Recognize!

Or maybe that should be “re-prah-ZENT!” I’m not sure. Either way, another blog award came my way in the recent past, and I’m more than pleased to accept it. The award is the Blogger Recognition Award, and the bestowal comes from two fantastic bloggers-at-arms, The Duck of Indeed and StrawberrytheGlaceon. I’ve extended my thanks to both for this kind nod, and now I must get on with the rules that accompany said award.

1. Give two pieces of advice (about blogging, I presume.)
2. Tell the whopper of a story about how my blog got started (“whopper,” relatively speaking).
3. Nominate others for this hallowed honor

Alrighty. Advice. Well…um. As I’ve been a rather insular blogger of late, I feel like the last person who should be doling out advice about blogging, but my first piece builds upon advice the Duck gave about topics and focus in blogging. My blog started out as a place for me to wax nostalgic about gaming, and I needed that narrow focus initially in order to keep the blog and my writing on track. But since then, my posts have expanded into other subjects. That evolution has happened both naturally and due to my volition. Change in blogging is something to welcome. If you run out of things to say on one topic, don’t be afraid to write about something else or make different content for your blog. Over time you learn that your readers are there for you and not only for writings on specific topics.

My second piece of advice: be consistent. I get that, to a certain degree, blogging is in-the-moment writing – it’s ranting, raving, and being frank and open and NOW. But often you see potentially great blogs that come on so strong with frequent posts that eventually there’s nowhere to go but down. Now, if that’s your thing, if you possess a super special magical writing-every-day ability, then by all means, have at! If not, then putting your blogging on some sort of schedule may help alleviate any wayward fears of crashing and burning. Whatever you do, whether you post twice daily or once a month,maintaining a consistent schedule might be a good thing.That way your readers know what to expect and when to expect it.

Take those pieces of advice with whatever seasoning you wish, for I must see to rule #2, the story of this blog, bits of which I’m sure I’ve covered in dribs and drabs here and there. To be as concise as possible, the seeds for creating my own blog were sown in 2009 when I was part of a team that started a blog at my work. Being a slow learner and somewhat reluctant to develop an online persona, it took me a couple years to understand how blogging might work for me personally. Once I saw how it might help me overcome a number of insecurities, I signed up for my own WordPress site under its current name. (As writing about the past/history is kinda my deal, I figured the blog would follow that vein, though I wasn’t sure about exactly how then.) That was in July 2011. I sat on the empty blog for months until I received a sign: this particular commercial for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. With it clogging and offending my brain cells (I talked about that fuss in my very first post), my blogging goal became clear: to write about and share my experiences with video games — experiences from the feminine perspective, though not always with that notion at its core.

This brings us to rule #3…more nominations, eh? Well, with this award, I’d like to recognize a few bloggers who regularly make the blogosphere a little brighter. Like I have with this blog, they’ve maintained and evolved their own blogs over time, this despite surely hectic and busy lives. They’ve also carved out their own niches with personality, style, and commanding words. If they have something to say, whether light-hearted, serious, or something in between, then you should definitely read.

Link Saves Zelda
Murf Versus
Simpleek
Skociomatic
Video Games Nebula