Hello there again! I thought I’d write a little something something to really introduce myself on Substack and outline what I want this space to be (mainly for my own sake). The short answer is: I have no idea what this blog is going to be, the least I can offer you (the Substack void) is that its going to be a stream of consciousness like my bio says.
But I hate that absolutely lazy, cop-out answer so I’m gonna ramble. Strap in.
Let’s start with the basics, the ‘who, what, when, where’ of it all.
Hi there, my name is Amelia (like the missing pilot as I’ve been telling people). I’m a 70-year-old lady trapped in an almost-22-year-old’s body. I’m a Pisces and my favorite color is purple. I’m also a senior in college, studying Political Science and Art History… and I actually used to hate writing.
Growing up, I detested writing. I absolutely hated going to “Language Arts” classes in the third grade and writing about experiences which I had deemed mediocre when compared to my more interesting classmates’. It was absolute torture being forced to overly describe things just to give readers (my teacher) a sense of what I actually meant. In my puny brain the words meant exactly what I wanted them to mean. Why did anyone need anything more from me?
But as I got older, and my love for reading developed, I discovered how writing could be an expressive, creative medium, one used to build worlds and unravel the deepest parts of a person’s subconscious. That was also when I discovered why writing had been so difficult for me in the past: because when I tried to open up, I didn’t like what I saw. All those emotions and thoughts I had about myself were simply too intense, and subjecting them to a graded by my teachers and evaluated by my peers only hurt me more. I didn’t like writing, even though I desperately needed to be writing.
It was only in high school when writer-Amelia came back out of her hermit hole. One teacher in my freshman english class had actually given me the first ounce of encouragement I needed. It was an A+ on an in-class essay based some short story in the school-sanctioned textbook, chock-full of symbolism for 14-year-olds to pick apart. I didn’t consider the essay to be very good, the story wasn’t very inspiring, but my teacher loved it. He even presented it to the class as an example of what good work looked like. That moment meant everything to me, it was the first time anyone I respected actually gave me positive criticism on my work. (Thank you, Mr. Freshman English Teacher).
Luckily, it was only uphill from there. I’ve gained a lot of confidence in my writing in the last seven years, but I’m still not really where I want to be with it. So maybe that, sweet Substack void, is what this blog is going to be: a creative-writing exercise. Even though I’ve improved my writing, it’s never been a successful creative outlet for me, and I’ve had a lot of creative outlets. I had Tumblr, I tried to write for it, I failed. I’ve kept countless journals, but they all only have about ten pages of writing. I even had a brief stint as an opinions columnist for my university newspaper… it was fulfilling, but ultimately not my favorite.
(Let me know if you’d like to see my op-ed, ‘Sip & Chat’)
So I think what I’d like this blog to be is just a creative space, a place for me to vent or talk about things that inspire me, while simultaneously improving my writing. I do love writing now, and I love reading other peoples’ writing (you’re all so interesting on here). And lord knows, after this last semester of college, my writing needs some rejuvenation as of late (AI and I had a bit of a fling - fun, but ultimately terrible for me).
I’d love to talk about topics that are giving me big feelings on here, I am a water sign after all. If you’re interested in the arts (all of them!), history, politics, pop-culture and regular culture, please have a seat at my table, you’re all welcome here. I’ll try to post here on a regular (weekly?) basis, but no promises yet. I’m still learning to write and be vulnerable.
So welcome to my little corner of the internet! I hope you like the things I say (if you don’t, that’s okay too). I can’t wait to meet you all and dive head first into the Substack void. I prostrate myself before thee, oh great internet gods.
Okay, I’ll shut up now, ttyl.
Sincerely,
Amelia.
This post was inspired by my dear friend - Thank you Evie for inspiring me to get on here!
Sorry for the lack of proofreading in advance.
I love this ! not a lot of people have a distinctive writing style like this, I think that's cool
although we're besties, i still loved reading what got you into writing again and what inspires you. so excited to keep up with your future posts and i feel honored that i inspired your introduction post :') love you so much and i can't wait to see you this coming weekend EEK