I’ve been blogging in various forms for a few years now. This blog is my longest running endeavor yet. I don’t do it for fame or fortune (although those would be nice). I blog because I have things to say and sometimes it feels as if my head will explode if I don’t say them in one form or another. Writing them down gives me a way to share my thoughts. For better or for worse, I am usually passionate in my thinking. Sharing via the written word allows me to refine things (some attempts more effectively than others) and say exactly what I mean in a socially acceptable manner.

I know people read this blog. Google Analytics (software that tracks general information about who visits the blog, where they come from, what they read and how long they stay), tells me that most of the people who read this blog, already know me. 43% of my visitors come from Facebook. The second largest group of visitors is from the search engines. I take that to mean that I’m writing about topics people are interested in. That’s a good sign indeed. When I see people IRL (in real life) They comment on one of my posts, another good sign.

More than anything blogging is about community. Writers share information, opinions and experiences and readers add their two cents via comments.

“What do writers want most of all? They want eyes on their work and a response to their work. Bloggers crave traffic because traffic equals human beings all enjoying the words they’ve strung together. And they like comments because no one wants to speak into a vacuum. We want to know that our words were heard and know how the reader received them.” – Melissa Ford, The Gift of Comments

I’m grateful that you take the time to read and thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment in the past, but at the risk of appearing greedy, could you leave a comment if a post strikes you? You don’t have to comment on every post, and you need not write a novel. Just let me know if I’m on the right track (I’m NOT fishing for complements, but feedback). Tell me if I’m way off base or suggest a topic for me to consider.

I’ll keep writing, but it would be great to show the world that I’m really NOT talking to myself.