The Hidden Danger of Reading Other Peoples' Blogs

Yesterday as I was driving home from Madison, where I did some gardening and went to the Art Fair on the Square, I mentally composed a few paragraphs for a new blog post. I often compose in my head while driving. And practice oral arguments. And teach lessons. And they always go so well in my head in my car . . . but when I sit down to write them down, or say them out loud, I forget the perfectly crafted sentences, the mild sarcasm, they witty punch lines. Great writing that I compose mentally never makes it to the page.

Nevertheless, I thought I'd try to get those thoughts down on paper . . . er . . . my computer screen. The moving sentences about the double rainbow, the steam rising up from the county roads, the wriggling black mass in the road that looked like a dead animal but was, on closer inspection, a mother and six baby skunks. I dumped my produce on the kitchen island, took a few pictures of it, and practically ran to my computer.

As I sat down to blog, I realized that my creative juices had entirely stopped flowing. Fortunately I saved myself from utter despair (and boredom) by checking for updates on the (growing list of) blogs I like to read. From there, I started looking at the blogs that the people whose blogs I read read. No, I don't know these people. Well, maybe I do. Maybe I've met them and just didn't know it. Apparently I spent last weekend at the same event (attended by thousands of other people) that a woman whose blog I used to read obsessively (and now occasionally) attended.

As I delved further and further into blogs by people I don't know, I discovered this little gem. If you're going to read it, I highly recommend giving yourself plenty of time. Like two days if you have nothing better to do, and a week if you actually have a life. And start at the bottom. I haven't read the rest of her blog yet, but if it is anything like the story she tells about how she fell in love with her husband, I'm probably going to be hooked for life.

That's all for now, folks. I have more blogs to read.