“I have come that they might have life [zoe], and that they may have it more abundantly.”

–John 10:10

In my first post on this site, I mentioned that I started a blog almost two decades ago, where I only posted a few times before abandoning it. If I recall correctly, I used Blogger, and I was writing under my former pseudonym, Zoë Malachi (zoë taken from the word used in John 10:10).

I don’t know if those original blogs posts are still out there in the ether, but I wondered: Do I have those posts stashed away somewhere?

I dug around in my electronic archives, and lo and behold—I found the old posts! I had no idea what I’d written, and as I read the posts, I was at turns laughing, grimacing, rolling my eyes, and pondering.

Today, I want to share that first blog post with you. Incidentally, it was published on October 3, 2007. How much my life—and the world—has changed since then.

I’m grateful for these periodic glimpses into the woman and writer I once was. Maybe twenty years from now, I’ll be reading this blog post and reflecting on all the Lord has done in my life between now and then.

In His love,

Amanda

xoxo

To Blog or Not to Blog?

I resisted buying a cell phone for years. I considered it the equivalent of an electronic ankle bracelet, where anyone could find me anywhere, anytime. I would want that because . . .?

But now I freak out if I forget the darned thing when I go to the grocery store. What if I needed to call home to see if my husband wanted a lager or an IPA?

Then it was MySpace. Some alumni from my MFA program started a group, and convinced me to setting up a page. I refuse to fill out any of the personal information and forget I have the page half the time. I contemplate deleting it often, but then I think, “What if some long-lost friend wants to find me, and the only way they’re able to do so is by the MySpace page?” Then I think, How pathetic would it be if the only means by which a friend can find me is through MySpace? (Quote from a friend about another friend who deleted his MySpace page: “It’s like he no longer exists.” Is this what our society has come to? That you no longer exist if you don’t have a MySpace page? There must be hundreds of millions—billions, even—of people in this world who don’t exist.)

The last stronghold was blogging. The nonconformist in me shuddered at the self-indulgent nature of the blog: my life and thoughts are so important that I want them out in cyberspace for all the world to bask in my brilliance?

Yet here I am.

I guess you could say that, since I can’t seem to keep a journal for more than a few days at a time, perhaps the discipline of maintaining a weekly blog will make me more honest in checking in with myself.

As a fledgling writer, I also want to force myself to think about my writing—why I do it, why I don’t do it. Why does anyone write, for that matter? How do you struggle through this writer’s life, without losing your mind or the roof over your head?

I hope to fill these pages with the triumphs and tribulations that come with trying to establish myself as a full-time, published author. And I hope that you will come on this journey with me, and share some of your own sorrows and joys with me along the way.

Or maybe I’m just self-indulgent.

Much Love,

Zoë

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