head for the hills

Ok. First blog post. Here we go. Anytime now. Now? Yes, now. Okaaaaaaaay go!

For my first post, I thought I’d acquiesce to logic and share my motivation for creating this blog.

There are literally millions of people vying for a slice of the online space through blogging; why should I add to the already saturated market? This is a question I posed to myself many times before starting this blog, but a couple of recent events forced me to reconsider my position.

Getting sucked into the Twittersphere

I am, by nature, a late adopter when it comes to technology of any sort (still clinging onto my 2007 Nokia phone for dear life) and Twitter was no exception. But after finally jumping on the bandwagon, I saw that there was this fascinating and tangled web of people and organizations all over the world interacting with each other and sharing thoughts, opinions, information, ideas, feelings and images. I realized that I wanted to be a part of that online community.

Planning the great Canadian road trip 

This summer I’m heading for the hills (blog name, *cough*) and doing the iconic cross-Canada road trip for three months. Although I always keep a travel journal for myself (compulsory when you have the memory capacity of an 80 year old), I wanted an easy way to be able to share my experiences with family and friends- especially those back in Oz who I am shamefully bad at keeping in regular contact with. (I am also hoping this blog atones for refusing my parents’ Facebook friend request.)

And maybe, just MAYBE, some people I don’t even know might read this.

It wasn’t so long ago that the trusty Lonely Planet guidebook was my primary source of travel info. Now, like most people, the internet is my “go to” for trip planning. No longer do you have to turn up at a hostel and “hope for the best”; you can check out recent recommendations and ratings beforehand. While I admit this does take some of the adventure out of travel, at least bedbugs are less of a worry! It would be cool if I could, at least in a small way, return the favour for all the travel tips I’ve gleaned online.

Wednesday nights with writers

This year I decided to foster my inner spelling/punctuation/grammar geek and do a copy editing course (alert me immediately if you notice any of the aforementioned errors on my site!). Since January, every Wednesday night has been spent with a group of people who primarily write for a living.

By listening to their experiences and doing a lot of writing exercises in class I came to see the satisfaction and challenge in composing something that contributes to the public sphere of knowledge and understanding (or lack of, if it’s written badly!). It forces you to critically analyze your writing in a way that does not (and should not) happen when you write for yourself. What it means for this blog is that my writing will (hopefully) become less about organizing my thoughts and “venting” (although I’m sure I’ll rant about SOMETHING at some stage) and more about having a creative outlet and contributing to the online dialogue.

Thanks for reading; I hope you’ll continue to check out what I have to say.

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