I struggled with what to name this thing, mainly because I wasn’t really sure what the point of it would be. In the past I have started blogs and stuck with them for a few weeks, sometimes even months, and then lost interest. I’ve recently discovered that ADHD is to blame for a lot of things in my life that have gone that route, so I’m less critical of myself while at the same time recognize how limiting it is.
This is more than a blog, though, or at least I hope it will be. I like the format here, and the way I can send my ramblings off to people for them to ignore at their leisure. But back to the point of what the point of this is. That was the question I had to answer.
What do I want to talk about?
Writing - the act of writing, the joy of writing, avoiding writing, editing, avoiding editing, despising editing, wishing I could write instead of edit, etc.
Words - weird words, forgotten words, word roots, regional pronunciations and local idioms, language in general
Welsh - the language, the country, and why I’m obsessed with it
Genealogy - looking back to see where I came from or in some cases, what I fled in order to get to where I am
Me - by far the least interesting subject but the one I know the most about, anecdotes, memories, and other reasons I will regret my family knows about this
ADHD - discovery, diagnosis, treatment, and all that comes with it
And the rest - They are the Professor Roy Hinkley and Mary Anne Summers. SAY THEIR NAMES! (also other random things)
So why “Steady Tapping”?
I love Welsh idioms with a passion I cannot describe, and one of my favorites is the title of this post, “dyfal donc a dyr y garreg".” It translates to “steady tapping breaks the stone” (or as is oftentimes said with more pretentiousness, “Persistent tapping breaks the stone”) and is one I take to heart. With everything - writing, new hobbies, life in general - it’s the persistence that pays off. We’re not born experts in anything. It’s only through trial, error, more trial, even more error, fervent trial, catastrophic error, and a little more trial, that we can gain any skill in anything.
This has been a powerful idea when it comes to writing. Even more so in getting published. My writing, thankfully, has improved with every story. One day, when I can bear to look them in the eye, I may take out some of the stinkers I wrote at the beginning and give them a brief polish before putting them back in the box behind the cupboard where they will sit until they learned their lesson. They are the blocks I built from, though, so I treasure them even though they smell of desperation and mania.
With getting published I had to learn even more patience, slogging through a sea of rejections to find and celebrate my wins. Now I have stories in tiny books, in online journals, in magazines, and a few other lovely places. And then I wrote a book (but more on that later).
So while I was shopping around in my head for that song lyric or line from a poem or collection of forgotten words that perfectly encapsulated what I was going to be trying to get across on this site that idiom floated to the top, and if I needed further proof that it is a good choice, the steady tapping of my fingers on the keys reminds me that sometimes you can accidentally strike gold twice.
I hope you enjoy what I put out into the universe. More to come.
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