Hullo!
This is my first time starting a blog, so please bear with me.
I’ll start by saying that my name is Ai, pronounced as “eye”. And yes, I’ve heard my fair share of puns about my name starting from when I first came to Canada; my kindergarten teacher thought it would be funny to tap his eyes and say “Ai-Ai-Ai-Ai-Ai” every time he saw me. Even as a four-year-old, I was not impressed, though now I find it quite amusing.
Why didn’t I change my name to avoid the puns? Well, I did. In the third grade, I decided it was a good idea to write “Cornelia” as my name, just randomly, out of the blue, on a math test we had that day. I got an earful from my teacher when she was handing it back and couldn’t figure out who the test belonged to. I was horrified, but mostly because my teacher never smiled until she retired the next year, and at the farewell assembly the school held for her, she was beaming.
Why am I making this blog? I think the surrounding people probably had enough of my energy and my love for jabbering on about irrelevant things, but that’s not the only reason. The other reason is that I think blogging might be a great way to kick-start my writing career. I’ve always had a fear of people reading my writing and then criticizing it, but I realized that without criticism, how would I improve? So, here we are.
What will you find here? I would say expect everything. I’ll be posting about things going on with me and my writing, or my life, interesting tidbits I found randomly on the internet that might inspire some of you with your writing as it sometimes does with my own, and probably some pictures of my cat which I hope you’ll enjoy because he is precious. I will probably also post some of my short stories and flash fiction, and attempts at poetry if I’m not too embarrassed about my lacking experience in writing them; you can find those in the “Writing” section of this blog whenever they are available. And if you feel like it, you can also subscribe and get updates whenever I have them up. You can also find my thoughts on what I’ve been reading recently (though I have had little time lately given my application anxieties, which you can read about in my next post).
Some of you may have seen my work on Wattpad from maybe six years ago where I was obsessed with writing romance because a) that’s what the general audience on the website gravitated towards at the time and b) I hadn’t been in a relationship yet so what better way to idealize romantic endeavours than through writing? Now, I take part in Reedsy’s weekly writing contests where I try to be as unique as possible with my takes on the prompts. If you’re interested in reading some of these attempts, I’ll have links to them in the writing section. Recently, I’ve been accepted for publication at an imprint of a literary magazine which I’m quite excited about. If everything works out, I’ll also be linking that in the writing section!
Goal? To become a better known writer, publish my works in literary journals and magazines, find an agent after completing my novel, maybe win a few awards while I’m at it, but of course, that will take years and decades before I can accomplish one of these things. Matters not, I will keep trying regardless and I hope you all will hold tight on this journey with me and perhaps share with me your own writing journeys as well!
That’s all for now, I think.
A.J.
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