A Hundred Down, A Few More To Go

This is my 100th post on Variant Minds, and I thought it would be nice to take a look at what this blog is built on. When I arrived at college last semester, I didn't sign up for any writing-intensive classes-- I had taken AP English in high school, but never considered myself to be an 'English' person, overshadowed as I was by the writings of my brother Joel and friend Luke.

In the middle of October, I was tasked to write a paragraph for a group project in Health class, and I had more fun with that homework than I had had in a while. I began to realize that I'd begun to miss the writing I had been required to do from time to time in high school. I decided it was time to pick up a new hobby, so I started from a topic I knew a lot about - video games - and began working towards being a video game journalist. My first article was posted on the Internet on October 28.

Over the next month, I wrote a lot of words about video games, slowly climbing to bigger websites and getting my first free game. There were two major reasons that I decided to start a blog: there were things I wanted to write about that weren't related to gaming, and games journalists are apparently expected to all have personal blogs.

On November 20, I started the process of creating a blog, but couldn't think of what to call it. I went to get supper as I thought about what my blog would be. I was worried that even if I wrote about things I thought were relevant and interesting now, my future self would look back with embarrassment on the writings of my past self. I was also wondering how to explain why I keep switching from writing about video games to writing about Chemistry or Latin. It was then that I came up with the idea of Variant Minds, speaking from the viewpoints of different elements of my self. I posted my first post.

It took me a few months to work out where I was going with Variant Minds, but I've gotten into a pattern. I try to make a blog post every day just before I go to sleep, alternating between the gamer Chris and the intellectual Benjamin. If I have a lot of free time, I write something related to my experiences during the day, or add to the 'Exit' or 'Tales of the Urban Dead' series. When I'm in a hurry, I can do a 'Screenshot of Day' post if it's Chris's day, or 'Science Facts' if it's Benjamin's turn.

I enjoy writing now more than I think I ever have, and hope to continue blogging for quite a while. I'm grateful to all the people who have inspired me, and to the God who gives me thoughts and ideas and the ability to write lots of words about them. The past hundred posts have been a fun ride, and they might be just the beginning.