A blog is born

I'm familiar with all the sayings regarding new beginnings. And thanks to Semisonic I know that every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. Acknowledging this bittersweet reality, I find myself back home in Massachusetts after a two-year stint in Ireland. I've got my MA, lots of ambition, and my companion, Cheese, cat extraordinaire.  Together we have moved into a fabulous apartment above the Hoy Tin restaurant in exotic Brighton, where each day we linger in the aroma of Chinese delicacies and bus exhaust.

What we lack in glamour, however, we are making up for in optimism. At the suggestion of a mentor, I have committed to this blog business in order to market myself to the publishing industry. Needless to say, I will be mortified if there are any grammar mistakes in my posts.

When I considered what I would write about in this blog, I jumped for the obvious: literature. I could review books, show my insight and intellect, etc. But didn't I just finish 5 years of doing that very thing? I needed to make it interesting. So I added my second passion in life: cupcakes. Each month I will read and review two books and one Boston bakery. I may also want to consider a gym membership, but who are we kidding?

I should warn you of one thing: I am not a bandwagon reader. If you think I'm going to read the Stieg Larsson trilogy like every other person on the train then you will be severely disappointed.  I will try to make independent choices, perhaps discuss why I choose the books I read, and of course allow a bit of guidance from the bestseller list to keep myself in the publishing loop.

I would be lying if I said I was certain of my goals here. I have always thought it unfair to expect someone to know what they want from something before they've even begun. Especially when that something is my responsibility to create. I suppose that, in the end, I would like to say I stuck to it.