People have asked me why, especially since I started doing this publicly. Why blog? Why put your life out there for everyone to see? Why set yourself or someone you love up for an embarrassing election expose?

There is a better answer than “Why not?”

From Jul over at Thumbscre.ws: The Writer’s Catechism. (Spend some time on her site, if you can. She’s got it…that talent that makes your brain bleed, then starts in on your heart. I’d hate her if (a) I were still 12 and (b) she hadn’t written one of my favorite posts of all time. Some of her posts make me think of Salinger — less because of the style than because of how Salinger often takes me more than one pass for full absorption, and each new pass digs a deeper groove.)

I started blogging semi-privately in 2001 because I’d begun sending a growing number of friends what amounted to mass emails with occasionally clever subject lines, and they seemed to enjoy them. I kept blogging because writing is what I do and who I am, and this is the medium that makes the most sense.

I have always journaled. Before email, I was a kick-ass pen pal. I killed English teachers with essays and Journalism professors with editorials. But I’ve written five decent poems in my entire life, I cannot create fiction plots, and I’m too opinionated for proper reporting. So I work in corporate communications and write here in my own time, recording the world through my own tiny perspective.

Or talking about poop. You know…different things, different days.