So why do I blog? I had mixed feelings about it for a very long time. I have clear views on the sort of blog I don't want to have. It was a longer path toward knowing what sort of blog I did want. MY husband says he loves my blog because it sounds like me. That to me is success, made clear in this quote from Inspire Me Thursday.

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than write for the public and have no self."
                                    Cyril Connolly

I started a blog primarily because I wanted gallery space that wasn't attached to any particular forum or audience. As I started making entries to fill the space, I enjoyed the feeling of speaking aloud in an empty room. As time wore on, I became more aware of the inner critic, and the potential outer critics. I lost focus and my writing became stilted. I echoed back to childhood diaries, when I had time to write I had nothing to write and when I had things to talk about, there was no time. It is relatively recently that I decided to focus in on my artistic journey, to share and (perhaps) inspire, to create mindfully and to live artfully.

As the writing became more satisfying, more authentically *me*, people were drawn to my little patch of the web and I began to form connections with people that I fully believe I would connect with in person. The blogs I read belong to such people, and to people that I have connected with in real life.

On reflection, yes, a blog is a new form of anonymous listener, the 'dear diary' of now; and yes, a blog is a visual journal, allowing us to blend word, photography, art and typography together in a way that defines and describes us. More than this though, to blog is to engage in a worldwide conversation, where everyone brings the best of their hearts and minds and receive in return an ear and a supporting arm.