just beginning

Oh! This has happened more quickly than expected. Ten minutes ago I didn't have a blog. Now I do. For someone with a dysfunctional relationship with computers this is a shock. Not only have I set this up with no help from anyone except the gremlin inside my laptop but I've done it in the middle of the night when most people are fast asleep.

I would be asleep myself, had I not fallen on the beach on Sunday afternoon while playing 'woodbats', a game devised by my partner and son on one of their annual camping trips. Woodbats consists of holding a non-specified chunk of wood in one hand and hitting an item thrown to you, in this case a cracked, plastic bottle. A down-market version of cricket. On this occasion I took a swing at said bottle, lost my balance, landing on the ground, rolling over onto some rocks, hurting my ribs ( could have been my head) and ending up half-winded. Three days later there's no rainbow tinted bruise, just pain, which is why I'm writing this at some ungodly hour.

Until today I was anti-blogging, too public. Then during a windy and wet afternoon, in the midst of my domestic goddess act in the kitchen - preparing dinner, finishing last night's dishes and hanging up a washing on the pulley - it came to me, not exactly in the form of a blinding flash, more like a niggle that demanded I listen to it, this is what I needed to do: start a blog.

I'm studying for a Masters in Creative Writing and our tutors have been lambasting us about the need for writers to create their own brand, to GET- OUT- THERE- AND- NETWORK. So here I am, attempting to do just that.

I don't drink, so there'll be no comments about writing in the grip of an enormous hangover, a fact I considered might debar me from being taken seriously as a blogger. I have few vices of which to boast, in fact. My redeeming feature, I hasten to add, is that I'm a chocoholic, so whilst I won't write while under the influence of alcohol, I might put 'pen to paper' having consumed one too many bars of Fry's chocolate cream. I'm also addicted to the Weasley Kitchen Game, and would arguably be thinner or a better writer if I used the time I spend on this computer game to practise writing or pedal away on my exercise bike.

So, who am I? ( I really have very little knowledge of what to write in a blog. I don't even tend to read other people's blogs that often). In past lives I've worked as a dietitian and health promoter, in various parts of the UK. I've travelled a bit, living in New Zealand, Australia and California, and most recently, in the Rhône Alpes in France, where my partner and son and I spent three years. I've been writing off and on for a long time now, mainly novels and short stories, the occasional article inspired by travel or my son.

I'd be interested to hear from other bloggers about how you actually go about blogging. Do you, for example, prepare a piece of exquisitely crafted prose conveying exactly what you wish to express then transfer it to your blog? Or do you just go for it and write as a stream of consciousness? Have you any tips?

Apologetically yours.

JaneLilly