I'm really quite gratified by the responses I've gotten to my new personal
blog. I still think of the encouragement I received in the early moments by
Lloyd and Laura.
I'm thrilled that I have a group of loyal readers -- and their responses energize
me. For example:

• Tonight, I took to heart Catherine's
  encouragement to see Ursula K. Le Guin. Not surprisingly, tons of people
  filled the 2nd floor of Cody's Books. It was better than the usual book reading,
  not only because the stories read were so fine but because Le Guin is a really
  charming respondent. She seemed quite unpretentious, mixng humor with rather
  sharp insight in her answers to questions. More than that, she had an audience
  full of fans intimately knowledgeable about her work who wondered about that
  essay or this story written over decades.
• My friend Ginny Hearn responded to a whole slew of my previous posts. I
  responded to one
  of her comments and plan to answer some others when I'm less sleepy
• I wonder what Lynn
  will have to say about my new blog when she has a moment.
• I didn't realize that there would many others in our
  blogging community writing about faith, Christianity, and religion.

Off to bed -- I'm still hoping to turn my daily blogging ritual into a morning
rather than a late-night activity.