First and foremost, I wanted to say you guys better go check out my totally awesome guest blog at
Rainbows & Honeysuckles! And if you're not already following
Chloe's blog, GO DO IT! Her son is the cutest and her posts are always entertaining and informative :)
Today I wanted to post about
why I started blogging. I began blogging when I was a kid, not really understanding the blogging world, but then again, my generation is the one that began the blogging world. It was a time of Livejournal and Xanga, before Facebook and, even, Myspace. There was no Tumblr to scroll through and reblog. There were words, and the ability for me to express my feelings easier than in my journal. There was anonymity. I wasn't Raewyn, but duckroxinmysox.
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| Sorry if my profanity offends! :P |
I was one of the alternative kids. Just mainstream enough, but I was a geek, I liked punk rock music and I loved to write. I was in journalism and my friends were of the same label as me - perhaps a little more alternative and cool. Someone got a Xanga. I don't remember who started it. But I was always drawn to my computer anyway. My dad is a computer guy and I grew up knowing about computers. I wasn't allowed to have AIM, but I could have MSN because it was more protected. I wasn't allowed to have a Xanga.
Somehow - and I have no idea how this happened - I tricked my mom into letting me have a Xanga. Maybe she didn't realize what I was asking for, but since my parents were firm on staying true to your word, I was allowed to keep it - with monitoring.
There, I did surveys, posted about my daily life, ramblings, etc. It was like Myspace before Myspace.
Then, one year for my birthday my dad bought me my own domain. www.raewynsmith.com. I wish I still had it. I started a WordPress, where I was trying to be more professional and write mini articles. That did not last long at all. I sat on the website for awhile, but he got tired of paying for it and me not blogging. In my defense, I was 2nd in command at the newspaper, taking IB classes and attempting to work...
I got to a period in my life where I was writing too much for journalism that I stopped blogging for awhile. Leave it to my daddy to motivate me to start my Warrior Queen blog. He'd been bugging me since I graduated high school to start the magazine, but I wanted a real journalism degree first. The blog was our compromise, and also an emotional outlet.
In 2009 and 2010 I spent a lot of time on an emotional
rollercoaster with an ex. It was great fodder for blog
posts about being a
strong woman! I go through phases of writing more and less, depending on my motivation until recently.
Recently, I tried to get back into the blogging world. Through that I found some awesome bloggers that I follow and somehow I stumbled upon the Carabox Exchange at Wifessionals. I would have to say that this was the deciding factor in motivating me to write more regularly. I felt like I was finally creating a community and becoming friends who I couldn't let down.
I used to struggle with finding a reason to write. I didn't think anyone was reading it, and my friends, who I love and adore, tried to write my guest posts but we were in school and we were busy. Now, I feel as though I am part of the community I always wanted. This came as a result of changing my blog to be less "magazine" like and more personal. I'm okay with that. It still stands for the movement I want to start and I always welcome guest posts on the topic. My future goal IS to grow it into the magazine still.
After all, that's why this all began...
Happy Tuesday!
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