An exercise in ego massage

In line with this blog's policy of hard-hitting analysis of issues when they're well past their sell-by date, there were a few Candorville comic strips last week that got me ruminating. Now, keep in mind, I like Candorville - I think it's a consistently entertaining strip and I commend the Washington Post for bringing on a comic that doesn't meet the Cathy or Garfield demographic.

Anyways, maybe this isn't a criticism but more an acknowledgement of a shot that hit its mark. The lead character is a struggling writer who decided that he was going to give up trying to get published by outside sources, but would instead create a blog where he was guaranteed to get published. Ahem. I have no idea of who would have that kind of mindset.

The thing is, I write professionally, but on very dry and serious sorts of things. This blog, which I am very careful to keep separate from my work persona, is a way in which I can express myself in a manner that's very different from my everyday style. It's a venting of pent-up creativity (work with me on this).

It also allows me to practice my writing where I'm telling a story (again, humor me on this) or at least a unified vignette. This is as opposed to my journal, which I free-form write in most nights before I go to bed. I started it years ago when I went through a rough spell, grades-wise, in college. Suddenly I was getting reamed on my written assignments, so I figured that practicing getting my thoughts on paper could only help. I've kept one more or less consistently ever since. I try and write for ten minutes every night, "try" being the operative words. Some nights I am simply not in the mood, while others I have nothing to say. Then there are the nights where I come home completely sloshed and worked up over a trivial incident. Those are a lot of fun to read the next day. I also am fairly secure that their secrets will go to the grave with me, as few people can decipher my handwriting when I'm at my best.

Ideally, I'd like to write personal non-fiction and sign my real name to it someday, and so for now I practice writing something for public consumption daily. I do realize that blogs are the 21st century version of vanity publishing. At least I'm not forcing friends and family to buy sloppily-bound copies of my latest masterpiece, right?