A Fresher Start

Announcing a New Feature

Welcome back, dear readers. So what if it’s the end of summer? The Kate Chronicles has returned, with its author (me) refreshed and figuring it out. 

I was walking with a friend a few weeks ago on my favorite dog hike along the Mill River in western Massachusetts. The people in my life are not big small talkers. We are mostly self ruminators who are both successful, and don’t sleep much. She and I reported our various ups and downs as we went, the river roaring on our right. I told her I wasn’t sure what my next project would be. 

“What do you want from your writing?” she asked finally. “I mean, why are you doing this?”

Without thinking, from a long developed and neglected place in my heart, I heard myself choke out, “I want to be loved.” The tears came like rain after a suffocating summer day.

Almost matter-of-factly, she said,  “No one will ever love you because of that. Enjoying your work is one thing, but love? Not because of your writing. Find some other reason.”

The truth in this statement, and the psychoanalytic fodder it offered were immeasurable. This blog is not a shortcut to approval for my entire existence. And if that’s not what it is, I was left to wonder, what is the point?

I have little to no interest in fame. While you might call this fear of success or failure and not be entirely wrong, I have found myself adjacent to minor celebrity in many different forms. It feels like such a scramble to hold on, and I’m a bit lazy.

If “influencer” is the role a blogger like me goes out for, that’s not particularly interesting either. Have you ever been the background or camera person for someone trying to get the perfect shot or video, create the most desirable, over planned and naturally seeming good time? And you’re never done. You’re only as good as your last viral whatever. Nah. Too old and busy with the birds for that.

Over the course of conversations and endless cups, many friends/readers have suggested different topics I could put my unique spin on.

“How would Kate Chronicle this?” 

It is humbly exhilarating to know that anything I write is worth the 7 minute read or 10 minute listen. I was touched they asked.

Yes, it was more than one person. And I’ll let the two of you know, I like this idea. It set sail on a channel in my brain I can get into.

So, drumroll please. The Kate Chronicles is excited to announce our new feature! What Would Kate Chronicle?

For the first time, I’m taking requests. I’m open to you and your ideas. Once a month (or more/less if the response calls for), you choose what Kate Chronicles. 

Give me your ideas, and I will spin them through my lens. Ask me anything, about anything and I’ll come up with an answer. Even advice.

“Mommy, Mommy, I have a question!” my oldest son would call in his toddlerhood. 

“I have an answer,” I responded on a loop. I was joking at the time, but this few decades later, I realize it is true. Especially when the answer is, I have no idea.

But the current answer to my hiking buddy’s question is this: What am I hoping to get from this writing? More of what I have.  Connection, interaction and fulfilling my desire to be heard. I’d like more of that, please.

In my 50+ years with my 100+ posts, I’ve gotten good at running an object through my subjectively quirky lens in order to find some clarity. From bowling to bicycling, parking to politics, from soccer momhood to resolutely, long time married woman with issues and an empty nest. Let’s go there together.

I know it’s a risk, that I might not hear from any of you, that my deepest fears will be realized. None of you will answer and it’s just been me screaming into the void all this time. But any risk I’ve taken, especially in this space, has paid me back several times over. Even when it’s a flop.

So please, drop an idea or question in the comments, anytime. Email, text, instagram, threads or whatever. Either I miss you or I don’t know you yet. Won’t you come along for the ride?