A Year of Blogging: Ranting to Others Instead of to One's Nearest and Dearest

This is my 315th post since I began this blog a year ago today. Oh, I know my profile says that the blog was begun in November 2006, but that's only because I opened a Blogger account then. At the time I didn't have a computer that would handle the Blogger format and I really wasn't ready to sign on for such a long term effort then.

But the first weekend in June last year, I attended the Writers' Union of Canada's annual general meeting in Vancouver where one of the workshops was on using the web to promote one's work. As it happened, I was sitting next to Marc Côté, Cormorant Books publisher, and we joked that it might be a good idea to start a blog about African violets to promote The Violets of Usambara which Marc was scheduled to publish.

We laughed, but on the flight home I began to think about the blog idea. I've always had a lot to say about what is going on, and maybe, I thought, I might be able to contact people who are interested in things that interest me and who might enjoy my books.

So I started this rather eclectic public journal about writing, urban affairs, politics, the environment, and life in general. It has been fun--indeed, writing nearly daily has become almost a compulsion. Several thousand people have stopped by to see what I have to say, which is rather nice, and some of them have become almost friends.

Thanks. My friends and family thank you also to because writing this has meant I don't rant to them as much...