AIJAN Excerpt: Foreword

This book (or "blook" as it has been recently coined)is based heavily on my blog Age Is Just a Number, which was created to recount an extraordinary two-year span of my life. Due to my hectic work schedule and doubts about the feasibility of readership, project AIJAN ground to a halt after a mere two episodes.

First I tried listing it in the Memoirs section of a serial Website, keepingitcoming.net. My story sat and sat and sat, with nary a purchaser. I could tell folks were clicking on the page, but there was no purchase in sight—not even during the buy-one-story-full-price, get-another-for-a-penny sale!

My brash confidence took a beating! My story had drama, betrayal, flashers and more … add to that a snazzy cover image with a gorgeous model (me … LOL). What more did they want?

By the way, you will be seeing "LOL" a lot. It’s an internet abbreviation that means "Laughing Out Loud." When I first began to use Instant Messaging I thought it meant "Lots of Love," which gave me quite a fuzzy feeling about the internet, but you’ll read more about that later.)

I rallied. I tried pumping the story on my own Web sites and was again disappointed, if not befuddled. This was great stuff! Had the whole world gone mad? Then one day, in an email from one of my writing groups, the word "blog" turned up. "I've just updated my blog!"

What, pray tell, is a blog? I asked myself. I then clicked my way to the neatest discovery since sliced bread—blogging! Once I dusted off my flailing confidence and began blogging, I realized that I’d found my niche! Something about a blog and the word "publish" seems to get my creative juices flowing in a way that Microsoft Word does not.

A few weeks went by and I received a sporadic comment or two—nothing like the droves I'd envisioned. But just about the time my confidence again began to dwindle, I made another phenomenal discovery via another blogger's post—BlogExplosion! A traffic exchange Web site, where for every two blogs you surf, you receive one visit, BlogExplosion meant a new beginning for me. It didn’t take me long to realize that extended surfing equaled visits, and visits equaled feedback—otherwise known as comments!

Due to copyright issues, this blook is not an exact replica of the AIJAN blog. Certain posts found online are not in the blook and vice versa. In addition, all pictures except those of me or taken by me have been deleted from the print version.

I did try to maintain the conversational tone and overall feel of the blogging experience. I've also held onto comments that enhanced the original posts. The beauty of linking was preserved in the Links section. In addition, I've retained the original dates so that you can have an idea of the time frame of the book. You have the option of reading straight through to get that "as-it-occurred" feeling, or you may utilize the table of contents to read by category. A glossary has also been provided for terms that might be unfamiliar.