So I've been invited to join in on the blogging chain gang again.
This time focuses on probably the most important part of blogging: your blog design.
Kidding.
It's writing, of course.
Camila at The Things I Am Crazy For has chosen to include me in this. She's a UK expat too, currently based in Scotland. You can find her talking about her travels, living abroad in St. Andrews, and a little bit of Harry Potter. And since I know nobody hates reading about travel and Hogwarts favorite student, I suggest you check her out.
So this post asks a few questions:
How does your writing process work?
Why do you write what you do?
How does your work differ from others?
What are you working on?
Well ... let's get to it.
How does my writing process work? I wish I knew.
Most of these posts come with a burst of thought - I will jot down a rough draft, to get all of my thoughts on page, and when I'm ready, I can go back and make it presentable.
I've got a nice little list on my notes of different ideas - whether or not they make in onto this site, I couldn't tell you. But for some of those ideas, it may be for the best. Like the note I have on writing about the fact I'll be missing real bacon and ice cubes when I move to London ... is that really necessary?
Why do I write what I do?
Well, to put it simply - because I want to.
I started this a few years ago to ramble on about my adventures studying abroad.
I love looking back now and rereading my thoughts at the time, and because of that,
and the fact that the craziness of life hasn't stopped since,
I decided to keep going with this.
So I like to write about travel, because I like to travel. I like to write about The Beatles, because I like (am disgustingly obsessed with) The Beatles. I like to write about moving to London, because, well, that should be obvious by now.
A lot has gone on, and the more I've dove into this blogosphere, I've noticed that others are going through it too. Which makes is a little less stressful to know that I can share my frustrations with people who understand. It's nice to have a group of friends where we can genuinely be interested and happy in what's going on in each other's lives - and it's even more touching that it's a group of friends that I haven't met (yet).
You tell me.
I try not to fall in with the crowd too much. I don't like writing blogging tips, because they've all been told before in some form. When it comes to tips or advice, I try to cover all the angles and give the 'real' information - something that really frustrates me is coming to a post that has been shared 235325 times and the entire things is something along the lines of, "5 Tips on Traveling: 1) Book a flight 2) Fly to country 3) Stay in hotel 4) See city 5) Smile you've travelled!!!"
Really, it's that easy? Why aren't we all doing this?
Well .... I'm currently working on moving to London.
Which takes up a lot of my time - so what I work on with this blog and writing has been very sporadic.
Once I get my life on track I'm going to try and organize this blog-life.
While I feel like I've gotten my feet wet in this community, there's still a lot I'm missing out on, and once I have the time - if I ever have the time - I'd really like to dive in.
Oh, and my photography. Totally could improve that too.
So there you have it.
A little bit of my writing process - but, as I write this, I'm starting to wonder if you would even call it a 'writing process.'
To sum it up, I like to write about the things I write about, and I like that you all enjoy it.
So with the tradition of chain letters, I've got to pass this on.
There's a few girls on here that are my favorite weekly reads, so I'm really glad that they've agreed to be involved in this:
1) Van at Snow in Tromso
Van is from Germany, and in about a week, will be living in Norway. She was one of the first blogs I started chatting with. And for good reason, seeing that we both have some pretty huge life changes coming up in the very near future.
2) Taylor at DoEast
More support on finding bloggers that I've got too much in common with. Taylor is a fellow American who can't seem to stay in one place either. After spending a year in Egypt, she came home and completed a road trip across the USA, only to move to England right after.
And I thought I moved around a lot.
3) Ashley at Ashley in Adventureland
Ashley is from Florida, and the first blogger I've met in the real world. She's a super sweet girl who just returned to the states in June after a few months abroad in England - as if I didn't have enough in common with the first two girls on this list.
She's been bit by the travel bug, so you can find plenty of advice, travel guides, and future plans on her blog.
They'll have this post on their writing process within the next week or so. And it will probably be much more interesting than mine, so make sure you check them out!
Why do you write what you do?