Hello There...
My *Fill in the Blank* Attempt at Writing an Intro Post
I’ve honestly lost count of how many times I’ve tried to write this initial post.
The opening paragraph for this post has gone through a ridiculous number of rewrites to this point. What happened to all the different versions you ask? They’ve been backspaced to death and just result in me beginning anew each time. I’d like to think that’s the case with most writers but who am I to say? I have no idea about writers, this is honestly my first true “I’m going to push through this mental writing barrier I’ve put on myself and actually will follow through with my writing dreams for a change.” Writing has always been something that I’ve fantasized about doing. I’ve imagined publishing different pieces about different nerd topics over the years but what happens? My anxiety and imposter syndrome kick into high gear and win out every time.
For einstance, this very Substack. I created this Substack back in January, literally a few days into the new year thinking I’m going to actually follow through and do it this time. Well, if you take a look at your calendar and you’ll notice it’s the end of June. Now if I’m correct that is about 6 months since January which means it’s nowhere near the beginning of the year and would you look at that nothing has been posted. What a shock. It’s usually been because of thoughts like…
“No one cares Michael.”
“You think anyone is going to read this?”
“You’re not good enough to write.”
“When are you even going to have time?”
Those are just some examples of thoughts that ran through my head any time I got the inkling to write. I mean even before Substack, any social media platform that I’ve joined where you can express yourself, I end up just talking myself out of any post. No matter what, it’s like clockwork I get excited to do it, go through the steps to get ready to do it, and then never do it. I don’t like this clockwork that I go through, not a fan at all of it.
Why will this time be different?
To be absolutely honest with you. It may not, I may write a few posts and then stop. That would very much fit into the pattern of my writing exploits to this point. However, maybe this time is different for me. Maybe it’s a combination of being older and not caring what people think. Maybe it’s me just trying overcome the mental barriers I put on myself for a change. Maybe it’s because Substack presents a different opportunity when it comes to writing. Maybe because this platform is more writing focused than any other to my knowledge. I don’t know but for me it’s something that I need to push through for myself at the very least. I want to say that I tried.
With all that being said, welcome to Thoughts from a Nerd my attempt at pushing through my writing barrier to write about things I enjoy. From movies and shows to books and gaming, the topics will be a wide array. The focus is mainly things like the MCU, DCU, Star Wars, fun dumb action movies, and much more but really just whatever I’ve viewed as of late. (Sidenote: just watched the Polite Society and it was such a joy to watch.) I should also mention that I’ll probably have more of a positive tilt than a negative one with most of the writings here. For one, I enjoy talking about things I like more than things I don’t. Two, there’s so much negativity focused coverage out there that really just becomes truly hateful/mean for no reason at all outside of generating clicks/engagement/reaction that it can become mentally exhausting to read. That’s not to say I won’t go into negative things, been thinking about The Flash as of late in that regards, there’ll probably be some posts that have negative tilts to them. It’s just not my focus or forte to be negative and won’t be the focus here.
Plus, a lot of what I want to write about is just escapism at its core. That’s the type of media that I’m most interested in writing about. There have been so many movies and shows that have helped me get through some really rough times too. Aquaman, while not a great movie by any means, was just a dumb/fun/campy superhero action movie that hit me at the right time in my life that made me enjoy it more than many other people. I realize I overvalue that movie but that’s what a solid to good to great to amazing movies, shows, games, or books do right? They transport you to this whole other world or universe with an interesting/fun/engaging story to tell. Allowing you the reader, the viewer, the listener, the player not to think about that bill that’s due next week, the family drama that may be going on right now. They take your focus off those things for a bit which is needed.
I know this sounds like an ostrich technique of dealing with problems, burying your head in the sand and not deal with the problems you may face on a day-to-day basis. That’s not what I mean to say at all, we have to face the daily problems of life, we can’t hide away from those things. But we also can’t always be on or thinking about those things at all hours of the day. Otherwise, it all becomes too much mentally for even the strongest of people. I think we all have moments where we doom scroll or have our really rough days where nothing goes right, so in those times we all need an outlet that allows us to get away for a bit. For some that’s working on projects with their hands like gardening or building stuff in the garage. Maybe that’s cooking, knitting, hanging out with friends… whatever it is everyone has their outlet. For me, it’s tuning in to a new episode of a show or putting on Extraction 2 and watching Chris Hemsworth fight people for 21 minutes straight without a break in the action. We all have our outlets and we need them to help us get through life’s daily struggles is all I mean.
Lastly, my writing style is more emotional than anything else. I studied broadcast journalism at the University of Houston and while I enjoyed it the restrictions on writing were too much for me. I get why but just not for me. So, this just allows me to be me and that’s what I’m looking forward to.
I’m thinking of releasing writings maybe every other Tuesday for now but we’ll see. Everything is fluid with this first adventure into writing. I hope that if anyone has read through this they can relate and share in what they enjoy. Also, thank you for reading this in the first place. I really just want to share in my joys of nerd culture and I hope that comes through.
Oh, and this is the logo I came up with… it’s meh but it’s my meh haha.
