What exactly is this thing called NBI?
Being so new to the blogging world of gaming and seeing a title like “Newbie Blogger Initiative” this really stood out in the crowd to me. I’ve decided to pair with NBI and participate in a month long bloggers initiative as a “Noob” or “Initiative” as they call it. The first time I had heard of NBI was through Twitter and specifically by a fellow Blogger & NBI Initiate Braxwolf Stormchaser who posted a link to the NBI site. He posted a very simple statement on his Twitter feed “Oh, I’m Liking This” and for whatever reason that and the Newbie Blogger title that was listed next to the link caught my attention big time. So, what does a curious guy like myself do but follow the link that was posted…and low and behold everything that NBI was doing peaked my eagerness to participate.
I’ve been blogging and writing for years so to say I’m a “Noob” at blogging isn’t quite the case, but I’m a “Noob” in the world of blogging about gaming. Though I’ve been an avid gamer for a lot of years I’ve never even had a second thought about starting a blog for gaming or writing about gaming. It was when LOTRO came out and Turbine announced the Free 2 Play option allowed me to step into the world of MMO gaming at my own leisure which sparked the interest to begin my blog. The thought of a live interactive Middle-Earth was overwhelmingly awesome to say the least. It wasn’t until January of this year that I finally took the plunge and started my blog www.ahobbitsjourney.com and by starting I actually mean I bought the domain name from wordpress.com…so yes I took a big plunge into a really big pool.
I began writing under a pseudonym title of a character I created many years ago for a book I’m working on and decided to open a Twitter account to start publicizing my site which led to gaining some followers, and new acquaintances amongst the gaming community. One of those acquaintances was Braxwolf who I mentioned earlier in this article, who also writes for the LOTRO Players team which led me to listening to their podcasts and plugging myself even farther into the gaming community…or at least trying to. These last few months have been my first attempt into writing about games and has become such a passionate hobby for me. I look forward each week to planning out new articles, connecting with new people, and growing in this very deep rooted community that has been formed.
Now that I’m writing about gaming, the thought of participating in NBI’s initiative brought even a greater sense of welcomed challenge to the table. Since I haven’t had a ton of exposure in the gaming realm of writing I thought this would be a perfect chance to get involved and learn as much as I possibly could. Though time is always a factor for me and I just never seem to have enough of it. Like most I have a full time job, a wife and six year old triplets…yes I said triplets. Needless to say I’m a tad busy outside in the real world which was a factor for me as I have to weigh out anything that would add to my already slim and un-forgiving schedule. The biggest deciding factor and the best one in my opinion about this adventure is my wife and I write and blog together so this has become a family event for us. Though it feels weird calling myself a “Noob” after writing and blogging for so many years but in the same way I feel like a fish out of water in this new realm of writing.
My hopes for this event, though new…I know will be a great challenge and will open up opportunities and doors for area’s I’ve never even thought about before. I’m really looking forward to meeting new people, expanding my network and hopefully make some new blogging friends that one day might be able to co-write or host with on my website.
With all this being said this is why I’m participating and I’m super stoked to for all the events coming up with NBI 2014.
A Hobbits Journey 