“Always do what you are afraid to do.” RALPH WALDO EMERSON

I am not sure what finally made me do it. Press “publish” on my first blog post. I didn’t know what I was doing. I had spent maybe two hours creating my (very basic) WordPress page, and another hour on the first post, Reinvention. That first post really just poured out of me. I didn’t know if that was a lot of time, or a little time. I just didn’t know…anything.

For some reason, I DID know that I wanted to call my blog curvyroads. I knew that motorcycling, and traveling the curvy, twisty back roads would be a big part of what I would write about, since it is such a big part of my life. I wasn’t sure what I wanted my blog niche to be, and some blog *experts* said you had to have one. Other *experts* said you didn’t. But I decided that it was my blog, and I could write about whatever floated my boat at the moment. That didn’t mean anyone would want to read it, but I found it to be a wonderful outlet, and that was enough.

So I published that first post, but only to strangers. I didn’t tell anyone in my circle but my husband initially. God love him, he thought it was great and loved me like he always does. ♥

So I continued to write, tentatively; and I read, read, read, everything and everywhere. In the blogosphere, I found a whole community of wonderfully talented, funny, and irreverent personalities that I want to be when I grow up. I found advice, lessons, encouragement, and blog-love from writers I so admire. I was blown away.

I have been cheered on, I have been inspired and I have a list of future blog posts ideas. I have figured out some WordPress stuff, adding a nifty feature here and there, while still avoiding the “Learning WordPress” tutorial. I swear, I am going to do that one day. 😉

“Somebody ought to tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit every minute of every day. Do it, I say, whatever you want to do, do it now.” MICHAEL LANDON

Then, at the beginning of December, I had an epiphany over a new motorcycle movie called Why We Ride and I wrote a blog post Follow Your Passion, clarifying my future and singing the praises of this unique and special film about riders, but FOR everyone who ever knew and loved a rider. With this post, I came out of the blogging closet to my Facebook friends. They were very supportive. The blogosphere was very supportive. I was overwhelmed that I had more than 3 people following my blog.

Three months in, I have written and published 16 blog posts, on all sorts of topics. I have a Twitter account, with a handful of followers. I figured out how to link my blog with Twitter and Facebook, and it worked great…once. Oh well, maybe the tutorial will help. I have a long list of amazing blogs that I try to read on a regular basis, and wonderful writers to emulate. I am still finding my voice. I desperately want to be as funny as some of the hysterically gifted bloggers I have *met*, but I don’t think that is in the cards. I know I want my writing to be honest, straightforward and to tell a good story. With your continued support, I hope this is just the beginning of a long journey!