…….…A Blog-o-phobe

            Why, I ask you, would anyone want to be associated with a “blog” much less write one?

 Consider:

            > “Blog” sounds like the noise a poor soul makes coping with a heaving stomach----“blog-aghh.”

            >Blog writers are called “bloggers”—a stutter away from the name for folks who chop down trees.

 (Did the powers who rule on internet names even consider the more lovely “bloggist” or “bloggista” or “bloogman”—oh, alright, “blogperson”?)

            >Blog writing’s like packaging thoughts and dumping them down a well with no splash. Your writing may not stir up a single reader. Ever.

            >Blog writers—newbie writers-- most likely are tempted to allow hoped-for readers to make nice comments about their writing. The resulting comments could make them wish they really had thrown their ideas down a well.

            >Blog writing’s likely to earn not a dime. Mowing the lawn at least provides grass clippings.

            >Blog writers are on their own. There’s no editor to protect and guide them with gentle suggestions like:

            “Where’s the lead to this piece? Come on, guy. Some glitz! ”

            Or

            “What IS this screed? You’re trying to be funny? Do you see me smiling?”     Or

            “On second thought. What else you got on your story list?”

            So, I ask, why write a blog?

Well, name aside—there’s the challenge to try and develop an audience on your own. No safety net. No gatekeepers.

            And freelance writers, are, if anything optimistic.

So if you stumbled on this prose and actually read it, “ Bless You.”

 And stop by again. The newbie had more to say.

                                                                                     ---Gus Gribbin