Why Write a Blog at 70?

I'm not 70. I rounded my age up; it reads better than 69 and 8 months. Anyway, why the hell not? I no longer have the option to write a blog at 50; that ship sailed and sank. I don’t think waiting until I’m 90 is a grand idea. So here it is. As I say on the title page (which took weeks to figure out), I’m a writer in D.C. and this will be anonymous, or I’ll get very self-conscious. Only one friend knows, and now you. Welcome.

I’m starting with a blog because I really want to write a book. I’ve wanted to write a book almost as long as I’ve been able to read books. I want to write a mystery, but not a violent one. I want it to be clever like Dorothy L. Sayers’s books. I have a box filled with material, research and old diaries from my grandmother who lived quite a life, but I haven’t been able to do anything with it – too busy, too scared, too whatever.

Starting with a blog is similar to young people who think they might want a kid someday so they start with a hardy plant. If they don’t kill the plant, they move on to a ridiculously large rescue dog who they screw up trying to un-traumatize the creature. This blog is good practice, better than a plant.

This blog isn’t a plant. I think it’s my large rescue dog (did you notice Brixton on the first page?) He’s looking backwards; I’m trying not to.

I plan to post once or twice a week on topics about growing old - not the depressing ‘Plan your DNR’ thoughts, but more like ‘Chin Hairs’, Writing, Bossy Adult Children, Wordle, Decluttering, How Much Time Do I Have Left - those sorts of things. This is what I know and can investigate. I hope you will subscribe and comment, but if that is too much of a responsibility (that's another good topic), I understand, and please come back to visit.