Diary of a Kinky Librarian

In his essay,  “Why I Write,” George Orwell lists the reasons why anybody writes:

I think there are four great motives for writing, at any rate for writing prose. They exist in different degrees in every writer, and in any one writer the proportions will vary from time to time, according to the atmosphere in which he is living. They are:

(i) Sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc…..

(ii) Aesthetic enthusiasm. Perception of beauty in the external world, or, on the other hand, in words and their right arrangement. Pleasure in the impact of one sound on another, in the firmness of good prose or the rhythm of a good story….

(iii) Historical impulse. Desire to see things as they are, to find out true facts and store them up for the use of posterity.

(iv) Political purpose - using the word “political” in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after.

I can see these four impulses in me when I blog. Certainly, something every blogger hopes for is to become known, to have a lot of readership, to get linked to from bigger bloggers’ blogs. We want to feel like we’re important, popular and that people want to read what we have to say. I wasn’t very popular when I was younger, and certainly I can see the desire to be popular has never completely gone away. So we’ve got egoism - check.

While I’m not a phenomenal writer, I do take delight in a well-turned phrase, in a sentence that captures the moment so perfectly. I love when I’ve created a record of a wonderful time in my life, or used the blog to express difficult feelings. I like being able to go back and remember where I’ve been and what (who) I’ve done. And so we have aesthetic enthusiasm and historical impulse.

The fourth is certainly very clear on this blog - I want to promote healthy sexuality, STI awareness and understanding of alternative sexualities. I want to open up people’s minds to sex positivity. There’s way too much negativity and fear in sexuality in the United States, I hope to be one of the many voices that help change that.

Orwell’s long been one of my favorite writers, and I think he really hit the nail on the head with this one.