to a reader

A close acquaintance of mine emailed me tonight to tell me that one of his friends has been reporting to him that I have been saying less than positive things about him in a blog--and no, this isn't the writer of whom I was recently speaking. Dear friend of my close acquaintance, if you have paged through my many rather dull entries on growing tomatoes, taking yoga, the menu of my Thanksgiving dinner, and my tedious and at times frustrating search for an agent, all to try and find things to tattle about (and for what reason except to create drama?), I do not think you will be successful. Alas, like most folks in the arts who really love their craft, I lead an existence that is not as spectacular as it seems, and I mean that with tongue planted firmly in cheek and fingers planted equally firmly upon the keyboard of my Mac. I am happy to count you among my faithful readers, but perhaps your energies would be better spent looking for dirt elsewhere than this blog--like in the pages of the National Enquirer, perhaps. I read it myself when I am getting my hair done, as my stylist subscribes to it and I simply must have something to do when the mane is processing. The many fascinating stories of alien babies and celebrity cellulite might yield things that are more to your taste than my humble musings.

By the way, the last time I checked, this was still a free country and I believe it is perfectly legal to write what one will, within the confines of a certain amount of discretion. Note that if I mention most people in a less-than-glowing light, I do not use their name and generally discuss them only insofar as it impacts my own life. Note also that my last name is not on this blog and it is written with a partial pseudonym for privacy issues--and thus most folks I write about are not identifiable to my reading public. Even so, I don't believe in looking over my shoulder for fear of someone not liking what I have to say. Putting a creative doily on everything to prettify it just does not work for me, and I dislike censoriousness of any kind--ESPECIALLY when writing about subjects that might make someone uncomfortable, but are still the truth about a person's life. It intrigues me that someone who has had less-than-benign intentions towards me in the past, yet hasn't had contact with me in well over ten years, would take pains to research me on the Internet in order to find this. Since I write this blog under at least a partial pseudonym, that must have taken a certain type of tenacity.

I also want to thank all my other readers who are supportive of my writing and my search for an agent, which are, after all the focus of this blog.