Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
My High School English Teacher
In high school I had a teacher named Mrs. Yang. She was my ninth grade English teacher. During that time I can recall that I was absolutely slow at writing and reading, which to be honest I still am today. For example when she assigned a paper to complete, I could never fulfill a page or fully express my thoughts to complete an assignment. I hated writing. One encouraging advice she told me was to slowly jot down my thoughts and structure them out into paragraphs. She said writing took time and writing was like looking out at a window. One assignment Mrs. Yang had us write about was an article called “Tongue”. It was about an Asian-American writer who immigrated from southeast China. She explained how different it was speaking English at school with her peers oppose to speaking English at home with her parents. She would later state that the English she spoke at home was “broken or had no structure”. For me being the first generation Hmong Asian-American and having parents who immigrated from Laos, we seldom spoke English at home. In a sense I could relate. I remember this particular article because it was the last assignment I completed for Mrs. Yang. Mrs. Yang was an inspiring teacher. Today as I look back, I know Mrs. Yang has helped changed my writing in some way or form.
Alex Vang Introduction
My Name is Alex Vang. I was born in La Crosse WI, but lived the majority of my life in St. Paul MN. Through out my years I have been up north as far as Alaska, and has visited down south as far as Florida. On a normal day to day basis I work, come home, and spend time with family and friends. Some of my hobbies or sports I like to play during my past time are fishing, basketball, volleyball and soccer. My favorite food is pho, which is an Asian cuisine soup. As of now, my goal is to get my degree in HVAC and eventually get my CDL liscense.
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Alexvang 