I had a chat with the PoohBah last week about blogging. It�s an interesting pursuit. It�s sort of like a diary, only not, as you�re writing something that people will eventually read. Yet, it�s a solitary thing; you write for your own benefit (at least I do), knowing that there is a theoretical audience out there, but the actual writing is to satisfy something inside you.

Personally, I blog because it�s discipline. I�ve been a writer since I could hold a pencil. I�ve finished a novel. I�ve written for magazines. (Unpaid, of course. Sigh.) I have piles of stories and articles that no one else has ever seen. I�ve got a non-fiction book on the back burner, simmering away. (Blame MLG for that one too!) The one thing that successful writers tell people is to write for a certain period every day, even if you think you have nothing to say. (The other thing they tell you, of course, is to write what you know.) So posting to a web log is my way of disciplining myself. It�s easier to type the torrent of what�s in your mind than to write it out longhand. Although, I�m a fountain pen girl, and I adore blank books; when I do research I write everything out on paper, and then I undergo the frustration of retyping it all. I�m very slow at retyping. Voice recognition software is currently one of those things on my priority list.

Blogging is also a way to keep in touch, and to share my thoughts with people I don�t necessarily get to speak to that often. Of course, then you occasionally run into the problem of someone asking, �So what�s new?�, and when you start to tell them they say, �Oh yeah, I read that on your page�, so you have to change gears. There�s always something to share, though. I find that blogging helps me organise my mind, and gives me an outlet for things niggling at my brain. I write it down; it gets posted; I can move on. Whether you read it or not is immaterial; it�s out there now. Of course, having you read it is delightful too, and comments interest me as well.

Ultimately, I think blogging is a way of giving back to the world which sparks so many thoughts in my mind.