A wild blog appears!

Will you read it? 

…

…

Oh, good,  you’re still here! I’m so glad. 

Please, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Izzy Shows, which…well, you probably already figured that out considering you’re here. On my website. Which has my name in it.

Yikes, we’re not getting off to the best foot, are we? I certainly seem to have both of mine in  my mouth, but don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll get the hang of this soon. See, I’m not particularly accustomed to blogging. I’m an author! If…if that wasn’t abundantly obvious as well.

Damnation.

Anyway, as I was saying, I’m an author. You would think that would mean words are my best weapons, and blogging would come to me as naturally as swimming does to a duck. That isn’t quite the case, though. You see, I’m an awkward person all around. There’s no denying it, there’s no hiding it, which is why I’m not going to even try with all of that nonsense. I’m awkward, and I’m damned proud of it. 

There’s a big difference, in my opinion, in the work that goes into writing a book and the work that goes into writing a blog, and I’m a bit nervous and a bit excited to see what those differences actually are. I know that both are rather terrifying! Both allow others to see directly into my soul, but since I’ve already done that with my books…

Well, gosh, what is the point of this, then? Are you ever going to say?

I’m sure you must be wondering those things, so we’ll hop and skip right to the point, then.

I’ve decided to start a blog for a variety of reasons, not least of all is that I hate Facebook. I hate the company, I hate the medium, I hate everything about it. Facebook is just about the only social network that I’m actually on–I’m on twitter and instagram, too, but I don’t really use them. But I realized I needed my own blog when I tried to set up my filters on Facebook, and have everyone opt into them. 

It just didn’t work, not really. There’s no way for other people to search through my filters on facebook, to see older health updates if that’s all that they wanted, or to check and see if they missed a writing update. It’s just not the right tool for the job I want to get done–a blog is. A blog allows me to set up firm categories, post long entries in those categories, and allows other people to sift through and see what they want to see, and avoid what they don’t want to see. It takes the pressure off of me to put you in the right category, and allows you to just click onto the categories you want to read. 

This blog is not going to have a set schedule. I will not always post on certain days of the week, and there may be a week here and there that goes by with no updates at all. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it needs to be right now. I’ve talked about this extensively with my therapist, and we both agreed that the absolute last thing I need right now is a deadline of any kind. It could be catastrophic for my mental health if I tried to impose a deadline on this blog, so please, be gentle with me here. 

Yet, even though a deadline is dangerous and therefore a blog is flirting with danger, I’ve decided to take this risk. I need a medium in which I can get all my thoughts out, and that’s what this is going to be. And yes, it is going to be right out in public. All my thoughts. My struggles with my physical and mental health, my difficulties with writing, my exuberant accomplishments, my rigorous studies, my everything will be here. 

Why? Why would you do that, Izzy? Isn’t it scary?

Oh, it’s terrifying. But I made a decision a long time ago, when I started, that transparency was one of the most important parts of my brand. Transparency with my readers and my fellow authors. I am going to be transparent here on this blog, where everyone can follow along. This is going to be the best place to stay up to date on my life, for everyone. Friends, family, readers, business associates, everyone who wants updates on me is in the right place right here. 

So, then, what will be on this blog? 

Let’s get to it!

• Announcements
  • Posts just like this one go into announcements. These are things that don’t fit into the other categories, and that I think everyone should know about. These are the really big things happening in my life.
• Art
  • All posts related to my drawings, be they on paper or digital, illustrations, paintings, maps, etc. There will also be posts about my learning process in the art world.
• Author
  • All posts related to being an author, such as writing updates, new book releases, updates on Tir Na Nog Press, signing events, etc.
• Business
  • All posts related to my business dealings, including both practical experience with my own companies and business studies, be they online courses, in person workshops, or university courses.
• Health
  • All posts related to my health–what’s currently going on with my physical health, my mental health journey, as well as fitness and other health goals.
• LARP
  • All things LARP related. Talk about events I go to, conventions, pictures from events, LARP writing, etc.
• Personal Identity
  • All things related to documenting my personal journey as I climb out of depression and start to deal with the effects of 13 years of compartmentalizing my identity.
• Personal Life
  • This is just normal, every day Izzy talk and updates on my personal life.
• Politics
  • All things related to my political opinions.
• Spirituality and Magic
  • All things related to my personal spiritual journey. I’m not sure where it’s going to end up, but I do know it includes multiple gods and quite a lot of magic, so be on board with that kind of talk.

So, yeah! That’s what this blog is all about, how I’m going to use it, and what you can expect from it. 

I hope to see you next time!

Izzy