The horror of the blank (web)page

Here we are.

My first blog entry.

I’m actually taken aback by how much writing this post this is like my first sexual experience. Well, rather I should say the first time having sex with another person; exciting, nerve-wracking and slightly terrifying in its intensity. If it were like my actual first sexual experience it would be somewhat different; brief, involve a Target underwear catalogue and the subsequent shameful disposal of a dirty sock.

Given my sincere doubts that many visitors will come here to be regaled with stories from my early bedroom adventures, I think I should start with the fundamentals:

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Introduction, or who the hell are you?

My name is Kristian Thoroughgood, alternately known as KT to my friends, or @WildBilbo on twitter. As of August 2014, I am thirty-nine years old. I toyed briefly with calling this blog ‘One Year To Forty’, but even I could see the inherent limitations this would impose.

I have a house, garden, full time job, two children that I find delightful (B – nearly 3 and L – nearly 1), a lovely wife (J) and a mild-mannered  dog (possibly with a superhero alter-ego) called Clark.

If your life is so awesome, why are you blogging?

Good question. As early 2014 ticked over, and I approached my 39th birthday, I started to feel a bit… dissatisfied. Not with my work (which I enjoy) or family (whom I cherish deeply), but with myself, and what I was doing with the little bits of my life that weren’t work or family. On a private front, I started to feel a bit stale.

Oh yeah, I’d gotten a bit fat too. Not ‘buying an extra plane ticket fat’, but ‘getting warned about diabetes and heart disease from the local GP’ fat.

The excess weight is easy to deal with – picked up the myfitnesspal app for the phone and am now tracking calorie intake (precious, tasty calories).

Dealing with my inner ennui proved more difficult. After some deep personal analysis and soul-searching (drinking and whining to my wife) I decided that I was missing a creative output. After restarting old hobbies (painting 40 miniatures) and trialling new hobbies (pencil drawing and small watercolour paintings), I finally settled on something I just felt was a better fit.

I will become a writer.

Specifically, I will write a book. A novel. Fiction.

Of course, this presents a problem, as I have never written anything that isn’t a University essay, professional tax advice or a 140-character attempt to be funny on twitter. I need to practice my writing, I need to find my voice, and I need to get over the fear of showing people the stuff I create.

And so this blog, Uncertain Tales, will be an outlet for my creative output.

So what can we expect you to blog about?

I will be blogging to polish, improve and ultimately display my writing, so expect short stories, random thoughts, jokes, articles essays and potentially anything else I think I have enough knowledge to write about. I may post responses to tweets, other blogs, and articles. My only rule (to myself) is that simply posting a link is not enough – this is a writing blog, and as such I must have something to contribute.

I have also started undertaking some short creative writing ‘challenges’ set by others, particularly authors. I have responded to a few Jacopo della Quercia ‘Pop Quizzes’ on Twitter and hope to get involved in some of contests set out by Chuck Wendig on his Terrible Minds Blog. I will start by posting the ones I have already done, and any new ones will posted here also.

What I wont be doing is writing a novel and posting it for everyone to see. I think novels need fermenting, in the warmth, in the dark, away from the sterilising light of day.

So… can I comment on your stuff or not?

Absolutely, and I encourage you to be honest and unwavering in your comments and criticisms. I’m a big boy and I’ve been to the internet once or twice before. Lively debate is welcomed and encouraged.

I will be enforcing a ‘be nice to each other’ policy though (to the best of my ability of course, I am new to WordPress and blogging generally).

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So hopefully this makes sense, and equally, I hope it encourages you to visit this blog again.

Cheers

KT (@WildBilbo)