Help! The Blogosphere has sucked me in

I never wanted a blog. Or maybe it’s that I wanted one too much. A place to air my frustrations, to share my thoughts, to be part of the world without having to leave my comfortable space? Sounds great! Only...who would keep me from saying the wrong things? Remind me that cyberspace is forever, that one cannot unsay the words one has sent out into the aether once one has hit Send?

No, no blog for me.

So, what’s changed?

Let’s see.

*I’ve sold a few books and disappointed several publishers—I don’t promote much, so people don’t always hear about my work. Including people who know and enjoy my writing, and would buy the books if they knew they were there to be bought.

*I’ve started ranting in themes, and am running out of places to put the resulting texts. There’s a small but delightful reader’s community called Realms of Love that takes the occasional short piece of mine, if it’s at least tenuously related to romance or eroticism. And a Yahoo group run by a fellow author where I post the odd science rambling. A few other places for stand-alone works, now and then. But there are limits, and I’m pushing them.

*Health issues have sidelined me recently, sometimes for as much as two months at a time. I can always manage one message, or two, but those don’t always get passed along, so people complain I’ve disappeared. Again. With a blog, I can post a message for anyone to find.

There it is: my reasons for putting up a blog. The title’s a reference to my lifestyle—I’m a self-described hermit and an old-fashioned sort of writer, despite the very modern lack of euphemism my writing may contain. This presents some problems. With e-books especially, publishers expect authors to promote slightly more than is humanly possible, but all I want is to sit in my garret and daydream, preferably with my fingers resting lightly on a keyboard until moved by some muse.

And, ideally, one or several living models of various heroes within reach, in case I should need to do some research.