Why This Blog?

Like anyone who writes – I mean really writes, focusing every essence of their being into it – it’s a compulsion, an urge that will not be denied.  “Hi, I’m A. E. Poynor, and I’m a writeaholic.”  Following a career as a technical writer and quitting a humor column that ran nineteen years (receiving three awards from the Alaska Press Club in the process) I decided to write longer material.  There is nothing quite like working on the “Great American Novel,” unless it’s sitting stranded on a desert island, left to count the grains of sand in utter isolation.  

Don’t get me wrong, I truly revel in writing longer material. However, most writing is meant to be shared – Herman Melville being a superb exception – and the journey of a novel from conception to publication is a painfully long and laborious one.  Like most folks, I’m an instant gratification kind of guy.  That was the beauty of writing a weekly humor column.  It was quick (if one can call four to twelve hours of work to produce 800 polished words quick), subject matter was varied and sharing was regular.  I miss writing the shorter material.  This blog will serve to scratch the itch of writing something shorter.

What can the reader expect?  Pithy comments on things that pith me off, observations on writing and the process involved, a reflection of life in Alaska from a warped mirror (including the occasional old column), but most importantly, a smile.  The intent of this blog is the same as was my newspaper column, “Of Moose and Men”: to provide the reader with a brief respite from their serious world.  Comments and observations, good or bad, are always welcome.

A word of warning is in order here.  The author is not the most tech-savvy guy to be found.  Consequently, there will undoubtedly be some glitches initially.  Simply setting this blog up serves as a good example.  The last box to fill in for my profile was labeled “Random Question.”  No explanation, but there was a warning that I had to save the profile before I could request a new question.  I figured it was a security thing, so typed the first question that had popped into my mind, “What the hell?”  I expected a prompt for an answer to appear.  None did.  A preview of the empty blog showed my picture and what I’d written about myself with the question “What the hell?” immediately below.  Indeed, what the hell?