The Many Worlds of TF Carthick

Like my last post, this post too is dedicated to blog fairies - those silent readers who keep following you around without making their presence felt in any manner. In case such fairies haven't discovered yet, I would like to turn their attention towards my other blog The Many Worlds of TF Carthick.  The obvious question is why another blog when I already have this one which has been successfully running since 2008 and has a good google page rank as well. So today I talk about how I decided to start a new blog and how the two blogs have a different focus.

So as I mentioned I started this blog in 2008 to share my thoughts on various topics. Before that I was sharing such thoughts only in online forums and thought a dedicated blog will be a good place for my writings. It started out well with a couple of articles and audience coming from the forums to the blog. Then I got the idea of sharing humorous personal experiences which turned out a super success. But could not sustain and was soon found wanting in topics to write on. So I entered all kind of remunerative and non-remunerative contests and prompt based posts. This was what gave me good writing practice and helped me discover my voice as a writer. Many of these forays lead me to write fiction as well and lead me towards serious writing - read writing in books and anthologies.

Meanwhile I interacted with various writers and discovered there are two classes of writers. Three I would actually say. One - the commercial writers who wrote what the brands wanted, won contests and made money. The other the so called serious writers who turned their noses at the idea of writing for contests - they wrote on current affairs or specialized topics such as travel and cookery. Then there was this third kind to which I belonged to who wrote posts on their own accord as well as for contests. The writing for contests was more for inspiration than to win. Of course winning did not hurt and was always a shot in the arm. Such blogs were called 'kichdi' blogs - a mixture of all kinds of stuff with no focus.

I struggled for a long time with this kind of 'kichdi' blog containing stories and poems as well as contest posts and others such as posts accepting awards bloggers gave each other. With me getting into writer groups, there were also promotional posts to be put up promoting other writers. With them joining the mix, the blog began to look directionless and lost. Around that time I was thinking of getting a domain for my blog. The normal thing would be to get a domain and just migrating the blog. But I did not feel like migrating a 'kichdi' blog . So instead I decided to start a super specialized blog with my new domain - A blog on science fiction, fantasy and historic fiction titled 'Three Realms of the Mind' - the logic being past, present and imaginary being three realms that exist only in the mind. 

I ran it for few years. But found it did not get the kind of response I hoped for. Also I could not sustain the blog with such narrow focus. Also there were other things I wanted to write - posts on my memories and reviews of other books I liked not in the SF/Fantasy/Historic genres. Also with me pursuing authorial ambitions in a serious way, I needed an author website. I did not want to spawn yet another blog. Instead I decided to convert 'Three Realms of the Mind' into my author page. Now with my new blog having increased focus, again there was identity crisis for this original blog. Both blogs seemed to cater to the same segment.

After considerable thought, I decided this blog will remain as it is - a wellspring of creativity, an inclusive blog including all kinds of stuff - random rants, contest posts, promotional posts as part of writer outreach and any experimental pieces right of the cuff.  This would be my own personal space though it would remain open to public. The other blog which I rechristened as 'The Many Worlds of T F Carthick' to indicate the many worlds I entered - my memories, my works of fiction I gave out free to my blog readers, my reviews of my favorite books, movies and other fiction media and my musings on various topics, would be my authorial face to the world. The idea is to have more spontaneous works here while having better edited and refined works in  'The Many Worlds of T F Carthick'. Some of my older works I plan to move from here to there. Even some of the posts that will figure here in future here may get edited and moved there. 

To give 'Many Worlds of TF Carthick' a professional feel, I have commissioned an artist to get a piece of art work done that would be a symbolic representation of my writing. And now it is all set with a clear focus while this blog continues on unfettered, the blog of the fool who will rush in where angels fear to tread. To all my readers who want to see only polished works, I strongly recommend 'The Many Worlds of T F Carthick'. For those who want to see my creativity in its raw form, you can hang around here.