…And Now For Something Largely The Same

If the title of the post sounds vaguely familiar, it means either you’ve been to the very depths of the archives here’s and remember This post, or your a fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I’m pretty sure we can be friends either way. For the Official Permanent Record, though, the reason for the reference today is more about my blog than English sketch comedy.

See, that post is the first one. It’s the one I wrote way back in 2010 that started me creeping down the path, with plenty of false starts and plain old confusion, towards becoming an actual, bone fide writer type. And using the goal I set for myself then as a talisman, from February 2010 to February 2011, I wrote well over 120,000 words in blogs posts that amounted to very little outside of being great writing practice, occasionally chuckle-worthy, and a reasonably good insight into my mind and life around here at La Casa de Puddin.

Lately though? Well, you might have noticed that time between entries seems to be stretching further and further. Which is to say, I’ve been lazy. And not just “crashing the recliner on Sunday afternoon” lazy, but intellectually lazy. And if you ask me, intellectually laziness is the biggest sin one can make (well, outside of being a Bieleber; there’s a special level of Hell for those poor fools).

And before you go groaning into your adult beverage that I’ve succumbed to writing the dreaded “post about not posting”, let me ask you to dial back the melodramatics. I’m not going to wax philosophical on a million and one excuses.

The real thing is that as I’ve been inching closer and closer to becoming a genuine author-the kind with books people actually want to read-I’ve been less and less certain what I want my blog to be about. I mean, in the beginning, things were easy. No one knew who I was and I didn’t know who was reading (beyond the Puddinette and my parents, obviously), so if writing about narwhal snot struck my fancy, well, I didn’t thing twice about getting to the gooey core of the topic.

But I write books now. Shouldn’t i stick to talking about being an author? Or writing for middle graders or whatever I have coming up next or…or…or…

Or no. Because like it or not the great majority of book authors who blog at all, generally host websites where tumbleweeds roll across the banner graphics for 8 months out of the year, interrupted only when they have a new release due that needs some loving.

Now, let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with that. Not one little thing.

But it’s wrong for me.

Because, see, of the thousands of subscribers of this blog, I’m pretty sure exactly 0% are following just because I might have a book out some day. No one stopped by here once and came back a second time on the off chance I might be a Big Author Dude. Nope. If I’ve earned repeat visits, it’s because I’m not afraid to ramble on about Oompa Loompas, my kids, and my love of brownies.

The fact is, if this blog is interesting at all, it’s because it offers a glimpse into the crazy house that serves as my mind. And when I realized that today, I realized, with the force of a lightening strike, exactly what I want jasonarust.com to be about.

I want it to be about you getting to better know me, so I can hopefully better know you. Because, I kinda believe that’s what the internet really should be about: using the technology to get know each other better. Because when that happens, I’m betting everyone has a little more empathy. And dance parties.

So, no more being intellectually lazy. You deserve more posts, and I owe it to myself to write them. Now, I can’t promise that every one will challenge you to be a better person, give you winning lottery numbers, or makeup tips guaranteed to lead to love, but I can probably give you a grin because Tuesday started off being a sonuvabitch, so I poured a big coffee and sent the whole day to Time Out to think about what it’s done.

And no matter what else I say, getting a little grin outta you has always been what this is about.

So this is my life. Come on in, put your feet up, and don’t be afraid to make yourself at home.

Hopefully, I’m going to make sure you know exactly how that works.

Pud’n