Why Blog

It's essential that any new blog has to start with a "Why I Blog" post, and as I've got that tricky first post out of the way, I may as well tackle this burning issue. I first became interested in blogging during the 2004 Australian election - the first time that there was a real synergy between Aus politics and blogging. I quickly became addicted to the daily roller coaster of emotion on the sadly dormant back pages, though I had been a regular reader of the proto blog WebDiary, then run by Margo Kingston off the SMH web site, but still soldiering on here. While I've read a lot, I've mostly dabbled with commenting on blogs, never really saying much myself.

I thought that I'd try blogging myself simply to practise my writing. I write a bit at work, but mostly these are technical documents, i.e. as dry as a martini should be. I think I do them well, but there's not a great deal of self expression involved. When trying to write something in another context, I often freeze, agonising over a 10 word sentence for half an hour, before deciding that it's all too hard and not writing anything. Of course this might be a worthwhile investment of time if I were a Joycean wordsmith (though if I were, noone in the ruins of time would have the foggiest what I was on about), but as a literary plodder it's a bit pointless. So, here we are, practising.

Mostly I enjoy reading Aus political (mostly lefty) blogs. The Lovebug Rodeo is the black hole of the Aus blosphere, gradually subsuming all other lefty blogs out there. Troppo Armadillo has the excellent but blogged out Ken Parish, while Nicholas Gruen soldiers on. Catallaxy is all quaint and whiggish. I also enjoy David Tiley's musings and I occasionally surf down Tim Dunlop's road. In a non political sense I'm also greatly impressed by the floppy eared one whose enthusiasm has washed away (some of ) my prejudice towards country music.