For Jeff King: Why Blog?

Jeff King said: I would love to hear way you decided to make a blog, and what drives you in your every day life. what dreams fill your eyes when you think about the future...

It's kind of complicated.

I've been writing fiction for nearly as long as I can remember. Poetry (narrative), short stories, novels... But not non-fiction except for some technical articles. I've never written a journal. I wrote essays only when required for class (some time back) and requirement documents don't have a lot of personality.

In 2007, my sister told me about a contest on Gather.com for the first chapters of a completed "first" novel. So, I joined and tried it. In theory, Gather was a forum for writers, photographers and the like where they could interact and critique work. However, I found the crowd I started out with (largely other contestants) weren't really my cup of tea. They seemed (to me) to be far more interested in getting published rather than creating quality writing.

I was becoming disheartened and nearly left when I stumbled across a wonderful satirist who I will watch out for going by the moniker of "Peter Whimsy" - who is, coincidentally, the star of the only written mysteries I really like. I hung back because I liked Peter Whimsy and, through him, I got introduced to a whole different group at Gather. The discussion was often politics or philosophy or humor.

Gather, however, kept making changes with the apparent intention of making Gather a social site more like facebook or myspace. The idea did not appeal to me and, truthfully, there seemed less and less effective writing and more and more whining and games and photos and nonsense, which is fine in moderation, but I was falling distinctly out of love with Gather, as was a friend I made there, flit.

Meanwhile, last year, my sister, shakespeare, began a blog. As flit and I were discussing alternatives to Gather, the notion of blogs came up and we both decided to start blogs with Today.com (where my sister was). Actually, she did it with two blogs and browbeat me until I started one. She ended up with like three blogs there, a couple of blogs elsewhere (including my website where gave her a corner) and never entirely gave up Gather because of the friends she made there. I ended up with two blogs on Today.com and found it suited me. I actually liked writing my thoughts and philosophies, interacting with my commenters (who are some of the best people), meeting more incredible people in the blogosphere that I had never wandered through before.

When Today.com screwed a friend over (after a number of other troubling signs), I high-tailed it out of there and here I am, still blogging, pretty much daily, still interacting with my favorite fellow bloggers and commenters.

Most of the folks I knew and liked best on Today.com have done the same (many involuntarily).

What drives me? I like people (though I'm generally uncomfortable in crowds). I love writing.

And, since I'll always love writing, whether I ever am successful at it or not, I'll just keep on with it.

Thanks for asking.