Why I blog

I have always loved drawing and writing. I have never been any good at it, but I love doing it. Both activities relax me, allow me to use my creative juices and are just plain fun.

I started writing short poems at a very young age in a notebook that I had covered lovingly with green cellophane paper. My aim was to get the last words to rhyme, they never made any sense but they sure did rhyme. Then my dad gave me one of his company diaries, it was a small pocket diary with gold embossed on the cover. The pages were crisp and I made it my secret diary, writing to an an unknown friend discussing my fears, my crushes, my days at school, my anger at parents not allowing me to do something. I sat every night and religiously scribbled through it, little did I realise how therapeutic it was. I loved being able to write freely without being judged.Then life took over, I had homework, school activities, friends, books to read and the diary was kept aside in one corner forgotten.

Sketching is another love of mine, again I do not possess an extraordinary talent but I find the whole process of concentrating for hours while I sketch and create something so relaxing. I first got introduced to art in school and I sucked. I remember constant C's on my report cards thanks to my sweaty palms which would constantly smudge my water colours. Then I had an art teacher who asked us to use any medium we wanted and I used my ball point because it doesn't smudge, the rest is history. I sketched my way through Junior college and Dental school, making hours of boring lectures pass quickly. Most of my old notebooks have something drawn along the last few pages. I never shared my sketches, friends saw bits of it as they sat next to me during these long lectures. I sketched for me, not to be judged. Some where along the way the sketching and writing stopped, work took over. I never seemed to find the time to sit and draw/write.

I got introduced to blogging, thanks to S. He has his list of favourite blogs on his sharp reader, most of them related to economics. Over the years he has forced me to read the odd interesting article, trust me their aren't too many of them in economics. This got me to read about things that interested me, food blogs, life blogs, political blogs, health care blogs, book blogs, bitchy blogs. Reading these blogs has been entertaining, funny, thought provoking and irritating at times. Some of these blogging folks have actually carved out a career for themselves thanks to their talent.

Now I got into blogging a year ago as an experiment.My biggest hesitation about writing online was criticism and judgement passed by random folks. I blog about everything I think I can share and want to share. I don't blog to be judged or to change the world, I have no misgivings about my writing skills. I don't write to get onto peoples blog rolls. I blog because it relaxes me, it makes me think. I blog because I have so much to say and S is not always willing to listen to it all, an anonymous audience with no say works for me. I blog because I love it and that for me is reason enough.

For me my blog is reminiscent of my gold embossed black pocket diary, I write to share, to release, to create my own little world where I have a conversation with my known/unknown friends out there (cousins + family mostly). Hopefully I will persevere and not let this lie in a corner as life and work takes over.