Why blog?

I have a friend who asks, Why? Why are you spending so much time blogging? What is its value to you? Shouldn't you be writing your novel instead? Talking to clients? Pounding the pavement for work? Figuring out what you'll be making for dinner?

(OKay, so my friend didn't actually make reference to dinner, but come to think of it, Shouldn't I be doing that?)

And I said: Because the blog is the daily problem I give myself to solve. Because the blog is, like all art, a danger and a vulnerability, and because life should be lived on the edge. Because it awes me, humbles me, settles me to hear from those who so generously stop by.

I said, Because the blog sends me out into the world for images, and into myself for ideas. Because it pulls me back and rears me up, because it pushes me into the wind.