I cut my teeth in regular blogging when I requested permission to write for a small blog that I had discovered through Right Wing News. The former was listed on the latter’s blog roll, which meant that the blog was favored by Right Wing News founder John Hawkins. That particular blog was Life Like Pundits. Its owner decided to take a chance on me.

My first blog post was a commentary about Terri Schiavo. Yes, I decided to start my blogging career by diving head first into one of the most controversial and most talked-about national stories of the day. In that post, I didn’t take a side. I simply talked about the anguish of the case and tried to present a silver lining in that particular cloud. In later posts, I cited a variety of national news reports that favored the argument being made by Schiavo’s husband, although I did criticize him about his taking of a girlfriend while his wife was still alive.

As I saw it, the case was one which favored the husband, and I didn’t hesitate to say so. Taking that stand was somewhat risky for me personally because the most-active local blogger who opposed the husband was a member of my church, and I had previously attended meetings in his home. Indeed, plenty of my church’s leaders sided against Schiavo’s husband. Thankfully for me, I was not a part of the church’s leadership, and it was highly unlikely that anyone else at the church had even heard of the blog that I was writing for.

Writing for that little blog was an on-the-job training experience, and I didn’t always do well. On one occasion, I seriously stepped on a cow patty by wording a post in such a way as to insinuate that a certain controversial person had an immoral relationship with someone else. Although I was talking figuratively, readers thought that I was talking literally.

The blog’s owner had to issue a public apology for what I had written, and I voluntarily suspended my blogging for a period of time. When I returned, I issued my own apology.

That incident taught me to think about how others may perceive my words. It is not enough that my intention be socially acceptable. I need to think of the ways that my words could be interpreted. Granted, there will always be critics who will misinterpret even the most innocuous of statements, as has been the case for me plenty of times.

My next venture into blogging came a few years after posting comments at another blog that I had discovered through Right Wing News. This one caught my attention it because it featured a weekly caption contest. At first, I stayed just for the contest. Then I started reading it for the regular posts.

Like the previous blog, Wizbang was right-leaning when it came to politics. However, this blog’s owner actually tolerated opinions that were not exclusively conservative. Indeed, the blog’s owner went so far as to accommodate a liberal reader who wanted to regularly present a liberal perspective about political topics. Thus, the blog’s owner created a blog offshoot called Wizbang Blue. This offshoot lasted for a short while, during which its posts generally ran contrary to the posts appearing on the blog’s main site. Now that is being fair and balanced.

Eventually, the liberal blogger left, and Wizbang Blue was discontinued. Still, the blog’s owner had shown a willingness to allow a variety of views to be presented, not just those that favor conservatism. The owner was even willing to let a liberal-leaning writer take charge of another blog offshoot called Wizbang Pop!

The blog’s main site featured writers who generally leaned right politically, but they didn’t always agree with one another. Two of the writers in particular did not hesitate to publish opposing opinions about a subject. However, whenever they did so, they maintained a sense of decorum. While acknowledging a disagreement with the other, each writer refrained from any criticism of the other. Instead, they simply explained the reason for the disagreement.

This display of civility at Wizbang was refreshing to me. So, when I noticed that the blog was in need of another blogger, I asked the owner if I could audition, citing my previous blogging experiences. The owner agreed to give me a chance, and I took it. I did so thinking that mine would be just one of numerous voices on the blog. That would not always be the case.