I got introduced to blogging sometime between 2008 and 2009.

At the time, I was an insecure high schooler with a lot to say, but none of the courage to say most of it. I credit Kanye West with introducing me to the medium, as he was on a big blogging kick at the time. Being the big fan that I was at the time, I decided to emulate him in this way.

Most of Kanye’s blog posts revolved around typical hypebeast interests (sneakers, music, cars, etc), so that’s where I decided to start. In the beginning, my posts consisted of pictures that I would essentially steal from other sites, with very few words. Honestly, it was nothing special.

But despite how void of quality my posts were, I had tapped into a market that was expanding among a new generation of teenagers who, like me, were easily influenced by music icons, so I developed a small following. As you can imagine, it was great to see people responding positively to my blog, and I immediately fell in love with it all.

Eventually, my posts became less shallow as I started implementing full sentences, proper paragraphs, and complete thoughts into the mix. I’ve always fancied myself a writer, but for a long time, I kept that particular hobby under wraps, mostly because I was convinved that it wasn’t “cool”. But there was something about blogging that gave me confidence, and eventually, the “real Carter” began to shine through in my posts. Less of Yeezy, and more of me.

Still a little relunctant to share my new love with the people around me, I only told a friends about my blog, but most of them found out about it anyway. They began asking me about it in school, telling their friends about it, and even telling me how good it was. Truth be told, this was a little weird at first, but on the same hand, I liked it.

I went on like this until 2010, when I decided to stop blogging.

I still had a decent following, and my friends still enjoyed reading what I wrote, but blogging had become boring for me; writing posts felt too much like work, and the gratification was no longer there, so I stopped. No warning or anything.

In the time following my departure from blogging, I dropped Myspace, got into Facebook, and slowly became addicted to Twitter and YouTube. I actually blame the last two for turning me into the loud-behind-the-keys person that I am now; Twitter gave me a real platform to express myself how and whenever I wanted to, and YouTube introduced me to people who weren’t afraid to be themselves, which was something that I envied.

Of course, I was still reading blogs and news sites at the time, and I even wrote some short pieces through CNN’s iReport feature. I was quickly becoming obsessed with how the internet was connecting us all and giving people like me a voice, but unbeknownst to me, I was also prepping myself for a return to blogging.

In 2011, I finally felt the itch again.

I missed having my own space on the internet where I could talk in-depth about what interested me, and I knew that a return to blogging was imminent. Around this time, I was introduced to Concrete Loop and Angel’s Laws of Blogging, which was all that I needed to get me going. I blazed through the book quite quickly, and planned to start my own blog soon after.

The only problem with that was my indecisiveness. I couldn’t come up with a name or a concept that I was satisfied with, so I basically spent two additional years throwing things around in my head until I came up with CarterCubed last year, and the rest is history.

That’s basically my story in a nutshell.

I’ve been blogging since 2008/2009, but when I consider the motivations, goals, and drive behind it all, I see the launching of CarterCubed last year to be the official beginning of my blogging career.

As hard as it might be sometimes, I really do love blogging, and I have a sincere desire to maximize my site’s potential, which is why I started the Blogging: A Trial By Fire collection. I believe that blogging is something that will weed out those not strong enough to stick with it, but I also believe that community is something that can make the beginning stages less stressful.

I hope to hear from a lot of you guys as we make this journey together.