Okay, so much for the short answer.

• I am a writer. Writing is what I do. And the more practice I get, the better my writing will get, I figure. I don't have very much discipline in my life, and I figure this is one way of forcing myself to produce a decent amount of output regularly.

• Over the years, I have made sporadic attempts at keeping a journal. I found the experience to be a valuable one, both for thinking ideas through, and having a record of what I'd done, but the attempts always fizzled out after a few months. I'm hoping that having an audience will keep me going.

• I have some philosophical and psychological issues to work out. I'd like to use this for that purpose, but I'm not sure if I will. I'm a bit afraid of family members finding this place. We'll see, I guess. (Yes, I'm being vague. Sorry about that.)

• I have been subjecting a few select correspondants to long, rambling e-mail messages on frequent occasion, and I thought it might be nicer to vent on the Web, so that they don't feel compelled to read it if they don't want to.

• I have seen several journalists I admire tossing discussion topics back and forth in their journals, and I have desperately wanted to join in the fun. I am particularly speaking of Columbine and Mary Anne here.

• Finally, I'm just jealous of the way Mary Anne gets to call her readers "munchkins."