Saturday 5 October 2013

Am I a blogger or a frustrated author?

I am studying for an Open University degree and today is officially the first day of my new module.  My degree is in Humanities, and this new module is a creative writing course. 

I've been thinking a lot about writing and blogging since signing up for the course.  Are bloggers really all frustrated authors, desperate for our writing to be viewed by the masses? Is this why we dedicate ourselves to our blogs, sharing our thoughts, feelings and viewpoints with people on the other side of the world to ourselves, people we will never meet?

When I first started Books with Bunny I did it purely to record my reading habits. Every book I read was recorded anyway on book forums and I'd often write reviews of the books I'd especially enjoyed, so it made sense to start a blog and keep everything in one place.  Occasionally I will write a small piece relating to blogging or reading in a more general sense, but my blog still remains a dedicated book blog rather than covering wider themes and other aspects of my life in detail. 

So am I writing in the hope of being published?  I know lots of bloggers who are also writing their own novels, but I don't necessarily aspire to that.  I blog to voice my opinions.  I also strongly feel that what we bloggers say isn't any less valuable just because it's not in a book- there are plenty of books out there that aren't my cup of tea and equally, many bloggers that make me laugh, cry and feel.  My vision was to blog about books to promote the novels and authors that I enjoy.  I would absolutely love to be able to take this further and have my book reviews reaching a wider audience, and this is why I also post my reviews to goodreads and Amazon.  I'm also fortunate enough to have been asked to review for other websites and blogs, most notably Making Them Readers and Mojomums.  However, I can't deny that my ultimate dream would be to have a regular review slot in a magazine or newspaper, and I would love to have my name in a by-line.  Maybe I'm a frustrated reviewer.  Although I do review, so maybe I'm just frustrated?

So do I really want to be an author?  Probably not.  I have explored creative writing on and off since school, predominantly poetry, although will admit to also attempting a novel a couple of times before becoming completely overwhelmed by the process.  Blogging is an extension of journaling and diary keeping, admittedly in a public domain, but still a different world to creative writing.  Yes, it is a case of juggling words, seeing where they best fit to convey the meanings you are aiming to impress, but that is not the same as actually writing a piece of fiction from scratch. 

I admit it, I'm scared about this course.  And I'm overthinking.  Never a good sign.

I'm going back to reading...

No comments:

Post a Comment