You can’t teach an old blog new tricks
In this past, I’ve always been notoriously bad at writing blog posts. Like diaries, calendars and address books there has always been something impossible for me about remaining organised enough to get my thoughts out in a regular fashion on the page. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve blogged a lot the past. But it always feels so much like a resolution, something I ought to do to better represent myself or share my work, and, inevitably, after a number of weeks the posts dry up and the blog falls by the wayside.
Right, now that’s all out in the open, I can tell you what I’m hoping to do from this point onward. The last twelve months of isolation have impacted all of us in different ways; we’ve all faced challenges during the pandemic and we’ve all had to adjust. In my case, I’ve been through a number of life changes since late 2019, and, coupled with the looming dread of saying goodbye to my 20s later this year, it’s also provided plenty of time to consider what the future might hold.
So here I am, back to blogging again. Along with the change, there have been a lot of interesting things happening too. Since late 2019 I have, in no particular order, renovated and re-decorated my whole house and garden, become a father for the first time, started my PhD, and released my debut album of original music. There has been a lot going on, and I want to talk about it. These are all things that I’m passionate about and, going into my 30th decade, I want to write about more openly and, in some cases, campaign for (my son was born in May 2020 and while healthy and happy, was diagnosed with the rare metabolic disorder PKU at three days old, a condition that requires constant dietary management for life. I’d love to raise awareness of PKU so that it’s more visible in society).
This blog then will become my space for sharing the thoughts and ideas that I have around the subjects that I’m passionate about. My interior design and the skills I learned along the way, pitfalls and successes; my music, both my PhD in Ethnomusicology looking at the experiences of female performers in the country music genre, and my own recordings; what it’s like to be the parent of a PKUer, my low-protein recipe ideas and the experiences of a new Dad; my writing and journalism, both creative and non-fiction. I’ll also be sharing stories from my radio show, Ben’s Country Music Show, and my Spotify podcast The Music That Made.
I hope you’ll join me along the way and find the topics I’m writing about interesting too. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas for new posts and your feedback too. Hopefully, I keep up with and better my own atrocious previous record. You’ll have to let me know in a couple of months if I succeed.
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