The Blogging Perspective

Without having a reason to blog, many of us will simply sit around, always thinking that we can do better than those who write for a living. Well, if this isn’t motivation enough to begin blogging, then it’s time for you to consider all the other reasons why you should start up your own blog. The only way to drive this message home is by explaining my own reasons for beginning my ventures into the realm of writing.

Whilst I have always been a fan of literature, as is to be expected of someone who would call themselves a well-rounded geek, writing was always something that fascinated, yet scared me. The very thought of getting paid to have an opinion on paper, or to craft a story for people to enjoy and share, it’s unnerving. Yet through all of this, I have now ended up being one of those types who blog on a regular basis. When I first encountered the word “blog”, I thought it was just something people said they did to feel more important than they were. The first lesson to learn here is: Open your mind.

In 2013, I decided after many years of deliberating, to finally break the habit of watching everyone have a jolly good time and instead become a participant. I am on about the world of conventions, having seen so many stories of people enjoying their time at these magical events, where your favourite characters literally come to life. Of course, I could always go to the colossal MCM Expo in London… Or I could do what I always believed in and support fandom. I opted for the latter, naturally, which seemed to propel my future in a strange tangent that even a Doctor Who Time Lord could not comprehend.

During this convention, I met an interesting fellow by the name of Joel Smith, who now happens to write for me. This is a story for later in this argument for blogging, however Joel is a very driven character who I wanted to work with one day. I had no idea how I was going to work with him, but I just knew I had to. We exchanged contact details and then I bugged him regularly about various things, from cosplay to video games… And eventually, I told him a plan I concocted during AyaCon Apocalypse*. A lot of my new drive came from a rather humorous video.

My plan was to bring together the geeks of Bristol, UK. I learned that my plight was a common one. Geekdom was becoming more accepted but it was still finding its feet in how to get people together. Whilst we had dedicated shops, we had little else. There were some meetups, but they weren’t the most advertised unless you knew the places to look. I needed to do something to either get those meetups to be more vocal, or to make one of my own to bring a strong geek community together and to help the already existing groups. Needless to say, I made my community.

So I had a purpose to begin creating a community, although I had limited funds at the time. I was curious as to if anyone would even show up – Of course not, there was no way to advertise my events. I had to be seen and heard in some capacity, so I thought long and hard and went online to look up ways to create a free website. This is when I first saw the features of WordPress.com, which left me plenty impressed.

With all this said and done, I set up a website known as geekoutsw.com and started to write. When you begin a website, you have to let people sink their teeth into it. You need a design, you need a theme, you need a purpose for the website. My blog, my website, my rules. I could do anything I wanted (within specified limitations, of course) and I was excited to begin. So I started to throw up words on screen, which went along the lines of “Hi folks, I’m going to be running geek meets, so it’ll be good if you come and meet up with us!” Some of the WordPress.com bloggers began to notice this little site popping up, but there was so much more to be done.

I recognised that I have a unique voice, both in terms of my real voice and in terms of my writers voice**. As I wrote more often, my voice came through more frequently, allowing my readers to become more acquainted with who I was as a writer and what my goals were. Some people follow the blog to keep up with my goals, whereas others enjoy reading whatever I write about, be it anime, video games or indeed literature.

There are plenty of reasons to to start your own blog. I’ve come into this in a strange way, where I had a dream, an aspiration I wanted to reach. My blog is a good supplement to my dream and it’s given Joel and myself a strong need to work towards the goal. But how does Joel fit into the overall scheme of why blogging has made a difference to me and why would he make a difference to you?

Perhaps not Joel specifically, but I find that the blogging community is a very strong, intertwined one. If you write about kittens whose meows sounds like belching, then chances are you’ll find other people fascinated by belching kittens. Okay, a bit of a niche market there, but I’m sure they exist. The fact of the matter is, Joel was a kindred spirit… And you’ll find plenty of those within the ‘blogosphere’. It’s up to you to find your friends and allies in the blogging community but the only way to do this is begin, or get your friends to join in with you.

In summary, blogging is great for:

• Community,
• Driving you towards your dreams,
• Giving you a voice and presence on the internet,
• Meeting some amazing people.

I’m not going to stop blogging any time soon, regardless of what people say. Thankfully, I’ve not had a really bad comment about it, so hopefully you’ll be equally fine. Now I put it to you – Are you a blogger and why do you blog? If not then what’s stopped you? Please do comment below – I love to read everything you have to say. Your voice is really the reason we blog.

* This is the convention I attended in 2013. Little did I know at the time, this convention was the last one for AyaCon.

** Interestingly, writers have what is known as a writers voice. This is where you read somebody’s works and they have something truly distinctive about the way they write. This is different to you speaking words by using your voice box.