It’s been over a year since I considered beginning a blog but I constantly ran into a wall every time I sat down to write something. I have been at a complete loss as to what to start with. On top of that I am plagued with indecision on what topics to write about, if my writing is good enough and worse yet thoughts that I might run out of things to write about! Blogging seems like such an overwhelming task to take on and requires a certain level of skill with writing and certainly requires some consistency to be successful…consistency is not one of my stronger points. Honestly if there is one thing I hate more than anything it’s failing at something I have set out to do. In essence it comes down to me being intimidated and knowing that fact is driving me crazy!
Well! As you can see I have taken the plunge and begun my very first blog and I am diving in with gusto. This seemingly spur of the moment decision was actually fuelled by two things. The first is an overwhelming urge to write, it is a hobby (and a skill) that I have seriously neglected the last several years. In fact the only time I seem to make any effort to write is during the month of November and this brings me to the second reason for starting this blog. November is Nanowrimo; National Novel Writing Month.
Nanowrimo is an annual event held around the globe where writers frantically type/write out their inspiring novels in one month. The goal is to write 50,000 words in the 30 days and the prize is the warm, tingly sense of achievement you get when you realized that you survived November and hit your goal. To be fair, many writers who participate in Nano actually go on to become published authors and that itself is a prize. During Nano many writers come together in their local areas to have writing events and it’s a great time to meet like-minded people and make new friends, even small communities like my own have a fairly decent group of wrimo’s around and I have met people around the world through participating in the event.
I have participated in Nano for about 8 years now and it pains me to confess it but I have never managed to complete the goal. Ever. After eight failed attempts, my ego needs a bit of a boost and I have realized I really need to tackle Nano from a different direction. After suffering several nights of what I have deemed ‘writers panic’ and coming up with no plot, no characters and therefore NO STORY for Nano a new idea formed, I have decided to become a wrimo rebel this year. (A wrimo rebel is someone who doesn’t write a traditional fictional novel for the event)
Instead of the typical 50,000 word novel I have decided to put my efforts into starting this blog. For the month of November I will aim to write at least one entry per day containing at least 1667 words. Fair warning the entries during November will be quite long though I will do my best to make them interesting to read and sometimes I may do two smaller ones throughout the day. My idea is that this experience will give me a chance to practice my writing. I can test out different topics; see how I like writing a blog and get valuable feedback and constructive criticism from readers. I will inevitably increase my quality of writing and my ability to engage an audience through this month. At least that is the plan; I can’t hope to accomplish it without help comments and discussions from readers so I am imploring you to please leave a (helpful/friendly) comment. I am also totally up for suggestions about what I should write about in the future.
As this is my very first post and I have now explained the purpose of the blog I figure I should introduce myself and talk about some of the content that may appear in this blog. Writing about myself is actually one of my weaknesses, I hate doing it and am never happy with the end result so feel free to leave a few pointers on writing a decent bio about yourself. Links to examples would be fantastic but not necessary.
I appear to the average onlooker to be a perfectly normal young woman but I tend to disagree with that conclusion. I consider myself to be a self-proclaimed geek girl, though certainly not ‘hard core’ by any means. I do my best to be motivated, productive and confident though like everyone I suffer my moments of downtime. I feel that true strength is shown by those who carry on during their toughest times and I try my hardest to do just that. I am greatly irritated by people who blaming their problems and suffering on others instead of using that energy to fix things. At the same time I don’t mind helping those who genuinely needed it or ask for it. My biggest flaw is that I hate failing and sometimes it prevents me from even trying something, the fact that I recognize it is in my opinion a step towards fixing it but it’s a hard flaw to fix.
Some of the things I enjoy include playing video games, reading sci-fi and fantasy and watching some of my favourite shows like Doctor Who, Stargate and Firefly. I also love anime with a passion! Some of my other hobbies include; cross-stitching, writing (obviously) and baking, particularly cookies. I enjoy volunteering especially at big events. So far I have participates in events like Hal-Con (a large sci-fi convention in Halifax , Nova Scotia
My career passion lies somewhere in the direction of tourism though I have yet to decide which path to go as there are many in the industry and either way I have a year of college left to decide. Though at this point in time I am leaning towards marketing, I love being involved with marketing a destination and all it has to offer to tourists. At the moment I work part time at a shop in the mall and I have just begun doing in home parties for a candle company. I attend the local community college and love my program which you may have guessed is tourism related. As part of my course I had the opportunity to work in the field for the entire summer. I did my work term with a destination marketing organization which is where my career path choice is coming from. Prior to that I wanted to be an event planner and I still want to be involved with events but I have come to the conclusion I don’t want that job for a career.
I have a terrible tendency to bite of more than I can handle in terms of responsibilities. Often I over extended myself between balancing work, school and volunteering as well as my own personal projects. Some of my own projects include a large cross-stitched image of frogs for a gift, writing this blog and my biggest by far is planning my own wedding (which isn’t actually happening until 2013 so a lot of work hasn’t started on it). Assuming this blog continues that is a topic that will probably appear quite frequently leading up to the date. As for other things on the go as I mentioned I volunteer a lot and currently am involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Way and I am once again a volunteer for Hal-Con. I am also a volunteer board member for a local venue. To top all of it off I have my new “business in a box” to manage where I go to people’s homes and do candle parties and despite the business being pre-assembled so to speak it still requires a great deal of dedication and time. I may come across as complaining but I won’t lie I love being busy and feel that being busy is what keeps me motivated to do more.
I hope you now have a better insight into who I am and the things I might write about in the future. Already I have many ideas forming about what I want to write about. Some of the things that may crop up include reviews on shows I am watching, games I have played or books I have read. There may be a rant on a particular issue that is bothering me or maybe a bit of writing about a place in Nova Scotia
As I stated earlier in the post feedback, comments, constructive criticism and suggestions are all welcome and encouraged. I want to improve and learn to engage people as they read and I need your help to do so. I would ask you to please keep comments polite, if you think my writing was absolutely atrocious then give me the reason why. This isn’t a bridge and I won’t feed the trolls if you get my meaning.
PPS: I will try to have more photos and stuff in future posts and yes I realize I am already 2 days behind in posting XD
~Branwyne
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