Hey everybody, welcome to my new site! I’m starting this website for no particular reason other than the fact that Blogspot has seemed increasingly hard to use these days, especially when I’m posting new writings, so I thought I’d start afresh here!
Just the obligatory “few things about me” first when starting a new website:
- My name’s Chamois (and no, I have no concrete idea as to why that particular name is mine, I just happen to have it)
- I am the ultimate definition of the word “bookworm” (though recently I’ve been surfing the web a lot, so not so much nowadays)
- I write a lot of stuff. This is entirely because my brain does not settle down easily to normal tasks (like THE ONE-PAGE RESPONSE I’M SUPPOSED TO BE WRITING RIGHT NOW) and it gets distracted easily.
It’s mostly number 3 I’ll be dealing with on this website (maybe a bit of number 2 in the future?) because I simply like to write. Many people like to write because they feel really strongly about stuff: social injustice, emotional problems, and the like. I’m sorry to say that with a few exceptions, this will NOT be what you find on this website as I am completely unable to describe my feelings, and besides being the ultimate definition of “bookworm” I am also the ultimate definition of “apathy”. Instead, at the risk of sounding like a pompous git (which, let’s be fair, I excel in), I want to say that these writings are purely for entertainment purposes. What you will see are A. pieces of fiction, or B. writings about a few books that I’ve read. I write these things simply because it’s my chosen form of entertainment (when I can get to it, that is), and if my words can brighten up your day, then I consider my job well done.
(Crap, I only have 300 words… need to plump it up a little… how can I do that? Ooh I know, I’ll tell the history of my writing that nobody asked for!)
When I started writing on Yahoo Blogs in 2007 I was awfully systematic — mostly book reviews and little silly stories, cliched writings of a 10-year-old (I believe I have somewhere a story of a magical box which transported three children to Paris where they for some reason became parcel-collecting postmen along a particular Metro line). Over time Yahoo Blogs closed down, and I moved over to Blogspot in 2014, seeking a new beginning (the day right after my DSE finished — for the occasional overseas reader, the DSE is our matriculation exam and IT IS HELL ON EARTH). My writings weren’t that much better (I spent 8000 words just going on about one day in Prague), but I have honed my writing skills a little along the way. Then two years ago, when I found myself stumbling into the wide world of English, I came to understand how to actually regulate my writings, how to write without flailing about all over the place, and I’m proud to say that I am definitely a better writer than I was in 2007 or even 2015.
Now, about the title of this site: it’s taken from the 2001 Spanish novel “The Shadow of the Wind”, by Carlos Ruis Zafon. The book is — surprise, surprise — one of my favourites, and it’s mostly about a bibliophile who one day finds and falls in love with a book whose author is utterly reclusive, but the author’s past and the background of the book comes to haunt the protagonist and everyone around him he holds dear. It’s worth a read if you have the time, but I adapted it for this site because what the hell, I know my writing isn’t going to make a huge impression on you. (In fairness, I forget what I myself have written a LOT.) All it will do is come into your brain and then go away just like that, as breezes often do. But for a split second, even after the majority of what I write has slipped from your brain, there remain the memories of it. They linger for a short while, and might bring a smile to your face as you let it slip into the deep recesses of your mind and then out the back door. A bit like shadows.
It’s this effect I hope to achieve as I open up Phase Three of my writing journey… a small step, but nonetheless the start of something new (DAMN IT, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL IN MY EARS EVEN THOUGH I HATE IT). I hope that what I write on this new page will entertain you enough, and please don’t feel bad about giving me criticism for what I write — I know I’m still awful at writing and there’s a lot to improve. But thanks to all of you who’s been supporting me on Blogspot, and I hope you find this new site fun as well! I’ll still keep Blogspot active — more personal stuff will be posted over there — but if you’re looking for my writings (which I know you aren’t) then come over here, and I’ll try (TRY) to offer you something.
I’ll repost some of my stuff from this year here in a few days so that it doesn’t look so empty… but otherwise, see you all soon!
(P. S. The featured photo is just something I thought looked nice — and yes, I was the photographer.)
Inkpot Shuffles in the Twilight 