Welcome to The Great Blog Adventure.

Whenever I don’t know how to start writing something, I go to the dictionary.  It’s chockfull of words many of which I’ve never even used.  When I sat down to write my first post for The Great Blog Adventure, what did I do?  That’s right, I went to the dictionary, at least the on-line version.  You don’t need to remember how to alphabetize (or even spell) to use the online dictionaries.  Even the dictionary writers don’t know how to spell.

The first word I looked up was:

Blog – noun. “a website that allows users to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics in the form of an online journal while readers may comment on posts.”¹ (Oh, please let there be readers who WILL make comments)

Sounds like the perfect definition for what this group of bloggers is attempting on these digital pages.  Our topics will be many and varied.  Some of us write inspiring devotions, some great book reviews, some share their opinions on life, faith, current events and just about anything else that strikes our fancy.  And some of us just can not resist going for laughs. 

Next I decided to take a look at the definition of great.

Great - “of major significance or importance; "a great work of art"; "Einstein was one of the outstanding figures of the 20th centurey"²

I love the definition and think it’s a great goal, too.  It certainly gives us something to aspire to (and some of us will leave no participle un-dangled in the effort to sound natural).  An opportunity to create a work of art doesn’t knock every day.

*Rabbit Trail Alert (RTA)--Those of you who are good spellers will have noticed that this definition of great is where I discovered that dictionary writers can’t spell.  “…century”?  And they also use pointless examples—where’s the word “great” in the sentence about Einstein? Maybe I’m not the only one who needs a  proofreader.

Finally I looked up adventure where I found out

“An adventure is an activity that is perceived to involve risky, dangerous or exciting experiences.”

“to take a risk in the hope of a favorable outcome” ¹

“a wild and exciting undertaking (not necessarily lawful)²

While I doubt The Great Blog Adventure will be posting anything unlawful in the near future, I am thrilled to be undertaking this wild and exciting “risk in the hope of a favorable outcome” with you. (If sharing who you are and what you believe through your words in a public forum isn’t risky then I don’t know what is.)

I invite you to join me as we read, write, share and learn together on this great blog adventure.

It is my prayer that as we reveal our lives, our thoughts, our creativity and our faith through our words, that God may bless our readers, stretch our talents and continue to grow us into the writers He intends us to become.

So I’m thinking maybe we got the name right.

Let The Great Blog Adventure begin.

Gail P. Smith

¹.From .wiktionary.org/wiki/

² wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn