Well. blog posts scary

New blogs arise every day.

 

But not always from friends … and friends I think are smart and witty writers <and smart & witty people> and … well … trying something new in Life in which you get a glimpse of something you may never have an opportunity to glimpse.

 

She’s trying something new.

My good friend is moving to The Netherlands with her family for business reasons. She has never lived there <husband has>.

And she is trying her hand at blog writing <of which I say … “it’s about frickin’ time”>.

 

I have high hope for my friend Jen’s writing & blog … even despite the lowering of expectations she offered in her blog announcement:

 

———

Hi family and friends!

 

I’ve started a blog called A Dutch Treat to capture some of our experiences while we’re living in the Netherlands for the next 6 months.

 

To take a look, just go to www.mjexoo.wordpress.com and you’ll see it.

 

Some notes and caveats:

 

– My feelings are NOT hurt if you don’t want to read/follow, or if you start and blog writingthen get completely bored and unfollow.  I do this mainly for myself.

 

– Umm…I’m not a professional writer.  Or photographer.  Or blog designer.  Or technical genius.  So yes, I know it could be better, wittier, prettier, whatever-ier, but you’ll just have to bear with my overuse of parentheses, ellipses, bad grammar, ya’ll, made-up words and too many cat photos.

 

There’s a place to comment at the end of each post.

 

Tot ziens from Eindhoven!

 

Jen

———-

 

The only thing I can offer Jen is … well … three things …

 

First.

What I wrote on my 200th post: https://brucemctague.com/unencumbered

 

Writing is first & foremost for yourself. Maybe it took me almost 200 posts to arrive at that conclusion … maybe not. And hopefully it doesn’t take her that long.

 

Regardless.

I still stand by what I wrote then:

–          I care about writing as if people do read because … well … I admit … I want people to come back and read more.

But here is the joy of writing on your own site. The beauty of writing what I write is that I am unencumbered by rules and regulations and the size and scope of what I suggest or talk about.

 

Going “big” unencumbered is fun. writing byronFun for the writer and fun for the reader. It’s fun because being practical all the time is not only boring … but it doesn’t equal ‘progress’ in any Life formula.

I write for me … but it does matter what other people think about what I write.

I believe once you wrap your head around that … and accept it … you can write some good shit.

 

Second.

Good writers show their true chops when they don’t think.

For example.

As soon as I found out Jen was going to be writing a blog I whipped off some sarcastic less-than-witty questions … and she responded in minutes. And responded … well … in a funny sharp way:

 

 

Double Dutch. I know it is a game in which two long jump ropes  turning in opposite directions are jumped by one or more players jumping simultaneously. But do you constantly trip over jump ropes so many dutch people are doing it? and if you are already Dutch … how can you be double dutch?

 

<Jen>

Now see, I myself have been confused over the absence of mass rope jumping in the streets … But of course if you’re “double” Dutch you aren’t Dutch at all, as they cancel each other out…

 

 

– Dammit. Well. I assume no dutch swear by saying ‘dammit’ or … well … there would be dams everywhere. Oh. There are. Shit. So I assume the  made saying dammit illegal <when? … curious minds want to know> to stop the proliferation of random dam building … but what do the dutch say to swear now?

 

<Jen>

I am CERTAIN that the Dutch invented “dammit”, as they have invented almost everything else in the universe, according to themselves.  And they do nothing randomly here.  Nothing.

 

 

–  Hans Brinker. That Dutch boy who saves his country by putting his  finger in a leaking dike. Could you send a picture of the hole? I assume they have sealed it since then … but I always wanted to visit the hole.

 

<Jen>

Seriously?  I have to explain everything?  Of COURSE it’s sealed, that’s why there’s no picture.  It’s fixed.  But hey, book a trip– am sure there are many new holes to explore, and maybe this time YOU can stick your finger in it and save Holland.  Or something.

 

 

– is it mandatory to treat every bill as a ‘dutch treat’ there? <if so … I am moving there>

 

<Jen>

Weirdly (and I swear this is true), what we call “going Dutch” is called “going American” here.  But move here if you’d like, one of the16 million people here will shove over to make room for you.  I don’t feel squished at all.

 

 

– do the dutch like to be called dutch because they have realized if you refer to someone <or something> as ‘nether land’ … well … you are constantly referring to people’s groins?

 

<Jen>

Hmmm…I don’t know if Dutch people spend as much time thinking about people’s groins as you.

 

 

As I am now further enlightened with regard to the Dutch … I will add a new question.

 

When Dutch stand together wearing the national colors … do they commonly say “orange you glad to see me?” <but in Dutch which means some lack of vowels and putting consonants side by side in a way no one could have ever envisioned being practical>.

 

Ok.

Third.

 

I have high hopes for the new blog.

I have only 6 links on my site.

And I wanted a 7th but the writer never responded:

 

Lost in cheeseland: https://brucemctague.com/lost-in-cheeseland

bloggers reading my posts

If you go to my Lost in Cheeseland post you will read why I have the links that I do. I am really really picky about what I consider great writers <which is slightly warped as in … how the hell can I judge?> but Jen could quickly move into his group … all she needs to do is write.

 

Visit the blog.

Get a glimpse of her life as an American among the dikes … and hopefully some of her thinking.

 

Good luck Jen … you will do it right.

 

 

 

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Written by Bruce