I finally figured out why I blog

I knew that I liked blogging. I knew that whenever I sat down to blog, I'd get a kick out of it. But I couldn't say why blogging should be any different from writing entries in my journal. I've kept an electronic journal for years now, I use it all the time, and I'm clearly willing to devote a lot of energy to it.

It's obvious now what's going on: In the blog, I'm writing for other people to read, and that makes all the difference. 

My journal entries tend to be scanty notes that just give a sense of what I was thinking. In a blog entry I have to think about how I'm expressing myself and whether I've ended up saying anything at all. 

And of course I discover new things by writing that way. Of course I do, but there's a difference between knowing that and experiencing that. 

I go back and forth on my commitment to the blog. I'll get excited about it, post for a while, but then stop. I don't have a lot of readers yet. But I'm blogging more often now and seeing more comments. And they matter; they're incredibly encouraging. A tiny note from someone I've never seen post before can make my day.

But now I see that I don't even need readers to get something valuable out of the blog. I just need potential readers. So potential readers out there, I salute you, and your potential comments.

And if you comment, and you know me, send me an e-mail or something. I probably don't know your Google handle and will be quite confused. 

Photos  are from 2005. I asked Tanya to take some basic shots of me in various poses for costume work. My thought was that I could use these to draw more realistic costume sketches, since my sketches tend to distort proportions so that the costume looks good on paper and terrible in reality...the real problem being that I (like most folks) lack a comic-book physique. Probably taking a figure drawing class would be more useful. Also: nude models!