Write. Bake. Create.

This blog post has been a very long time coming. To say it was conceived in the summer may surprise many readers, especially those who follow us on Facebook and see the shiny shop window of a successful small business.

It may have been birthed in the Autumn...those days of mists and mellow fruitfulness when anticipation of the festive season brought a possibly false sense of security to those of us committed to community, determined not only to live with our vision but see it through the trials and tribulations that many promised would be a part of our life when we took on this project.

The decision to share more of the journey that has been "The Kitchen" is not one that was taken lightly. I was going to say that it comes down to the writer amongst us but checked myself as there are others in the family now who share my passion for what we used to call the printed word.

But the reality is that over the past few weeks, when things have been very tough, many friends old and new have repeated the same refrain to me.

"keep writing"

This is advice that I concur with on so many levels. Downloading our thoughts onto paper or the virtual equivalent is pretty much guaranteed to clear our brain of the stuff that goes around and around on a daily basis. Late night journalling, making notes in the middle of the night, keeping a diary - all of these things can help us "dump" and make sense of things that trouble us.

Some friends have suggested this type of writing - for  no one to see but myself. And there have been times when that has felt like an option. So I want to reflect for just a little while on why it is I am committed to blogging and the knowledge that this is out there in the public sphere and available to anyone who would like to read it.

I can't write for all bloggers of course. But my own experience over the last seven years or so has been that writing with the knowledge that what I say may be seen or read by many others changes how I write.

My writing is no less honest. But it is perhaps more thoughtful. It is no less angry or emotional. But that anger and emotion will have been considered or processed and is now expressed in a way that will help me to move forward. And whilst it is much less likely to name names or mention individuals it will hopefully allow me to move beyond these people and see the bigger picture.

Saying all of this has taken up the time and space that would make up a typical blog post. So for tonight we leave it there - unless I get ahead and write another for tomorrow. Thank you if you have read this far. Linda x