Why do you blog?

A couple of people have asked me why I blog.  I have actually had a blog since Mac started Kindergarten.  So, it isn't like this is a new concept for me.  The part that is new is that I try real hard to write one post a day.  I have been averaging 6.5 a week since May. 

Blogging for me is a creative outlet.  Here I have this blank canvass that I can fill with anything I want.  I think it is really tapping into my inner, closet columnist.  I think ever since I was a kid and I would read Jack Smith in the LA Times, I wanted to write a column about my life.  Sure sometimes Jack would touch on issues that were topical in the greater environment, but mostly he just talked about his wife, kids and their dog.  It is interesting to me that I still remember those articles so many years later.

The likelihood of me ever having a column like Jack Smith is pretty low.  Folks who write those daily columns have spent years in journalism.  Actually know how to write without making stupid grammatical and spelling errors.  They do not have hanging participles in their columns.  They have paid their dues.

Many times I think about what I am going to say before I write it, and sometimes I sit down and start typing.  Some of those posts end up in places I never really imagined that they would go.  Sometimes I got nothin' and that is why posts with random stories appear.  Some posts just write themselves.  Sometimes things that happen are too amazing to make up and they literally show up in my life as gift wrapped little blog posts.

I have been asked recently if I blog to cause trouble.  That is the furthest from the truth.  But, at the end of the day, this is my house, my story if you will.  If you don't like what I have to say, then don't read it.  Seriously, there are about a million other blogs out there you could read.  This blog is narcissistic, it is about me and my opinions.  I make no apology for that.  That said, I also want people to read what I have written.  I always find it interesting who reads my blog.  When someone comes up to me and says, "hey, great/interesting/stupid post, it really made me think/laugh/spill my coffee," it kinda makes my day.

So, until I am published in the small town paper, I will blog.  Hopefully some one will read it.