I have wanted to start a blog for a long time, but there was always something stopping me from taking the next steps. Writing is something I enjoy, but it hasn’t been something I’ve done as often as I probably should. Mental illness can be an ever-tightening vice on the things you enjoy most. I battle anxiety on a daily basis and have recently been making some significant strides in a positive direction.
This blog serves multiple purposes. It gets me writing regularly. It also gives me a chance to refine my creative non-fiction voice. My education and prior writing experience are in fiction writing. While studying creative non-fiction for my MFA, I found it much more difficult to write non-fiction than fiction. Fiction pours out of me, like I’m skipping down a hill, gaining momentum with each paragraph. Non-fiction feels more like driving up hill on an incredibly bumpy road. My hope is that this blog will smooth out that bumpy road.
Besides writing, my other passion is reading. Books and reading have captivated my attention since I was a toddler. I have hundreds on my shelves and I add more every month. Reading also opens up the creative portions of my brain and allow my imagination to overpower my anxiety. Combining these two needs I have decided that a main portion of this blog will be book reviews. I will write reviews of both newly published works and older books that are on my shelves that I haven’t read yet. I aim to take on these reviews more from a writer’s perspective rather than a reader’s. Most book reviews focus solely on the reader; my reviews will give insight into the plot, characters, and writing craft of the books. In this way, I hope to teach or inspire others to read with a writer’s eye–sometimes it opens up whole new perspectives on a story.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are several posts of short stories or serial novellas on this blog. I am a massive fan of Andy Weir and his first novel, The Martian, was initially a serialized blog. He received feedback from his readers and he took that feedback to perfect the science and craft of his stories. Perhaps I’ll have a similar experience here. Nevertheless, this will allow me to let my creativity flow out into the world.
Each post will have categories and tags to help you sort through them and read whichever posts you find most interesting. The reviews will likely be comprised of fiction works, but there might be some non-fiction sprinkled in there as well–I’m not completely against CNF. I also do not have a genre preference so be ready for anything! If there are multiple serial novellas, each will have their title as the category so they’re easy to follow. Additionally it will be categorized as a standalone story as such.
The scariest part of hitting that publish button is ensuring that everything I’ve written is 100% grammatically correct and free from typos. I’m an editor by trade so perfection (or as close as one can get) is essential. Do not be afraid to point out errors or typos in the comments. I’ll quickly edit the post and thank you profusely. That is not to say I want my readers to solely edit my blog posts. I hope to have friends among my readership who know that a typo or wayward comma is equivalent to an unzipped fly. Thank you in advance for your keen eyes.
One last thing. To keep myself disciplined, I will be keeping to a schedule of posts. I will have a new book review posted by 3pm EST each Wednesday. All other posts will develop their own schedule as they come.
Thank you all for reading and supporting this effort of mine. “When in doubt, write about it” was, and continues to be, my motto for handling life. I look forward to seeing where this takes us.
Best Wishes,
Kyla M. Cullinane