Let me count the ways.

Obviously, self expression, to write about my opinions on a wide variety of topics.

To write my autobiography, even if I do so in completely fragmented pieces, with no thought of chronological order. Or perhaps I should say, I try to find anecdotes from my past that might be of general interest, or that I think might be of interest, or that I can delude myself into believing might be of interest to more than merely myself. Believe me when I say that I’ve skipped over lots of memories that would have been excruciatingly dull.

I also sometimes write about movies (especially Hitchcock’s) or plays or books that I think might be of interest to others. If I liked them, then perhaps some others will as well.

Then there’s music that I like, especially when I spend a few months concentrating on a specific composer like Beethoven or reading a biography.

Nor can I forget Agatha Christie and other whodunit writers. I’m especially partial to the Golden Age writers, but I do read the more recent ones, even the current ones, as well. And I’ll write a post or two about them periodically.

I don’t particularly like to cook. I don’t hate it, and if I had more counter space, I’d enjoy it a bit more, but I cook because I have to, not because I really love it. If I could afford it, I’d hire a chef to prepare all my meals. But as I have to cook, I may as well blog about it.

And then there are my two favorite people Isaac Asimov and Stephen Sondheim. I’ve certainly spent a lot of time on each of them, but I also devote quite a bit of space to other science fiction writers and musicals by composers other than Sondheim.

Plus, I like history. So I like to highlight certain historical events, especially little known ones or little known people.

And I don’t want to forget about being a source for the search engines. That might be the most valuable thing that I do.

So for example, I wrote about the history of the Betsy Ross Potato Chip Factory in Richland, which didn’t exist on the web until I wrote about it. Do a search on “Betsy Ross Potato Chips” and see what site is at or near the top.

Similarly my series on Carrie Layser’s murder, which I titled “Murder in a Small Town” before I knew there would be a TV show by that name, has also generated quite a lot of page views from the search engines, presumably from folks wanting more information about that case. Although somewhat to my chagrin they generally seem to find it by searching on the name of her killer. I say that because one of my main purposes in writing that series was to bring Carrie Layser’s life story to the fore.

I do occasionally write about politics, but other people do it better, and given the state of the world right now, I feel I’m better off remaining mostly a place to escape from politics for a few minutes.

Last, but most certainly not least, I like to write about religion. I’m against it, as perhaps even the most casual reader of this blog will have figured out.

Quote of the day:

Nature abhors a moron.
—H.L. Mencken