Why have I decided to keep a diary? Because I love the act of writing and am going thru a period where I feel driven to write. I'm also just coming out of an intense three-year stretch thru which I worked on little but novels - and I really need to get away from that world for a while. I've also become intrigued with the idea of a diary for reasons of self-preservation. I'm getting older and time seems to be flying by at a frightening rate. Maybe if I start directly documenting my days and nights I'll be able to slow them down a bit, in that an examined life, by definition, is at least a somewhat deliberate one.
Why am I putting this diary on-line? Why not? I'm fascinated by the idea of instant publication and the point of the diary, as far as I'm concerned, is to put into writing what's important quickly, before one's mind has the time to hijack these feelings and turn them into mere thoughts - and the Internet would seem to play right into this, as is not a place for revision. Besides, there are a few folks out in the big wide cyber world who seem to enjoy my writing and I figure they might get into this project as well.
So, here it goes ...
Rob Woodard
Long Beach, CA
3/10/2011
