What to Write About???

     Yesterday I checked out new posts on some of the blogs I follow. One blogger's latest post began with an apology for his recent, relatively lengthy silence, saying that he'd been having a hard time thinking of something to write about. Though I know his problem is not in the least uncommon, I nevertheless felt relief that someone else besides me suffered from it. After all, I don't lead the busiest, most exciting life (not anymore, anyway), and turning the ordinary into something extraordinary is a difficult thing for any writer. It's what separates the ordinary writer from the extraordinary one.
     I have pretty much exhausted the story of my time in the monastery (well, actually there are lots of things about that time which I haven't blogged about, but they are perhaps better left unblogged); and, while there are many stories I could, and probably will, tell about my experiences at the Houston Grand Opera, part of me rebels against writing too much about the past. Another part says, "Well, what does it say at the top of my blog, underneath the title? So, shouldn't I keep writing about the past, and what I've learned from it? And even if I haven't learned anything from a particular event, why shouldn't I write about it anyway?"
     The truth is, anything and everything I write, be it prose or verse, is informed by my past. I can't get away from it, nor do I want to. That isn't to say I don't look to the future; rather, I'm very much interested in the journey, all the odd little twists and turns that characterize my particular path, the mistakes I've made and the consequences that resulted from them; I'm interested in how all of that affects this moment and how I may use it to prepare for future moments. Perhaps I should have been a psychiatrist.
     Living in the past is a bad thing, yes, if one just stays there, inert. But examining and using it in a positive, educational way can only be helpful. Writing about it, even in a blog, helps me to do just that. If you come along for the ride, I hope my own life lessons can teach you something, too. And hopefully we'll have some fun along the way!