Roundup What?

Before today I didn’t know what roundup means, Now I do. I heard about it before from previous courses but out of lack of interest, I didn’t delve into the possibilities of exploring how I can incorporate it in my way of blogging. If I understand it correctly, I might have unknowingly done something similar to it when I created one of my pages and transformed some of the words into a series of links to my previous musings. But I think it is not what you can call a proper roundup. I just don’t do these things. That is not the way I blog and what my blog is all about. But I am not the type of person who shies away from challenges so, for once I will make an exception to the rule.

I don’t know where to start so, I just picked some of the great reads and ideas I recently come across while browsing the net. The first is from a fellow Writing 101 participant. His take on day 18 assignment is so hilariously clever it made me laugh, and believe you me, that is not an easy thing to do.

Programmer vs. Artist – Small shame vs. Big Shame

This passage is an excerpt from an about page of a fellow Filipina and WordPress blogger Jackielyn Ched Telan. This girl writings impress me and that doesn’t happen very often.

“So why should you read my blog? You shouldn’t. It’s an utter waste of your precious time and it’s kind of my online journal. I don’t even offer nuggets of wisdom or any valuable shit like that. I’m just someone who finds pleasure in taking all my thoughts out on an online piece of paper; thoughts that are so important to me, yet holds no value to you. Then again, like I said, if you have a weird mind like mine then read on. You just might be the right kind of online ear, eyes and shoulders that I need (or not).”

How I wish I wrote that one myself.

I often get long (longer than some of my posts) thought-provoking comments in my blogs. I value them all. They show that those who bother to leave their footprints really take their time sharing their thoughts instead of the usual “great post” “nice blog” you often see out there. Don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with that but still…

This week I have chosen to highlight three comments from the same blogger because it justified my purpose and confirmed that I’m on the right track. Crazyholecook, thank you again.

“Oh, what you write is so valuable. So beautiful. So essential. Without it, we would never know. It would also be just a toxic mess if it stayed inside forever. Get it out. Get it out on paper. Write it out. Eventually, something is going to shift. The air will clear. Lighten. You are doing extraordinary work. Don’t stop.”

“I just saw myself in your story and your words. I feel so healed by reading them. Even though they describe horrors. There is healing in bearing witness. I think it must go hand in hand with baring the soul.”

“You are doing the work of digging, revisiting, experiencing, describing, translating, and expressing, that MILLIONS of people cannot do. I believe we write about our own experiences, but we speak for a world of silent voices.”

Music to my ears.

I hope this is enough to do some justice to the assignment.