I started this blog because… well, I’ve pretty much always had a blog. Since I’ve known what one was, I’ve had one. I started out years ago with Xanga, basically writing whatever I wanted, however short or long of a post I wanted. In some ways, I still kind of do that. I’ve been through different names and designs for my blog, finally coming up with the idea of “girl vs planet”. I’m not even sure how I came up with it, but I like it. I think it will be around for a long while. I think it adequately describes what my blog is. The planet thing kind of has multiple meanings. First of all, it’s an indication of my love of travel. Also, I think the whole “girl vs planet” idea kind of sums up what it’s about… the experiences I have. Whether it is a book I read, or a trip I took, or just what’s going on in life in general, it’s a good description of what my blog is about.

Now, on the other hand… where do I want to go with it? Initially, and for a long time, I have never cared much about who reads or doesn’t read my blog or how much of a following or how much traffic I have. But now I’m kind of starting to. Not because I really feel the need for more attention, but because the more “attention” I get, the more I can do with it. For example, it gave me the opportunity to be a part of the Phoenix Film Festival this week. I love that. The best thing I can provide them in exchange for the festival allowing me to be there on a press pass is passion. Passion about this event they are having. Enough passion that I do everything I can to make sure people know about it. Enough passion that I want to share it with however many or few people are reading this. I like telling people about the things I’m passionate about. That’s what passion is, I guess.

I’m kind of unsure of what to do or where to go from here, though. In a way, I felt sort of like a fraud with a press pass at the festival. My blog doesn’t have a huge following. I review films sometimes, but I know I’m probably not the best film critic. I don’t follow any film critic rules, I just write what I think about the film. And I know that I don’t want to just write about film. I like writing about all kinds of things, and I’m wondering if maybe that is a downfall. I write about books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, places I’m traveling to, what I think about the series finale of TV shows. The blog is about all kinds of experiences I have. Hence the tag line – “One girl. One planet. One experience at a time.” But how does that gain a following? People generally aren’t going to care about finding one person’s blog about all different kinds of things, are they? Instead they are looking for a movie review site, or a book site, or a TV site, or a travel site.

Eventually, it would be my dream to somehow monetize this blog. An even bigger dream would be to earn my living from writing, hopefully in some form like this. I love writing, but I can’t see myself writing a novel or a screenplay. But I also have a hard time believing I could ever gain enough of a following to make a living from a blog like this, so I’m not sure where to go with it.

So that’s where you guys come in. I know I don’t have a ton of readers, necessarily, but I do know people read this. (And every once in a while, someone even comments!) What do you think? I’m kind of begging for feedback on this one. If you’re reading this now, what brought you here? I know most of you are just my friends that see the posts I put on Facebook or Twitter or you follow me on an RSS reader. But what makes you come and read? Is it just the fact that you know me? Or do you genuinely think my writing is interesting? What makes you visit a website that you go to regularly (besides something like Google or Facebook)? Do you think my blog/website would do better if it was just one focus, or do you like that I write about all of my experiences? Personally, I like finding other people’s blogs. I like reading about other people’s experiences. I can’t really imagine just writing about one aspect of my life, because I have so many interests and different things I’m passionate about. But I’m not sure how far that’s going to get me.

So please, tell me what you think. Comments here (or if not here, Facebook or Twitter or wherever) are very much appreciated. What should I do? Where should I go from here?

Dad and Me

Taking a bit of a break from the Phoenix Film Festival posts and everything else that has been going on lately. Today it’s been five years since my dad passed away. A while ago (and a different blog ago), I started a series of blog posts called “Heroes In My World”. Now, usually whenever I switch blogs, I’m not very good about even keeping the posts that I’ve made. I’m just lazy that way, and they’re not that important to me (I know, they should be, probably). But I was remembering this series the other day, and wishing I still had some of the posts. To me, they were quite the tribute to the people they were about. So I used the Wayback Machine to see if I could still find any of them. And I did! The first one I did was actually about my dad. So I thought it might be a good idea to repost it here today since I’m remembering him. Here you go.

Ok, so I realize that I haven’t really blogged too much in a while, and definitely not on a regular basis for a little while. But that is going to change. There are some things in the mix that you’ll soon get to see more of around here.