(Early morning writing session.)
Someone asked me recently how I come up with ideas for blog posts.
The answer's easy.
I think of you.
When you leave a comment on my blog, I become the reader and you become the writer. Suddenly you and I have switched places and I become the one who is learning from you. And my world opens up. Bigtime.
I can't tell you the number of books I've read thanks to your recommendations.
(I read "The Wind in the Willows" this weekend, Lily, and underlined half the book. Other tomes that pop into my head are "Miss Hargreaves", "The Tangier Diaries", "London Belongs to Me" and "The Englishman's Room", all discovered via your comments.)
Or the insider tips you've given me when I travel. (When I went to Marrakech, someone told me I should meet Maryam. And I did. And she was one of the most amazing people ever. Now I'm off to London soon and can't wait to finally visit Dennis Severs' House -- again, recommended by one of you.)
Or the expert style advice I sometimes get from readers who seriously know their stuff. (Architect Design, you were so right when you told me to paint the ceiling the same dark blue as the walls in my office. It made all the difference.)
In 2008, when I wrote my first post, I shot a message out into the endless ether, hoping against hope that chance or fate or sheer luck would connect me to a like-minded soul.
Somehow, miraculously, you started trickling in and now, in 2012, there's a whole tribe of us, a collection of virtual friends on a journey we were going to take anyway, but now we're taking it together.
We read, we discover, we comment, we link, we share.
We are different and yet the same.
(All photos by LBG.)
So thank you. Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for the captivating conversation (four years and counting). Thank you for your honesty, your passion and your effervescent enthusiasm. You -- yes, you -- are the heroes of this blog, not me.
x/Lisa
P.S. Gratitude also to Apartment Therapy and photographer Marcia Prentice.
(Reason revealed HERE.)