Day 17: When and why I started blogging

I started blogging when I read somewhere (possibly on a blog) that all writers need a blog. So, initially I started it as a kind of journal & way of sharing my writing and what was happening in the little writing section of my world as well as just random rants about things I wanted to share. Probably the real reason is that I can’t shut up and this was just another format through which I could keep talking even if nobody was around… That was 20^th November, 2008.

Then when we started building our strawbale house lots of people wanted to keep tabs on the progress but progress was slow. It got so that when we caught up with friends they were a little bit scared of asking how it was going in case it really wasn’t so on the 6^th on April, 2009 I started a blog about the building project. That way our friends could at least see what was happening despite our insistence that nothing actually was.

Now that I’m studying for my PhD I’ve started another blog to chart that progress, although there hasn’t been much activity there lately. Better get on with it.

Day 16: Biggest Accomplishment

Gawd! All this banging on about how ace I am. It’s getting hard to handle.

I initially thought of writing about getting first class honours and being accepted in to the PhD program at Deakin. This was a big achievement for me, and something that I was proud of, but it’s probably not my biggest accomplishment.

Then I thought about Nic and what I see as the very successful, happy & supportive relationship we have cultivated but the term ‘accomplishment’ indicates to me something that is finished and, of course, all relationships are a work in progress. Besides, how sappy would that be as a blog post?

So, really, when I think about the thing I’m most proud of accomplishing I think about sitting next to an ex-student of mine, Vanessa, at her house that was bubbling with family and friends celebrating the naming day of her youngest son. She made a point of thanking me for my role in her life as an English teacher and a friend; as someone who supported her through some tough times at the same time as helping her to improve her grammar. She said that I made a difference to her and that is something that I’m very proud of. That’s my biggest accomplishment.

Day 11: The Last Book I Read

Sadly, it was a text about completing a PhD. It was interesting, though, & written with humour (which is probably the only reason I was able to finish it.) It was called How to Tame your PhD by Dr Inger Mewburn and it’s based on Mewburn’s posts from her Thesis Whisperer blog. The blog is very worth a read if you’re doing any higher degree study.

But if I’m going to go back to the last novel I read, it was Broken by Daniel Clay, a disturbingly modern take on To Kill a Mockingbird which can be tricky to do well but it was really quite awesome.

What was the last book you read?