The Reluctant Blogger features a selection of social commentary and humor from Keith B. Darrell's blog columns at www.KeithBDarrell.com.
Collected Essays of a Reluctant Blogger contains 320 pages pblished from 2011-2014.
More Essays of a Reluctant Blogger collects 320 pages published from 2014-2016.
Return of the Reluctant Blogger is comprised of 320 pages published from 2016-2017.
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I never wanted a blog. My friends insisted I start one, but I resisted. Frankly, the entire concept made no sense to me. When the first blogs appeared, I opined there were 10,000 blogs writers and 10,001 blog readers. To be fair, the early blogs were little more than online diaries, mostly authored by teenage girls obsessing over boys and makeup and school and boys and that snarky girl in fifth period math class who wore too much mascara and boys…
Then, the mommy bloggers arrived. Stay-at-home moms discovered blogging and took the Internet by storm. While I appreciated paragraphs that read less like banter overheard outside a high school’s girl’s locker room, I still couldn’t relate to discussions of diapers, car seats, and Oprah. Next came the business blogs. |
At first, I was enticed back to the Blogosphere. Here was a subject to which I could relate. But I soon realized they were all saying essentially the same thing, stating the obvious with a newfound sense of discovery. Soon, every business was told it must have a blog. Never mind if they had nothing to say; the competition had blogs so customers expected them to, as well. The proliferation of blogs continued. It expanded beyond business. Everyone needed a blog. No matter if they had nothing worth saying. No matter if they lacked writing skills. No matter if they lacked potential readers. It was de rigueur. So I started a little blog. No one read it. But when my friends asked if I had a blog, I could answer yes, and that seemed to satisfy them. They never asked to follow it, but at least I no longer received daily lectures on why it was essential that I have a blog. I had conformed and they were satisfied. As Winston Smith had accepted Big Brother, I had accepted the Blogosphere. It left me alone. For a while. |
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He showed up at my door one day along with his sister. Both Muscovy ducks, the hen with a pretty, smooth red face looked as though she were wearing a colorful mask, while the drake’s red caruncles looked more like scarlet carbuncles. Frankly, he was ugly. So every day when they appeared at my doorstep I would feed the beautiful hen, who I named Red, and try to discourage her brother. But the drake was not to be dissuaded. He coaxed me into giving him food as well, and unlike his sister, even ate straight from my hand. He would stay with me on the porch to keep me company long after his sister had departed. His bumpy red face reminded me of a cobblestone road and I named him Cobblestone. He had a warm and friendly personality, and as time passed he didn’t seem quite so ugly. They both became daily visitors for the next three years. I’ve come to see Cobblestone is as beautiful on the outside as he is on the inside. And that’s as good a reason as any for him to grace the cover of this book.
Cobblestone has nothing to do with any of the essays within these pages. The Reluctant Blogger series, of which this is the third volume, aggregates disparate posts from my blog on a variety of topics ranging from social commentary to humorous anecdotes. Each essay has been deliberately penned to be read in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette so that non-smokers will finally have something to do during their cigarette breaks. |
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