Beginning Blog Writing

 About 11 years ago to the day, I created my first blog. It wasn't necessarily my own idea- my dear sister thought of it and encouraged me to start one. It was my first semester of college, and I was excited and interested in studying English and potentially majoring in it. I was just as interested in creative writing and story writing. 

So, I thought of the name (and the first name of 3 I gave it) Kingfisher Writing. I saw it as a metaphor for 'gliding' through writing with ease- no struggle or stress involved. It was an attempt to share what I know, give advice if you will. But looking back, mostly it was for me to share, be creative and have an outlet, a space for my ideas and writing.

 My writing has changed since then I guess you could say. I have more varied topics and interests I believe too. So many of the things I've experienced, learned, been interested in weren't part of my life then. I was just shy of 20- I had my whole 20's ahead of me. 

I was even telling my mom today when we visited the gravesite of her parents- I would have more to talk about to my grandparents now or in the past recent years since I have developed more my interests that could also relate to theirs- cooking, reading (about different topics/subjects), college and education, etc... I wasn't immersed or fully knew all my hobbies could entail in my late teens or in high school. 

I'm glad I started that first blog years ago. It has sent me on a blog hunt ever since to continue writing and expanding my interests, content, faith and personal endeavors, thoughts and ideas. Sure, I have notebooks, but these two realms are seen as totally different and used for various methods and purposes, I have found. I never got my degree in English like I imagined, but I learned so much more along the way, and I never thought I would come back to languages as an interest (since I didn't love it in high school- but who does?) 

Ending that blog was like 'saying goodbye' since I had it for 3 years, my whole junior college experience. It felt like a whole new chapter was staying as one was closing. It was the perfect time to further my interests and see where they lead me, like studying Chinese. How will I look back on my time active and writing on this blog??

An image from my blog

A blog post below

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Real World

In life we usually don not focus on the here and now, but on the future; what may happen or what could happen. We also find our minds wandering back to the past. Though this is normal, and good for us to reflect on the past and plan for our future, it's not a good way to spend a lot of your time. Try instead to focus on the present and what is being presented to you now. In writing, it's very important to not worry if your writing is any good... it is important however to write what does come to mind without your intuition of checking for grammar, or adding a few metaphors to make your descriptions come alive. When you do this it allows your mind to be free and natural rather than scrambling for words, and taking longer to do so. Like reflecting on the future or present too much, it is a waste of time to do this while writing. To just let it go... let the past go, and hope for the future... hope for your writing to be good and to improve on your mistakes...  just like learning from your past mistakes.


I find it very useful to intertwine your real world with your writing world. This calls for the best writers, because they usually know how to describe something better, than compared to someone who had an original idea that never happened in real life. I find that my characters have similar traits to people that I know in my life, so it's easier for me to create dialogue for that character, and describe how they act based on someone I know. I've read in a book on writing that it's helpful to be aware of your surroundings, just in case you could use some of that material in your writing. Some may jot it down so they don't forget, or if you're like me, to store it in your long term memory. It's always useful to fall back on when in need of an idea, what better way than to use your own life for writing material. I've seen in "I Love Lucy" that Lucy plans to write a novel based on the people she knows, her husband and her two good friends. Also there have been other stories written that are based on someone's dream, which I find pretty interesting.
Another good tip that I try to follow with writing, is not to tell your detailed story to people. I keep my writing secret until someone actually reads it themselves. I feel that telling a detailed version of your story is not the best idea because I've experienced where  I've done so, and felt that my story wasn't very good based on others' reactions and analyzing it. As for me, when I tell people (my family) that I am writing a story, they say "another one!" The writing just keeps coming, and I encourage you to do the same.