Oh, to Blog

Here is my tale of how I got into blogging:

“What do they call bloggers now?” One of the co-workers at my job that pays.
“Bloggers. They used to be called 'writers.'” Me.

Imagine the Californian desert. 2004. Feel free to have that picture in your mind like in the movies where you see vast rocks, dirt, and weeds for miles while the time and place description rolls across the bottom left-hand corner of the screen in block letters, usually with some “computer” or “typing” sound as the letters appear one-by-one.

At that point in time I was working for a company that specialized in selling and making obsolete parts for custom and classic cars from 1910-1985. My boss's boss was a guy named Ernie who had a dark sense of humor. One day he asked me, “So, what do you know about this 'blogging' thing?”
“Not too much. A weblog.”
“Do you blog?”
“No. My life isn't that interesting.”

He smiled and walked off, and I didn't think anything of it. Really, I didn't find my life all that fascinating. I was working for a car parts company, I lived in a town by the beach, I was the co-chair of a writer's group, I hung out at coffeeshops... no thrill-a-minute action/adventure story here.

May 2005 and it was “wagons east” time – I was out of money and my marbles. At the very least I needed a break but didn't have the collateral to afford to stay. And the blogging thing? I had a MySpace page (before FOX bought it) and I uploaded parts of a story that contained a character called Jack Callister, a mid-40s detective living in Louisville. I would be driving back across the good ole U. S. of A once again and my Cali friends suggested that I “blog” my trip back.

And so I did. From Long Beach to Calico Ghost town, then to Las Vegas and spending the night in Mesquite, I started writing about traveling: the person who spent part one with me, the people I met, the conversations about places, etc. I had journaled by trip to get to California but this was the first time I actively wrote during the trip and had people read what I was writing about. There's a certain thrill that comes with that: to live life and talk about each day and putting it out to others to read and experience along with me. A friend would later tell me that she enjoyed living vicariously through me.

From 2005-2007 my main blog was on MySpace and it contained nearly everything: traveling, my thoughts on my life, etc. It bordered addiction and self-help, but my friends were at least “clued in” on what was going on in my life. I tried not to whine as much because that's what it seemed the blogging culture had became: let me whine and spout off about something.

2007 I joined Gather and soon after a few other sites deciding to write in a different direction: movie reviews. Yes, any random Net idiot can blast a movie but I had a degree in film and most of my friends trusted my thoughts and decisions on movies. I still talked about my life and travel, but I gained a small following with my reviews.

2009 came and the saying, “Slow and sure wins the race,” comes to mind: I was asked by a local website (LouisvilleMojo.com) to write exclusively for them since I had been uploading my reviews (to grow an online audience) with them since 2007. I met with Chris Hall and Chuck who shook my hand and said, “Thank you. You make us look good.” It was surreal and cool at the same time.

Since then blogging has became an adventure onto itself. Through it I was able to blog live from the Louisville International Festival of Film, interview local filmmakers, get into movies for free, and observe an ever-changing technological culture. In regards to me blogging my personal movie blog peaked at 40,000 hits in a month as well as having been listed on Total Film.com's “600 Movie Blogs You May Have Missed.” I've been in the Top 1000 blogs on Associated Content. And I've been listed at least twice as a “Cool Person to Know” on Gather.com. Not too shabby.

There you have it: me and my blogging experience. As for writing I'm in the process of editing my short stories for publication, I have two screenplays registered, and I'm currently running an online blog story of a hardboiled crime nature called “The Big Adios,” written in a 30s-juxtaposed-with-now style.

Feel free to check out my movie blog archive at: chasness.wordpress.com
And if you're into crime fiction, “The Big Adios” at: aidencobb.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading and sorry if anything was misconstrued. Feel free to drop a line.
-Chas