124

That's the number of posts I've managed to put together since I debuted BurnBlogBurn exactly one year ago today. Not too bad. I thought about going back and doing a "best of awards" entry, but that stuck me as the height of narcissism.

Me, giving myself awards, for my own writing, in my own blog. I could call them "Joes." And the "Joe" for "most uses of the word ghost" goes to... Joe! I'm sure I'd be objective about it.

Anyway, I did go back and skim my entries a bit to try and see if I could find any development, any improvement, in how I've approached writing here, as well as any subconcious (or otherwise) changes in why I write and what I'm trying to accomplish with BurnBlogBurn. Which, of course, brings us (the editorial "us" that is) to the question of why we (the editorial "we" of course) do this little exercise in semantics with regularity (apparently, an average of a little over once every three days if numbers are to be believed).

What strikes me about considering this question now, is that it's really the first time I've thought about it. A year into writing BurnBlogBurn, I'm finally really thinking about why I'm doing it, what I'm trying accomplish, and what it means. And I guess this goes to a larger question of why people Blog in general. I think, for me, blogging dovetails with the act of writing songs in both form and function. I don't even know if that's the right way to say it.

BurnBlogBurn has helped me make sense of the last year, has helped me stay disciplined about being creative, and has kept my brain working in a way I think is valuable for other aspects of my life. It is also somehow connected to the whole idea of leaving a record of oneself, leaving an artifact of one's thoughts, feelings, presence... which is a purpose it has in common with writing songs.

Additionally, I often think one of the wisest sentiments I've ever heard expressed is that life is lived forwards and understood backwards. I forget which philospher said it, but it rings truer and truer to me with every passing year. And both songs and BurnBlogBurn are tools I use to help me try to understand life a little quicker. To help capture experience as it happens, accurately.

Songwriting is much more visceral and impressionistic, blogging is more cerebral, concrete, and episodic. And both processes serve to keep me honest. I can always go back and sing what I felt, read what I was thinking... and it's much harder to practice the revisionist history that we so often practice with our own lives when it's written down in cold black... uh... 1's and 2's.

So there you have it. That was heavy. Now... back to lips and assholes. (from the ridiculous to the sublime and back again) Thanks for reading.

jbg