I got a tip from a blog I like to read:  Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist.  I'm out of the target demographic for her new social network startup (actually, I'm pretty much out of the target demographic for any networking model likely to be successful), but I love her career advice--and her rules for blogging.  One thing she said was:  a good blog should answer a question.

I like reading blogs, and I like writing my own.  But I like being read, too.  Just posting random bits of this or that just isn't getting to what I want to say, or what anyone wants to read.  This observation of Ms. Penelope's struck me particularly (thought she has a lot of other useful advice too).  What question is my blog answering?

I once had a decent career writing science fiction.  I was relatively successful, despite an absence of awards, and really liked it.  Circumstances kept me from moving that forward, and I've slipped back to obscurity.  Now I am restarting my career.  I'm middle-aged, have a family, and have a demanding day job that takes a lot of work and attention.  I also have a decent social life, like to garden, spend a lot of time in physical pursuits (it's a beautiful fall day today and once I post this I'm on my bike), spend time with my family, and love to read.  But I'm getting my writing done, have a book coming out, and am working on, and trying to sell, my next.

How am I going to do it, when I am not really all that energetic, that organized, or that smart?  That's the question I want to answer.  I may disappear again.  I may hold on by my fingernails.  Or I may actually have some success.  I'll let you know, right here.