One small step ...

Today was a big day. I took my first step into cyberspace ... I signed up for a Facebook account. Which may not seem like such a big deal, but that small foray into the 21st century gave me the courage to take my second giant step forward and start my blog.

I set up this blog nearly a year ago when I first moved to New Orleans. I had planned to post a few entries on the city, cool restaurants, and just daily random events of my life. But I lost my nerve. I am married to an extremely cautious man who doesn't even regularly check his e-mail, much less post traceable information where anybody and everybody can see it. His paranoia rubbed off on me. I didn't need to write about my life on the Internet.

I have to thank my husband's stepmother for changing my mind. When I mentioned to my husband that I was thinking of a Facebook account, he immediately opened up his cell phone and dialed her number. She is very knowledgeable about technology and explained that it was a way of social networking while being in a public place, like a shopping mall (an appropriate analogy for me) where I can go to a private room, if I'd like. But what she said next stuck in my mind. I would someday like to become a writer, and as a writer, I have a responsibility to share my writing, to get my name out there.

Being a responsible person, I am here to do my duty: a Facebook account and my first blog. Two small steps for anyone else, but that's two giant leaps forward for me.