I've been an on-again off-again blogger for over ten years. Writing is hardly a passing interest for me, but I am not one of those people who must write all the time. Writing takes time, and writing well takes continual practice. Not surprising, I get sidetracked, and my blogs remain dormant, often for months on end. There's not enough time in the day, I complain, especially when my early morning hours, what I have called my "novel-writing time" is devoted to another craft I'd like to practice: programming.

Inevitably, like the prodigal son, I return to my writing places, hoping for reintegration. Usually I do so only when it feels as though my head is going to explode if I don't write. I know that feeling is a lie; I don't ever have as many great ideas it seems. If I'm lucky, the few good ideas swimming around in my head are just tangled up in their own convolutions. Writing is for me then the most powerful way of clarifying my thoughts, of getting to the heart of the matter. Words are only approximations for thoughts but they have great advantages. I can share them with others, and they persist beyond my transitory brainstorms.