Once Upon a Midnight Cheery

Once Upon a Midnight Cheery
by Marilyn Mackenzie

Before you start sending emails to me, I know that's not how it is written - Once Upon a Midnight Cheery. But, for Ms. Merry Sunshine, that's life.

Even though I awoke in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep again right away, I'm still cheerful. I put my time to good use reading other Writing.Com writers. I wandered the Writing.Com family searching for new writers and new articles by some of my favorite writers.

Perhaps because of the time of year, I’ve neglected reading other authors for a few weeks. Because of that, I was afraid that I might have missed some new writer, someone who might have posted an article or two and having gotten no immediate response, might just as easily have been gone in a flash, leaving all of us poorer for not having experienced that writer. If you are a Writing.Com writer yourself, you might have been the recipient of a comment or word of encouragement at the end of your article in my middle of the night explorations.

Besides reading, I also pondered. I just love that word! Pondering means to consider carefully, to meditate or reflect, to weigh in the mind. That's exactly what I was doing - reflecting and considering carefully whether or not I should write about my ponderings. I decided that I should.

Reading what others have written inspires me. Some articles infuriate me enough to respond with an opposite point of view. Others may offer just a snippet of something I'd like to expand upon. Still others make me think of something else, perhaps not even remotely similar, but all the same, and they ignite a spark of creativity within me.

But as I read some of the wonderful writings of others at Writing.Com, I sadly remembered comments I've seen from other writers about never having the time to read other writers. How sad that is! A site like this should not become a closed society, a circle of readers and writers only reading and commenting on each other's works of heart. However, I do think it is of utmost importance for each of us to have our minds and hearts expanded by reading the works of others. How else can we learn? How else can we grow? How else can we know that ten others wrote about the same topic just yesterday?

"Pity the man who has a favorite restaurant, but not a favorite author. He's picked out a favorite place to feed his body, but he doesn't have a favorite place to feed his mind!" - Jim Rohn

"The perfecting of one's self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development." - Confucius

More thoughts came to mind. (Translated: I pondered some more.) New writers need affirmation from the general public, of course, but also from experienced writers as well. Each of us can look back at early writings and be almost tempted to pull these early articles, for the more we write or practice, the better writers we become. How, then, can we not encourage other new writers? How can we not share the wisdom we've gleaned?

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. - Matthew 7:12

Do yourself and your fellow Writing.Com authors a favor today. Spend just a few minutes reading the writings of others. You just might be pleasantly surprised. You might be refreshed. And, you might be suddenly inspired.