Disclosure: Sponsored Post

Everyone talks about how great it is to be a work-at-home writer, but it’s a slippery slope. Once you lose that daily physical interaction with fellow co-workers, you soon realize just how little upkeep you need to perform on your person. Your morning shower suddenly turns into an every-other-morning shower. Your office attire downshifts from professional to semi-casual to, “Do I really need to wear pants today?” And your shaving habits…? Well, let’s just say that Grizzly Adams’ attorneys called, and the phrase “image misappropriation” came up.

Maybe that’s why, when Gillette contacted me and offered me the opportunity to serve as a so-called Gillette Pro, I decided it might not be such a bad idea to say, “Sure, why not?” Mind you, their offer of sponsorship may possibly have expedited my acceptance…but I digress.

For the next several months, I’m teaming with Gillette and serving as a…hmmm, what’s the best phrase to describe this gig? I’ve heard the term “spokesblogger” bandied about, so I guess that’ll work as well as anything. It would be disingenuous to suggest that I’m doing this entirely out of the kindness of my heart (I believe I touched on that moment ago), but beyond simply assisting in spreading the gospel of Gillette in a sponsored-conversation format, I’m getting the chance to step outside of my usual pop culture comfort zone and get a bit more personal. That doesn’t mean you should expect to see a piece entitled “What Shaving Means To Me,” because, well, that’s just a bit too on-the-nose, don’t you think? But with that said, I have been cultivating and chopping whiskers for the better part of 25 years now, so I’ve amassed a decent stockpile of material on the topic…some of it even worth reading!…and I plan to start writing my first column just as soon as I feed the family of birds who’ve taken up residence in my beard.

You know, come to think of it, this Gillette Pro thing really couldn’t have come at a better time.

Look for my first post in the series on Tuesday.