My entry into blogging is obviously new. But my time in publishing isn't, dating back to the days of typesetting--I mean real typesetting. So the most stunning news to me as I came upon Blogger.com was how unbelievably easy blogging is. Pick a name, pick a template, pretend you read the user agreement, and click your way into edit mode. Speak, post, and publish. That's all. It's that simple.

Blogging doesn't require an IT degree or extensive HTML experience (though you can do cool tricks with just a little know-how). And you don't need your own domain name or Web site to find your blog a home, since sites like Blogger take care of that for you. It's 1-2-3 publishing for the regular guy. Instant voice. And, if the blog is good, instant notariety.

Consider this. The three years of toiling over the two Web sites we maintain at our house resulted in nary a mark on this over-informed world. Until recently searching up my own name on google (yeh, I do it a lot--got a problem with that?) brought up one meaningless result: my "unsubscribe" to the Acid Jazz list. What kind of legacy is that, I wondered?

Then came my first blog. After three weeks of blogging, I did the search again. Search results on me, myself, and I suddenly filled a whole google page and spilled onto a second. That's the beauty of bloggin. Brother and sister blogs always makes room for new ideas, fresh voices, as they seek to stay current by adding links to the coolest newcomers. A perfect, self-sustaining model, really.

On an interest scale of 1-10, blogs score a perfect ten for web audiences "shopping" for information and entertainment in their spare moments--within the daily work grind--mostly because by their very nature and journal-style setup, blogs are always new. Constantly changing. Up-to-date hilarity and absurd news there for the asking each day. Where you might wait weeks (months? years?) to see changes to your favorite web site, blogs are served fresh each day. Great moments, so to speak, for the short-attention-span surfers who make the net their home.

As the newest form of micromedia, blogs give voice to microjournalists who are yet unknown. But I'm banking that we won't remain unknown for long. Otherwise, I wouldn't be staying up night after night, forgetting to pay my bills, and thinking of little else besides what else I might have to say next. Oh, yes I would. Hell, it's just too much fun!

And then there's Voice. For those of us wrapped tightly within the corporate coil of traditional communication--AKA a day job--blogs set us free. If for no other reason than to find your 'real' voice again, start blogging. This instant. NOW. You won't be disappointed as you see your 'self' re-emerge--the self you haven't seen in a long time. Blogs are contrary to the comand-and-control nature of most organizations. And yet, they can become--I believe--an incredible tool for companies who open themselves up to the possibilities of these now-underground communication vehicles. Word to your mother.

-more later--gotta run.