“Is anybody there?  Does anybody care?”

It’s a line from the musical “1776,” a particular favorite of mine.  The idea of creating a website and a blog was not an impulsive one for me.  The moment I got my book deal, I knew that this was one of the prime communication tools of the new century.  I’d have to get one.

But it’s a job, right?  A writing assignment.  That’s also what I do for a living — I get writing assignments and I write.  So while a million other things swirled around in my life, I would spend a few seconds here and there thinking about this blog thing.  What would I say?  What would I write?  Who the hell would ever read it?

That’s when I thought of the Sherman Edwards’ line (I think Edwards attributed it, verbatum, to George Washington).

But I’m the cautious type.  I decided to Google and Ask and all those other new verbs it.  What do I find?  Every schmuck on planet earth has used the same idea in their own blog — usually on their first posting.

Was this an omen?  Have all the good ideas been taken?  Or am I just a hack?  These are the insecurities of a person who does for a living what everyone else in the world does in the normal course of living.  Back when I was at Berklee College of Music, the old line went, “There are only 88 keys on a piano and only 12 of them are different.”  How original, then, can one be?  I get paid to write words.  Everyone writes words.  Why do I get paid for it?  It’s not like I’m a linguist and make up new ones on a regular basis.  I mean, sometimes I do, but then my agent or editor corrects them, thinking it’s a typo.

On the other hand, with a blog, no one edits you.  For that matter, the inspiration for the opening line is that I fear that no one reads you, either.

And so I’ve found one bright spot to my first ever blog entry.  A few sentences ago, I used “verbs” as a verb.  It may be the first time in the history of the written word that this has been done without punishment, torture, or humiliation.

Not the original idea I had hoped for, though, but original nonetheless.

I think.

Peace, Kerry.