Re-activating blogger

I was speaking last night at a meeting of FEW (Foreign Executive Women) in Tokyo about the topic of self-publishing together with my former literary agent and a fellow-contributor to various English-language publications in Japan. It was strange to be at a meeting where the chair starts with "Ladies..." and then stops – no "gentlemen".

We found ourselves discussing blogs at one point, and though I find many blogs to be self-indulgent, "let it all hang out", writing that has little appeal to me, I found myself defending the idea of blogs as a way of practising the craft of writing. I write a lot of words every day in any case, but these are often words written to order, which have little room for maneuver or for originality. I have to hew to a house style or to keep within the boundaries of the subject matter.

So… despite my earlier skepticism about blogs, I've decided to re-open my blogger account and get some of my thoughts out to the world. Some of you may even find them interesting. I've set up a link to my iPhone so that I can write as inspiration strikes and upload it via MMS. Is this a good thing? I ask myself. The answer is that it probably isn't - I like a little time to reflect, but at the same time it gives me more freedom to write when and where I want.

Time will tell.