I can’t believe I’m blogging. The irony is killing me.

See, I have a dirty little secret: I’ve spent the past 15 years teaching hundreds of professional and would-be journalists how to craft award-winning blogs and drive them to great virtual heights, but I’ve never had a blog of my own. Until now.

This is a class assignment for grad school, and I intend to embrace it fully, which means doing things I’ve begged and cajoled others to do against their — and frankly, my own — better judgment. Because a good blog reveals the author’s point of view and occasionally needs to get gritty and personal, revelations journalists like me are trained to avoid. We are supposed to write about others, not ourselves, unless you’re a columnist with an established editorial voice.

We are taught never to write in the first person about religion or politics, because trolls who comment before they think might brand us or the media we represent as biased faster than you can say “objectivity.” It’s a self-censorship most journalists accept, and it extends beyond the newsroom. When I was at the Los Angeles Times, editorial staffers annually renewed a pledge to follow a code of ethics that included rules against putting election campaign bumper stickers on our cars or signs on our lawns.

Back then, part of my job was introducing blogs to the newsroom and teaching reporters how to write in very personal and engaging ways to grow an online audience. Most of the writers adapted to the new media. Some resented me for asking them to blog. One salty editor told me to go to hell.

A truly competitive blog worth promoting needs an authoritative — or at least entertaining — voice, and developing one takes time. Journalists struggle with blogging because it goes against the nature of neutral, objective reporting.

Count me in this group, the very newsroom demographic I spent much of my career guiding, nudging and squeezing for opinions and personal anecdotes. I’m anxious about blogging and finding my voice. What the hell should I blog about? Blogging? Uh, no. School? Cat memes?

Good blogs also have an occasional smattering of personal stuff to keep things real. Herein lies another challenge: I rarely broadcast personal stuff (see above!), and I can count on one hand the number of selfies I’ve ever shared.

Worst-case scenario for this thing: I slip into a pattern of writing overly edited, homogenized news posts and don’t find my blog voice.

Best-case scenario: I take lots of risks, discover my voice and blog happily ever after.

Guess it’s time to put on my big girl panties, accept the blog challenge, get over myself, take some risks and enjoy the ride. Here goes nothing.