Where's My Niche?

2008-07-29T16:06:00.000-07:00

Because I write the occasional clever e-mail or office-related haiku, my friends sometime say that I should start a blog. And also because everyone and their pet monkey Johan is now a blogger. And then there's the little matter of that M.F.A. in creative writing that took me several years and several thousands of dollars in debt to get. And so, since I will be paying off my student loans until my children are taking out loans to pay for their own degrees in quantum underwater basket weaving, I will now blog.

But where's my niche I ask you? Aren't people supposed to have some unique quirky point of view in order for other people to actually want to read their blogs? Clever stories about their kid's poop, or pictures of cute animals or the inside scoop on famous panty flashings? I don’t even have an inside scoop on my own panty flashings.

I'm trying to force a theme out the fact that I'm queer and diabetic, but how many of us can there really be out there? I really wanted to call this blog "Sugar-free Fags", because I love alliteration, but as much as I would often like to be a hot gay man, I cannot call myself a fag. Though if you tacked "hag" onto the back of that, it might actually work. I did a quick search online and found out that there are a few of us out here. Even a few of us sexuality-challenging, pancreas-damning folks that have blogs. And while this is comforting in the community sense, it doesn’t make for a unique perspective. Yet, still I blogger onward.

So I am "*no sugar added", though that's not really true. Yes, I am a diabetic, I take about five shots of insulin a day, I obsessively monitor my blood sugar levels and I definitely have an ongoing love/hate with glucose (or fructose, or lactose, or any ose really). So I do eat sugar sometimes, when I can't resist that cookie in the kitchen, and especially when I get those low blood sugars in the middle of the night. And I am of the queerish persuasion. My partner in life, though not in crime (god forbid) the mysterious Deputy, is of the law enforcement persuasion. That’s right I’m doing the man (well wo-man)! Can I be the sugar-free, law-abiding, queen of the blog?
Anyway, if anyone ever reads this besides me, they will probably end up knowing more they ever wanted to know about insulin shots, and finger sticks and carb-counting and shoving peanut butter sandwiches into my mouth at two in the morning. They also might hear a thing or two about my struggle to write, or my job (though not too much, I don't want to get fired) or my love for my girl and the crazy life we are embarking on together. And my cat Calvin, you might end up reading about him, and then I will truly be one of those people, a woman who blogs about her cat.