The first blog I became familiar with was a fictional blog; meaning, the author behind it was Jenna, the main character on the MTV show Awkward. The blog, “I Am Jenna”, essentially served as the narration of the show and pushed the plot forward. It was a personal blog filled with all her awkward anecdotes, and what she learned from them. I personally kept a journal during my gap year in Israel, and found it to be a great outlet for whatever was floating through my mind. However, after that year, I gradually stopped writing in it. Last summer, I decided create my own blog. I figured that making my strange – yet possibly relatable – thoughts public like Jenna would be an interesting twist. While my life has yet to involve a love triangle between two ridiculously good-looking guys like Jenna’s on Awkward, I’d like to think I occasionally have words of wisdom up my sleeve. I chose the online pseudonym Pretentious Chick, attempting to poke fun at my creative pursuits. I started writing on pretentiouschick.wordpress.com without knowing what topics my blog was going to cover; I would create categories as I went along.
The blog accidentally began as a travel blog. I started off Summer 2015 on the YU Italy Honors Program, so the first blog posts were my documentations of Italian culture. After my adventures in Italy, I spent about a month in Israel and blogged about traveling there as well. When I came back to New York towards the end of the summer, I went on a road trip down South with my friends, so I ended up blogging about the South too. After spending the whole summer travelling, I finally had the chance to settle down. However, settling down left me with what I call “blogger’s block.” I had spent the whole summer experiencing new places and things, and now that I was back to the daily grind, it was as if there was nothing worthy to blog about. I then came to realize that I am a person with somewhat meaningful thoughts, and that the constant thoughts floating through my head could be utilized for blog posts. For anyone ever going through “blogger’s block”, just remember that any random thought counts as an idea.
After getting through my blogging predicament, my posts began to go beyond the scope of travelling. I covered a couple of college topics, blogging about my own personal experiences and giving general advice to future college-goers. I read Neil Strauss’s popular book about pick-up artists, “The Game”, and decided to blog about how to get over the guy one simply cannot get over. After joining my first poetry class last semester, I posted my poetry on the blog too. I knew my blog was getting all over the place, so I finally began creating the categories it needed. My current categories consist of “College in the City”, “Travel Chic”, “Pretentious Poetry”, and “Today’s Thoughts”- for anything I want to blog about that doesn’t fit into one box. I’m thinking of creating another category titled “Fangirl Moments” that will cover any person or idea I find inspiring. I know that there will definitely be more categories to come in the future, even without constant excitement. Every person’s mind is a bustling engine that continuously spits out thoughts and ideas. Blogging gradually became easier with that mantra ingrained in my mind.
Once an idea forms and “blogger’s block” is diminished, the writing process is really enjoyable. Just like when I wrote in my journal, I let everything my mind wants to say about the topic spill onto the screen. What makes the blogging process different than journaling is that all the “word vomit” needs to be edited. Being a blogger means being able to connect to your readers. Editing is vital, since it makes the content more relevant to the larger audience. It always feels rewarding to read over a finished product right before posting, whatever the topic may be.
I personally think that writing in a blog is more fulfilling than journaling. There’s something unique about sharing your world with an audience, rather than just yourself. Writing for others without any restraints on my writing style definitely strengthened and developed my voice as a writer. I think that blogging is an art that anyone could pick up, because the blog could be anything the blogger wants it to be. With blogging, the possibilities are endless.