This week, we're celebrating the sixth anniversary of the blog!
2024 has been an especially remarkable year for the blog, as it not only saw a total glow-up but I was also approved to run Google AdSense, meaning I'm able to earn a tiny bit from my posts; though far from enough to make a livable income, it's a good start and pretty darn motivating to be earning something for my writing.
I've learned a lot about writing over these six years, and I think it's fair to say that the blog played a significant part in that growth. If you go back to the earliest posts—which I admittedly don't recommend because they are so cringe-worthy—and compare them to posts written more recently, you'll surely notice a tonal shift from the stodgy beige lingering from the many essays written throughout my school years to a more casual and personable vibe.
And amid that kind of growth, change is certain.
Self-reflection is always worth taking the time for so for a bit of fun this week, I thought it would be interesting to see how my writing has evolved since I launched this blog in 2018.
Wait, Spongebob! We're Not Cavemen!
We have technology...
Back in the earliest days of my writing endeavors, I wrote everything by hand. All throughout high school you'd see me scribbling away in a beat-up binder eventually held together with duct tape, and on that loose-leaf paper was the first draft of my first effort at writing a historical romance novel.
This was borne out of necessity, as I wouldn't get my own laptop until I started college, but I also genuinely enjoy writing by hand. I've always felt that handwritten drafts allow a more intimate connection with your story because it takes more time, and it encourages you to be more intentional with your word choices because there's no backspace to Copy+Paste (but lord knows I do squeeze plenty of edits and notes in the margins and between lines of text). Plus there's just something about the idea of writing historical fiction the old-fashioned way.
In recent years, however, I've modernized my approach—albeit only slightly in some areas. Handwritten drafts are incredibly time-consuming. It takes me longer to write a word out by hand than it does to type, and there's also the additional step of having to type everything up anyhow.
So in instances where time is of the essence, I'll concede to modernity.
But a lot of the time, I keep to a middle ground.
If you follow me on social media or keep up with the blog, you know that my writing tech of choice is my Alphasmart NEO2, aka Mavis. She's definitely outdated but not to be underestimated. The device's low-profile build, which I've sometimes compared to an acoustic laptop, has improved my efficiency as a writer while keeping things low-key, just the way I like.
That's not to say I don't write by hand anymore. These days, I still do a fair bit of my drafting by hand (this blog post included). And while that remains my preference, I'm not as set in my ways as I once was.
Total Tonal Shift
Perhaps the most noticeable change in my writing since starting my blog is the one I alluded to at the top of this post, and that's the shift in my narrative style.
Like I've mentioned in previous uploads, I didn't take any writing classes until I started college, so my only frame of reference for what "good writing" stemmed from a litany of formal essays and the rubrics accompanying those assignments.
As early as the third grade when the five-paragraph essay was introduced to replace the short story prompts of standardized testing, we were told to take ourselves out of our writing. That we had to maintain neutrality, save for persuasive and argumentative essays through which our objective was to get the reader to agree with our stance on the assigned topic. Present the evidence but have no presence of your own within your writing.
This carried into how I wrote my blog posts. They read very much like the academic essays I'd been writing for fourteen-some-odd years. Stiff and rigid. Bland. Simply conveying information without a shred of personality.
My fiction around that time was the same. Instead of being engaging and immersive, my narrative style was more like a report on the action from the sidelines. It, too, was lifeless. This was only ever furthered by discussions of authorial intrusions in college writing classes, a term that was described to me as a story's author overstepping a boundary by barging through the fourth wall to share their opinions on the events of the story with the reader—something to avoid as much as possible.
The prevailing issue in both scenarios goes back all the way to those elementary school essays, when we were told that in order for your writing to be considered good, it had to remain withdrawn. Presenting the facts without having a presence.
It took a little longer than it ought to have, but I did eventually begin to call my blog my tiny corner of the internet, and once I did, things began to click.
There is a time and place for formality in writing, but I wanted my corner of the internet to be chill, not cold. This is my space, after all. There aren't any rubrics to adhere to. I get to write about whichever topics strike my fancy.
It's my blog, and it should feel that way to my readers.
Allowing myself to write in a more casual time has made blogging even more fun for me. In recent posts, especially those from the past eighteen months or so, more of my personality comes through. They feel more authentic, and it's made me seriously consider revisiting subjects I've covered in the past; cringe-inducing as they are, I don't want to delete those posts but instead keep them up as a sign of the progress I continue to make as a writer; however, I do think some of those posts are worthy of a mulligan.
In terms of fiction, I've noticed that my narration style has become less like a play-by-play recap of events and that I'm aspiring to take on a tome reminiscent of a more sarcastic Lady Whistledown sort of figure. Giving myself permission to be a storyteller and telling those stories in my voice. I'm sarcastic by nature (something that's only been fueled since I started working at an escape room), and letting that come through in my writing leaves it feeling more genuine.
Even though I'm still finding my voice as a writer, having this blog has been a major step in the right direction.
Conquering The Fear Of Putting Yourself Out There
Well before starting this blog, I was incredibly secretive when it came to my writing.
This was rooted in two different fears: the fear of my writing not being good enough and the fear of my writing being stolen.
If you so much as looked at The Binder, I'd be staring daggers right back. A little over-protective, sure, but I didn't want any prying eyes on my quote-unquote "masterpiece" before it was ready—ie published.
The thing adolescent me didn't consider is that all throughout the publishing process, people are going to read your writing—especially when it's shit. But that's a good thing. Having different eyes on your work makes your story better and helps you grow as a writer. It's definitely scary at first, but it's an important hurdle to get over.
Although I don't post too much about my ongoing fiction projects, having this blog has helped me get more comfortable with the idea of putting my writing out there. I've been fortunate enough to connect with fellow writers who not only share my love of storytelling but have helped me get better at it, and I don't think I would have the guts to do so without this blog.
Prioritizing Mental Health And Rest
Writing is my truest passion. I may not be doing it full-time (at least, not yet), but I've hardly called it a hobby because it's never felt like one to me the way playing video games or baking do.
Back in the day, writing was pretty much the only thing I did in my spare time. And while this may sound diligent, given the common advice of writing every day no matter what, it was ultimately detrimental to my mental health.
Between drafting one WIP and editing another, writing posts for the blog, the chaos of Covid, and the retail job I was working at the time, burnout was inevitable. I ended up taking an entire summer off from writing in order to recharge and regroup. Since then, I've learned to be more mindful of how I'm feeling both mentally and physically, and I'm trying to get better at not beating myself up when I need a rest—whether that means taking a quick power nap or jumping back into the Red Dead Redemption II saddle and roaming the wilderness while listening to a podcast or an audiobook.
As a society, we've placed an emphasis on the daily grind. And while hard work should be commended, it's okay and often wise to step back.
This summer, I shifted my blog to a biweekly upload schedule so I could accommodate seasonal extended hours at my day job and because I hadn't been able to work on my fiction projects as much as I'd like. In all honesty, the scaleback took a little getting used to, but it allowed me to dig into replotting A Tided Love without the stress of feeling like I had to be working on "blogtent" or something else. And when I resumed my regular schedule, I didn't have too much trouble getting back in the groove.
Simply put, there's no shame in taking a break when you need to. We all deserve a bit of grace and, in my experience, being able to not only recognize when you're starting to feel that burnout but grant yourself that permission to step away without feeling guilty about it helps you come back even stronger.
When I was getting ready to launch this blog back in 2018, I didn't realize how intertwined it would be with my fiction projects. Over the past six years, my approach to writing has evolved more than once, and it's been interesting to explore these changes through this post—and it's made me all the more excited for everything to come!
So if you're reading this post, Whether you stop by every week to see what's new or only pop in occasionally, thank you for being here.
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