Hey, Pat

Blogger is acting like it belongs on the short bus today. But I'm not going to get frustrated. You get what you pay for and I'm happy enough to blog for free. So there.

But I also was having trouble leaving comments and I really, really have to say something to Pat. This morning he wrote of having nothing to write, sharing the dialogue with himself wherein he is challenging himself to write that which is profound or amusing or in some other way meaningful but that another picture of his child with a giant fish is hardly blog worthy. (I paraphrase).

My first reaction was simply that if this is the standard then I, for one, am screwed. You'll note that yesterday I posted a picture of a roasted chicken.

I understand Pat's dilemma. I feel the same way and I'm sure most of you do as well. We feel an obligation to our readership and to ourselves. Blogging is many things but for some of us it is one of the ways we work at our craft as writers. We throw stuff out there to see what works, to play with ideas, to hone our craft. Sometimes we bitch about Angelina Jolie. The point is that when we open up that "create new post" screen, we want to say something that isn't a complete waste of everyone else's time. Which is jolly thoughtful of us.

There is, however, also no accounting for taste. Many's the time I've posted something that I think is particularly good, one way or another, and it'll just sit there. Not a single comment. Nada. Zip. Thundering silence comes back to me from Blogtopia and I think, "What, did everyone move?" But hey. Post a picture of The Dog because I've got nothing else and man, does that resonate. I'm just saying.

I'm pretty easily amused. It doesn't much matter to me what my neighbors in Blogtopia have to say. At different times every single one of you have been jaw-dropping brilliant. You've made me laugh until people had to come make sure I was ok. You've made me think. You've made me glad to be alive. And sure, sometimes I'll read someone else's post and think, well, not much of anything. But that's ok. Because frankly, if you were all brilliant all the time then I'd start feeling really, really sorry for myself and no one wants that.

And, as I've made clear, I believe best blogs are the ones that have new content all the time. Sure, I have some links to blogs that don't post every day (I wish they did) and I check them in hopes of something but whatever. They post often enough that they keep me interested. But for some of you, and I think you know who you are, I actually start to worry if there isn't anything new. (And with good reason because I think every time that has happened one of you has been sick or sad and my worry was warranted). I don't care if it's a picture of a catfish in your bathtub...I want to know what's going on with you. I DO want to know that you have a pulse and that things are humming along because I care. And also because I know that one of those devestatingly wonderful posts is around the corner. Because in my experience, part of being a good writer is to keep writing. You have to write a lot of pages to get a few really great nuggets.

Here's another observation: I have encountered an astonishing lack of ego here in our little corner of Blogtopia. Of course we all want to be, in the words of a David Budbill poem:

"known and read
By everyone and have admirers
Everywhere and lots of money!"

But we are also terribly generous with each other. Inclinations to "be the best" take on a different meaning here. Look at everyone's links if you don't believe me. When one of us find a blog we like we don't say, "Oh crap, someone else who's smarter/funnier/more insightful/more talented than me. No one shall ever find out about this, ever, bwahhahhahha". No. We say, "Oh crap, someone else who's smarter/funnier/more insightful/more talented than me. Better share it with the gang". Sometimes I think we share the same brain but there is a lot of talent here and instead of hating each other for it we offer snaps and encouragement. Which at least makes us better people, if not better writers. I digress.

So Pat, all I'm saying is, keep it coming. Keep giving us wonky former Beltway insider observations on politics. Amuse us with those Onion-worthy satirical pieces on popular culture. And yes, between times post pictures of your adorable children surrounded by oversized fish and thug geese because the fact is, we’re going to be stopping by anyway so you might as well have the porch swept and the kettle on.

And that goes for the rest of you, too.