I’ve never cared for the word “blog.”  Never cared for the sound of the word, that is.  I have no objection at all to the idea of a blog, which seems a perfectly innocuous form of writing.  I once had a couple of acquaintances who blogged because they were chronically ill, and it was less tiring for them to write to their friends and family all at once rather than individually.  My reason for starting a blog  (less admirable perhaps, though it’s not a competition) was that it was one of several measures I was taking to get the word out about my book.  Saying it now, though, makes me realize what a misguided idea that was because anyone who reads my blog, either on my author website or on Goodreads, would already know about my book.  Oh well!  I might as well keep going, now that I’ve started.  (I don’t give up on lousy ideas that easily).

As to sound, I don’t think it is only a writer thing to be sensitive to the sound of words.  Some words strike us as pretty, others as ugly, independent of their meaning.  “Blog” sounds ugly to me, like something you’d avoid stepping on in a field.  It derives from the smooshing together of “web” and “log.”  Why wasn’t it just called “weblog?”  To save a syllable?  It doesn’t save that much time.  E-mail is two syllables.  Yes, weblog would not have bothered me at all.  Reminds me of the captain’s log from Star Trek.  In a voice-over, usually, the captain would say something like, “Captain’s log, star date 1 7 4 3 9 8 2 6 8 point 5 5 2 1 4 6,  We entered the Sirilian system for some much-needed shore leave, but it turned out to be a mistake.  There were beautiful beaches, as promised, but the ocean turned out to be composed of sulfuric acid.  We lost three crew members, and two surfboards.”

I hesitated about writing a blog for two reasons.  First, as mentioned, I didn’t like the sound of it.  Second, I worried that no one would read it.  A blog, unlike a log, or journal, or diary, is meant to be published on the internet for people to read.  It’s not a blog if it stays in your notebook in your desk.  So, this brings up the old question:  if a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?  Or, in this case, if you put a blog out on the internet and nobody reads it, is it a blog?  The tree in the forest question is easier to answer.  Yes, of course, the falling tree makes a sound.  The vibrations cause sound waves, even if there is no obliging eardrum around to be vibrated in turn.  The blog question is less certain.  As with any writing, you send your words out into the void hoping someone will read them but not knowing for sure.  So, here is my second blog post, a second tree falling in the forest.  Did anyone hear it?