Starting off a blog is quite a bizarre experience, as you find yourself writing to a non-existent audience about a non-existent entity. If you're anything like me that encourages you to procrastinate until you finally find a free evening to discover that a blank Blogger screen really isn't that much of a hurdle. Admittedly though I'm still feeling a bit Charlotte Bronte-esque right now; 'Dear Reader, I blogged' ...
I finished my English Language and Literature BA over the summer, and have found the last four months to be some of the most confusing and unsettling times that I can remember. Literally unsettling; in that I've gone from spending half the year at university and half at my parents house to living full-time in Oxford for twelve months. But they've also been incredibly unsettling for me as an individual, as I go from the structure and identity found in university life to suddenly finding myself with no over-arching plan of what to do with myself and the worrying idea that I'm now expected to start acting like a 'Real Person'. Not necessarily unsettling in a bad way, in that it's useful to take a good look at myself and try to figure out who I am and where I'm heading, but still there's an awful lot of transition going on at the moment, and being in the middle of it isn't always pretty.
And so I turn to blogging. Despite the rather sober introduction there I'm starting this because it's just plain fun to write, and being able to engage with people along the way is even better. I'm expecting this to be rather eclectic as I muse on whatever this year decides to throw at me then chuck in some tangents on the latest novel I'm on, whether I will ever manage to convince Southeners that 'tea' is an appropriate name for the evening meal and whatever else takes my fancy.
I will probably ramble, and sometimes accidentally write like the latest author I've been reading, which happens much more often than I mean it too. I always appreciated the idea than the literal meaning of an 'essay' is an 'attempt' and on this blog I'll be both documenting my attempts to live out my new found freedom of action and attempting to find a coherent way to present those experiences. Hence I've allowed myself the indulgence of a fairly pretentious title (and the use of the word 'hence', oh dear). I'll try not to let it get too over the top though.
I hope to update at least once a week, which might actually help me in the on-going battle to keep on top of my organisation or may just result in posting at odd hours of the morning, depending on how well things are going. We shall see.
All the best, and on with the scribbling!
Bryony
