Beginning

The tradition continues. Started almost ten years ago, The Tomes of Marshy saw my first foray into the blogging world via the site Open Diary. While my enthusiasm tapered off for it in the end, there's always been a nagging sense that writiting was right. I love writing. I love writing about myself even more.

Inthemix took up most of my time after that. You can see an inverse correlation between the amount I updated my diary, to the amount of posts I made on ITM. This has continued (and will probably continue to continue) for some time yet. The posts I make under the psuedoynm 'Marshy' have been the stuff of legend. (For me). Over the years I've really enjoyed regaling the community with my tales and insights, often self-indulgent, often over-sharing.

It seems my posts tend to polarise people. Half the community laugh along at my flagrant abandon for conventional anonymity, the other half scorn me for being an attention-seeking whore. Both parties have it right. I like to keep my tongue firmly in cheek, and for better or worse, I like to think I offer something of value to the community. One prominent poster said to me a while back:

You're probably the most ballsy and honest person on ITM, and I love you for it.

While the ITM adventure has been a fantastic one, it did see my habitual posting impinge on my regular writing. Often what would have been a great entry for the diary, made its way into a forum post instead. This changes today for a number of reasons.

One, I'm out here to make a name for myself. I've got several projects on the go at the moment. I'm forging a career within the media industry, and want to continue doing this. While doing some research on my Cannes Young Lions entry, I came across this blog: How to get a job in advertising, design or media industries. There was one overriding point of the article that resonated with me completely. Blogs are the new CV. I agree completely. Whether I like it or not, I started down this path almost ten years ago and didn't realise it. In documenting my thoughts, ideas, complaints, and stories, I was putting myself out there for the world to see. I'm no oil-painting. I'm unapologetic and have a chequered past. I'm also late to the party. But if I'm going to succeed at media I'm going to do it on these terms, and when I progress it will be on my own terms. Chk-chk, open for business.

Secondly, I'm writing a fucking book. If I can't get my shit together and start promoting it what hope do I have for it being published? It's a story I want told, I feel it needs to be told, and if I'm not constantly writing and honing my craft, then it won't be told. Another prominent poster on ITM has this to tell me after reading what I've done thus far:

Writers write. Every day. I've done my quota on you today. Point being,
I've done today's wordcount. And the numbers for tomorrow too. (I tally weekly)
Nobody told me to, it's just what I do - I write. Every day.

I've racked up 300,000 words on Open Diary, 14,000 posts on ITM, and I'm still hungry for more. I need this, and I think this blog needs me.

Lastly, I want the attention. I crave the attention. I thrive on my ability to capture someone's attention. It's why I write. Open Diary was at its peak when I was receiving comments. My time on ITM peaks when I generate the most responses (see: I've generated $20,000 worth of ad revenue for ITM - where's my cut?). I want your eyeballs, and this blog intends to suck them out of your sockets.

It's not going to be a piece of art, it's not going to shake the world to its foundations. It will probably contain the occasional spelling and grammatical error. (As much as I hate them, and myself, for creating them). I'm undecided on how I'm going to incorporate this into your world. Ideally there will be some application that links these posts with Facebook/Twitter to add some extra exposure. I write for you as much as I write for me, so without much further ado... Welcome to The Scrawlings of Marshwah.