I third the cheers for LJ, and also want to add that in contrast to some other blog sites, LJ is basically a social network of sorts - you can add friends and read their blogs, and friends who add you read yours, so it's very different to writing entries into cyberspace and seldom seeing a reaction or knowing who's reading.
There are also communities you can join, themed forums of sorts. And there are a lot of them. If you can think of a reason for people to unite, there is an LJ community for them. <g> If you are shy, as you say, joining communities is a good way to overcome that.
Julie
