Oh, Great. Another Damn Blog.

So, I decided to start a blog. I'd like to tell you hundreds of people have been demanding it. But no. A handful, maybe, and that's including my mother and my wife, and I'm pretty sure my wife was just humoring me. So, if you discount them, fewer than a handful. OK, two, I think.

But I'll be damned if I'm going to let those two people down. So, here I am.

I've been down this road before. In a previous life, I wrote a weekly newspaper column. I loved it ... and hated it. I quit doing it 12 years ago and I can't really say I've missed it. Although every now and then I think to myself, "man, that would make a great column idea," my next thought inevitably is, "man, I'm glad I don't have to write a column about that."

A couple of things appeal to me about a blog over newspaper columnizing:

* I can post whenever I please, and write as short, or as long, as I please. Truth be told, my posts may turn out to be more A Short Story Long than A Long Story Short. In any case, it provides a bit more flexibility than the Facebook format.

* The immediate gratification of instant publication. No waiting to see the newspaper in the morning, only to discover an editor butchered my work with an inapt headline, or put in a comma where clearly one doesn't belong. In fact, no editor at all! This is good news-bad news, of course. To paraphrase an old saw about clients representing themselves in court, the writer who has himself for an editor is a damn fool -- and sure to embarrass himself. Well, it wouldn't be the first time, I assure you.

I don't know what direction this will take, what topics I'll cover, etc. I suspect my children and wife will consider themselves lucky that I haven't been writing a newspaper column for the last 12 years. I hope to post at least once a week, but there may be some weeks I post several times and other weeks I post not at all. I imagine I'll crosspost some material both here and on Facebook, since I presume some readers may find their way here from some direction other than FB. I don't know -- I'll be making this up as I go along.

I hope you'll find it interesting enough to sign on as a follower and offer the occasional feedback. Writers appreciate feedback; in fact, most of us would rather get negative feedback than none.

If you like what you see here, please share the blog with others. I hope at least to not lose the two people who requested it.

Thanks.