Why a blog? I suppressed my writerly instincts for years, watching with amused derision as the Internet's cholesterol count gradually mounted in the form of self-indulgent, unnecessary blogs. "Does the world need to know that you bought crunchy peanut butter this week?" I'd marvel as I read.

As editor of my weekly law school newspaper, I used to write whatever I wanted with no editorial filter. Trapped in a lecture hall with only torts cases to amuse them, my schoolmates responded warmly. I've since missed having that outlet, taking out my frustrations on poor, long-suffering email correspondents.

A friend of mine, herself an award-winning writer, recently convinced me to set my reservations aside and take the plunge into bloggery. "Why not?" she asked. "It won't hurt anyone. Sure, there's a lot of bad writing out there, but there's still room for yours too." (She didn't say that.)

And thus did I officially become part of the problem.