Reflections on writing this blog (1 of 2)

I am pausing for a couple of days to take some time to share some personal reflections on writing this blog. 

About ten years ago this coming fall I decided that I wanted to switch gears and focus on writing full time. I had a couple of writing projects that kept me occupied for the next year or so but those projects ended sometime in early 2006. I floundered for a few months wondering where my writing would take me. I started this blog in late June 2006. A few months later, I got interested in Malawi, a country on the east coast of Africa through some acquaintances. In April 2007 I was invited to accompany a group from California for a two-week trip to Malawi, and began writing about my then upcoming trip to Malawi around the same time (April 2007).

By the time I left for Malawi, I felt that the best way that I could share my experiences in Malawi was through this blog, so as internet connections allowed, I kept up with my blog for the two weeks of my travels. I had enough material to keep writing about Malawi in this blog through December 2007. 

This time of year I always find myself reflecting on my time in Malawi because I spent the last two weeks of June 2007 in Malawi. While what I could write about Malawi seems limited and in someways wholly inadequate, I am very glad that I went. Don't get me wrong, I often think of the people that I met in Malawi, at a couple of times a month and often more. It was a life changing experience. I traveled with a great group of people, and I think of them often. 

One of the women I met in Malawi, a minister's wife I believe told me something that I have never forgotten. Our visit was less than two years after Katrina hit New Orleans and environs. She said to us:

"We prayed for you after Katrina hit. You (in America) aren't used to the devastation that Katrina brought you. We are used to that kind of devastation." I've never forgotten that. Nothing I could say, I wiped a couple of tears from my eyes and gave her a hug.

When I wrote my last article on Malawi, actually a moving on piece in January 2008, I had no idea what I was going to write about next. I had a real hard time writing anything in my blog for a few weeks. I finally gave myself an exercise about writing about extraordinary ordinary things. A simple exercise that got me back into writing this blog. Sort of. 

Then came the Basin Complex Fire in June 2008 and it is my interest in that wildfire because I had some acquaintances who lived in the affected area that ultimately lead me to write about aerial wildland firefighting. More on that on Wednesday, July 9.