The idea was to have a place where I could “blossom.” That was about four years ago, when I started this blog.

Back then, I had visions of flipping open my laptop and uncorking forty years of bottled up words. With the time and an actual place for them, I expected the words would start pouring out. Wonderful words. The lovely ones, the exotic ones, the wholesome ones; the sturdy, the timid, the weird, the kind, the sad, the ugly, the sexy, the plain, the angry, the playful, the quiet, the dark, the scratchy and the soothing. All those words, just waiting for me to set them free.

So, what happened? The internet.

My “actual place” for all these unwritten words was a blog—this blog—requiring a daily encounter with the internet. At first, I thought the public nature of a blog would provide some accountability to keep me going. Guess what? It doesn’t. And, if the words aren’t flowing like ink, if I’m struggling with an analogy, need to find a synonym, or a date, name, place, etc., there’s the internet! Right at my fingertips!

The internet. The Great Disrupter. One click and time stops.

It’s so easy to follow the bread-crumb trail of clicks from one distraction to the next. Worse, it’s so easy to rationalize: Hmmm, this looks interesting, maybe new story idea. Click. I wonder if my granddaughter would like this for Christmas. Click. This looks handy, maybe my son could use it. Click. As long as I’m here, I might as well take a couple minutes to check Facebook, make sure I’m not missing any important family/friends news there. (Note: there’s no such thing as spending “a couple minutes” on Facebook.)

And then there’s “the news.” Well, it goes without saying that it’s important to pay attention to the news. How could I consider myself a well-informed person without knowing Donald Trump’s latest poll numbers? Or, what the stock market is doing? Or what Democrats and Republicans are blaming each other for today. And, of course I should know what happened on This Day in History. I have a degree in History, for heaven’s sake! I should know everything historical. Surely, the trial featuring Taylor Swift vs the Denver DJ she got fired when she accused him of groping her bare bottom during a photo-op is important–sexual assault is a serious matter.

Although, I confess there’s been something about this that has puzzled me: that was an awfully short skirt she was wearing during the photo-op, so why the bare bottom?

I’m guessing (hoping)  she was wearing a thong. I know I’m getting older (by the minute), but surely there are outfits where a thong is simply inappropriate? Yes? No? Well, no matter. The judge has already thrown out the DJ’s case against Taylor, so she has won. And, for that, I am glad. Even if she had been buck naked, that’s no excuse for groping.

But, I still long for the days when such obnoxious behavior got a face soundly slapped instead of swapping lawsuits. If Taylor had just given his face a good slap instead of toughing it out with a big smile for the cameras (while being groped), she would have sent a powerful message: you don’t touch people’s private parts without their permission! With all those cameras going, that DJ would have been frantically looking for the nearest hole to crawl into.

But, I digress.

And, there you have it: a digression caused by the internet. And that’s how it happens. A quick disruption of my work. A shiny digital distraction, and I’m off on a tangent.

So, I give up. If I find the internet devouring my writing time, I’m just going to write about that. It might not make much sense, but at this point I figure it’s better than not using this blog at all.