I thought it’d be fun to list how I go about “expressing” myself these days. I’ve seen lots of bloggers talk about why they blog, and I wanted to give it a go, or at least my flavor of it. Here are ways I express my thoughts and the forums I do it through.

First, I have always journaled. I had a diary when I was little, including a cute blush-colored diary with a little latch lock and tiny key. I wish I still had it. I have no idea what happened to it. After that, I kept paper journals for years, and then moved to Day One and finally landed on Apple’s Journal (since I live in Apple’s ecosystem full-time with my tech). Journal entries are personal. They are often deep-felt thoughts that I might not want to share with others but I want to record. I don’t go back and read my journal that often; however, I think the act of writing it down helps me process emotions and situations. Most of my writing, including my poetry and fiction, are ways I process my life. It’s not just a story I’m telling, but something more holistic.

Second, sometimes I want to post something that’s not long form, maybe a shout-out to a friend or about something I like. I usually use BlueSky for that. Now, I do have my Micro.blog entries cross-posted to BlueSky, so this is another way I use BlueSky.

Third, for fun, life, transition-related, reading or things like that, I use Micro.blog. I love Micro.blog. It allows me to be short-winded, long-winded, image-heavy, or just plain old text. I love the customization options for my blog and just the ease of use whether I’m on my iPhone or my Mac. It’s a great service and I keep my fingers crossed it keeps on truckin’! Shout out to Manton!

Fourth, Coupled with Micro.blog is their book tracking (also movies & TV) feature. I use their Epilogue app (or the web interface) to keep track of books I’m reading or have read. I love that it can autopost updates to my blog, or I can write a full entry myself about a book I’m reading or have finished. I also use the Book Tracker app (iOS/macOS) to track all of my reading and like Apple Journal, I sometimes keep my reviews or thoughts on a book private.

Finally, I self-publish some of my writing. I published my first collection of poetry, Becoming, earlier this year. I’m almost finished editing the follow-up to that, which I’m calling Being. I have a few other projects that are in the queue once I get this new collection published.

I hope this was interesting and maybe gives people a few ideas to try on their own.