Why I Am Joining Medium Authors
Hello readers! This is my first ever blog post, in which I simply hope to introduce some of the reasons I chose to start posting on Medium. This acts as an initial platform for multiple goals.
First off, this post will be a guide for readers to learn what topics my blogs will likely contain. From there, readers like you can hopefully make an informed decision of whether or not you would like to continue following me and my stories, thoughts, and findings. Don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you chose not to keep reading my posts! I completely understand that people have a wide range of tastes in topics, genres, and areas of interest to read about.
Secondly, this post will be a sort of solidification of my writing goals. The idea for writing this blog stemmed from when I started getting really into reading posts on this website. I really enjoyed seeing what people had to say, and it was an easy way for me to get an overview of topics I was interested in exploring. One of the theories that I have seen sporadically throughout some of these readings is that if you write out your goals, they are more likely to be achieved. So here goes nothing: let’s dive in.
1. Exploring new topics
A big part of this new blog exercise for myself is that I want to continue learning. This blog is a new experience in and of itself, and I want to use it as fuel to continue exploring new areas. This may include anything from literature, sciences, technology, philosophy… to basically whatever else I might find interesting at the time. Part of my hope is that by explaining to you, the readers, what I have learned, it will act both as a way for you to learn about something you might not have known about, and also as a mode of engraining deeper learning into my own insights.
2. Diving Deeper
I wouldn’t dare consider myself an expert in anything I already know, and I don’t think this blog exercise will make me an expert in any new topics I explore. The point is there will always be more to learn. Some of my blogs will be exploring topics I already have some knowledge in to gain a more in-depth understanding of things that I find truly fascinating. I want to explore ideas, concepts, and theories that could improve my life (and maybe yours). I want to learn more about new discoveries, developing solutions, and tried and true techniques. But once again, I largely want to continue a lifestyle of persistent learning.
3. Narrate life experiences
I have seen some pretty incredible blogs that simply share stories of things that happen to people in real life. I loved being a part of their stories, and I would like to share that experience with others by inviting them into my life. This will also be a good way for me to improve my story-telling and communication skills, working on painting a picture that envelops the reader and makes them a part of the story. This might be a lofty goal for myself, but I look forward to the challenge. I will certainly try to provide you with something to laugh at, smile about, relate to, feel warm and fuzzy inside, and maybe even shed a tear.
4. Book Reviews
This correlates to another goal that I have. I recently picked reading back up as a hobby, and hope to increase the amount of books that I read. Having a way to hold myself accountable to reading will, in an ideal world, help me stay on track. This is what I intend to use these ‘book review’ posts for. It will be a good way to encourage me to read to blog, it will help me to better retain the information that I take in, and it will provide a source for others to learn more about a book they might be debating reading. Of course, I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, and warn you if there are going to be any.
5. My Long-Term Goal
Lastly, these blogs are guiding me towards my long-term goal, the reason why I really want to improve my writing skills: I want to write a book. At first, thinking about this goal, I thought it might be a little bit cliché. A guy out of college wanting more in life, a girl who is a free thinker, so they try to write a book; it’s a story we’ve heard our friends say plenty of times.
The fact is that few people are actually capable or willing to follow through. Whether due to a busy schedule, a lack of ideas or ability to concentrate, overall it’s a lack of the necessary determination to accomplish a difficult challenge without any sort of buildup. I want to use these blogs as a way to work up to writing a book, rather than diving right into the belly of the beast. Few people can write a book out of nowhere, and I acknowledge that I am certainly not one of those people.
As I improve my writing skills, read about new ideas, and expand my overall knowledge of the world, I will try to channel all of this towards writing a book with an intent to publish it. If it succeeds, yay for me! If not, I understand that it is tough to get a large part of the population to read one book out of the millions out there. My intention is not to become a famous author. I am not going to write a book for others; it will mostly be for myself. And with a little luck, maybe I will be able to share it with others.
With my intentions laid out, I hope I have sufficiently introduced you to my blog and what it will be about. I’m sure as my blogging develops, some of the ideas I have on what I want the blog to be will change. Either way, even if you don’t learn much from my blogs, I hope that you find some enjoyment out of what I have to offer. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in future posts!
