Well, I haven't posted anything on my blog in quite a while. It's been three months more or less, but who is counting? I don't know why I have such an issue with blogging, but I admit that I do. Certain people, whose opinion I respect, strongly recommended that as a romance author I should have a blog. I love writing my books, but I have a definite problem sharing my personal thoughts in a public forum. My feeling is, who cares? There are a myriad of bloggers out there. Who cares what Kaitlin O'Riley, historical romance author, has to say about anything?

Until very recently, I never even read anyone else's blog. And if I did, it was a one-time peek at something I'd clicked on through an interesting news item, but I certainly never read one with any consistency. I simply had no interest. That is until a dear friend of mine began a blog about raising her autistic sons. Since March I have been reading her almost daily posts and I've been fascinated by her seemingly endless source of humorous and heartbreaking topics about her family and her insightful and entertaining opinions on life in general. She has something valid and important to share, a reason to be writing, a connection to make with other parents in similar situations.

By the grace of God, I do not have an autistic child. I have no pearls of wisdom or pithy words of advice to offer about child rearing or family. Nor do I have any earth-shattering insights into the weightier issues that plague our world today that someone infinitely more qualified than I hasn't already written. It's truly awful out there. The terrible economy. Global warming. The devastating oil spill in the Gulf. Terrorism. Immigration. Disease. Crime. War in the Middle East. These are monumental and complex problems. What I would write about in my blog is merely fluff. Romance. Love. Relationships. Historical tidbits. Favorite books, movies, and songs. Things of little consequence. The small stuff. I have nothing influential to impart.

I wrestled with my ambivalence on this matter, and I have finally come to a conclusion. (I know you are all waiting with bated breath.)

Well,guess what I discovered? I don't have to write about anything of great magnitude. I can write about whatever I want and people can read it or not. I can write about funny, romantic and lovely topics becauseI simply cannot bear to read, see, or hear one more minute's worth of the heartbreaking damage we humans are doing to our society and this beautiful planet we live on. If I don't write about the things that give me some hope, some inspiration to get out of bed every single day, I might as well crawl into a hole and never come out. Which on more than one occasion has crossed my mind.

Writing about romance and love will allow me, for a little while at least, to escapefrom the 24/7 news cacophony of doom and gloom.


Perhaps after all this, I am mistaken. As corny as it sounds, isn't love the most important emotion of all? Isn't love what will ultimately cure all the horrific ills that ravage our world? And Who cares? takes on a whole new meaning.


P.S. Thanks, Kim, for reminding me about the small stuff. Check out her Blog at autismmommytherapist.wordpress.com