Starting Out

Blogs seem so presumptuous to me. They always have. Perhaps it’s due to the hundreds of self-absorbed writers with whom I rubbed shoulders on a daily basis while in college.

In case you never take a class in creative writing, this is the drill:

- Get a writing prompt
- Go home and write
- Bring your writing back to class
- Exchange with others
- Go home and read the other person's work
- Critique what you read
- Return to class and share critique

And that’s pretty much it. Now, think of all the writer/artist types you knew or encountered in college- are you getting an image? Ok, now think about the kind of stuff those people talk about (e.g. How stupid Republicans are, how great homosexuality is, how cool Transformers are, the wrongness of the war, etc). Now, that’s what I had to read all the time. Now, I have nothing against the creative types, don’t get me wrong. I am one, after all. It’s just that we tend to have an inflated opinion of our own work. Blogs seem presumptuous because the very concept of a blog implies that people out there want to read what I have to say. That’s hard for me to believe.

Now, that being said, this is our blog. We started it to keep everyone posted on our new addition, Jackson Benjamin, due in October. There will be some random postings, pictures, and interesting links. Bethany and I both spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet (we both have jobs that allow require it), so we should be able to keep it very up to date.

Come back soon and often.

Ben