INDEED, WHY BLOG?

I attempted to answer this question from a fellow blogger recently.  I say attempted because a window appeared saying I hadn’t copied the garbled letters correctly and refused to accept my comments.  In fact the more times I tried, the harder it became to actually decipher what came up in the ‘prove you’re not a robot’ window. I gave up. I feel badly about this. Bloggers deserve to be rewarded with comments.  It is the unalienable right of wordsmiths everywhere.  Of course it’s preferable that said feedback be stimulating and complimentary, even congratulatory, but on occasions it may be necessary to apply the blog equivalent of anti-bacterial sheep dip to the foul mouthed bleating you’ve just read.  

But I digress.  Why do I blog?  I want to say it’s because my technologically savvy daughter insisted I learn how, but because I’m incorrigibly and incurably honest (inculcated in childhood) I have to ‘fess up.  Writing is cousin to those other forms of social interaction - speaking and acting- and, like them, it requires, nay craves, an audience. We like to say we just have to write or we’ll curl up and die, but really it’s all about ego and/or exhibitionism. The writing variety is more subtle than the other two of course because you get it all out and off your chest without scripted or unplanned for interruptions.  We never know when the reader has muttered ‘Bah, humbug’ and hit the exit button.  Just as well. Writers are sensitive souls.

So, to return to where I began, I will seek instruction on how to successfully post comments and compliments to fellow bloggers.  And grovel for a few in return. Did I mention it’s Be Kind to Writers Week?