At the suggestion of a blogger over at Blogher, I put a page up on Google+ for the Withywindle blog (haven’t done more that put up the page yet; if you’re on Google+, please feel free to connect with us!). One of the components of setting up the page was describing yourself (the blog, in this case) in 10 words or less. Here’s what I chose: nature writing & photography, bookstore updates and book reviews. I chose the words and order carefully after much thought, and found that being forced (I never attempted to go over 10 words, so don’t know how ‘forced’ I really was…) to condense the blog’s description into 10 words helped me solidify my thoughts about what I’d like this blog to be about.
I hear ‘write what you know’ when people ask writers where to start with their own writing; expanding on this idea, Tammy had some wonderful quotes on the Rowdy Kittens blog the other day from Brenda Ueland, one of which read: “Everybody is original, if he tells the truth, if he speaks from himself. But it must be from his true self and not from the self he thinks he should be.”
I love this. So what do I know, and what makes me true to myself? Writing about nature and my observations and questions as a naturalist. That is what drives me and is what I’m most passionate about. Writing about nature feels the most effortless; it is truly what I know.
I have no intention of abandoning the updates and new arrivals for the bookstore, although I think I might reduce the amount of genre news I post. Nathan over at Kayleighbug Books Blog does a lovely job of this, and is someone I use as a resource. I’d rather show my unique voice in my nature writing rather than duplicating efforts that other and better sources are already doing (that said, there are SFF projects that I’m absolutely crazy about and will certainly share news about them as it comes up – if only to continue to share what I’m passionate about).
So based on all these ideas, you can expect a heavier lean on nature writing going forward, along with continued updates from Withywindle Books.
Happy blogging!!
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