In 2005, I had a blog, where people discussed topics such as a sustainable economy, renewable energy, and broadband coverage.
There is a plethora of topics to explore. I sometimes think I may never live long enough to explore all of the unique story lines I have either in my head or waiting in my computer file.
It's amazing to me: when people start their career, you write about maybe a couple of topics, and you find that as you grow older, a lot of those topics never resolve, because I think your job as a writer is to pose questions as you see them. I don't know if we're supposed to give answers to people, because I don't know if we have any.
I was not so interested in night-after-night coverage of Michael Jackson's death or Britney Spears' latest breakdown - topics that were 'breaking news' at the time.
I remember that already as a child I was often intensely interested in things, obsessed by ideas and projects in many areas, and in these topics I learned much on my own, reading books.
We titled it, 'You Should Be Here,' for one, because just how special that song is, and I think it kind of sets the tone for this album. I've established that I like to have fun, but this is a little more than that - this album has got some fun stuff, but it's also got topics that I haven't gotten a chance to touch, and I'm so excited about it.
What really excites me is the prospect of making people actually enjoy thinking about difficult topics, to laugh even while seriously engaging these very unpleasant subjects.
The Internet has kind of allowed me to go to a virtual library whenever I want to find out something about something and not use one source but find multiple ways to research certain topics or subjects.
One of these topics we talk about with the team on our 'Competition Wednesday' is iron sharpening iron. That's the process we go through to get each other ready, and that's why we have some periods where we get to compete against one another.
The White House New Media team circulates multiple highlights each day of what people are looking for online - Twitter trending topics, popular Google searches, etc. - and it gives us a sense of what's breaking through, what isn't, and a sanity check for what the larger online population cares about at any given time.
