“I write for the unlearned about things in which I am unlearned myself.” —C.S. Lewis
When I was in grade school, my teacher, I’m pretty sure it was Mrs. Lorrigan, asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. As the self-centered fourth-grader I was, I only remember saying I wanted to go to school forever.
Not like Van Wilder. I wanted to learn forever.
School was a place I did well. Teachers noticed me. They told me I was smart and had lots of potential. At school, I got the attention I didn’t get at home, so I milked it. Teacher’s pet I was. 😉
As I reflect on that egocentric fourth grader, I laugh a little because now I’m doing exactly that. No longer in a formal setting, of course, but my love for learning inspires me to devour books faster than ice cream. And I was the Ice Cream Sundae Eating Champion of T’Rivers…1984 I think that was…so when I tell you that I read a lot, I’m not kidding. (126 books in 2020, 136 in 2021 - and that didn’t include all that I read for work.)
But then a question hit me.
What good is sucking up all this knowledge, reading all these books, taking notes, and filling notebooks with what I think if I do nothing with it? My process now is to devour one book, highlight what I find interesting, and maybe write in my squirrel notebook about it, but in t-minus 5 seconds, I’m diving into the next book. Each time, the cycle continues. Feels a bit like a book addiction.
In my mind, I’d make a great think-tanker, but that’s not realistic.
I mentioned these thoughts to my Battle Sister (more on Battle Sisters later).
“Well, why don’t you?” she said.
“Don’t I what?”
“Why don’t you share it? I would love to read about what you’re learning because I don’t have time to do it myself.”
She didn’t smack me in the face because we were on the phone, but it felt like it, and I got thinking.
And here we are.
New Platform
I’ve been writing on Medium for a while. It got me started on a regular writing habit, and I learned that maybe other people do want to hear what I have to say. It’s easier than managing my own platform. That’s too much work, and I don’t want to learn all kinds of new tech just to make it look appealing.
But I get annoyed with Medium. As a writer, I’d like to earn money for my talents. I mean, who doesn’t? That’s how they sell the platform to writers. The model there, however, is that people have to subscribe to the whole platform, and they divide up membership fees to writers based on how many people read the work. But there is a lot of crap on Medium that I struggle to continue supporting. Nor do I want to invite my readers to support crap they don’t want to support. By being a member of the whole platform, your membership gets paid to the most popular writers, not the ones you read. If you’re the only one reading what I write, I receive zero compensation. So it’s a bit backward.
Now there is Substack. People pay for what they want to read, and writers don’t even have to have a subscription service if they don’t want to. So here I am, diving into this wonderful experiment.
The Plan
The Scriptorium is my virtual writing room where I’ll share what I’m reading and learning, and thinking. For those curious about what tenshiVerse is, well, that’s the name of my LLC that serves as the “parent company” to my writing work and tenshimadeShop. There’s a story behind the name, but I owe all credit to my husband, son, and Firefly.
Will Scriptorium always contain super-polished, professional writing? No. But for those who have told me they would love an inside view of how my brain works, welcome. This shall serve as a window.
What will I write about?
I love learning, and this is the place to share it. I love learning about God, marriage and family, veterans issues, mental health, social and cultural issues, history, learning, reading, fiction, and anything else that flings my noodle into high gear. I read a LOT and listen to intriguing podcasts, so when I write about that, I’ll include links where you can get the info from the source.
I’m also interested in the discussion part of this platform and would love to expand the Battle Sisters - Sisters of Faith to include more voices than just my own. As I figure out how that works, I’ll promote it a little more, but the goal is to build a community of faith warriors.
Will I charge for this service? Not yet. Not until I get used to this platform and get myself into a system of posting regularly and providing valuable information.
Right now, I want to test this thing out and invite my family, friends, and future friends to join me. You can subscribe to Scriptorium as a whole, or you can subscribe to Booktorium or Battle Sisters separately. Or you can visit from time to time. When you do, drop me a line, I’d love to hear from you!