it's p.v.'s birthday, one of my private holidays, which i'll explain, but because it's the first, i also did the blog report which in case you're interested appears at the first of every month. i actually manage thirty-five blogs, some of them quite poorly, and keep track of another seven dead ones just for the heck of it. the thing is, i don't participate in any blog communities or even check my favorite ones regularly, though i do have favorite ones and also link to them. it's more like i keep them just so i can say stuff, like now, when i have the impulsive need to communicate publicly.

my politics are still so radical that i've given up discussing politics with strangers or in public, at parties, etc. but i speak freely on the blog, where much fewer people encounter it, and they are free to simply leave (or comment?) if they don't like it. they don't comment much. though i do have traffic, it doesn't seem to affect much in the world. i once wrote an inspirtational post on this blog, my oldest and best-known blog, and got a comment to the effect that the commenter was truly inspired. that comment has kept me going. i figure if anyone anywhere stumbles on something that inspires them, or even encourages them to keep going or keep learning, it will all be worthwhile.

the main reason i keep them going is to keep myself going. write write write. it's not true that i get better just by doing a lot of it; sometimes i get worse by doing a lot of it, particularly if i fall into the impression that nobody's reading it anyway. why bother with crisp grammar? or even with full sentences, or capital letters? i never bother here, as this is my rambling blog, but on the other ones i try to keep a public face on it, and figure that, on some level, every time people see me write is a time i am showing my craft. i'm not sitting here on some big pile of sales, though. my thirty books' sales on amazon are as anemic as my thirty-five blogs' july visits. very anemic.

i'm not depressed though.