On the anniversary of my blog

I posted my first "Carefully Chosen" blog entry one year ago yesterday. It was titled "Avoidance and Hesitation," and I wanted to take a moment to revisit it now - for myself, and for those of you who've only started reading recently. I'd like you to know the spirit in which it all began.

Since the notion of blogs first came onto my screen, I didn't like it. I put blogging in the same category as instant and text messaging -- new modes of communication destined to contribute to the breakdown of the English language as we know it. Poor spelling, bad grammar, and juvenile acronyms abound in cyberspace, and they tend to leave my stomach churning. For a long time, I've refused to join the blogging world.

Yet here I sit, with words, thoughts, ideas and stories swirling through my mind, rarely being pinned down onto paper, and all too often being lost forever because of my laziness. I find myself craving a space for the "in-between" writing: words I hope others will read, unlike those tucked safely away in the pages of my journal, but words that are too brief or perhaps too young for me to put into a polished piece. Perhaps this space will provide me with building blocks for those pieces. Perhaps I will occasionally risk journal-level vulnerability in the words I post. Perhaps this blog will make someone think differently. I hope that someone will be me.

The title of my blog is Carefully Chosen, and I assure you that each word written here will be. I promise myself -- and anyone who might be so inclined to glance at this website now and then -- that I will write well here, complete with proper punctuation and sans any sentences ending in prepositions (though I confess I may have already failed in that endeavor - does anyone have a red pen?).

My other hesitation about blogging comes from wondering about who will read my blog. It seems presumptuous to think that anyone would care to, yet I still hope that someone might. I don't want an audience to be my motivation for writing, nor do I want to expect an audience in this venue. At the same time, if an audience does wander in, I want them to have something to chew on. Part of choosing my words carefully will be based in that paradox. I will avoid pandering to any particular hoped-for reader, and I will also do my best to make what I post here worth the while of someone who might read now and then.

Here's to a new and carefully chosen blog.

And here's to another year of carefully chosen and thoughtfully crafted words. I hope and pray that what I write will continue to be worth the while of anyone who happens by.