Hello to all who are thinking about blogging. I’ve been at it since mid 2004, and I think I have one important lesson to share. There may be other lessons I could offer, but I think I am more qualified than anyone to talk about this particular topic. Google seems to think I am too…

I would suggest that you not use any combination of the words “strange”, “weird”, “sex”, and “ideas”. For instance, if you have the words strange and ideas in the title of your blog, it might be wise to never mention the word sex. (Unless, of course, that is what you want to blog about. If so, go for it…I’d be happy to let you surpass me and take the #1 spot on Google.)

And, for the five or six of you who show up here everyday looking for strange, or weird, sex ideas… I don’t want to be presumptive, but I am going to assume that you are looking for some ways to spice up your sex life. My advice is simple. Ready? Love — truly love — the person you are with.

I started reading Real Sex, by Lauren Winner early in September. I was wanting to read it in conjunction with a series on sexuality we were doing at Pathways. The fact that I only finished it last night seems incongruent with how much I really enjoyed reading this book. Maybe I was just savoring it…or maybe I’ve got too much other reading going on at the same time.

I’ve read two of Lauren Winner’s books this year, and I think she is moving into the category of an author who I will want to read everything she writes. Real Sex is a thoughtful book in that it is just not a bunch of traditional Christian thought about sex touched up in new packaging. She is thoughtful and reflective about sexuality and is more bent on exploring the why than the what…and that’s what makes this book worthwhile. Unlike many books which seem to state their whole point in the introduction and the belabor it, Real Sex was engaging throughout with it’s thoughtfulness, fresh insight, and honesty.

I think what I especially appreciated was something unintentional by the author. She began the book as a single woman, but in the course of writing met her husband and got engaged (and perhaps even married?) So, with that, she uniquely writes as both a single woman and a married woman, and I think it adds a lot to what already would have been a valuable read.