Confession Time

I got an e-mail from a very nice feller named Jake today. He's looking into starting up a blog, and was asking me for advice.

I was a little surprised. I didn't have much advice to give, but I did point him to both a couple of blog posts I've seen around about blogging, and also the names of a couple of other bloggers who are more attuned to the blogosphere and what blogging is to give this fella some advice.

But I did have a couple of things to say.

First, blog only if you enjoy it, and about what you enjoy. Don't feel compelled to write about what you see other people writing about, necessarily. I mean, if you don't follow politics religiously, then you don't need to blog about politics. Just write what's in your head. Because I really think you'll get more out of the whole writing thing if you write about stuff you like (unless you like blogging about things you don't like, at which time you're still doing something you like).

I blog about movies, and the Cubs, and just the goofy shit that I see in my life. I don't get too caught up in the political world, and don't get caught up in the liberal/conservative bickerfest. I just write what I want to write, and I don't write for anybody else (except for Eartha Kitt. Everything I write is for me, and Eartha Kitt).

Second, use the appropriate version of "your" and "you're" when writing. This is merely my grammatical pet peeve. But it rubs like sandpaper up my asscrack whenever I read the phrase "Your an idiot" or "Your the villain" or the like. It shouldn't, but it does.

(That said, I'll no doubt make that very same grammatical mistake at some point in the next 24 hours. Seven different times.)

Lastly, be honest. I guess this is just a corellary to the first suggestion. Don't try to be something you're not. Because after a while, the bullshit shows through the words, and even if it doesn't, it just gets a little tiresome to try to hold up the facade.

I don't have any specific example of this, except to make a confession myself.

Every now and then, I'll get a link from somebody, and in linking, they'll say something like "Tommy's not stupid" or "I don't know if he's big or stupid," or something nice like that.

And I'm tired.

Do you want to know why I call this blog "Big Stupid Tommy?"

Because it catches the eye much better than my original blog's title.

My original blog title was my real name.

Agnes Horowitz.

For seven months, I ran a blog titled simply: Agnes Horowitz. And it was all the truth about what's going on in my life.

It was the story of a 57-year-old, twice-divorced, chain-smoking, real estate agent from Ithaca, New York. I wrote about selling houses; what dating is for an aging baby-boomer; my favorite delicatessans; my cats (all 7--Fluffy, Mortimer, Doc, Owlstone, Chester, Cablebox and Worthington), my vacations to Florida to visit my sister Ellen and her husband Roy; menopause; and lessons on all the Jewish holidays.

Nobody read the blog.

But you pretend to be a sarcastic, goofy Cub fan from a town in Middle Tennessee I found simply by flipping the road atlas open to a random page, and you write silly posts about not being able to find a pair of pants that fits, and being too cheap (apparently) to buy a new pair....and Bam! A ridiculous amount of readers.

At least 5 times what I got just blogging about Agnes's daily adventures.

That's right! I get at least 15 hits a day! Can you believe it?

The day after the Oscars, 39 people came here to read what I said a single guy in his 20's would say about the Academy Awards!

The Words "Big" and "Stupid" catch people's eyes, I guess.

There. I've come clean.

Hi. My name's Agnes Horowitz. And I'm a blogger.