Well, that doesn't look too bad!

As an initial attempt I think that went rather well!

I have no idea if any of this will ever get read but I suppose I should begin somewhere... Rather stupidly I am a writer who is too bashful to write. I am a literature snob and a bit of a perfectionist (certainly in particular spheres of my life) and often feel that I cannot meet my own exacting standards. Rather vainly, of course, I would like to write that out-of-the-blue mind-blowing, prize-winning first literary novel but fear that I will end up writing cliched paperback pap which no serious literary agent would touch with a bargepole.

Of course, my poor grammar and over-use-of-hyphenation isn't helping me here but it's bastard late and I am venting.

I do fill up more of my time on the PC than perhaps I ought, so maybe a blog isn't necessarily a good idea - but I like to think that most of my PC time is (usually) spent usefully, actually doing research & getting in touch with people with whom a have a real-world connection, for a useful purpose. I have come to the conclusion the Facebook isn't really that helpful. I seem to find that a lot of people have sufficient time to cultivate virtual farms or run virtual restaurants, and yet can't be bothered to cut the grass or cook real food for their kids. Don't get me wrong, I quite like having people I knew really well 15 years ago sitting in my facebook friends, without me really being engaged enough to contact them with a personal message. It's friendly but non-commital at the same time. I'm not so sure about finding out about every move made by those people I am acquainted with, and see on an almost daily basis. It's a shame, but I don't think that I could say that many of my facebook friends are friends in the real world.

I have also been introduced to Twitter, but maybe it's me, cos I don't have an Iphone (or an anything fancy phone), but I can't really see the point of all these anonymous people, who have no genuine connection with each other, just lobbing comments and links at each other. It seems like there is probably a lot of shouting going on, but very little listening. Correct me if I'm wrong.