to blog, or not to blog

So why blog? Why me?

Good question. I'll get back to you.

Actually, I know some of the reasons. Whether they're reason enough, only history will decide.

I've read a lot of blogs, or at least looked at a lot. Many are unexceptional, and quite a few are variously spelling/punctuating/typing-challenged, which bothers me. I know, it's narrow-minded of me (I don't really believe that), but I find it hard to look past the surface to the content, when the surface is error-ridden. (I realize I am setting myself up to make mistakes and get called for not being perfect myself. I suppose I don't think I'll make a lot of mistakes—conceited much?—and for the sake of good writing, I can overlook a few mistakes.)

However, there are a few blogs I am borderline-obsessive about (see Links), and they inspire me to try my hand at it. I don't expect to get hundreds of readers and comments, the way my favorites often do, but the chance of connecting to someone I would otherwise never meet has a certain odd appeal.

Then, I call myself a writer, but I haven't been writing. I suffer from polishing compulsion, where I want to make every word, every sentence, that I write perfect before I continue. No matter how often I read Bird by Bird, by the wonderful Anne Lamott, I'm still doing this. I hope that, by blogging, I'll be able to loosen up a bit. Writing this may (I hope) get me writing other things.

I want to talk about things that interest me. I don't have any close knitting-fanatic friends, or obsessive-hockey-fan friends, and by putting it out here, I increase the odds that someone will not only listen, but want to discuss. It's possible, anyway.

This isn't going to be a knit-blog, or a hockey blog, or a what-I'm-reading blog, not wholly. Some days I'll write about those things, others not. At least until I know anyone's listening, I may as well amuse myself.