Blogger Recognition Award

Welcome! I was recently nominated by Red Metal for the Blogger Recognition Award and lost track of what day it was in the midst of quarantine life, the Final Fantasy VII Remake, and an endless supply of eggs hidden around the island by a sadistic rabbit named Zipper. Nevertheless, the Blogger Recognition Award is slightly different than others circulating blog circles as each person will answer the same questions, saving me from coming up with my own. Alright, down to business…

1. Say thanks to the blogger who nominated you and link back to that person’s blog

A great big “thank you!” goes to Red Metal, who posts incredibly in-depth, well-thought out video game and movie reviews at Extra Life Reviews. Someone whose critiques, as well as compliments of movies and games showcase a wonderful level of nuance and depth that I’ve greatly enjoyed reading over the past year.

2. Give the story or history of your blog

I really don’t have much of an “origin story”, the story of my blog site is as much the result of restlessness as it is my love of video games. After sitting in an office doing the same repetitive job for several years, I decided I wanted to reach out and try something relatively different to break up the montony and feel at least the slightest bit stimulated mentally. I remember sitting at my desk writing down ideas/goals/projects, and soon came up with the idea for starting my own blog as a creative outlet of sorts. The idea didn’t seem too realistic at the time, mostly due to the awkward idea of writing and posting online for everyone to see, plus feeling completely inadequate at writing since I was in high school. The most difficult part of the process for me was never coming up with ideas, but the struggle of taking those ideas and concepts and turning them into something that remotely resembles what I envisioned…it STILL is.

The decision to write about video games took all of a nanosecond to come up with, if I’m going to be a noob at writing a blog, I’ll at least know WHAT I’m blogging about. I wanted to use my blog as an outlet to talk about whatever I want, whether it be gaming-related or not. I came up with the name Gaming Omnivore mostly due to not really having a genre or type of game I dislike, I’ll consume nearly anything. Another way to describe my gaming tendencies and skill could be summed up in the old saying – “Jack of all trades, master of none”. Since that fateful decision, I feel I’ve improved a fair bit as far as my writing skill and finding my voice online.

So there you have it, the genesis(#gamingpun) of Gaming Omnivore. No radioactive spider bites, gamma rays or…anything particularly interesting.

3. Give two or more pieces of advice for new bloggers

As I’ve only been posting on WordPress for just over a year, I’m probably not the best-suited to be dispensing advice for others. I do however, have some generic-sounding advice that I like to keep in mind myself.

• Write what you want – YOU are the person writing YOUR blog, don’t feel like you have to write about something just to “join the conversation” if you don’t have an interest. Writing for a personal blog is something you should be doing because YOU enjoy it.
• Don’t force yourself to write – I know the single most common piece of advice anyone trying to write anything will hear is “just keep writing”, which IS sound advice and has proved helpful in my own experience. The flip-side of that is that by forcing yourself to write something, it’s less likely to get a sense of enjoyment out of it. If you’re just not feeling it, don’t hold yourself hostage in front of your computer until you clean your plate get something written down…

4. Nominate 10 other bloggers and link to their blog

The internet in general can seem like a giant, intimidating place, but the geeky/gaming blogger community on WordPress is great. I don’t usually have the easiest time interacting with others, but everyone I have interacted with here has been nothing short of friendly and helpful. Here are my 10 blogger nominations – my apologies if you’ve been tagged for this already…

• Ospreyshire’s Realm

• The Gaming Diaries

• Bandicoot Warrior

• Athena|AmbiGaming

• Shoot the Rookie

• Megan at A Geeky Gal

• Games With Coffee

• Nep’s Gaming Paradise

• The Hannie Corner

• DanamesX at Tales from the Backlog

Stay safe and thanks for reading!