typewriter on desk, cup of coffee, a cozy setting

Another ‘Hello world’ from an aspiring writer

Anything new on the internet always starts with a Hello world. I love keeping ‘Hello World’ in my title in some way, it reminds me of the good old days when I first learned about it. I think I must have written a few dozen hello world blogposts already over the past two decades. This time is different though. I promise.

I have given a lot of thought to who I am and what I want to do. I wrote down my passions and thought about what I could do with them in terms of a career. When I narrowed my list of passions down further I ended up with 4 final options. I then wrote a short story for each of those 4 options, talking about what my day would look like if I had that career. The career that felt best to me, and by a large margin, was writing. I actually find it quite funny that I ended up writing so that I could make up my mind on what to do for a career.

I’ve never tried to be a writer before, although I have written a lot in my journals. The thought of putting my writing out there is very intimidating to me. Writing gives insight into what’s going on inside your mind. It is so pure, so genuine, and personal. Criticism can and probably will hit hard. I guess the fear of that is why I did not start writing sooner.

So how did I get here? Over the past few months my personal interest in writing has grown. I thought about it almost non-stop. What is it like to be a writer and do I really want to be one? Does that mean I have to write a book and get it published? Is it better for me to do some other style of writing? Can I only write fiction or only non-fiction? I want to practice different types of writing to see what clicks and what sticks. I read a few books about writing. Stephen King’s On Writing stood out the most to me.. That really whet my appetite for writing.

For me, learning to write also means I want to read more. I truly believe that will enrich my mind and improve my writing. Maybe I have to read books in a different way if I want to learn to write better. I read about authors who practice copywriting by reading a passage and then rewriting it from memory. I get how that could be helpful, but that does not seem fun to me at all, at least not at this point in time. I’d rather get some of my own words down on paper.

I want to approach writing as a lifelong learning exercise. With every word I write, my writing changes. Every time I re-read anything I wrote, I know I will want to rewrite it (you didn’t really think you read my first draft here, right?). As they say, writing is rewriting, hence my website’s subtitle: rewritten soon.

Let this be the first of many posts where I hone my craft. Learning to write is a never-ending process and more than anything I want to enjoy every step.

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