I recently saw a quote from one of the original Star Trek films that highlighted the difference between Captain Kirk and Mr Spock. Basically it said that whereas the eminently logical, pointy-eared Vulcan thought everything through in detail before acting, the Captain rushed in where angels fear to tread.

And in all honesty, much as I love Spock’s arched eyebrow and humorous detachment, I know that my way of doing things is much closer to Kirk’s. That’s not to say that I don’t make plans, but I also tend to get through by jumping in and seeing what happens. I often see instructions as suggestions and limitations as opportunities for change.

And in a way, that’s pretty how much I first approached blogging.  A friend at college who knew I enjoyed writing and photography told me about Wordpress and said he thought I should try it. Truth be told, I hadn’t written anything bar essays for a while and so I really wasn’t sure how I would use a blog. I didn’t  know what I wanted it to be or what I wanted from it. Nonetheless, I set one up, initially just calling it by my own name before changing it to Rocket Room P a few months later. For my first blog, I shared a selection of photographs. Next I took as a subject an art show I had recently seen at the Henry Moore Institute. I’d not written reviews before but found I liked doing it. I was surprised when this garnered a few likes.

Since then, I’ve experimented with trying out different things, including a series of photographs exploring my home city, book reviews and digital art. I’ve had some nice successes, including having one of my reviews quoted on an artist’s website, blogs being retweeted on Twitter and having some of my  photography and digital art shared on Edge of Humanity Magazine. Also I’ve had the pleasure of seeing all the different things that other people are doing on WordPress.

There have been some failures too, of course. Blogs that I thought were great which sank without trace. It just comes with the territory. I probably learnt as much from those experiences as I did from the more pleasant ones.

Along the way, I figured out – learning by doing – what I wanted my blog to be. So now seems like the ideal time to share what I’m intending to offer.

Diary Room: A weekly look at what’s going on in my life and my thoughts on the world

Photography Room: A weekly photograph(s) from my travels, in my home city and elsewhere.

Art Room: My digital art as well as reviews of shows and exhibitions.

Reading Room: A monthly review of whichever book I’ve been reading.

Right now, I’m just excited to see where this will go. If I want one thing from blogging, it’s for it to be an adventure. You don’t have to know how a story is going to end to enjoy it.

Damian