Hello, and welcome to my blog and the Third Sign of the End of Days. Sorry about that, but I reckon we still have 6 more to go, so there’s no real need to get all worked up just yet.

What’s that? What Signs, you say? What End of Days? Ignorance is bliss, so I hear, but since you insist on reading on I suppose it’s only polite to enlighten you. No point in taking part if you don’t know what you’re playing accomplice to, eh?

Here follow the Nine Signs of the End of Days! Pay attention.

Sign #1: I got my driver’s license. No, seriously! That was the first and perhaps the most subtle of the Signs. It meant that I was finally willing to commit to settling down in this world enough to risk everyone’s safety by getting behind the wheel of a big, self-propelled chunk of metal (or whatever they make cars out of these days). Only one teensy little accident so far!

Sign #2: I decided to get a Facebook account. True, I still hate Facebook (and social networking sites in general); but the point is that I am on the dreaded FB.

Sign #3: You’re reading it. I have a blog. I can prove it, too! Look around – you’re on it! Whoda thunk? Surely the End must be nigh if I have a blog. It’s not my fault though; I blame my wife, and since she’s not here to defend herself she must be guilty.

Okay, you can relax a little, because those are the only Three Signs I’ve brought to pass thus far; but just in case you care about the continued turning of The Wheel of Days, I’ll relate a few of the other Signs so you know what to watch for.

Sign #4: I get a cell phone. Yeah, that’s a pretty big one, but not entirely out of the question. True, I might try to bite my tongue off just so I won’t be able to use it, but I could still do the texting thing. It’s not so much that I hate cell phones themselves, but I certainly despise the way people use them. That, and their ubiquitous nature. I mean, people give them to their 10-year-olds. I don’t want to be that accessible. Seriously, just call my house and leave a message! I do have an answering machine, you know. I’ll call you back, I promise. I wonder how our great-grandparents ever survived without cell phones?

Sign #5: I can list at least half the streets near my house by name rather than by landmark. I’ve only lived in this house for something like 10 years, so I think we’ve got a few more years before we need to start worrying about this one. For now, I will continue to give directions by saying things like, “The street that runs away from the cemetery,” and “The ‘F’ street over there, the one with the grocery store. Fulton? Fuller? Fullerton? Grocery store. That street.”

#6: I turn my back on the sacred glories of bacon in favor of the … um … profound … mysteries (?) … of tofu. I don’t think that one needs any further clarification.

#7-#9: These are all pretty esoteric, what with all the astronomical events, weird, unexplainable (dare I say, supernatural) phenomena, and omens and portents foreshadowed in various religious traditions. I’m willing to concede that these things might not have anything directly to do with me or my actions. Regardless, I won’t bore you with the details of things that are beyond my control, so we’ll settle for the first Six Signs. But if the skies start to burn and the seas start to boil, it’s not my fault.

Alright, so all bad jokes aside, why do I suddenly have a blog when it’s so readily apparent that I don’t want one?

Well, it’s not exactly true that I don’t want one. Once upon a time (like just last week) I had absolutely no desire to ever have a blog; but then something happened, and suddenly the idea didn’t bother me so much. What happened? It’s difficult to explain, but suffice to say that there was a change of perception on my part, not just about blogs but about my eventual livelihood.

See, I’m a daydreamer. I always have been. Birds fly, fish swim, and I daydream. That’s a lovely way to go, but it’s hard to put food on the table with daydreams. Daydreams are vastly important, but difficult to apply in the eternal quest for food and shelter. Unless, of course, you happen to be a writer. Which I am. Yay me!

Okay, so I’m not a published writer, but I am a writer nonetheless. Actually, it’s more accurate to say that I’m a daydreamer who writes. The publishing thing, that’s just the practical application of an impractical lifestyle, but it suits me. I write anyway, so getting something published is the natural next step. I had never seriously considered getting published, because that’s … well, it’s hard work getting published, and I wasn’t particularly interested in lots of hard work that could very easily end in a great deal of rejection. Far, far easier just to float around in a daydream.

How I came to the decision to actually try and earn a living through writing is another story, perhaps for another post. This post is mostly a cheerful greeting and an explanation of what you can expect from this blog. I would say the greeting is more or less done, so what can you expect?

I’m not entirely sure about that, just yet. My wife thought that people would be interested in knowing what it was like to be a fantasy writer, and specifically what it’s like to wander through a thousand worlds every day. I guess the idea, so far as it goes, is that publishers like being able to look over a prospective writer’s blog, just to see how many followers they have, what kind of posts they make, and that sort of thing. Being human, of course, we assume that people will be especially interested in knowing what goes on in my head, because clearly I will one day be a famous and respected storyteller. I insist.

So sharing my experiences as both a daydreamer and a writer, that’s the starting point. I’ll share some of my daydreams with you, in the hopes that you can begin to understand what it’s like to drift around with your head in the clouds all day – I swear it’s not a choice, by the way – it would be easier for me to stop breathing than it would be to stop daydreaming. Since I’m a writer, I’m planning on sharing some of my writing experiences with you, and maybe you’ll find those helpful and interesting, even if you’re not a writer. It’s been my experience that knowing you’re not alone in the struggle really does help, even if, like me, you don’t want to join a writing group. I figure there will be observations on the nature of things, but I’ll try not to get too pedantic or self-righteous about anything. And of course, there might be a story or two once in awhile.

My intention is to post every week, but that’s not a promise. Posts might come along faster or slower, but in general one a week.

And that, I think, will do for my first post. I could easily go on and on, but this is just an introduction. Besides, I know that a lot of people can get turned off by long blog entries, and I don’t want to chase everyone away until they’ve had a chance to get to know me.

So until next week, may your best dreams come true, and your worst nightmares be revealed as the feeble ghosts they are.

William Harrier