I am a writer

A year ago, I claimed that I was organising this blog. It did not happen, I was claiming that I would use it for my teacher librarian course, but that didn't happen either.

What brings me back here then? A desire to spend my time doing more things that are fulfilling, as opposed to things that are fun, but ultimately don't contribute to living a richer, active life. A wish to live up to, even in just a small way, the sentiments expressed so movingly by Neil Gaiman in his New Years Day posts. http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/12/my-new-year-wish.html

This is my little attempt to make something that didn't exist before, to help it find an audience, to share some of who I am. To write more and dream of writing less. Sharon Astyk wrote that " The personal is the political" so I would like to look at my beliefs and ideas and experiences through that personal prism.

Initially I used blogging to upload the many travelogues I wrote on past trips. I wanted those pieces to have a wider audience but I never went out and found them one. I intend to re-visit those pieces and add images to them from my own photos where possible and from other sources where it isn't. 
I propose to finally write some pieces about my honeymoon with the wonderful Kristy. My dear friend Michael is becoming an old man waiting for my take on the great city of London, I intend to show him that it was merely a long delayed piece, rather than a hypothetical.

I want to talk about my goals and what I am doing to achieve them, I want to hear what your goals are, and how you are trying to live out your ideals in the real world.

I want to share with you some of my favourite corners of the Internet and what makes them work for me, and I want to hear what sites have helped shape and guide you.

I want to become a small part of the blogging community here and have an online presence where we can share a little of who we are, I spent many years as a passionate member of the Internet Chess Club, and I truly miss that online community that once existed there.

What sort of topics can I envision being discussed here? I am a husband, a father, a teacher, a secular humanist, a reader, a lover of learning, a hypocritical environmentalist, so I expect many of my posts will revolve around those themes.

At this stage though, I don't want to limit myself , I would rather let some of the themes of the blog develop over time. I'm not writing this blog to make my fortune or to become famous. I'm writing it because I want to share my thoughts and experiences with others. I want to be an active writer, not an imaginary one. I want to write with energy and passion and focus, and I want to write regularly instead of sporadically. To realise that I set up this blog over 5 years ago and that I have simply let it drift is to be reminded of how much time I have frittered away in my life. I am 42 now and past the halfway stage of my life. I wish to do more fulfilling things with the time that remains for me, for I have realised that it isn't the experiences we have that we ultimately regret. Rather, we regret the things we do not do.

So, here I am, making a step forward in my life, along a path that has called to me for so long. I took the road more travelled by, and only now have I made my way to another crossroad. From this day forth, when people ask me what I do, I will add one phrase.

I am a writer.