It all started with a peeing skunk.

That got your attention, didn’t it?  As crazy as it sounds, it’s absolutely true, but not in the obvious way.  First, I’ll talk about why I decided to start my blog, which will lead into the urinating skunk in question.

I don’t know why I started a book blog.  In December 2011 I had it in my head that it would be nice to have a blog and maybe connect with other people around the world.  What kind of blog did I want?  A writing/book blog.  After all, I was an aspiring writer.  The writer part didn’t work out because I decided on a book niche, but I found out that I was quite content with book reviewing and writing book-related articles.

Did I have any goals for my blog?  No.  Did I have a clue about blogging?  No.  So why the heck did I want a blog?  That, my friends, shall be a mystery for the ages.  I honestly don’t know.  Sometime around the end of December I just got it into my head that I wanted to blog.  So I did.

When I first started my blog on January 13, it was around 5:00pm and I was half asleep as I signed up to WordPress and figured out what theme I wanted.  I had already written out some book reviews by hand to type up so I had content ready, but I needed a name.  It had to be something unique, something that no one had before and one that would describe my personality and reviewing style well.

(Hint: this is where the peeing skunk comes in.)

An idea hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks as a memory of the Canada Day parade flashed before my eyes.  For a tiny village, we have quite the little parade where all of the businesses and a few private citizens showcase their car-decorating skills.  One of my favourite floats in the previous summer had been that of The Mad Trapper.  Why?  Because the man driving it actually had outfitted his little trailer with all kinds of animal skins and a sign that said “The Mad Trapper”.  On the back end of the cart, there was a stuffed skunk.  When the man driving the cart lifted a string, the skunk’s tail would rise up and ‘pee’ (water) would spray out of its rear end.

You can see why The Mad Trapper stuck in my head and why the name came into my head when I was puzzling over an appropriate blog name.  So I shamelessly stole it and made myself into ‘The Mad Reviewer’.  It was unique when I did a Google search and I thought it suited both my daily post schedule and my personality.  A year later I’m still not sick of the name, so I think it was a good choice.

So let’s give it up for The Mad Trapper, shall we?