I am still occasionally asked why I try to write a blog entry every day (which I commonly fail to do -- see yesterday, e.g.). Well, simply stated, I like writing.
A lot of people play sports to unwind. A lot more sit in front of the television to watch their favorite show. I sit down, staring at a computer screen, and type away until I feel better. As a pure stress reliever, I have found no hobby that approaches the ease with which writing calms me down.
I like speaking my mind, too. This is why I write about "dangerously dumb people in the world". I like exposing frauds and people who willfully ignore the facts. I enjoy the debates that commonly occur, whether by comments, personal messages, or actual run-ins, after I finish a particularly controversial essay.
It is no secret that I am a socially distant person. Writing allows me to counteract this to a degree. Slightly impersonal in the sense that I am not actively conversing with others, but very personal with respect to publicizing my personal opinions and stories.
I love traveling, and I like telling people about places to go and things to see. To some degree, I've always wanted to be a travel writer. (Personally, I don't think I have the chops, but maybe some practice will help. Also some money, so I can actually travel.) On my blogs, the travel notes are the most read, which means I will emphasize these for the foreseeable future.
I actually keep all of the travel entries I have (recently) written on a separate website: http://www.travelblog.org/
I haven't really told anybody I know about the website, so few people actually read it. (Because of the ease of Facebook and the habits for people who read my main blog page, I expect this to continue.)
I have had a few people ask about the occasional Lucinda entries. Those are written for a specific reader.
I have had a few requests to return to the weekly ratings entry. I will begin to do this every other Monday as soon as my schedule settles down. Those entries take a particularly long time to write, so I phased that out a few months ago.
For your information, most entries take between 15 and 30 minutes to write. The travel entries take between 30 and 45 minutes, usually. The "dangerously dumb" entries take about 15 minutes, since I typically collect candidates throughout the week through perusal of the interwebs. If I'm writing over an hour, I'm wasting time.
I hope you enjoy the notes. I certainly enjoy writing them. I won't write everyday because of travel, particularly busy work days, etc., but I'll continue to write as frequently as I do now.
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Tomorrow: Chad's Takes and Pictures from the Road
