Widdershins:

(sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) means to take a course opposite that of the sun, going counterclock-wise, lefthandwise, or to circle an object, by always keeping it on the left. It also means "in a direction opposite to the usual," which is how I choose to take it in using it as the title of this blog. We're all in the same world finding our own way.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Getting back to my blogging roots

When I started this blog I hadn't intended it to be so deep or for the average length of a post to near 700 to 1000 words. Which I admit, makes it daunting for people because let's face it, you don't usually go to the internet to read massive amounts of text.

But looking back at some of my older posts (see any of the ones from 2008) and perhaps I'm not as far off as I thought.

So since I've recently chosen a new template and kind of redesigned this space, I thought I'd take the time to revisit where this blog is coming from.

The premise for this blog and its inspiration are really all tied into the title: Widdershin Writings. Widdershins means counter-clockwise or in a broader sense, that which is contrary to the regular. Being that I'd just read Widdershins, the word was fresh in my mind and I was, if nothing else, enthralled by the idea of this fantasy. I've been a sucker for the urban fairy tale ever since I'd read American Gods back in the eighth grade. So here was the water.

The seed was actually by a friend and mentor, the writer for CougCenter, Jeff Nusser. I was a journalism student of his throughout my high school career until he moved the summer before my senior year, and I remember talking to him a few times about blogging and watching as one of his other former students (and a friend of mine) created and used his own blog, http://rocketnumber09.blogspot.com/. It fascinated me. It was like writing a book or reporting or something similar, only it was all you and you could get feedback.

So this seed had been with me for a few years and I'd made a few half-hearted attempts through Facebook notes, but I felt like I needed my own space, somewhere specifically for blogging. And then it rained.

Being left-handed, widdershins seemed to fit. It's a word that seems to say I defy your logic, your direction, your silverware and scissors. I want to go my own way. I'm going to find my own path. And I believe that with a medium like a blog, that's what we have to do. We have to find our own direction and write to it and that's what I've sought to do here.

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