The Journey of a Thousand Miles...

I had a meeting this morning with the editor of Valley Business Front, for whom I will likely be writing a few things in the near future. I told him that I wanted to be a writer, to make my creative skills marketable, or in other words, valuable in the “real world.” His first question was, “Do you have a blog?” When I said no, his immediate response was, “Start one this afternoon.”

Et voila.

It’s an excellent idea, and one I’ve been mulling over for the past few weeks. All the advice I’ve read for writers includes one very simple little imperative: write. It’s effort that brings results, like practicing scales on the piano, or throwing many, many lumps of clay before coming out with a recognizable mug. A blog is not only an opportunity for this constant practice, but also a way for a writer to have his or her work accessible to the public. And it’s a voice that other people can hear and respond to, and who among us doesn’t want that?

I’ve found myself considering blog topics for myself—things that interest me, things that irritate me, things that I question. The words “when I get a blog” usually are part of this line of thought, and having thought them, I can then continue with whatever thoughtless activity I am doing. So the question becomes: why haven’t I done this before, taken the metaphorical plunge into the mire of online talkers?

Part of it may be my inner cynicism of thinking, I don’t just want to jump on any bandwagons. Equally possible is my uncertainty of wondering, do I really have anything to say that anyone would want to read? Then there are the college student’s long list of excuses: I have so much homework, I should be working on my thesis, I forgot to send this email… Even thinking about them makes me annoyed. The thing is, I don’t like excuses, whether I’m hearing them or making them. No matter what kind of blather I could present, the fact of the matter is that I haven’t done it when I should. And the only way to remedy that is to get going.

So here I am, on a rainy Wednesday five minutes from the time when I should be at work. Blog post number one will go up, and I will stand behind it and hope for the best.