Autumn is a time to ponder many things, including why I started this blog. To help me figure this out, I joined the Blogging 101 group at WordPress.

Why are you blogging publicly instead of keeping a private journal or a website?
As a Canadian artist in Japan, I do not have easy access to the amazing network of artists, the artist union CARFAC, and other related information in Canada; I also do not have easy access to information in Japan because of a lack of existing networks, a lack of experience with the system here, as well as linguistic limitations. After living here for several years, I no longer had to spend all of my energy getting by, learning the language, and developing survival skills. Although I still had to work at my job that provided income, I finally had more energy to devote to my art. The next step was to create a website to promote my art.

Should I hire somebody to make a website? Then I would have to keep paying them to update it periodically. What a pain! Would a static site with a few pictures attract repeat visitors? Would I have to wait until I had a large collection of current artwork before I started? I wanted to start as soon as possible and perhaps use the new exposure as incentive to get more work done. After noticing that some sites had a blog attached, I realized that I could do that! I might even be able to do it by myself! It would also provide the immediate exposure or contact that I wanted!

What topics do you think you’ll write about?
My art and…anything else? Life in Japan? Those are a dime a dozen. I doubt that a J-blog would reflect much on my art or art in general. Life in Japan is not all about paper designs, family crests, and elderly craftspeople. I decided to focus on my art, my creative friends, art I see in Japan, and the role of art and artists in general. When I started my blog, I did not have many people to discuss arty issues with so I thought a blog would be a good outlet for me and my meandering thoughts as well.

Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
Who might read my blog when there are so many out there? I would like to think my friends all over the world will read it or at least look at the pictures to see what I have been doing. Creative friends will perhaps be more interested. Now that I live closer to Tokyo, I also hope that other artists in Japan, gallery owners, or curators will also take a look and hopefully follow it. Prospective buyers and art collectors? That would be nice. I also hope that other readers will include people who are interested in what the art scene in Japan is like for people who are not Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, or Yoshitomo Nara. I also hope that other artists in Japan will learn more about other artists who might even live in their neighborhoods or that they meet and start networking with me and others. I really do hope that my blog can be a way for me and for other creatives to expand their networks and get to know each other.

If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
Timely question. I will have to post more often about the places I go in this upcoming year instead of just filing away their postcards, flyers, and pamphlets. That means I should also write much shorter posts more often. This is hard for somebody who is as equally verbal as I am visual! What else? I need to make my art more visibly prominent and not just focus on my writing. I do live in Japan after all, and many people will be intimidated by hundreds of words in English when all they want to do is just look at pictures of my art. I am in the middle of reorganizing my blog with my friend’s help now. It would be great if i could tinker under the hood of my blog without her help by the end of the year.

I hope that I can increase my audience and improve my profile in both the real and virtual worlds. Doesn’t everybody want somebody they do not yet know to read their writing and become fans of their work? Becoming friends would be an additional plus.

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