Hello,
Blogs can be really annoying. Last winter I was unhappy with my job and decided that I would try the proven method of starting a blog and, within a year, having 50,000 followers and enough leeway to do whatever I wanted, vocation-wise. Yes, I was stupid. I was also writing for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t hate writing the posts, exactly, but I felt a lot of pressure to churn out “content” at a regular rate despite how I was feeling about said content.
Now, it’s about a year since my previous post. I’m attending grad school. Recently, I’ve discovered a newfound pleasure in writing every day. I am trying to focus on this process rather than the product. I’m starting to publish a few things, such as this review at Ploughshares: http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/review-bright-shards-of-someplace-else-by-monica-mcfawn/. I am also having urges to write, even when I cannot really think of something to write about. I think this blog will serve both those purposes for me.
My goal is to attract people here not by incessant posts on Facebook (something I always felt guilty about) but by plugging this blog when I get something published. I’m no longer very worried about the 50,000 followers. I’m much happier simply to have a place I can write whatever I want. Hopefully it can be a place where I can consider myself a writer even if the ideas for short stories and nonfiction essays come less frequently than I want.
Happy belated New year, all. It feels great to be writing again.
BenjaminKinney.com 