The astute observer will have noticed I have been away for a while. There’s a good reason for that, a reason that is still as much a part of the journey I started following graduation. It wasn’t planned but I have been on a year long abstinence from technology, internet, smartphones etc, so I could find myself again. You see, all this stuff sometimes gets in the way. It gives us excuse to put on masks or present a false self and I knew I had to, I have to, go through a process of removing the masks I’ve built up over the years. If I wanted to progress as a mature graduate, with the wonderful feeling that produces, I had to go back to find the real me, the pretech me, the pen and paper me.

It has been cathartic. I’ve come to realise that while technology is great, it makes things easier, it cannot make us better writers. There is something more artistic about putting ballpoint pen to paper. As the pencil artist produces the picture in his or her head and uses strokes of the pencil, the writer can have the same feeling as he/she interprets the thoughts and ideas and uses strokes to produce words. It is the same process. That’s what I think anyway.

However, I am back because in order to move on I have to embrace technology once more. It has moved on, and I am a little behind, but I learn quick. I even hesitated coming back to WordPress but it is good to be back.

Over the last year I have explored the artistic side of me and taken to pastel drawings. It has increased my appreciation of all things artistic.