Reblog. Here remembering the beginning of my blogging adventure. ‘Trying to Blog’. And and invitation

Hi all:

Yes, I keep on writing, and as promised, I’ve been having a look at old posts. And this time I decided to go back to the very beginning.

My first post was on the 16th of October 2012 and I called it ‘Trying to Blog’. Bless!

Here I repost it, with some clarifications and a bit of embellishment (I don’t think I had worked out the use of bold in the blog). I also decided to add a picture…because it’s pretty.

Here it goes, traveling back in time to 16th October 2012 (Ah, don’t miss a special invitation at the very end):

Hi all:

I’m Olga and although I’ve been writing (and reading) since I was a child, I’ve never focused on it. There have always been other things, like studying Medicine, then Psychiatry, then working…Every so often I take one of those life-changing decisions. I’m never quite sure if they’re due to tiredness or desperation, or a mixture of the two. Do you know that strong feeling that you should be doing something else or that there must be more to life? I came to the UK after trying unsuccessfully to find a job as a doctor back home (Barcelona). I’m not very patient and I tend to give myself time-limits. ‘If such and such hasn’t happened in…a month, a year, 3 years…it’s time to move on. In the case of the job (or an exam to get a job) 3 years was my limit. And after some years training and working in psychiatry one good day I reflected that there were many other things that I really enjoyed (literature in particular). I always thought I might go back to university after retiring and study, but that particular day I thought: ‘what am I waiting for?    What if I could make a living out of teaching at university or found some other job related to it? Let’s try it now.’ I loved the degree (American Literature at Sussex University), including the year abroad (Mount Holyoke) to the point that I stayed a further 3 years and completed a PhD (the Films of David Mamet). No jobs came my way, and tired of working as a locum psychiatrist after over a year I decided to find a full time permanent job (yes, I know, not many of them these days) in psychiatry. Because I had worked in forensic psychiatry before and I found the dealings with the criminal justice system particularly interested those are the jobs I’ve done since. (Since publishing this post I had another one of those moments and I left my job in March this year. Now I’m writing, translating and exploring other avenues. Read this post for more details.)

Wonderful creations by Lietta Cavalli exhibited at the Museum of Costumes in Florence’s Palazzo Pitti. I love the owls!

After a health scare this year (thankfully only a scare, now three years back and no further developments) I again came to one of those turning points on the road when you realise all those things you’re saving to do some time in the future might be left undone. Carpe diem! Let’s try to see if my writing can come to anything.

I’ve been reading a lot about self-publishing and realise that although technically pretty easy, just getting your book out there isn’t enough and you have to convince somebody to read it (and not only your Mum. By the way, although my mother doesn’t understand the technical aspects of it, she’s very enthusiastic. She’s always been of the opinion that anything that makes me happy must be good. If only…). So social networking and social media are the word. And there we are…trying. I have  webpage (another attempt…it will change I hope), a facebook page (not quite used to the concept) a Twitter account (I quite like twitter although it is difficult to strike the balance of spending enough time there but not letting it take over your whole life. Maybe it will get better with time), and now…I was missing the blog.

I’m not sure what I’ll be writing about but if I find anything that I find interesting or useful, I’ll bring it here. I also intend to post how my adventure on self-publishing is going.

Several people have suggested that I might be able to advice on psychiatric matters (I don’t mean treating people or giving consultations, but rather on a creative capacity). Do ask if you want to run ideas by me. I’ll try and answer if I have a useful answer (or can signpost).

And I’ll try and not talk about the weather.

I intend to also blog in Spanish, so that is still to come.

Thanks and feel free to contact me via Facebook or Twitter also.

Good luck and be good!

And more of her dresses!

And as promised, the invitation. Sally Ember is interviewing me live tomorrow at 10 am Eastern US Time. I know not everybody might be able to catch it live, but she’s also kindly posting the interview in You Tube, so you might be able to listen to it at a more convenient time and date.

Here I leave you the Promo Post that has all the information:

Welcome to Episode 13 of *CHANGES* G+ HOA with another intriguing author, Olga Nuñez Miret, Ph.D., who also blogs and reviews bilingually in English and Spanish.  Join us LIVE https://plus.google.com/events/cc1tgg69iabjof2d4otgeh2c244 on Wednesday, November 19, 10 – 11 EST USA , or catch our conversation any time on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7PX-lwvbRA.

Explore Olga’s website at http://www.OlgaNM.com

 

Thank  you for reading, and if you’ve enjoyed it, like, share, comment, and if you can, listen to the interview. Ah, and I’ve won NaNoWriMo (although I can’t claim it officially yet). I’m over 50000 words!