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A very good question. I wish I had a better answer.
I've been writing almost as long as I can remember. At a very early age I decided I wanted to be a writer, and I started working on my first book right away. I learned to type at age 10, and by age 12 I was blazing away at 60 words per minute on the old manual typewriter I had been given by my grandmother (which is why I can do around 105 wpm on a computer keyboard now). By the time I was a sophomore in high school I had landed a spot as a columnist on the school paper, churning out weekly essays on everything from school concerts to the end of life as we know it.
I continued writing a regular column as I moved on to college, eventually becoming editor-in-chief of the student newspaper first at Lower Columbia College, than at Seattle Pacific University. I also had a brief stint as a columnist-for-pay in a little weekly regional paper called "The NorWes' News." By the time I was writing in college the habit had become so ingrained that every Wednesday night, whether school was in session or not, I would sit down at the typewriter with absolutely no idea of what I wanted to write about. Less than on hour later I'd have a coherent, usually pithy and somewhat sarcastic, column of about 400-500 words. At the same time, I started writing fiction for several ElfQuest fanzines, and then for a new furry sci-fi fanzine (of which I later became the publisher and editor).
Then I finished my math degree and went to work in the real world as a Production Artist, Technical Illustrator, and Print Buyer for a small software company (that's no longer so small). The fanzines became my principle writing outlet. But what people wanted there were short stories and novellas. Not essays.
When I took over the editing reins of the furry 'zine, I instituted a regular editorial (as opposed to the traditional fanzine editorial: "Sorry we're late with this issue. A lot has been going on in my life, and we hope to get back on schedule soon. Blah. Blah. Blah."), so three or four times a year I get to write a short essay--usually on some obscure aspect of science fiction or fantasy literature--but it just isn't the same as the old weekly commentary.
And there is something extremely satisfying about sitting down at the keyboard and churning out a bit of commentary on whatever topic I feel like tackling. So, since I have this space on the web, and since I have the tools, I might as well indulge myself.
My first column, back in high school, was called "Elf's Etchings." The one nickname I would answer to back then was "elf," so I had to incorporate the nickname into the title. When I hit college I came up with "Mischievous Missives" which, while somewhat cutsie, was probably less obscure than the previous title. When I first put up my own web site, I had a section called "Gene's Current Pet Peeve" which is okay, except that I kept getting ideas to write about which would never qualify as "peeves."
For a couple months I toyed with the idea of renaming this thing "The Cranky Fairy," which would be sort of an out-of-the-closet version of the old "Elf's Etchings" and could lend itself to some cute graphic. Except every fairy I drew I immediately disliked.
Then my good friend, Julie, got back from a vacation in Italy and started putting up journal entries describing her travels. And one of those had the very cool shot of Michelangelo's "David" with a caption "Sans fig leaf!" And somewhere in the back of my head, a voice shouted "Eureka!"
"Sans Fig Leaf" really sums it up. When I write something here, it'll be frank, unexpurgated, and unapologetic. And, like Michelangelo's masterpiece, I don't do this to offend, but I understand that sometimes someone will be offended. Just remember, it's just my opinion, and no one is forcing you to read it.
