I always find that I am jealous of people who blog daily, or at least faithfully. Take, for example, my friend Lou, author of Notes From a Nerdling, one of my favorite blogs. She’s funny, yes, but she looks past the humdrum of daily life and finds the humor in it. Or another friend, Alvin, author of Anti-Gay Lies and Liars, whose specific goal is almost a cause… ferret out lies in the media about the glbt community.

And then there’s me. Yep, the very same guy who, in high school, always thought he’d be a writer in life. In fact, everyone else thought it too. And why not? I wrote for the local newspaper (the special high school page feature in the Desert Trail), I was on the yearbook staff, wrote for the school’s newspaper (The Roadrunner), and both contributed to and edited the school’s literary magazine, Wit’s End.

What happened? Life, you say? My survival skills kicked in when I graduated high school, you say? Indeed.

Today finds my creative juices somewhat stymied. Oh, there are little, incidental reminders that I can write: a box full of old clippings from newspaper articles, letters to the editor(s), and creative projects I worked on; a few awards from writing contests I entered; a handful of writing credits and contributions that do not a résumé make…

Oh, and the reminder that came from an unexpected source the other day, a young lady I work with, with whom I play a word game called Wordfeud on our cell phones, commented to me that “No one could beat me on Wordfeud, because my vocabulary was off-the-chain.” Nice compliment, that.

It is true, I love word games. Wheel of Fortune, Literati, Scrabble, Lexulous, Wordfeud, you name it, if I’m not playing it, you’d better invite me.

My creative outlet right now has been photography. I took a job with Olympus cameras representing their cameras to major retailers such as Best Buy, HHGregg, Walmart and others - got sent on a photo-field trip to St. Louis, got to own and play with the Olympus PEN EPL-1 for free for almost a whole year…

I dabbled in publicity photos for Town Theatre, for shows like West Side Story and Little Shop of Horrors, and also took pride in taking show photos for the cast and crew that included them on-stage and off…

I have a Nikon N65 and a Nikon D50 in my personal arsenal, with some really awesome lenses and other accessories that I love to play with - along with a Flip video, an HP CB350, and a cheap Mustek camcorder…


But all of this does not mean I have an appreciable portfolio, a substantial photo résumé - or even a job where I actually get to take pictures - artistic, boring or otherwise.

I do have a photo gallery on my website: Rifrak.com. You should go there. Tell me what you think.

But the whole point is: why am I not writing? Why am I jealous of others who manage to do so faithfully?

So, once again, I hereby vow: I will make a greater effort to assemble my memoirs. Hone my skills with the written word. Yep, you guessed it, I’mma gonna start a blog.

The plan, see, is to combine my meager photography skills with my under-developed writing skills and come up with something that is of interest to one person: ME. Alone time to be creative, be stupid, be silly, be crazy… or just be writing.

So, if you’d care to join me, then you must do your part: be a nag. “Hey Richard, did you write something today?” or “Hey Richard, your blog is lame… you need more practice…”

It takes 21 attempts to create a habit… let me see, 1 down, 20 to go… I think I’ll need some encouragement… That’s where YOU come in:

Perhaps some subject material? Let me take your picture? Let me write your memoir? Hire me for a photo or writing job?