I started blogging January 31st of 2009. I'm not sure how I even got started at this point, but it's been a wonderfully social, cathartic and therapeutic ride for me in so many ways. I have met so many wonderful people over the last 5 years that I am still friends with and have met, even through periods when I didn't write so much for one reason or another. Sometimes I got tired of talking or wasn't able to form thoughts and words with events going on in my life and in the world. At one point, I took my blog down altogether and lost a lot of readers, but it's never really been about that for me. Writing has been a way to get stuff out of my head, to vent and to work through my issues. Back in the day of paper and pen, if I was mad at someone, if I wrote my thoughts down on paper, most times I wouldn't even send it because it was a way for me to see myself think and keep myself in check and dispel anger, so there really wasn't any need to actually mail it. Writing a blog has been the same relief for me, and I'm thankful that I have it as a virtual microphone.
Throughout this journey, it always amazed me that people even read my blog. I mean, it's not like I was writing a food or hobby blog or one with any specific goal. Instead, I wrote about things like being adopted, being gay, my periods of depression, the many places I've lived or traveled to and growing up in western Pennsylvania. I wrote about dealing with an addict sibling, loss of a parent and being a caretaker for my elderly father. I wrote about my landscaping business and growing up a 70's-80's child, about my religious and political views and anything (and everything) else where I could assert my opinion. And through the process, it was always an interesting concept for me that there were strangers 3000 miles away that probably knew more about me through my writing than my closest, local friends... and that strangers that I never met would invest time in what I had to say, most times more than people in my immediate life. Along the way, I have been able to touch people through my experiences and, hopefully, help someone through theirs in my sharing.
When I started the blog, I had so much to say, working through 40 years of baggage. I would see something on the internet or in my travels and it would remind me of some experience or opinion I had and I would write about it, practically every day back then. I have a folder where I collect pictures and things for inspiration and a reminder. I never had any formal writing instruction and hardly consider myself an expert of any kind, but somehow I seem to be able to get an idea out, tie it to some corresponding pictures and a snappy title and it comes together in the end. It's pretty much the same thing with my 'poems'. Again, I am fortunate to have this outlet to express myself.
Over the last six months or so, I have been writing a column for the West Virginia Queer News... an online gay magazine. They have been gracious enough to let me ramble on about anything I want, which is especially gracious considering that my writing style can be sarcastic, blunt and not so politically/socially correct, sometimes writing from depression or anger, but always from a pointed opinion. As a Gemini though, I tend to see things in many ways which allows me to empathize with all points of view while still getting my opinion out, keeping myself in check and trying to be fair. The magazine is going national at some point in the future, so I am proud to be a part of it's ongoing success.
