n. Any creature that may or may not exist. Sightings of various cryptids have been reported, but their reality has not been proved.
There is a lot that goes into naming things. Sometimes, it’s easy, like with my podcast. I already had a devotional book and a Facebook page that were similar in theme, so I just named the podcast the same as the book and used the Facebook page for both of them. Easy.
Naming the blog was not quite so easy. I knew I was going to be an expat, so I figured that should be part of the name. There are TONS of expat blogs out there though, so I needed something a little more original than “The Expat Blog.” Sure, it’s descriptive, and as an engineer, that’s enough for me.
However, I realize that not everyone is an engineer, so I needed it to me more than just descriptive, I needed something catchy as well. I had a suggestion for the Expert Expat. While I love the awesome alliteration, it seemed a little self centered for a blog title.
Then I had a suggestion for the Mercenary Expat. While catchy AND descriptive, it seemed a little too on the nose, as it were. There were quite a few more suggestions, but eventually, I decided on the current title, “The Cryptid Expat.” But why Cryptid?
My kids think of me as a cryptid. Partly, because I have been gone so much, and partly because even when I was home, they didn’t know what I did. For their formative years, I was, for all intents and purposes, a cryptid. And thus the name for this blog was created.
What will it be about though? You can’t simply start a blog and not have it be about anything can you? Well, ok, I suppose you could, but I’m an engineer, I need a purpose for things, or else I will start rambling and talking about the weather and my kids and their school and…
People who have known me for a while, know that I first started a blog during my deployment to Afghanistan. I called it “Books, Bombs and Brothers.” When I published my sci-fi book, I tried to update the blog and called it “The Galaxis Universe.” Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the database when I did that, so all the posts made prior to the name change were lost forever.
I learned my lesson when I changed the name a second time, and I still have some of the posts from the Galaxis blog. It was a single purpose blog, though, and did not go very far. I’ve learned my lesson from that as well, and in this incarnation, the blog will be about a few things:
- First and foremost, it will be about my experience as an Expat. Living overseas is always interesting, and there will be a wide range of topics covered. I am sure that is where most of the interest will lie.
- Second, it will be about my books. I am a self-proclaimed author, with four books published. Granted, I am not swimming in royalties, but that is why I am an engineer. I LOVE writing, but engineering puts food on the table.
- Finally, it will be about my faith. My faith is a big part of who I am. I am not perfect by any means, but my faith shapes everything about me. Part of this will include my podcast, part of it will be my experiences through the eyes of faith.
So there you have it: the reasoning behind why this blog was created and why it is named the way it is. If you have any comments, suggestions or constructive criticisms, feel free to reach out to me via email. I’m looking forward to my grand adventure, and I’m looking forward to sharing that adventure with you.