Blogging Again

Written May 29, 2009, somewhere over the Canadian prairies.

I’ve decided to start blogging again. I made this decision over the Christmas holidays, but only now, five months later, 40,000 feet over the Canadian prairies, have I made the time for it.

This is my fourth attempt at blogging. The first lasted several months, and was a sporadic effort at best. The second remains by far the most successful. I posted fairly frequently for 12-18 months, and sporadically for a year afterward. The third can be seen when you scroll down on this blog. I posted on and off for 2 months last year; on the whole I count 3-4 substantive posts interspersed with links and baseball playoff predictions.

My challenge has always been making the time to think through and write out blog posts. It’s a symptom of my life right now. Like many, I am always lacking for time; ny days tend to fill up pretty easily and quickly. I still read about and follow issues, but I find myself missing the time to really contemplate them, and to subsequently express my thoughts.

It makes sense that I find myself writing when I’m on an airplane. For a change, there isn’t much going on, or much else to do. I didn’t bring any work with me; I’ve read all the documents I have for my conference this weekend. I’ve already been through the CTV News loop and The Score’s highlight reel, and I have no internet access. Surrounded only by strangers, smiling flight attendants, and the music of Joel Plaskett on my iPod, I have four hours to myself to think, reflect, and write.

My goals with this blog are simple:

•    To structure time for myself to think about the issues on my mind, and to express my thoughts through written form.
•    To focus on longer pieces. I may occasionally throw up a collection of links, but that’s primarily what I use Twitter for. It won’t be entirely a blog that keeps you up to speed on my life – that’s what I use Facebook for. And it won’t be a photo blog. I’m setting up a Flickr page for that.
•    To have something interesting to say. As much as this blog is about expressing my thoughts and ideas, I also want to create a dialogue with anyone who chooses to read it. Therefore, I want to write about things that readers will find thought provoking and interesting. I suspect anyone reading at this point knows me reasonably well; feel free to suggest a topic.

For the time being, I’m setting the goal of two substantive posts per week. They will most likely focus on politics, policy, sports, community, or culture, with some book/music reviews thrown in. I hope you enjoy it.

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