The Purpose of This Blog

If it wasn’t obvious, I am very new to the whole blog scene. The only blogging experience I have is from a few random classes in college where we had to “maintain” a blog (i.e., set one up and write a post or two). The thing is, the posts had to be of a specific topic with a specific length, and blah blah college stuff. But here, there are no such regulations, which means that I’ll have to make this up as I go along… Fun!

So, I thought it’d be a good idea to have my first post be about what I’ll be writing about here and why, for both your benefit and mine. Here we go!

The What

This will primarily be a writing blog, specifically focused on my journey as an aspiring author. That means posts will be centered around writing concepts (like techniques or strategies) or my own work (like my process or short stories). I won’t pin myself down too much though, as I want this blog to evolve and change over time where needed. But you can expect it to stay focused on writing and storytelling for sure, be it my own or someone else’s, and for there to be at least one new post every week.

If the topic of the post is something that I researched, then you can expect there to be plenty of citations, so that you can not only know where I got that information, but also so you can do your own reading and find out more on your own. Perhaps it’s just from my experience in the scientific field, but I very much appreciate it when someone cites their sources.

Fair warning though, I am still learning, and you should never take my writing advice (or anyone’s, for that matter) as law or fact. Instead, you should see me as just one example among many. Whether I’m a good example or bad, well… I’ll leave that up to your discretion, but I’d like to think that I’m one of the former rather than the latter.

The Why

At the risk of looking like a stereotypical writer, I’ll admit that I am fairly introverted. Most of the time, I’d rather stay inside that go out with friends. It’s not that I don’t care about my friends or enjoy spending time with them; it’s just that it takes some mental effort for me to get out there like that. And afterwards, I often feel drained. I’m sure that many of you have similarly at some point.

And naturally, this mindset very much extends to my writing, in the sense that it’s hard for me to put myself out there and let someone read my work. It took me a long time to finally let my wife read the novel I’ve written, and honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever let anyone else read it (and you don’t want to read it, trust me). Part of that is because how personal it’s been to me, but another part is an underlying fear of rejection. Even now, as I write this post, I can’t help thinking about how you, dear reader, might be judging me with every passing word. Just knowing that this will be – gasp – read by someone makes me feel some worry.

This is something that I find interesting, because it contradicts with my desire to become a published author. After all, what is the point of writing but to communicate ideas? And communication requires both speaker and audience, at least, meaningful communication does, anyway. It can’t just be me typing away on a computer. At some point, that writing will have to be read and examined for it to have some real value. That means that for me to become an effective write, I will have to overcome this fear at some point and share my work with other people. And what better time than the present to start doing just that?

The purpose of this blog then, is not for me to just write about things I’m interested in, but to be heard by you. I want this to be a place where I can learn to be open about my writing and writing in general. That way, I can grow more confident and accountable about writing, and hey, you might learn something too!

Sharing my writing and opinions will come with some feedback, both good and bad, which is daunting, but also exciting. Criticism is a vital part of the writing process, and so I fully welcome it. I’m always up for a discussion (so long as it is civil), so please comment if you have a different opinion, and hopefully we will both come away having learned something.

So, if any of this interests you, then check back every so often to read the latest posts. 

Thanks for reading!