That's a lot of truth.

All over the Internet, blogs are lighting up with this... what? A meme of sorts, I guess. It's kind of gone viral in its own way. You can't throw a piss without hitting a blogger that's telling 30 different kind of truth 30 different ways, and most if not all of them are better writers than I am.

I write because I have to, not because I have anything in particular to say. And what I do have to say, I don't usually say well. I'm too scattered, too random. I start out with a point in mind but I get sidetracked because my attention span is a pile of crap and did you know there are twenty-eight plates of armor on an armadillo's back?- but I want to get better. I want to be better. There are a lot of things I need to purge out of myself in order to be better, things I've been holding onto out of fear or selfishness or laziness. This meme, though, it's an exercise. It's a challenge we're making to ourselves to stop being lazy or afraid or selfish.

Write, we're saying. Write about things that might be hard to look at. Write about things you might not otherwise, things that make you uncomfortable and squirmy, because only through challenge can a person grow. Write because it's what you have to do.

I want to grow. I want to be a better writer. So I'm going to jump on the bandwagon, even though it's already left and lapped the station a few times. I've never been what you'd call a 'joiner,' so I suppose it makes sense that when I do join something, I'm a day late and a dollar short.

But hell if I'm not going to do it anyway. I don't mind being late to a party if it's a good party to be at, even if I am just standing around jazz-handing boozily to the 80's classics while I people watch in a corner by myself.

Also, I really need something to kick my ass into writing. I think about writing almost constantly, and then I just don't. Life gets in the way (that's such a cop out) and I just don't write. I need to commit to doing something, to put it out there, so the fear of looking like a lying jackass will keep me on task.

Come along with me.