To Be Committed

To be committed has several different meanings. The first one that comes to my mind is be committed to prison. Then there is to be committed to an insane asylum or the like.

But on a Saturday in May as I watched Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding first alone and then later with my husband of 38 years in two weeks, I thought of the commitment that two people who love each other make when they literally “tie the knot.” Just as if you jump out of an airplane to skydive, you had better pull the parachute cord and enjoy the dive, since there is no going back. You are committed.

That cord or rope of commitment or obligation may seem to be strangling or restricting your freedom or happiness, but you agreed to be faithful to that exclusiveness. And as in most wedding situations, you made that commitment in the presence of witnesses and for many in the presence of God.

June is slipping away. That month has always been associated with weddings and June brides. I was a June bride in 1980 and made a commitment. 

I am keeping it. 

Know Your Audience

Having never professed to being a great writer, I still try to consider who will possibly read my written works. In other words, I try to anticipate my audience.

In the last year, I have done some significant writing (My Story) and some insignificant writing (my Wetcreek Instagram). The story I published on this Wetcreek Blog earlier this year had no real audience intended. I just wanted to “open my cupboard” and let my story be known to the World Wide Web. Since then I have specifically shared those writings with others who have a connection to the Methodist Home Hospital in New Orleans. That sharing opened up some good discussions, especially among the other birth mothers. So I guess that I found a good audience.

If someone read my story about surrendering a daughter for adoption almost 48 years ago and gleaned anything from my experience, then more power to them. If sharing it inspired someone to share their own story, search for their birth parents, or search for the child they too surrendered, then that is an added bonus.

Lately I have been considering writing a book. At the moment, I really can’t remember much more than what I have already written. I do not want to “make anything up” to just fill in pages. My writing must be true as well as believable. 

Actually I am pretty sick of so-called authors who write “this is BASED on true facts and events and people.” While plowing through their work, I find myself questioning what is true and what is fiction. I do not want to be that kind of writer. I want my reading audience to believe that what I write is true. 

I want an audience who will conclude that what I tell in my writing “is what it is.” Nothing more. Nothing less.