Why Start a Blog?

Really, there is not a lot of incentive to start up a blog at this point in my life. I am hardly a unique demographic, either amongst internet users in general or bloggers in specific. There are already plenty out there, so it is not like I'm filling any sort of need, right?

Well, maybe my needs.

I've always enjoyed writing, and I wish I had taken steps in my younger days that could have led me to a career doing it, but I was never committed enough to be a journalist, or competitive enough to work in advertising, nor imaginative enough to come up with any other viable options. I wrote a few short stories here and there, mostly for training material or gaming background, or my own enjoyment and that of my friends, and once, years ago, I wrote a screenplay with a co-worker for a contest. But then comes work and a family, and writing takes a back seat to less strenuous or more sociable recreation, and your axe grows dull, and you content yourself with critiquing the writing you encounter in books and movies and television.

But it still needs to get out.

Within my circle of friends are a number of gents who are very handy with the verbage, some professionally so, and when they throw a word of praise (or better yet, an expression of jealousy) for a turn of phrase or an idea I've expressed in one of our G-mail threads, it makes my day. Seriously. Like many insecure humans, I get about 50 miles per pat-on-the-head, and praise from people you respect the way I respect my mates is more priceless than those MasterCard commercials could ever know.

So I find myself running on in my e-mails from time to time. Grandstanding. Soapboxing. Waxing eloquent, or at least, attempting to do so. Even when it doesn't generate feedback, I still enjoy it, still picture the reader smiling at his workplace or imagine the spontaneous generation of a soft chuckle or thoughtful nod. I mean, there is certainly no pressing need to proof a second draft of an e-mail being added to a thread entitled, "Anyone doing anything this Saturday?", is there?

And thus I end up here, taking the leap, and starting a blog. I am pretty sure there is no need for another electronic raconteur here on 'teh internets', but I am damned sure there is room. A chance to post some insights, share some stories, vent some spleen, and who knows what else.

If the axe gets sharp, who knows what might be done with it?