Two of my favorite neighbors here in the bloggerhood, Elaine and Stavros The WonderChicken, have recently placed dust covers on their old posts, put their living room lights on timers to discourage hackers and abandoned their respective blogs for vacations in their respective real worlds.

These unexpected hiatuses have precipitated a certain amount of musing on my part concerning my own blogging habits and motivations. I have come to realize, for instance, that most of the writing I do these days is here in this little pocket of cyberspace. This blog is well fed and growing plump while the poetry and stories that I consider my "real" work languish. I have never been the most disciplined writer (heck, I have never been the most disciplined anything!) and it is a sad fact that it is easier, and often more gratifying in the short term, to post a blog entry than it is to work on a story. Yet, this might be the wrong way to approach this issue. Blogging, for me, is a creative outlet and a satisfying mode of self expression as well as a potentially powerful means of communication.

This latter point was recently illustrated for me when, quite unexpectedly and several days after it was posted, my blog note regarding my 11th wedding anniversary provided a small amount of hope and/or inspiration for Jennifer Balderama over at Nonsense Verse and, through her, one or two others as well.

This, perhaps, is what blogging is all about and I don't think I will be stopping any time soon. I am, after all, quite capable of maintaining this blog and remaining true to my "real" work. This point was illustrated for me quite recently also when I finally arrived at a possible resolution for the tale of Jarny which has been so long simmering on the back burners of my mind. As with so many things, I think, it comes down to moderation. Both time and creative energy, apportioned between this blog and my art may be served wisely.