Chapter the First

It is common for books to start with what English teachers and authors (and maybe a few of those people who know the proper word for everything) refer to as exposition. Exposition is a very fancy word for getting to know the characters and the setting of a book.

This is my exposition.

I am an incredibly private person. I rarely even post on Facebook, let alone share my innermost thoughts. So, you might rightly inquire, why in the name of all that is good, would you ever bother starting a blog?

The first response is I don't know. But that is not completely true, because I have been  thinking a lot about writing lately and why we do it and what it is for. I have discovered that part of what makes writing so joyful and fulfilling is sharing it with others and I have been keeping it to myself for too long. As I frequently tell my students, writing is for communication, but I am currently using writing as a way to communicate with only the "unregarded river" of my life, which is important, but limited.

The other response is I am curious. I want to see what will happen if I start a blog. I do not have any kind of expectations, such as possibly becoming one of those bloggers whose blog turns into a book and then their life is one long string of meetings in New York and writing on an old typewriter in front of a window from  which it appears to be perpetually Fall. I am just curious. I want to know the answer to the question, what if I started a blog? Maybe the answer will be nothing. Maybe the answer will be something wonderful. But I am going for it either way.

Tennessee Williams once said, "Make voyages. Attempt them. There is nothing else."

This is my voyage. Welcome aboard.