Finding a Title .

When I start my posts, I usually start with an idea. It is just one thing that may have touched me throughout the day, a thought that went through my head, a quote, or a simple event during the day. But just because you have one thought doesn't mean that you can write an entire post about it. I guess what usually happens is that one little piece kickstarts the rest of the post. It will wander and go places that I never intended to, but that's totally okay.

My boss often talks about writing books this way. I'll ask how the writing is going and how the story is going and he'll say he's not sure what's going to happen next. In the most simplistic way, basically he puts the characters in a situation and just lets them react. As long as you know your characters beyond slight acquaintance, you'll know what they would do in the situation.

However one of the hardest things I find about blogging is putting a title up there. Sometimes I don't know what to write. Sometimes I want to just leave it blank. Often is I'll mold the idea that I had into some semblance of a title, that supposedly explains in a phrase what the entirety of the post is about. But how is it even possible to condense an entire lengthy post into a few words? With the utmost concise clarity is probably a viable answer.

I do think that the important thing to remember here is that the title does not have to fully dictate what you are writing about. It's your blog and your words, and if it wanders off the beaten path a bit before coming back to the beginning, so be it. In fact the deviations from said path are often the most interesting part because they are the sidenotes, footnotes, and added thoughts by the person writing. They are the pieces that the person will chuckle to him or herself while writing. Or something that popped into their mind that they wanted to share.

Of course, if you run a blog that is centered around a specific topic, you sort of have to stay within some boundaries, and maybe even all the stuff I just wrote down is all null and void.

At the end of the day it all comes down to your style. You gotta do you, and some people start with a title, some people find it halfway through, and some still struggle to find it at the very end (fun fact: the same thing happens when you're writing songs!). So what's your style? How do you write? Feel free to share in the comments.

Reflection: From Blog Posts to Books .

Lately I have been working on putting my blog posts into a hard copy book. Each six months, I make a new book, and the hope is that eventually, at the end of all things I will have an entire volume of my life. It will sort of be like an encyclopedia collection, albeit hopefully a touch more interesting.

I don't spend too much time editing, but even so it takes a long time. Copy and paste every single post from the internet to the MS word document I'm using. I have to only use the Firefox browser, because it copies text a certain way. I need to adjust spacing, and include post breaks (usually just a * * * sandwiched vertically by blank spaces). And somehow the spacing always gets totally screwed up. Certain words will go from legible text to those random boxed wing ding characters, and I have to search for those. Ideally I would reread through all my posts to correct grammatical , spelling and contextual errors, non-sequiturs and confusing parts. Because as I'm sure many of you know, Blogger neglects to correct spelling as you type. Thankfully my Macbook Pro usually does correct spelling no matter where you're typing or what application you are in, but regardless it sometimes even changes stuff to a word you don't want.

In the essence of saving myself time in the long run, I've begun to type my posts a little bit slower. My fingers have a tendency to like to really fly across the keyboard, mishitting all kinds of keys like a toddler trying to play Chopin on the piano. My hope is that taking a little bit of extra time on each post will save me a lot of editing time later down the road.

The author I currently work for bought me a book a few months ago called "APE", co-authored by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch. It's all about self-publishing a book, digitally, from start to finish. I knew some extremely basic ideas about the publishing process just from talking with my boss, but I realized after reading the book that what I really knew was practically nothing. There is so much more than typing words on a page, designing a cover and printing it.

Because of the sort of work I do for the author (Carl T. Smith if you have any interest in looking him up) I focused mainly on the entrepreneurial section, which revolved around marketing techniques and other similar topics. That alone blew my mind. In a sea of social media options, automated application supplements, and 6 billion people in the world, it just isn't easy to pick which platforms you want to use, because Lord knows you cannot use and manage and be active on them all. I only work one, maybe two hours a day and I rarely even get to log into all the things that we run, between Twitter and Facebook, Author's Den, Goodreads and more.

Basically what I'm getting at here is that putting a book together takes so much time. Don't get me wrong it's totally awesome to have my words printed on the page, and while I fully expect this website to be here and hold my info, it's really nice having a hard copy of it. It's cool to even see a bar code on the back cover, with a blurb that I wrote myself about that particular six months worth of time, and even an ISBN number assigned by Lulu, the online publisher I use.

I'm sure that there are errors all over the place in the book. But in the end, the main point gets across. However as of recently, while I've been copying over my posts from early 2013 to a word document, I noticed that a lot of my posts have been really short. It made me start to wonder if maybe trying to blog everyday can be detrimental. That maybe what should yield a nice stream-of-consciousness flow in fact results in an obstructed thought process. I do really like writing everyday. And sometimes I just don't have time and so I write multiple posts later on to "catch up." I don't mind doing that in the least. But if I do write, I want to have the time to make it worthwhile. To really be able to get a little bit lost in my thoughts and explore all that I'm writing about. Granted sometimes I don't have that luxury. But when the majority of posts I see from myself seem abrupt and cut off, as if almost unfinished business, it seems as though I can do better. And so in the coming weeks, I'm going to attempt to let my thoughts seep through my mind to my fingers as water through a tea bag -- letting out all those tantalizing literary flavors, while filtering out the nonsense.

I hope you've enjoyed the journey so far, as I know I sure have. Everyone is busy, everyone has an ongoing list of things to do, places to go, and people to meet. Sometimes you get behind, sometimes you need to regroup, sometimes you need to focus in and sometimes you need to step back and look at the big picture and adjust your focus (to use a huge photography metaphor...). But what can you do? That's Simply, Life.

Tips for Up and Coming Bloggers .

So you've just started your blog and you are already finding that you are struggling to think of what to write about. However, you really think blogging would be a cool venture and you want to continue writing. Well I'm glad that you found this post, because I'm going to help you out!

For a lot of people that start blogging, they are not used to sharing their thoughts on the internet in such an extended fashion. While I would venture a guess that most people in their 20's and 30's these days have either a Facebook, a Twitter or both, the tidbits of information shared there are far from the content and thought needed for a blog post. Let's be honest, you can't really write a substantial amount about what sandwich you're eating for lunch (...or can you? challenge anyone?).

Most people sit down at their computer, trying to think about what to write about, and draw blanks. Hell, I still do that a lot of the time and I've been blogging for several years. The key to it all is harnessing the inspiration when it hits you. Now most of us have a relatively demanding schedule and that means that we can't DEAB -- that is Drop Everything And Blog (haha, anybody remember DEAR? Drop Everything And Read in grade school??). So find a way to write down a few quick notes or tidbits so that you can write about it later. I use sticky notes on my computer, written notes on my class notebooks, texts to myself, whatever fits your fancy, is quick and convenient.

Now I know a few people that, when starting a blog, say "Oh, I'm going to get myself on a blogging schedule.." While it's nice to have little reminders for yourself to write down your thoughts, it should be noted that there is no requirement on how much or how often you have to blog. No one is going to judge you if you don't post often, though they may very well implore you to write more often because they enjoy reading about your life! I write every day, but that's because I actually create books out of my blog posts. That way in years to come, I'll literally have an entire volumed set of my life on paper. Pretty cool; I like keeping up with that. It'll be an amazing thing for my kids to read one day, if I have kids. And if not, I can always revisit that later.

If you're struggling with inspiration, just turn the lights off and try to go to bed early. I have so many things flying around my head when I'm trying to sleep it's not even funny, which is usually why I write before I go to sleep.

And most of all? Read other people's blogs. You'll find that not only do you make a lot of connections that turn into great friends, motivators and encouragers and people you can share your success and sadness alike with, but also they will become people that you can draw inspiration from.

There's no need to force yourself to do anything. It's no secret that blogging is not for everything, just as vlogging and Youtube videos are not for everyone. Just look inside yourself and listen really hard to hear your inner dialogue. Believe me, your brain is a lot more active with all these random thoughts than you might think. I hope that if someone is contemplating starting a blog, that this encourages you to get started! And remember, if you really hate it? You can always stop writing! It shouldn't be a chore; it should be something enjoyable, rewarding and exciting! Happy blogging!

**If you know of friends who are looking for a few pointers to get started feel free to forward them to this post!

Why Are You Here .

As much as I would love to have thousands of followers reading about my thoughts on life and leaving comments and asking questions, I don't. It's not that that bothers me, I think that there are just a multitude of connections here on Blogger to be made. I've made some great friends and hope to make many more. Sure, it's quite possible I haven't met many of them in person, but does that matter? We support each other, send cards, share in each others' pain, sorrow, joy and excitement. It's great always knowing that there is this support group. One day I promise I'll take the time to meet you all, somehow. I think that would be the coolest thing -- and maybe I could write a book about it.

My question, though, for right now, to you, dear reader, is why are you here? What brought you to my blog? What keeps you entertained and what makes you want to read more? What topics have influenced you the most, and which maybe weren't aligned with what you believe? What posts made you think? It's an honor to know that people take time out of their day to read what I put down on a webpage. I think that's one of the reasons I try to write something every day. If I didn't, I would feel like I let down my readers. Some days there just aren't interesting things to say, but I do my best to find something. Sometimes I'm not inspired, but I try and go ahead and put something down anyways.

If you do really enjoy this blog, and the things I post on it, I encourage you to share it. On Twitter, on your Blogger page, on Facebook, anywhere really. I'd love to have more readers, and more friends to interact with here. Blogger has already positively influenced my life to such a great extent, and I think that can only continue. It's on my list of things to do to create one of those fancy buttons; but haven't really decided what I want to have in that icon yet. I'll keep you all posted. Thank you, for those who have stuck around so long; and to those who might be new, I hope you do.

Hiatus .

Well, I never wanted to do this. I thought that I could keep up with everything. But right now, there are just too many things going on. My studio project. My job. Getting grad school applications ready. Working on a portfolio. Studying for tests. Eventually studying for finals. Financial project. Working out. Going to football games.

There are simply too many things on my plate right now, and as important as blogging is to me (and as important as all of you are to me, my dear friends!) I believe that it's time that I take a short hiatus from writing here. It will only be until the end of the semester, which is mid-Decemeber or so. Do you think you can last that long? :) I'll still be reading about all of your adventures as much as I can, and I promise even if I don't comment I do actually ready every post you all write. There's a reason why I don't follow 300+ blogs; it's so I can keep up with them all!

I can't wait to get back to this full time, but for now, I just have to put forth all my efforts into those things that really need to get done! I appreciate your understanding and support, and can't wait to be back with more stories in a few months!

i've been slackin' .

Friends, I just want to say I'm sorry for slacking lately. Earlier in the summer I was really on top of my writing -- blogging daily, interesting topics etc. But lately I've let the days slip by without writing, and then catching up on random days where I write four blogs in a row. Maybe I've just been busy, maybe I've been lacking with things to write about, maybe I've just been lazy. But I'm ready to get back on track, and with school right around the corner, I think that's definitely possible. Having work to do motivates me in a weird sort of way.

But here is where I challenge you, my readers. What do you want to hear about? What things are you interested in? I'd love to hear your druthers.

mothers & blogging .

Over the past year or so I've been on Blogger, I've realized that there are seriously a TON of moms who also blog out there. I mean, there are other things I've sort of felt are more prominent writing groups -- like there are a lot of young couples, or newly married couples, who want to document their adventures together. There are also some family-wide blogs, where the parents write down what's going on in their kids' lives as well as their own, in addition to what the family in general is up to. I also think that the majority of people who blog are women... though I haven't seen an official demographic or anything so I can't confirm that. I will say that that might make sense though, since I think that women are more prone to talk about feelings and whatnot. Either way, I've been loving the community and the friendships made on here. People may be quick to bash online / digital acquaintances, but in my eyes it's not lame at all; it's very real. Blogging has opened another window to that sort of thing.

writing and writing to.

When I first started this blog I used to just write. It didn't really matter if I had readers or not because they didn't exist. I just spilled out whatever came to mind. Although, as time goes on the inevitable happens and you meet some other bloggers, you comment on people's stuff, and your blog gets a little bit of recognition.

Now some people are blogger addicts (not saying that's a bad thing) and put an awful lot of time into not only writing but reading other people's blogs, looking up new blogs, adding comments. I purposely limit myself a bit what I comment on, because if I comment on everything then I feel like my comments have less validity and purpose. That way people will know that if I commented, then I was really touched and it'll mean a lot more.

where'd you go .

As I was looking over my blog and trying to decide if I wanted to change some things up, I saw the "Blogs You Should Check Out" section I put up a while back so that other people could get an idea of all the people's blogs that I read. Plus, a little bit of publicity for my friends on here always helps right? Though upon reading that list I realized how many of them haven't posted in forever.

blanks .

I don't have the slightest clue of what to write about. I've gone through an entire day, and the things that are on my to-do list I just am not in the right mindset to go through. So here's the most imminent things on my mind.

my pledge .

So now that I'm caught up again on blogs, I want to make a pledge. While I must confess I've been slacking, I don't want to do that. It's not that I feel bad when I don't write, but I don't get to experience the daily catharsis that writing brings for me. Not to mention, you all don't get to read about it either, but who knows how important this read is anyways. So I'm going to try really hard to write each day. I may even set a time that I write every night. Maybe the key to not procrastinating and getting behind is simply having a schedule (I know Dad is nodding his head and saying "I told you so!" right now..).

reading and writing and reading and writing .

Over this semester thus far, I've done more reading and writing simultaneously than I've ever done. That is, of course, excepting those ridiculous summer reading book competitions when I was reading children's books and could read a children's fiction book in a day... Regardless, I'm in the middle of reading three different books, writing one with ideas for three or four more, blogging daily (or rather, more accurately, blogging as close to daily as I can) and I have several more books waiting to get started that a friend has given me. So much reading! More and more though, I'm beginning to love it. Imagine a life where all you did was read and write?

employed .

I have never had a job while at school before, and heck, I've never really even looked. I don't like searching for jobs, and I'm not one to pester people into giving me a job. I don't want to get hired because they are appeasing my annoyance, but rather because they want me to work for them, and they value me as a person, both in employment and life in general. That being said, I wanted to look for a job this semester, because, let's be real; after getting back from Spain AND buying a car, my funds were running a little low.