A Fresh Start

Blogging has brought me a lot of good things. I made two online friends, both of whom inspire me with their stories and make me laugh and feel like I belong. One of them lives in Canada so we haven't met yet, but her first novel is coming out next year and I think you should order it if it sounds like your thing :) The other one, happily, lives right here in Aberdeen, and has become a proper real-life friend. She set up a book group including me and four other women who didn't know each other but liked her and liked books. We're an awkward bunch but we stuck it out and now I have a surprise bonus group of friends, who make me laugh and think and read good books. I'll always be grateful too that she patiently let me learn, basically by trial and error, how to interact with kids, since hers were the first ones I've known since my cousin, who's now 22! I feel fairly equipped for auntie duties now, which is lucky because wedding season might be over but the babies are popping up all over!

Through blogging I've also discovered two hobbies I love. I was starting to get into photography just before I started, and I've always had an eye for composition, but my blog and Instagram have really helped me hone my skills, learn what I like, and reach the point where I'm happy to call myself a photographer. I'm not sure I'd call myself a writer yet, but writing for an audience has taught me how to write positively, which I've never been able to sustain on paper. The result is that, regardless of whether anyone's actually reading, I end up with a journal of happy memories to look back on. Authenticity is a big buzz word online, and it's easy to get the impression that you should be baring the darkest depths of your soul for the world to see, but honestly, my angst-ridden diaries aren't a particularly authentic account of my teenage years either!

Anyway, I could (and might) get into more detail on why I disappeared for a year and my intentions now that I'm back, but for now I'm happy to be making a fresh start. I decided to get my very own domain (my .com, for anyone lacking the lingo), which feels like a commitment, a treat and an investment in myself. As usual I won't be sticking to any particular schedule, but posting when I have something to say. I think I've hopefully stopped caring too much about the fact that posting publicly means that people I know (but whose opinions I don't actually value) can read what I write. Therefore I'm hopefully going to be posting some thoughts that are halfway interesting to the people I want to read them. Having a target audience instead of trying to blend in feels like absolute common sense but also, somehow, like a big and scary dream, so I'm going to end on that note!

Photos taken at the iconic Calton Hill in Edinburgh. I've lived my whole life in Scotland and half of it with Edinburgh as my local city, and yet I'd never been until this summer. That's the side of blogging and social media I love - inspiring me to get out and about and visit beautiful places. Calton Hill is even more stunning than I expected, with bird's eye views along Princes Street and across the city, but also over to Arthur's Seat to the south and the Firth of Forth to the north.

Let me know any other not-so-hidden gems I've been missing, and how your 2018 has been!

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