May 30, 2012 by Erin

An Aside

Over the last year and a half or so, I’ve become quite hip. It all started with an impulsive decision to buy skinny jeans. Then it was Toms and an iPhone. And now, here I am, blogging.

I wrote a column a few years ago for my college paper about the negative affects of technology and how I wanted to become Amish. I’m not kidding. (My many adoring readers may also remember columns about Steven Curtis Chapman and my “mom jeans.”) I had conversations in which I literally swore I would never get a Kindle. This is what the literary folks call dramatic irony. Like when a character insists she doesn’t need a man and is fine on her own. We all know what’s coming — she’s about to fall in love. Yep. That’s me. Except instead of a boyfriend, I got a Twitter account.

I guess this blog was inevitable in some ways. I resisted for a long time because I thought blogging was hopelessly self-referential. Facebook has proven that my generation’s highest priority is popularity, which is pathetic. Blogging just seemed like one more way to say, “ooh, ooh, look at me!” I also had *ahem* serious artistic concerns about the quality of work that instant publication produces. I’m a writer, darn it. A wordsmith. Don’t trouble me with clever, petty snippets when I’m after truth and beauty. Keats would never have blogged. Yeah …

The trouble is, for a writer I’ve been doing a whole lot of not writing. My journal hasn’t even seen much action recently. I was feeling pretty guilty about it, like I was betraying my own soul (I’m really a tortured artist). So, in the middle of my rise to hipness, I finally resigned myself to starting a blog. Just to get myself in a rhythm of writing. I’m sure Keats would understand.

Now, it’s up to you, all 6 of you out there who read this. Don’t let me get a big head or sink into crappy writing. Please leave nasty comments if I start posting screen shots of my text conversations or telling you about my weekend plans. We can be better than that.

Oh, and if you think I’m cool, please click the “like” button below. Thanks.