I’m Renea, welcome to my new Blog, Newsletter, I’m not sure which yet. Maybe both. It’s called Ethereal Triggers of Inspiration. Please, let me elaborate:
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing a blog/Newsletter and doing some digital art, taking photos, that kind of thing, but I’ve always found an excuse as to why I shouldn’t put something out there. The biggest roadblock I put in front of myself is that it's a saturated marketplace, in every genre. Everything you can possibly think of has already been done, painted, photographed, written, sung, talked about, and there’s no room for one more voice! What would I have to say that anyone would be interested in reading or listening to?
That’s not all. When it comes to writing, I’m definitely not the most articulate, probably edging toward the least to be honest. My grammar, or lack thereof, is shocking, and I resort to emoticons far too frequently to express myself rather than having to think of the words! I use smilies A LOT but I have to confess - they’re not an exaggeration. In general, I feel pretty happy. Does that go against the grain these days? Maybe.
It’s been almost a year since I started my Journal, a daily practice of talking to myself about anything that comes to mind - how I’m feeling, what triggers me, insights, dreams, hopes, fears, and all that jazz. I’d never started a Journal before because I didn’t know what I’d write about. That blank page was like a challenge staring back at me that was insurmountable.
I’ve always loved stationery. Yes, I was that kid who used to collect erasers, paper, and coloring tools of every description. No one ever wants to come to the stationery store with me - at least an hour of pure hell for them! Anyway, I’m always buying notebooks, writing pads, scrapbooks, visual diaries, and I just keep thinking ‘Arrrgh! I don’t want to waste the paper, I’ll save this book for something special!’ But that special day never comes. I end up with all these empty books on the shelf because I’m too afraid to take the leap and actually write or draw something in them.
So, almost a year ago, I took that leap. I realized how ridiculous it was to have all these empty books, waiting to be filled. I wasn’t sure if I could write anything, and it’s true, my first few attempts were clumsy, short, and not particularly interesting, but as I progressed, so did my writing. Okay, not so much my grammar and eloquence - they’re still very rudimentary, but the essence, the concepts, the reflections, began to surprise me. Some of the things I wrote were bordering on useful! I started to read over my ponderings and I wondered ‘are these thoughts for me only, or could they possibly trigger inspiration for others?’ Does it matter if they don’t? Does it matter if it’s only one other person? How will I know, unless I put it out there? Not all the filler banter but the useful bits, the crux of the Journal entry. What if all these drops from the Ether are meant to be shared?
I noticed I had several ideas for products that I’d dreamed about or were inspired through writing. I also noticed that I didn’t have the right skill-set to actualize some of the ideas I was having. If I shared my ponderings, what if someone else out there resonated with something and THEY could actualize the vision, in their own unique way?
Getting back to the marketplace saturation, the sea of voices. What if I’m looking at it in the wrong way? If I change my perspective, I can see this sea of voices as unique voices, showing me an idea from different perspectives. I listen to a lot of podcasts and I’ve noticed that most guest speakers talk about the same underlying concepts but from their own perspective. I can listen to twenty people talk about the same thing and that multi-faceted approach helps me to gain a deeper, richer understanding of the topic, in other words, it takes a village to build a more detailed collection of data to form an idea. That, and the fact that we all resonate with different voices. Sometimes you find you like the way a particular person presents a story, you like their style, the cut of their jib. Everything I say has been said before, but these are my thoughts, my words, my interpretations.
I will create a range of content types - artwork, photos, writings, the odd poem, who knows, perhaps even a story or two!
Why the title Ethereal Triggers of Inspiration? The things I will write about in the Blog/Newsletter, are from my dreams, reflections, and ponderings in my Journal. They come from that quiet, and often quietly disturbed place - the bridge between our dreamscape and waking life. Quite simply, I’m interested to know if these droplets trigger inspiration in others.
^_^R
And, I guess I'd better fill out the rest of the Settings in Substack, now that I've already created my first post. 😅