cave-dwelling-july-2012

Welcome to my blog, world! This is my first blog post strictly as a writer. I’m going into it with my eyes closed and just writing until something clicks. I’ve actually started this without fully developing the other important pages on the site, like my autobiography/biography, news, and “coming soon” pages. I’m just so excited about life right now that I just couldn’t wait to get it done.

So why did I start this blog? I bet that’s what you’re wondering. To be honest, there are several reasons. The first reason: to find my voice.

I’ve loved to write ever since I was a kid. Writing was always a fun way to play with words and explore new realms of imagination. I really figured this out in my early teens when I started to write poetry. Some of it was inspired and some was exploratory.

Two things I always had with me when I’d write were a dictionary and a thesaurus, which I’d actually won in a fifth grade class spelling bee contest. As a kid, I wore the hell out of them in no time at all. I’d be sitting there creating a new lyrical piece of art and then dig into the dictionary to find a word I’d never heard of before. If it sounded good and made the poem sound more impressive, I added it right away. Two such words were bourgeois and bouffant, which I somehow managed to use in the same poem, not fully understanding their proper context. Ahh, the early days…

Later on, I started exploring fiction and ended up knee-deep in several stories. The problem was that I never finished them. I guess I just didn’t have the follow-through back then. Or maybe it was lack of interest in the underlying themes…

In addition to fiction, I’ve also explored nonfiction writing, though it seemed “forced” at the time and lacked the excitement that fiction had. I sometimes attribute nonfiction writing to eating peas at the dinner table. They’re good, or at least edible, but certainly not great, and they taste much better when covered in cheese sauce.

The second reason I’m writing this blog is to practice my writing in public. It’s a big step for me psychologically, yet it’s something I must do if I wish to grow. Plus, it’s good for reviews and critiques, right? Just feels so raw….

My final reason for creating this blog is to build a platform for myself as a writer. A blog, as most people know, is an excellent way to share your stories with the rest of the world. In the process, it builds relationships, allows for a creative exchange of ideas, and lures in the connections that inevitably lead to getting published. It’s basically a way to optimize my success as a writer.

There could be other subconscious reasons I’ve chosen to start this blog, but those are the main three that come to mind.

Now, who wants to be the first to comment on my first discombobulated blog post?