"Coming out."

I'm going to disclose something very personal. Starting this blog has felt like 'coming out'. Or, since I consider myself to be heterosexual, how I would imagine 'coming out' to feel like. For two reasons really. Firstly, no one really knows that I've fostered secret desires to write. That I have loved to write since I was a small child.

I've always been in awe of those who've made a living out of writing. Sometimes I'd critque their work, but would procrastinate about writing my own words. Someone once recommend I read a book about getting over the fear of failure and getting to work on your art, but I procrastinated about reading that too. I read books about writers who just simply felt that they had to get up in the morning and start writing, and that's what made them writers. But the very thought of it, I mean, to just start typing?! It seemed impossible and for years, I let my yearning lie dormant, afraid of what might be unleashed if I simply let myself adopt the life of a scribe. It could take me twenty years to write in a style that I'm happy with but the main thing is that the passion I have for this blog's subject matter has given me the impetus to get started.

The second reason that I feel like I've come out of the closet, is because people who know me who've read my previous blog posts will now understand how I've felt about myself for years. They'll see me in the pub and they'll know. The truth is out - I'm not trying to be someone else; I'm embracing the very idea that I'm different and that there are *gasp* others out there like me. I wondered if they hung out in clubs with funky drinks, good music and brightly coloured flags. Or perhaps not. They are likely to be lurking in a Facebook group somewhere under some conspicuous name or perhaps they've started blogs of their own, perhaps very much like this one. Starting this blog for me, is a step in the right direction - I'm out and proud, and in many ways it's the beginning of the journey. I wonder where it leads.