We've been longlisted

Stig for CF Ireland has been longlisted for the Irish Blog Awards. Thanks to Damien for continuing to organise these awards.

This is the third year we've made it to the long list stage. This blog has been nominated in the Best Specialist Blog category and faces stiff competition, not least of which comes from Piaras and Colm, if it is to make the shortlist for the first time ever. Thanks to everyone who has read and contributed to this blog including: Sinead and Blair who provided guest posts this year, Coilin Duffy and Ciaran Ruane who helped provide content including live blog coverage of the New York City marathon, John Healy who was our webmaster, and everyone that played a part in the numerous videos we made this year.

We'll let you know if the third time is the charm as soon as the nominations for the shortlist are out.

EDIT: Apparently the list published is not the long list as such so we'll have to wait and see if this blog post title is correct.

FURTHER EDIT: It turns out that while we don't know if it's longlisted, this is still formally considered a nomination so I've edited to included the above pic.

Guest post by Sinead Keogh

Just like busses, you wait for a guest post and then two come along at once. Today's contribution is from Sinead Keogh. Sinead's a fellow journalist whose Inkheart blog where she unleashes the ink from her veins in all directions.

Enjoy.

Bah Normal Society...

In just over one month my student card is going to be out of date. No more printing stuff for free on the fly. No more discounts on clothes and cinema tickets. No more considering the best use of high speed library internet to be watching YouTube videos. Boohoo, well why don't you guest post about it?

It's difficult to know what to do with a guest blog – kind of like driving somebody else's car. You don't want to move the seat on them and piss them off but when you're a girl in a boy's car, you generally have to. STIG is a boy's blog. It has never, to my knowledge, concerned itself with make-up, pink things or frivolity. It's tough to find something in common with it as someone eternally concerned with pink things, make-up and frivolity who has never run a marathon. The common ground comes in the acronym: Student 'til I Graduate.

You wouldn't be wrong if you called me a joiner. I like belonging to things and being helpful. I enjoy events and lists and a nice bit of a sense of occasion. They invented extra-curricular activities with me in mind. As such, my memories of college will always be centred around debating and writing and attending things as if it was going out of fashion. It is those things that I'll miss the most.

In the "big bad world" there's plenty to be doing with yourself. There's always community theatre and charity groups to join. After that, it's almost as if joining groups to make friends when you're an adult becomes a bit weird. When you're 17 you're actively encouraged to social calendar your day up a notch in the pursuit of successful integration into college life. You get past 20 and suddenly that's odd. Suddenly the landscape of things to be a part of is curiously less vibrant. You can play poker or do a musical at any age – but what happens to the brave souls whose common ground was debating or student radio or clubbing together to get really, really good alcohol promotions and not much else?

A lot of college situations don't have to end with parchment in hand. Degrees become jobs, student housemates become young professional housemates, thinking it's perfectly acceptable to stay up all night watching Dawson's Creek episodes remains a curiously static thought. The best part though, the organising of things for free just because you want to, the meeting people you never thought you would, the random things you find yourself doing just because you got up that morning and chose college over bed – seems consigned to studentville. I can live without a Student Travel Card, weekday lie-ins and free stuff in Freshers' Week, but I'll never understand why there aren't adult societies for the pursuit of anything-that-takes-your-fancy-really all about the place. College caters to the random draws and niche callings, and they don't go away. STIG indeed, STIGDAKAS…Student 'til I get dragged away kicking and screaming.

Sinead Keogh's wordpress blog can be found at sineadkeogh.wordpress.com

Guest post by Blair Hurley

I'm delighted to present the first ever guest post on this blog. Fellow blogger Blair Hurley, is a creative writing student and author of Creative Writing Corner which is one of my favourite blogs.

I've previously guest posted on her blog and it's great to have her deliver some of her insights into writing to the readers of STIG for CF Ireland. Enjoy.

Fighting Information Overload
Writers today face unique challenges. The internet and television has surrounded us with wave upon wave of information and content, so that we frequently feel swamped and overstimulated. This overstimulation leaves us desensitized to beautiful writing or a poignant story. It's the job of writers, though, to bring us back to a state of sensitivity and appreciation for things, to make the world beautiful again instead merely a blur. So here are a few tips for fighting information overload and making distinct details in your writing seem special again.

When you write, just write. We've all become powerful multi-taskers these days, with our ability to switch instantly from email to websurfing to chatting with friends to a document. The truth of the matter is, though, that these tasks will inevitably bleed into one another. The chatspeak you use with a friend isn't the best frame of mind for writing creatively; nor is internet surfing or even reading serious journalistic articles online such as the New York Times. When you write creatively, don't multi-task. Hone in on your subject and give it all of your attention. Not only will your writing improve, you'll probably feel glad afterwards to have gotten a little break for your brain. Changing mental tv channels so rapidly can be exhausting.

Take notes on your story to identify key points. Before you begin writing, you can make key points stand out by identifying them beforehand. Take a few minutes to think about the most important parts of your writing and what you want to highlight. Imagine a few details standing like lighthouses in your mind, shedding illumination on the rest of the work. Write down those few important details in note form, then write around them. If you think about it this way and organize accordingly, your writing will naturally bring those details to the fore.

Appreciate and notice. Nabokov thought that the most important ingredient for leading a conscious life was in noticing details. His novels are masterworks of detail, begging for multiple readings just so all of the intricacy can be truly appreciated. The best way to create this intricacy in your own writing is to appreciate detail in your daily life. Stop for a moment to smell the roses, and remember what they smell like. Take in the colours, shapes, and smells of things. If your memory falters, keep a notebook and get it all down. The greatest problem with information overload is that our brains tend to do triage. They keep the broad sweeps of things and lose the details. Combat this tendency we all have by paying attention to the little things. Your writing -- and your consciousness -- will be enriched and stimulated as a result.

Blair Hurley is a student of Creative Writing and the author of Creative Writing Corner (www.writerlylife.com).

Keep an eye out for more guest posts from authoers of some of the other interesting blogs I've come across in the coming days and weeks.

Check out my guest post at Creative Writing Corner

I recently guest posted on teen writing at Blair Hurley's Creative Writing Corner blog. In the post I take a look at the impact the internet is having on the writing habits of teenagers, referencing a recent Pew study that found the positives largely outweighed the negatives.

I found Blair's blog around 9 months ago and have been regularly following it ever since. She's a very talented young writer that is currently studying in Princeton and her blog is well worth checking out.

Keep an eye out here on STIG for CF Ireland for a guest post from Blair in the near future.