The Writing Muse

      I can't believe I missed writing a blog for much of April and all of May 2015.  Maybe I am just slowing up.   I hate to think that turning 80 in April somehow was a milestone that means one is supposed to be slowing down.    I like to think more likely I haven't slowed down but I was waiting for meaningful thoughts to be shared.    Better to be silent than to be foolish.
    Each day for the past several months I have been reading and listening to the Writer's Almanac hosted by Garrison Keillor.     I find this daily exercise much more satisfying than reading about movie stars, comics and other celebrities that are routinely featured in our newspapers.   To me the writers, poets, historians, inventors,  and others substantial contributors to society featured in Writer's Almanac are far more edifying,  inspiring and important.   Although my professional career has been engineering and academia, I find now I aspire to being able to write meaningful essays, history and maybe poetry.    With that ambition, I know that I have to find the right Muse for my writing urge.  
     At the start of this blog I was inspired to write about the experience of the geezer skier.   It was an intent to speak to the quirks of the more senior skiers.  Perhaps now I have moved beyond that limited scope and will find opportunities to explore other subjects.   The common advice to aspiring writers is to write about things you have experienced.  I guess that can be your everyday activities and sometimes the insights you encounter in your musings.    Meanwhile, I look forward to exercising my "writing muscles" more frequently.   If you are one of my followers, stay tuned.