In Medias Res

Let me explain … the title of both this post and this blog.  I like Latin words, and I am a writer, and in writing it is considered good storytelling to start “in medias res”, or in the middle of things.  This technique is used to draw people in to the story right away, rather than making them wade through all kinds of boring narrative just to set up the good part of the story.  Thusly and therefore I am starting this blog/story/tale in the middle of things, even though it is technically the beginning.  But not for me.  In my life, that is.  Are you still with me?  If you are, I give you high points for endurance and fortitude.  Let me explain more:  I am in the middle of my life (46 years old), in the middle of my quest to become a writer, in the middle of my life-long love of reading, and eighteen years in to my battle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.   More on the OCD in another post — I really over-explain when it comes to that subject.

You have heard the expression “a picture paints a thousand words”?  Well, I am more of a believer in “why look at a picture when you can use a thousand words?”   Through self-evaluation, I have determined that there are two reasons why I always over-explain.  1) I dread — and I mean DREAD — the idea of being misunderstood.  I think it may even be a phobia. There may even be a name for it. *pause for internet search* There is!  It is called ambiguphobia.  
2) Nobody just “accepts” my thoughts or ideas when I state them simply.  I don’t know if this is something I have caused by always explaining so thoroughly that nobody feels the need to tune in to my specific words, because they know that they will absorb it through repetition, or if it is because I have no credibility whatsoever.  *breath*  I tend to believe the second, mostly because if I cite other sources when speaking, (CNN, Oprah, my husband, etc.) then I elicit the proper response and my need to continue talking ends.  So.

I decided to write about the things that I think in a blog, and get feedback from readers on how I could have said what I have said (this is starting to sound very Dr. Seuss) with few words.  OR, if readers believe that I am not over-explaining and that I in fact have used just the right amount of words, in which case I will use this blog and those comments to say “nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!” to those who have ridiculed me in the past.

Does that just about explain it?  Or over-explain?

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