I'm blogging for the first time today.

I hope this blog will give me an extra reason to write every day. I aspire to becoming a published author of fiction, and I believe that writing regularly helps keep the creative "juices" flowing. A bunch of my writing friends have blogs, perhaps for the same reason.

Even cousin A has a blog, a very erudite one that reminds me of Carlos Castaneda. Perhaps there are other reasons to go blogging, which I will discover as I get into it.

My biggest fear in starting a blog is that I'll post something I shouldn't. In the past, a lot of my daily writing has served to vent thoughts I wouldn't want others to read. Anything I type into the web is bound to come back to haunt me at some point, so I plan to keep my editor hat on while blogging, which will inhibit my spontaneity.

I've named my blog Unquestioned, a reference to Ursula LeGuin's 2003 essay entitled "Unquestioned Assumptions" in which she points out some of the assumptions authors commonly make around gender, race, morality, and so on. By reversing these assumptions, one can write fresh and enlightening stories.

I've always liked turning ideas around. In my quest to become more free, breaking free of my own assumptions seems like a safe starting point. I don't intend to reverse all my beliefs--some of my assumptions may turn out to be correct--but until I've recognized them as assumptions I can't question them, and until I question them I have no idea how reliable they are.

I often recognize the ethnocentrism, sexism, and racism of others. The question is, can I learn to recognize my own unquestioned assumptions?