Welcome to the Blog!

And so begins a new venture.

Right. So it occurred to me, while doing this, that I’ve never actually launched a blog solo. I mean, I used to have a Blogger site, waaaay back in the day. But I didn’t treat it like a blog. I basically ran it like a business. Like practice for what I do now, semi-professionally. This is unfamiliar ground, so… yeah. I don’t really know how to go about this. I should definitely introduce myself, though, right? So here’s what I’m gonna do. The WordPress theme came with a little guideline thing for introductory posts. I’m just gonna treat that like I would treat a blog award. Sound cool?

The guideline was actually part of a Blogging University assignment, apparently. And it came with these four questions, all of which I think I can honestly work with. So let’s see what I come up with.

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?

Because I’m a raging egomaniac? Kidding. I dunno. I think it’s an accountability thing. I’ve been told to keep a journal by several people, now. But I get the feeling that I’m not going to do it unless I know people are looking at it. Part of that is honestly very likely an ego thing. I’m not going to lie by saying it doesn’t feel good to be acknowledged. But it’s also just a motivation thing. I just don’t feel especially motivated to do much, a lot of the time. Contrary to my nonchalant demeanor, it does bother me when I disappoint people. So setting the expectation through others is a good way to get me to do things. Provided I’m transparent about when I just… can’t. For whatever reason. It’ll happen.

On the added end of that, it’s good from a professional standpoint. We don’t use our main site like a blog (or haven’t been, until recently). So it can be difficult to actually have that level of transparency. But with this? With a blog I can post very public, very frequent updates to keep people appraised of what’s going on with our projects, my own individual work, and in my life. Hopefully that will give people a broader picture of what goes on around here, and with me, specifically.

And the last reason is that I just need to get better at interacting on the internet. Plain and simple. I don’t have many friends. Practically zero in anything resembling close proximity. So I don’t get a lot of social interaction, out in the real world. But I can’t really afford to be out often. I have a lot to do. So while it’s not exactly a substitute, it’ll help me talk to more people. And it’s also good for business. Knowing, better, how to navigate the internet. Plus it’ll let people get the chance to know me. Me me, not my “character.” So… there’s that.

What topics do you think you’ll write about?

Anime. Duh. Really, though, the site basically lays this one out for itself. The journal is exactly that. It’s a journal of my thoughts on things that occur throughout the week. The entries can likely be about anything, but will generally just revolve around things going on in my daily life or in my head, barring things I’d rather keep private. Project Updates are… exactly what they say on the tin. Anime Voyage is me talking candidly about anime and manga, without the acting bit. It’s me just sharing thoughts, not so much critical analysis. Just “I liked this moment, I didn’t like this moment, etc.” I mean… critical analysis will likely still happen, but that’s just because of how I tend to think about stories. The posts, themselves, will probably be much less structured than on GT. And the Wandering Thoughts would be posts about pretty much anything. So I suppose the short answer to this question is: “All of it.”

Who would you love to connect with via your blog?

People in general, really. Of course, most of my attention is probably going to be on the awesome aniblogger community I’ve sort of accidentally wound up in, over the years. If only ankle-deep. I’d love to actually talk to a lot more of them a lot more directly than I typically do. At the very least, more than just an occasional comment on their posts or mine. Maybe even form connections to work with people on some stuff or whatever. Once I’ve actually figured that out, I may try to swim around to different zones of the blogging pool, talk to different communities, like book bloggers and such. Though I don’t read a lot of non-Light Novel books. So maybe I can find a happy medium, in that regard.

If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

Um… This is tough because my sense of time – measurements in general, really – is actually quite horrendous. I couldn’t even tell you in terms of what I’d like to achieve. Like (Insert Obligatory Number Here) of new internet friends to talk to. Or (Insert Random Metric Of New Followers By This Time, 2020). I really haven’t a clue. But I would love to make some new friends to actually talk to and I would love for new followers, which can translate directly into growth for the business. I’m not expecting anything explosive. But I want to actually start realizing this potential people keep telling me I have. And clearing my head a bit will hopefully aid me in doing so.

On a more personal level, I really just hope I can actively say that, by this time, I’ll have really gotten started down the road to just… improving as a person. The tagline of this site is “Discover Yourself” for a reason. Because that’s the ultimate theme. For everyone reading, certainly, but also for myself, as well. I want to learn more about myself as an individual. Because – and I’ve made absolutely no effort to hide this – I don’t understand how my brain works, half the time. Oh, sometimes I fully comprehend what’s going on in there. When I have reactions to things, I pretty much know why I have them. Well… the more obvious ones, anyway.

But other times I just draw a blank. And that’s not even getting into the times where I’m just… hollow. Times when I feel like I should be experiencing emotions – often incredibly potent ones – and I’m just… not. I want to get to the bottom of that. And, who knows? Maybe by coming to understand that, I can look at stories in ways I previously couldn’t. Because I’ll tell you one thing, right now. It is astonishingly rare for any story, no matter how competently conceived, to trigger the emotions out of me that it actually wants. Something wants me to feel sad? Well… I don’t. Angry? Maybe. But if I get angry it’s generally not at the thing they want me angry about. I want to ultimately learn more in terms of emotional intelligence, so I can figure out why I don’t get those reactions. And maybe it’ll make me a stronger writer, overall. That’s the best I can hope for, right?

Bonus Question! “Why all the Irozuku imagery?”

Well, for one thing, it was a really pretty show. But the actual reason is just that I somewhat identify with the lead. Not in regards to every aspect of her character or arc. But just some of the psychological and emotional things she was dealing with. And I find that it pretty well represents the overall theme of this site. Will I find something better suited to that role as I watch more anime? Probably. It’s not like I don’t identify with other characters. But I generally don’t care about whether I identify with them or not. And, true to form, I don’t really care that I see some commonality between myself and Hitomi. But I thought it was a nice parallel for the site’s purposes. That’s all.

FINISH!

Phew! Done! All right! Go me! So yeah. I’ve answered those questions in… surprisingly thorough detail, honestly. I expected maybe a paragraph per question. But I guess I should know better, given how longwinded I can be. Anyway, that’s all from me. Thanks for reading.

Keep up the Awesome!
Voyager