get out the map

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately – some really great ones, as a matter of fact. The thing that most of these great blogs have in common is they deal with one particular thing. Someone’s life in a certain place, or perhaps the foods they eat and prepare, or maybe the places they’ve travelled, political views, fitness, finance, music, even insights into interior design. Fabulous things. Specific things. They’re aware of their niche, their audience. It’s a good thing to be aware.

I’ve found myself struggling in recent weeks to define my audience, and any good writer will tell you that defining your audience is pivotal. I log in and try to write something – anything – wondering what exactly it is people want to read, what they’re showing up for. I’m interested in so many things, you see. I do not define myself as just an actor, or just a writer, or just a photographer. I love to travel, but it doesn’t happen often enough to have a blog specific to that. There are people these days that will tell you that without focusing on one point, you’ll never get anywhere, and even I will concede there’s a certain amount of truth in that. If one hopes to accomplish anything, it helps to have an end or a destination in mind - I just happen to have a lot of destinations in mind and even more maps in my glove compartment; so sue me.

After several days of staring into the digital abyss known as Document1 in Microsoft Word, it’s finally occurred to me that anybody who actually bothers to read this thing just climbs in shotgun and doesn’t mind the journey. Sometimes I go down scenic paths; sometimes I take the highway; sometimes I take a detour through an ugly and sketchy part of town, but there's always a reason. If you’re here, you want to be along for the ride, and it doesn’t matter if I’m running out for figurative carpet samples or ice cream. Well, thank you for that. I applaud your sense of adventure. I also thank you for not smoking. I’ll try to be more diligent about my tags in the event you only want to read about one particular subject, but otherwise, fasten your seatbelts:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Ladies and gentlemen, I am not a cockroach. This is a supremely good thing, because cockroaches are icky and also they cannot drive. I’ll see you on the road.