it.
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Hey! Thank you! I will check it out! I appreciate it!!
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I’ve been writing (in my head) for forever and I find an incredible amount of inspiration here in the blogosphere. Thank you for finding and following me. Now I can follow you and your creative writing style.
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Welcome! I hope you enjoy! I couldn’t help being drawn in by your name π and then was hooked.
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Well, you gave us a great prompt over at Just Jot It January! It was a real brain twister π
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Thank you. It’s a challenging word I know, but I’m really enjoying reading everyone’s creativity around it π thanks for popping by and taking the time to comment π
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I love this About page. Writing is hard. I can no longer paint or take a picture, so words are my art too. I will return here again.
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting and for your kind words, please do come back and drop a note any time π
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Oh I will. Thank you for supplying such an interesting prompt word for Just Jot It January.
π
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