Happy 15th to Ye Old Blogge

On this date in 2003, I started this blog. Fifteen years later, and here I am, still blogging. It's been a good voyage; I've learned much, and I can only hope that the constant pounding on the keyboard has, in some small measure, improved my writing. For those who've faithfully accompanied me on this journey: thank you. Blogging, as a literary form, may be dying out in favor of short-form writing ("microblogging") on such sites as Twitter and Instagram, but I keep at it old-school all the same, not wanting to yield to the short-attention-span crowd.

As I've written before, the blog serves several constructive purposes. First, it caters to my native urge to write. Second, it's a fine place to vent, and if you've followed me long enough, you know I don't hide the fact that I'm not a saint: I've blogged evil thoughts about other people; I've been petty and spiteful (and will be again); I've expressed long-held grudges and ranted about things outside of my control. All of that feels good, and I have no regrets. Third, the posts on this blog are fodder for potential books, and even though I don't talk about it much, I have a couple book projects in the works, some of which troll the blog for material.

Fifteen years of writing, thousands of pages and millions of words written. This blog will likely be the most significant monument to me after I die. Lucky for me, it's not finished yet, and neither am I. Here's to another fifteen years!