Reflections on My Blog

I don't have anything more to say than I have said already. This post is the 519^th post of this blog's existence. It has been a weekly, or nearly a weekly endeavor, since April of 2010. Even though I had started my blogger account the October before, I had nothing of value to write about until April 2010. This was well over a year after I had left grad school. It was six months after we formed Umbrella Factory Magazine, and it was a month after our first issue launched. It was also after two other events that I think really shaped who I was going to become for most of the decade.

The first was that I was chosen to sit on the jury at the Kristin Stillman trial. Not a day has gone by in the last decade when I have not thought about her. The second is that I went to the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) convention.

At the convention I went to a session about how important it was for all writers to establish a personalized and professional presence. It was like this cross between the CV (a record of what you've done), what you're currently doing and what was to come. The discussion of a blog came up during this discussion. I sat in the back row and listened intently.

Why blog?

Honestly, who cares? I doubt this entry will have a bunch of comments following. It's questionable if anyone's really going to read it. So, why blog? Well, I was told that writing about writing is a good thing to do. And, I was told that a working writer should have a web presence. And, I was told that a working writer needs to build a platform. A platform is more than your CV, resume or current job title. A platform is everything you have done, are doing, and what you will do. And, I was told that a blog is a cheap, easy (two of every writer's favorite things) way to do all of the above. Well, I don't know about you, but I've now done this for ten years.

And ten years is a respectable amount of time to do anything.


Some Interesting Links:
My Photobook: Red Blue Grey
Interview: Meet the Filmmaker

Film: To Better Days

Interview: The Author of Coppertown

Film: Resort to Ice

Profile: Anthony ILacqua IMDb

Profile: Amazon Author Page

Review: New York Times Review

Film: Pastrami on Rye