I hate awkward introductions so lets do that bit first to get it out of the way.
It’s nice to meet you. I’m Hannah. I hope to be seeing more of you in the future. Firstly - I want to start this first blog post by saying thank you. Thank you reader for taking the time out of your day to read my first ever review. I can’t express in words how much it means to me that you gave my website a chance. I have been asking myself all month if I am actually ready to do this and more often than not my answer was that I didn’t know but seeing that you (the writing/reading community) have encouraged me every step of the way has made me determined to do this. I can’t stress enough how much your overwhelming support has meant to me. To give you some context, when I agreed to start doing this (and actually committed myself to the cause), I really had no idea of what kind of direction I wanted to take it in. I knew that I wanted to write something worth reading. Something informative and honest but also something that would pass along the positivity given to me by the writing community to someone else who needs it. I just had no idea of what that would be or where to begin with that goal. There are a lot of reviewers out there in the word (and frankly there are a lot of reviewers who completely outshine me) so reviewing wasn’t my original intention. I had essentially convinced myself before I had even begun this journey that I wasn’t qualified to do it. I told myself that it wouldn’t be helpful or beneficial to anyone for me to come along and continue to oversaturate the market with the ramblings of a 20 something procrastinator with no self confidence. Now...before you start to lament your decision to read this post, I will cut to the chase and say that I very quickly became aware that this was a negative and unhealthy mindset. So in short - I forced myself to change my mind. I decided to research (knowing that I couldn’t go into this blindly) and found that there were tonnes of voices out there. When I say that the amount of content that I had to sift through was immense, I really mean it. I was completely out of my depth and felt like I was sinking further into my own insecurities. However, after taking some time to reflect and having it reinforced in my brain that I was good enough to do this, I realised something. There are hundreds of creative, talented and enthusiastic voices out there. Voices that may be much more important to the community than my own...but none of those voices represent who I am and who I think a lot of people out there are too. Whilst all of the blog posts I came across were skillfully written and highly engaging, they didn’t speak from the point of view of someone (like me) who really had no idea what they were doing in the writing community. Someone who just knew that they loved books, writing and everything in between. The voice of someone who didn’t have a lot of confidence in their ability to write or any long term goal in mind...they just did it regardless. So...here I am. I'm going to try and be that voice for you. The voice that represents anyone who is scared to try, for those who harbour a secret love for a hobby that they can never bring themselves to share with anyone else and for those who need a friend to encourage them. It all starts with me facing my own demons and pressing send on that first post. So where to begin our journey? (As this is just as much your journey as it is mine). I wrote this tweet. “Okay so originally I was going to review something i'd already read as a taster but I really don't see a review for a well-known book being beneficial to anyone. So I'm open to all you new authors. Send me your works! I'm your gal!” I meant it. I didn’t want to be that reviewer that focused on books that millions of people have either read or reviewed already. I wanted to devote my time and my attention to the new entries to the writing community. That's where we’re going to begin. We’re going to begin with the stories untold, the characters we have yet to play with and the plot twists undiscovered thus far. We’re going to focus this blog on you writing community because you mean everything. So if you feel so inclined, head over to the first review. I have a feeling it’s going to make someone out there very happy. I’m planning on posting one every two to three weeks on a Saturday so stay tuned for more (if you do like what you read) and remember that it’s okay to be nervous about starting something new but never let the fear of doing it stop you. I did for far too long so...i’m making a conscious effort to change things around here. (never quite sure how to sign off these things) from the writing community’s biggest fan - Hannah Writes.
2 Comments
8/22/2020 11:14:35 am
Bravo!! Hannah, this is marvelously written & thoughtful as heck, but what's most remarkable to me is how proud I am of you, someone who I didn't even know before landing on this article. Not only that, but I find myself inspired and uplifted too. I can't wait to read your first review, but before that I just want to applaud the fact that you wrote THIS post, and posted it to the world, and that you're pushing ahead with your goal. The Writing Community, on and off Twitter, is lucky to count you as a member!
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Hello from a fellow blogger ! I must be one of the first follower of your blog (I follow via wordpress reader (RSS flux) as I don't like email subscribing) ! I am also a recent blogger (lifestyle, parnting and books). I hope you are successfull and am looking forward to seeing posts from you (and coments on my posts maybeif you like my blog)
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AuthorNot much to say here that you haven't seen already! I am hoping to post a review once a fortnight on a Saturday so stay tuned! Archives
January 2022
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