Hello

Have you ever come across a new-to-you blog that happens to be quite successful and has been for a number of years? You read the most recent post, or the one on whose link you clicked and you are impressed. There is some random clicking around on the blog; maybe one of those “you might like this” links or the “related” or “most popular” posts.

And then with only the slightest taste of bittersweet envy, you head to the archives and read the Very First Post on a quest to discover how did they get from there to now.

Welcome! You are reading the Very First Post of this brand spankin’ new blog. It is not the Very First Post that I’ve ever written. Like many fellow bloggers, I have started and abandoned more than a handful of blogs so this isn’t my first rodeo. But this one feels different. Can you believe that I’ve been writing blogs on and off for more than 10 years and only now would I consider myself a writer? What were all those words strung together in post after post if they were not writing? They were not just examples of great spelling.

So, hello. My name is Ellen and I am a writer. This blog has no theme or focus except writing. Writing whatever I feel like, of course following the rules if the post is a writing challenge entry. You may find a little show and tell of some of my paintings. I might review things like books that I like or movies, or possibly even a fabulous restaurant (or, God forbid, a bad one). I feel the liberation!

Expect some experimentation as well. I have written exactly one poem since I left the last English class where they made you write poems for homework. So I might (might being the operative word) give poetry a go. I want to try some fiction. Hitting publish for these two kinds of writing scares me more than telling my most secret secret. That’s a lie. But experimenting does feel scary!

But, yeah, yeah. Who is that baby on the raft?!! That is me. Drifting alone and enjoying the ride. After half a century, enjoying the ride is the goal here and the taste is sweet.