blognamegoeshere

My best friend Steve has been encouraging me to start a blog.  I’ve been meaning to for a long time, but I have always made excuses.  Things like “I can never think of anything to write” (not true) or “I don’t have the time” (also not true) or “Nobody will read it” (extremely likely).   But finally I decided to take Steve’s challenge and actually do it.

That was two months ago, and that was when I was suddenly faced with another insurmountable hurdle (AKA “excuse”): “Coming up with a name for the blog.”

Steve’s blog is called “A Stranger in a Strange Land.”  Check it out if you like excellent writing that gently, thoughtfully, and with good humor explores mostly spiritual things (http://stevetheyouthworker.blogspot.co.uk).  It suits him because as a church worker who has rarely spent more than three years of his adult life in one place, it’s a great description of him coupled with a subtle biblical reference to boot.  My blog name needed to be as cool as his. 

My first choices (things along the lines of “Pure Drivel” or “Delusional Rants”) were self-deprecating, which I liked, and taken by others, which I didn’t.  I realized then that choosing the right name was going to be hard, and that I could potentially be saddled with a name for a long time.  I wanted a name that said something about me, and implied that I was wittier and cleverer than I really am. 

I finally settled on two.  The second runner up was “God Makes Snakes” (a Far Side reference) and the winner is what you saw at the top of this page.  I like the absurdity of it and that most people won’t know what the heck it means without consulting Google, and even then it won’t make sense.  The Gary Larson-esque  aspect of it satisfies the “witty and clever” part of my requirement, but not the part about saying something about me. 

And maybe that’s why I chose it.  While I like the idea of a revelatory name, I am more drawn to one that I can hide behind.  I think the hardest thing about writing is not the effort involved in crafting words on a page or screen, it’s the vulnerability that this act creates.  So in other words, my biggest hurdle preventing me from starting a blog isn’t really that “nobody will read it.”

I’m more terrified that somebody actually might.