January < February

Back at Christmas I agreed to write a blog. Mindi Wood (blogger extraordinaire and also my niece) started with the goal of writing one each month. Sounds like a great plan. I am already one month behind – but I hate to let a little thing like that stop me. February is a great month to start something new. What makes January so much better than February anyway, huh?

In writing this, I must address a few concerns – not necessarily with my readers – but with myself. I need to set a limit on the number of times I re-write my posts. I am a tweaker. I have been known to even rewrite and edit my facebook status. I am currently resisting the urge to go back to correct the split infinitive in the previous sentence. Split infinitives, repetitive words, mis-placed or weak modifiers – these things could sink this blog long before it ever hits cyberspace. Do they still call it that? – or is there a newer name for that region?

I also worry about writing something that will at some point in some place offend some person. I think of Mindi having to blur out the name of the Mary Kay rep on the business card. Maybe I need to send my rough drafts to Ian for proper political and ethical filtering.

I worry Mr. Redmond will read this blog and suffer grave disappointment.

Perhaps most importantly, I worry that I won’t be funny. Sadly, I realize before ever beginning that I will never write things half as funny as Mindi Wood – my personal blog idol. I have decided that the next best thing to being extraordinary or interesting oneself is to be related to extraordinary or interesting people. I have actually had people ask me to tell them a story about Mindi – or about Uncle Jimmy. I am just pleased to have the honor of repeating their stories.

There are some things I do not worry about – about which I do not worry. I don’t worry about thinking of things to write about. I have actually even written articles and a blog post when I didn’t have a blog. I will find and post that article now that I have a “stage” for it. I am pretty sure there must be something else I don’t worry about – but I don’t remember what it is right now.

Okay, I am going to try to post this without further tweaking. I hope I am able to do this by myself because Dwight is already in bed and Woody is in the shower. I am writing in Word rather than directly on the blog.