In about a week, the blogosphere will be neck deep in Valentine’s Day related posts. From the loved to the lonely, the damaged to the dreamers, the haters, the lovers, the bitter, the giddy, the cynics and the believers — every opinion, reaction, experience and emotion will be represented and documented. You won’t be able to swing a last minute, leftover bouquet of wilted flowers without hitting a Valentine’s Day post.

If I had to categorize my position on the whole hoopla, I’d say I’m pretty solidly in the Meh … camp. I find it’s much easier to take a Meh … stance as a single person. As part of a couple, I learned that a partner might profess to understand, or even agree with, your inability to generate any interest in or excitement about the day. But be warned, that in no way diminishes her gift exchange expectations. And frankly, I’d rather be a hypocrite with flowers and a box of candy than hear, “Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine” spoken in that voice that tells you she is anything but fine and anything you  say or do to fix it only makes it worse. *shudder*

But I’m not writing this in order to get a jump on my fellow bloggers and claim Firsties in the Valentine’s Day According To Me arena. Despite my Meh … attitude, I recognize that the closer it is to the 14th, the more easily a person can get away with being a little sentimental and perhaps a bit sappy. And I’m just here to take advantage of that perk.

Much like painters paint and dancers dance, writers write. And I assume that painters would paint and dancers would dance even if no one saw their art or appreciated their perfect pirouettes. Writers write because we have to. Not have to-have to … it’s not as though we have to write 750 words a day or Dennis Hopper will blow up the bus on which America’s Sweetheart, Sandra Bullock is a passenger.

In a previous post, I believe I touched on how I was always a bit envious of painters and dancers because they can show their work to a lot of people at once, and the only effort required of those people is looking at things. But, while a person can relax and enjoy visual arts, they have to put some effort into reading whatever it is you want their opinion on. And even if they agree to read it, you have to hover nearby to make sure they actually read it and don’t just skip to the last page or paragraph.

I think of blogging as the word-smith’s gallery opening or dance performance. Only on a much bigger stage. I saw today that someone in Botswana checked out one of my posts — Bots-fucking-wana!! I can hardly get most of my friends to read me, but somewhere in Africa a complete stranger stopped in for a visit. It’s odd, but reading and having readers from all around the globe makes the world seem both bigger and smaller at the same time.

And speaking of strangers, they’re what prompted me to write this. Like I said before, whether or not we have an audience, writers will write for the joy of it and/or because we feel compelled to do so. So a good chunk of us would continue to write even if no one read our stuff. That being said, isn’t it great to know people are reading your blog? And not even friends or family who are obligated to support and encourage you; but real, live, complete strangers!

It feels good to watch your follower count grow, good to see that you’re getting more views and visits, good to get likes and especially good to get comments. That attention from our peers is not just a nice little ego stroke, it also adds to and reinforces the sense of community and acceptance.

So, to the Followers, the Commenters, the Likers, the Visitors and the Readers, I just want to say thank you for participating and for giving me the confidence to continue and the reassurance that my writing is worth reading. I sincerely appreciate those who take the time to encourage others … a bit of validation, a suggestion or even a witty comment is sometimes all that it takes to keep a blogger coming back. You’ve all inspired me to make a late New Year’s resolution to be more active in the blogging community and give back some of what’s been given to me.

And that concludes the sincere, from the heart portion of our blogging adventure. We now return you to your regular snarky lesbian …