What the heck am I doing?

I am going to skip all introductions. My reasoning is that you will learn enough about my as I continue to blog here, so an exhaustive kick-off intro just doesn't make sense.

So why am I blogging? I have no spare time, and already spend too much of my time in front of screens every day. When it comes down to it, I love to write, and have aspirations to write professionally some day, and if some day is ever going to be a “today” I need to do this. The biggest issue is that I need to allow myself to have readers. Of course a writer needs readers, but that is not what I am saying. I need to allow others to read my work in a meaningful way.

I learned this in a creative writing class I took a couple of years ago. I enrolled on a whim, sacrificing a few classes I needed for one that I really wanted. The opening assignment was to write 20 single-spaced pages about myself, followed up with a personal narrative. It was one of my all-time favorite and assignments ever as well as the first real test of my assertion that I wanted to write for a living. The personal essay was easy, and 12 pages later I had a narration that met my personal expectations, which is saying something. I was on pins and needles when I got the paper back. I was finally going to have a virtual stranger tell me if my dream of being an author was founded. The note scribbled in the curvy script of my teacher was validating at the least, and possibly one of the most liberating responses I have ever received. "Tony, you are a writer!" is all it said. I was elated, as if a door had just opened, and then the rest of the semester happened.

I would do an assignment and email it out for revision and comment. Never again was I happy with my own work. Never again did I hear anyone tell me sincerely that they thought I could make it as a writer. And worst of all, I never got the courage to read my work to my classmates. There were a few required readings, but every day there was an opportunity to stand up and show that I was a writer and that I could accept readers. Now here I am writing and hoping that a few people will read what I have to say. Even more, I am hoping that I can continue to write and share my work.

So that is why I am here. I hope that you too find a meaningful reason for coming back. Perhaps you are a friend of mine and just want to support this effort. Perhaps you are interested in the topics that will come up.

In any case, at least I get to see it in print . . .