Monday, December 7, 2009

What it's all about

I often have the urge to start a blog. Actually, I have followed through with this urge on several occasions. Once in my early twenties where I used my newfound internet voice to express my outrage at things like mesh trucker caps and ironic T-shirts. I kept this one up for quite a while. The well of my anti-hipster rage runs deep, apparently. More recently, a friend and I decided to start a blog that documents awkward situations. This one was a little more popular, but for one reason or another, we just stopped updating it. We still talk about resurrecting it, in fact, I’m thinking about it right now. (People keep asking about it, and it’s getting awkward.)

One thing I’ve learned from that experience is that I really do like writing and having a theme to adhere to did help me to be more disciplined about it. But having a theme can also be a little too rigid, especially when it comes to something that is essentially a hobby for me.

Since then I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a new blog with a different theme. (“This one will be different! I’ll choose a theme with endless possibilities. I’ll update frequently and keep it going, and achieve internet fame! I’ll get a book deal and finally be able to escape from my meager student lifestyle. I will drink fancy wines!”)

But, in all seriousness, my goal is not to become Internet Famous and get a book deal. My real motivation comes from the fact that I find writing to serve an important purpose for me – it helps me work through my thoughts and understand things better. I suppose I could get these benefits from a paper journal (and I do), but I also find that the internet can be a wonderful source of positive and inspiring people. I want to be more than a passive reader (and very occasional commenter) and become an active participant.

I’ve been gravitating towards two types of themed blogs lately: knitting/sewing/crafting blogs and running/healthy living blogs. I often get inspired and think “I want to be just like this person and knit beautiful things and then write about them in a sweet and endearing manner on my blog!” Or “I want to cook delicious and healthy meals and then share them with others!” However, I’ve come to realize that as much as I love knitting, I am not consistent enough to have an interesting knitting blog. And as much as I love running, I can’t see myself writing about it on a regular basis (at least not in a way that would be interesting to read).

All of this is a long-winded introduction to what I hope will be a unifying theme in this, my very latest and sincere attempt at having a blog. I will try to write about the following:
1. Things that make me happy/things I enjoy
2. Things I knit
3. Things I love about running
4. Things that help to keep me running
5. Things I learn along the way
6. Things I want to learn (projects!)
7. Things that don’t fit into the above categories

I’m hoping that this gives me enough structure to be disciplined about writing, but also enough flexibility so that I can keep it going.

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