Tempus Fugit

Today is an anniversary, of sorts. One year ago today, I overcame my fear of publicly posting things on the Internet, and started this blog. It began as a simple experiment, and was born of a desire to communicate with other members of my far-flung family. Since then, it has given me a chance to pontificate on things near and dear to my heart, and has allowed me continued practice in putting my thoughts and feelings down in a (hopefully) concise and accessible form. In other words, it has given me one more way to work at being a writer.

Today is the day before Independence Day, and since I will have to work for part of that day, I am dedicating most of my time today to relaxing and spending time with family. So this will be brief — doubly so, since I really don't have much to say at the moment.

One thing I will say, though, ere I leave you.

Fittingly, as I reach my one-year anniversary as a blogger, I have recently had it brought home to me how much I appreciated this medium I have been dabbling in for the past 365.2425 solar days (give or take). Earlier this week, I set up a Facebook account, so that I could communicate better with my sister and niece, both of whom are currently traveling in China. Before I knew it, I found myself with several friends, some who sought me out, and some whom I went looking for. And while I can see some advantages for the medium, all in all, my week or so on Facebook has mostly served to make me appreciate my blog all the more.

Facebook (and, I'm guessing, its ugly half-sister, Twitter), is very good at quickly throwing out bursts of information. Posts are one or two sentences at most, which is ideal for logging on, posting something new, reading all the new information that's been posted to your "Wall," and getting off.

Blogs, on the other hand, are more leisurely, and more time consuming. At least, this one has been. Most of my posts here in the past few months have taken the better part of a morning to write, post, and edit. (I should write, edit, then post, but I never manage to get that sequence right — I'm always catching things after the initial post). Even so-called "quick" posts like this one often take at least a half-hour or longer. To me, this is a good thing — writing shouldn't be rushed. For me, this has been my own personal editorial page; Facebook is more like an Internet page of public text messages — it may be conveying important information, but it isn't writing.

In the coming months, I will continue to explore the possibilities of Facebook, and maybe even a few others — if nothing else, to learn how to make them safe enough for my daughter to use, if that time ever comes. But in the meantime, I will always give my blog pride of place; it is both more personal, and because I have shared it with far fewer people, more private. And I continue to be grateful to my readers and friends for encouraging me to start it, and to continue it. I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you.