My fingertips are chilled from holding the cold bowl in my hand. I've put it down now, but I enjoyed the ice-cream, despite the cold day. I hadn't felt the cold until just now. My arms feel the cool air swirling around them and my feet aren't quite warm enough inside my socks and slippers. But now I'm here, sitting and writing, I don't fancy getting up to seek out a jumper or anything else to wear. It would mean going by the family watching that silly Elvis movie. I don't know what it is, but I just never got into him. Hubby is a fan, but Elvis just doesn't move me.

It's Sunday arvo, which means afternoon for those who don't speak Strine, which means Australian. I'm feeling lazy and cold and not in the mood for thinking. What is it about Sunday that does that to me? The baby is sleeping and all I feel like doing is joining him. I just argued with hubby. Well, that's too strong a word. Really, we just disagreed about something. He has this way of making any opinion other than his own seem trivial, beneath his great and mighty thoughts and downright wrong. I challenged him on it. I don't always do so. I suppose for the most part I'm the compliant one in the relationship. Most of the time I just don't see the point. He always argues from a logical point of view and I don't always think that way. Logically, I mean. I'm the abstract thinker. My reasons and motives may appear emotionally driven and at times unclear, but I feel strongly about my point of view. Just because I can't compute it out in a logical fashion doesn't make it any less valid.

As you can imagine this makes for some interesting discussion, or arguments, around here. Hubby is learning to think less rigidly and I am learning how to logically explain my abstract ideas. For the most part we meet in the middle. I suppose this process of communicating is a lot like writing. Maybe we've written something and feel pretty good about it. To us it makes perfect sense. But as soon as you bring a reader, or listener, to the mix something happens. Words may have standard meanings, but each word holds a different meaning to each reader involved in your piece. What appears perfectly logical can make no sense whatsoever to your reader. They may even react negatively to your ideas. Either you failed to actually put across your idea in the right way in the first place or your reader is at fault.

If every reader pretty much says the same thing, then you'd better believe them and not your instinct. Sometimes we just don't get across the message in the strongest possible way. As soon as we open up to the idea that someone else may have something valid to say about our writing, the quicker we grow as writers. Any constructive criticism I've ever received has been of value in improving my writing. This kind of writing is less about getting input, though. I'm referring to the short stories and novels and even articles we write.

Our writing can only benefit from getting another to read it through. I find I am always blind to certain turns of phrases or at times even leaving out words. When someone points these things out I am only too happy to change them and quick to thank them for doing so.

For me the product needs to convey my ideas and clearly. I want to know the reader can read it through and grasp my meaning without having to work too hard, either. Being a creative type, with my abstract thought processes, means I often need to embrace a more logical attitude when editing my work. For this reason I always write first drafts without even editing anything. I then change hats and let the inner editor go to work.

But, I've discovered that the very act of writing in a daily journal, be it this kind or a handwritten one, strengthens my logical brain. I can go back and argue with hubby much more effectively after writing in my journal than if I attempt to argue right there and then.

Anyway, that's me for today. I didn't even look at the time to be honest.