One Year of Beej

4561 Somewhere between April 22 and May 14, Professor Beej will have its 1-year anniversary.

I started the first Professor Beej on blogspot on Christmas Eve 2008, but I never really posted to it; to be honest, I had no idea what a blog was other than an online diary of “I did this today” or “guess what my cat did this morning? OMG!” I would throw a post here or there—sometimes months between posts–but it really took me until late April/early May of 2009 to settle into a regular posting schedule and settle into my niche.

So it’s been a year now, and this place has made me exceedingly happy.  All of you have made me exceedingly happy.  I never would have guessed I would have as many commentors and readers as I do in just a year.  I never really thought anyone would care about what I had to say.

So from the bottom of my heart: Thank you.  (And tell your friends about me! Tee hee!)

Looking Forward

In celebration of my first year, I decided that the blog needed a visual overhaul. With my newfound mindset focused on writing and platform building, I thought my blog needed to look more professional.  So I spent some time shopping themes and Thesis skins, eventually settling on this one. I think it’s pretty.

I did away with the Featured Content Gallery, and streamlined the sidebar widgets.  There will now be a single highlighted post under the header instead of a rotating panel of 5. The Amazon Affiliate-based “Current Picks” have been moved up to a more prominent position,too, so you all can see what I’m currently enjoying/recommending more easily.

And soon, I should be able to debut a new header image courtesy of one supremely awesome graphic designer who works with my wife.

Content-wise, I hope to get more fiction up.  “Beej’s Fiction” is a pretty lonely tag with just Foggy Memories sitting there with it.  I think that should change.

As for other areas of pop culture awesomeness, what do you all want? More movies, games, film, TV, or books?  Should I focus more or less on any particular subject? After all, what good’s writing something no one wants to read?

Looking Back

I’ve written a lot this past year.  176 published articles as of this post.  I never thought that would be possible.  Starting out a year ago, that number seemed absurd.  But now, I can easily see myself breaking 500 and not thinking too much about it.

Quality for my writing has increased dramatically. too.  I have always considered myself a good writer, but making the act of writing a daily habit has increased whatever skills I had 10x.  Really. So if you’re ever wondering how to become a better writer, I’m living proof that the answer really is that simple: “write.”

On top of simply writing better, I also learned how to blog.  Initially, my posts were fairly dense walls of text.  Over the past year, I’ve learned how to use paragraph breaks and images.  It might not sound like much, but for someone as inherently wordy as I am, it’s comparable to tearing down the Berlin Wall.

I figure I’ll end this by showing off a brief list of my favorite posts from the last year, in no particular order.  So if you’ve got time, join me in my little jaunt down memory lane.  (And keep in mind what I said about my writing and blogging skills getting better, too!)

So again, thank you for making my first year as a blogger a total success.  And again, too, I ask you: what, my dear readers, can I do for you in the coming year?  More or less of certain type of post? What do you like and/or dislike about my blog that I can work on to make the second year even more fun and productive than the first?

By B.J. Keeton

B.J. KEETON is a writer, teacher, and runner. When he isn't trying to think of a way to trick Fox into putting Firefly back on the air, he is either writing science fiction, watching an obscene amount of genre television, or looking for new ways to integrate fitness into his geektastic lifestyle. He is also the author of BIRTHRIGHT and co-author of NIMBUS. Both books are available for Amazon Kindle.

22 comments

    1. Yeah, it really is. Hard for me to think that it’s been that long, honestly, since I was trying to decide which was better, Blogger or WordPress (and subsequently making the wrong decision!)

      Next, it’s the 300k mark like you!

  3. Thanks for all your hard work on this blog. I stumbled on it a few months back and since then I’ve been a loyal fan. I read every post.

    You asked which subjects you should write more about. One of my favorite things about this blog is that you cover all forms of media: movies, books, games, TV, and literature in general. I’m a Mass Communications major and I love hearing about all types of media. Keep posting a diverse mix of content. It’s awesome!
    .-= Void´s last blog ..MMO Pricing Options =-.

    1. I’m certainly glad you found your way here and that you enjoy it. It’s people like you who keep me motivated enough to churn out posts. So thanks!

      So you like the diversity? I keep reading that in the blogosphere, one must have a narrowed niche to get readers, so I constantly worry that my “movies, books, TV, and games” approach is a little too broad to ever be really appealing.

      1. I wouldn’t worry that your focus is too broad. The thing is, you always write on topic. Your topic is modern media. Modern media covers books, TV, movies, and games.

        It’s not like you’re randomly posting pictures of your cat or anything.

        Keep up the good work!
        .-= Void´s last blog ..MMO Pricing Options =-.

  4. Huge grats!!!! Making the first year as a blogger is a massive milestone and you should definitely feel proud 🙂

    I really like the topics you’re covering at the moment and the spread of books, TV, films, games etc. Anything geeky is always good for me 🙂 You’ve definitely found your feet in the past year and your blog is a pleasure to read! 🙂
    .-= We Fly Spitfires´s last blog ..What’s The Value Of Your Blog? =-.

    1. I certainly am proud, Gordon. And I’m in your debt. Without bloggers like you, Syp, and Tobold (you guys were the big three in how I set out with this enterprise), I wouldn’t have known which way was up regarding blogging. So indeed, thank you, sir!

      I certainly hope I’ve found my feet, like you say. Like I said to Void above, my fear is being too diverse so that I never attract a stable readership. Maybe I’ve been reading too much ProBlogger.com, but it’s still my fear. It always makes me happy to see someone enjoy that part.

  5. Well congratulations, sir. I missed my one-year mark, but then I hadn’t made the progress you’ve made! Keep up the good work

    1. I don’t know if it’s progress or not, but it kind of snuck up on me, too. And since I had done it for a while before I got serious, there’s no clear delineation of when the one-year was.

      And thanks. I’ll do what I can to keep it up, and even improve in some areas.

  6. Congratulations!

    I wish you much success juggling your time between working, blogging, reading and writing.

    You still must read:

    1.) Mistborn Trilogy
    2.) Elantris
    3.) Warbreaker
    4.) other books by Brandon Sanderson

    Erm yes. Guess that’s enough for now. 🙂

    1. I have the Mistborn trilogy already on my Kindle, I’ll have you know! 😉 I even had a colleague suggest his writing based on the new Wheel of Time book. Once I finish Locke Lamora (I know, I know; it’s taking forever with finals), I am going to read “The God Engines” by John Scalzi and then get into Mistborn.

  7. Happy anniversary!

    Keep up the good work. I must admit my favourite posts are those in “Writing My Novel” series, and, of course, “Anti-Twilight”. With another movie this year, you might consider organizing another anti-Twilight week. I am sure there are many people interested in contributing to the subject.

    1. I’m kind of amazed to hear you say that. When I started writing the “Writing My Novel” posts, I honestly didn’t figure anyone in the world would want to read them, but it’s turned out to be far from the truth. I’m happy they’ve gone over so well because they’re some of my favorite ones, too.

      And when “Eclipse” comes around, I’m there there will be some kind of Anti-Twilight movement in these parts. Heck, I’m going out of town in June and going to need some guest posts to fill that gap… 😉

  8. Happy Blogday! Great job on everything so far – can’t wait to see what’s in store for us this year. I think my favourite posts fall under the ‘Writing My Novel’ heading; it’s really interesting to see how something so complex comes together. I’m also hoping that we’ll see some more Lost posts; a retrospective look at the show’s six seasons would be great. Plus I’d like to read your reaction to the (almost certainly) throw-away characters that we’ve seen over the years, Nikki and Paulo, Lapidus, Abaddon, Ilana; the list goes on.

    1. I’m not the one you need to hear talk about Nikki and Paulo. My wife is. She did a conference paper on them and the fans’ reaction last October, and it was really good. I’ll try to prod her to break her ideas into blog form. 🙂 Though I disagree that Lapidus is throwaway; I think we’re going to get to see more of him being important as S6 ends.

      I do expect to have a few LOST posts up once the final season ends, though. I’m not sure if I have it in me to do all 6 seasons (since I just finished up my rewatch last summer), but there’ll be LOST content soon.

      Glad you like the “Writing My Novel” posts, too. They’ve been some of the most fun to write.

  9. Congratulations! It’s nice to reach milestones, even if they aren’t explicit goals.

    Better is that you keep putting out interesting stuff. 😉
    .-= Tesh´s last blog ..Goodwill Banking =-.

    1. I think that is indeed better. I often worry, though, that my quality is dropping, so reading comments like yours makes me smile, Tesh. Thanks for the validation. 🙂

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