Only two hitches. What the hell do I write about? And how the hell do I get anybody to read it?
A blogger friend suggested that for the latter issue I should post something new every day. That way you build an audience. When people log onto you and see the same post they read a week ago they stop coming back. That made sense. At least to start.
But it made the first issue an even bigger hurdle. Not only do I have nothing to write about; I have to write about it every day? Yikes! I’ll be honest, I thought this experiment would last six months. I’d get tired of it, I’d have exhausted every topic I know, or after half a year I’d have twelve readers.
And now, six years, 2,585 posts, and 8,500,000 page views later here I somehow still am. Out of the clear blue sky TIME magazine named this one of the top 25 blogs of the net. I’m still baffled (but delighted) by that.
This was my first post:
For everyone who has said to me "you should start a blog" here it is. Now what?
So until I figure that out, I thought I'd post the kind of stuff I have been writing -- namely humorous travelogues and award show reviews that up until now have only gone to those unfortunate souls in my address book. As I learn how this works and come up with original thoughts I shall add to it. Or take requests. Or go on to podcasting.
Interests will include pop culture, show business, baseball, radio, the 60's, the theatre, baby boomers, bragging about my kids, hawking my various projects, and general bitching.
I’ll be honest again – to this day the toughest part of this blog is coming up with topics. Once I get a topic I’m usually off to the races. But there are plenty of days I’m just praying for Roseanne to do something stupid or a new idiotic reality show to premiere. I live for Anime conventions, pornstar karaoke, Michael Bay movies, Katherine Heigl interviews, Gwyneth Paltrow cleansing diets, and the Golden Globes.
All in all, it’s been well worth the effort. I’ve been very lucky in this industry and have had some remarkable mentors. I’m glad for the opportunity to pay it forward. I’ve met many wonderful new people through this blog… including YOU. And yes, I’ve sold a bunch of books through this site (have you ordered yours yet? What are you waiting for, for crying out loud?), and have sold out five Sitcom Room seminars.
So it’s onto year seven. What I like to do on these occasions is ask you to participate. Especially you new readers and longtime lurkers. I’d love to know who you are, where you’re from, how you found this blog, how long you’ve been reading it, and whatever suggestions you may have. Please tell me what topics you like and don’t like (Yeah, yeah – baseball). Ultimately, I write about whatever the hell I want to (it’s not like I have to maintain a certain audience level for Google Ads), but the day a writer disregards his readers is the day he stops being read.
Anyway, thanks for six great years. I won’t say I couldn’t have done without you because that’s not true. But I will say I wouldn’t have done it without you.
Thanks in advance for your responses.
