Why I Created A Blog

The world needs many things. One of them is not another blog to take up space and your time. I've always felt that way and been reluctant to start writing a blog. I never considered it a true writing artform. You want to write something - go write a play, or a book, or a screenplay. So that's what I did.

To give you a little history, I figured out I wanted to write about ten years ago. It started out as a daily journal. That grew into my first completed screenplay (admittedly, a poorly written one). One screenplay led to the start of another. And dreams of being a writer led to me quitting my job to pursue it full time. As reality hit, I rejoined the working world and slowly stopped writing. Somewhere along the way, I began writing a column for 13 friends in a fantasy football league. But I only did that for three months out of the year. The rest of the time, I stopped writing. My second attempt at a screenplay was left unfinished. And writing became something I told people I enjoyed doing, but didn't actually do. Because a passion for something that is not your job, becomes a hobby. And a hobby becomes something that you do when you can. But life will always give you excuses. You're too tired, too lazy, or it's too late (Marc, I got this one for you..."That's what she said"). So you don't write anymore and you just complain about not being able to write. For me, the person I complained to the most was my girlfriend. And so, for Christmas she bought me a netbook. The card attached said simply, "Now you don't have an excuse why you can't write".

And for quite some time, friends and loved ones have been encouraging me to write a blog. But fear and uncertainty took over.

"What do I name it?"

"Who would even read it?"

"What am I writing about?"

After four months of not using the netbook for its intended purpose, while trying to answer those questions, I finally decided to take the leap and "throw myself into the fire". Ultimately, I decided the answer to those questions is "Whatever I want", "Write good stuff and people will read", and "Whatever I want". So I simply started writing and hoped I'd figure things out along the way.

Will this blog lead to anything? I don't know. Will people read it and enjoy it? So far, only a select few. But I know that I've rediscovered the reason why I enjoyed writing so much in the first place. I think about my blog constantly. And it provides some fulfillment in my life that I can't get from work or anywhere else. So for that; I want to thank my wonderful girlfriend (I love you), my friends for their support, and you out there in cyberspace for reading.

In retrospect, this would have probably been a good idea for my first blog entry. But if I had any clue about what I'm doing, then I wouldn't have taken two months to think of a blog name...