Thirteen years ago, I started blogging with a dual purpose: To keep up my HTML skills (I actually hand-coded everything in those days) and to keep writing every day. I figured hey, it may not be fiction, but it’s writing. I did write a little bit of fiction, actually, like The Diary of Iseema bin Laden, written in the style Mark Twain used in The Diary of Adam and Eve. I think I may even have stolen a line from Twain. It was fun, and it got my blog noticed by a few bigwigs, brought me more readers, and got me going up the ranks of the political blogosphere.

So I have to laugh when I read how-to articles about writing blogs. Look, either you’re going to like putting words on the screen, or you’re not. If you’re not, it’s going to sound forced and nobody’s going to care about it. The early posts on this blog feel pretty forced. I started a writing blog because it was de rigeur. Now? Well, I’m shuttering the political blog and moving here. Writing, cats, life–whatever topic comes into my head is what I’m going to post about. Meimei and Blue Stripey? Sure, why not? The aftermath of joining a gym eight weeks ago? Hell, yeah! (You should see my muscles. Here, look, I’m flexing. See those biceps? Woot! What? Pictures? Okay, after I lose about ten pounds, we’ll talk.)

Blog posts should have subtitles. I’m going to add one. Watch.

This is a subtitle

I know, I know. You’re in awe at the originality of my subtitle. Don’t worry, I won’t let it go to my head. (Pro tip: Subtitles are usually H4 and H5 in the CSS of your theme.)

It’s going to take me a while to get back into the swing of things. But I do feel a few essays bouncing around in my head. I expect they’ll come out sooner or later. They may even be funny. In other words: I’m going to start doing today what I was doing thirteen years ago. Hence, the title of this post: Everything old is new again.