The Journey Begins

I begin this blog as I do with any journey, packing my thoughts much as I pack a suitcase. For this journey, however, I am also packing some trepidation because this is going to be very unlike my other blog, ritzelswrites.blogspot.com. That blog contains well-written, deeply thought-out creative nonfiction that reflects pieces of me that come out in large chunks of emotion. I love writing those pieces and will continue to do so.

With Ever Onward, however, I intend to write every day, or as close to every day as I can. My intention is that this will be a place where my thoughts can spread out before me like great lakes. I will dive into these thoughts first thing every morning, which will not be an easy task, since I am NOT a morning person. I plan to write whatever is on my mind in a no-holds-barred, stream-of-consciousness style. And since it will be early and the caffeine may not have kicked in, there may be typos, something I would never stand for in my more serious writing endeavors. Please forgive me in advance for those.

This journey is going to be about my journey, the unpolished road to conquering issues with eating, chronic pain, and depression and anxiety.

If you are wondering about the title of this blog, it is a combination of a Dan Fogelberg song, “Ever On,” that in part says, “May the trail rise up to meet you/May your heart rejoice in song/May the skies be fair above you/As you journey ever on.” I think this is a fitting lyric for a journey of self-exploration. The other part of my title comes from my favorite writer, Elizabeth Gilbert, who signs off all of her Facebook posts with the word “Onward.” I have come to love this word, as it encompasses all we can do, really: continue onward. So I combined words from two of my favorite creative people into one simple title: Ever Onward. I hope you read it, I hope you find something interesting in it, and I hope you will share it with others.

So here we go…reader beware and blogosphere take notice, the real me is coming forth!