More after the jump...
I've only been writing this blog for just over three months and have achieved more in that space of time than I could have hoped. When I started writing it had been that long since I'd done anything creative that I was struggling to construct proper sentences. It's so easy to fall into bad habits when they only writing you do is signing bills.
I'm not too keen to look back at my early reviews in case they're terrible, but my reviews are now much easier to write and, hopefully, offer some interesting insights. I'm certain that I've written some shit, but I know I'm improving at writing reviews; I just need to move forward and concentrate more on articles if I'm going to make anything like a career out of this.
In terms of writing my film and DVD reviews, I also post everything I do onto the film review site Rotten Tomatoes where my writing has been viewed a couple of thousand times, and I've been given some encouraging feedback. I was expecting to be hit hard by the internet trolls, and whilst there has been some of that, people are by and large supportive of my work. I've written 80 odd reviews so far and thank anyone who's left me kind words or encouragement.
There's been times when I was pretty sure no-one was reading the blog, with long periods of time when I was basically talking to myself, but then all of a sudden the hits would start up again. I'm doing my best to network but if anyone likes what I do and wants to recommend it to a friend, that's totally cool with me.
As well as launching the blog I also have the Facebook fan page which I hope brings a lot of you to my site. That also gives people the opportunity to forward things of interest to their friends, which would be great if people want to do that. I'm also on Twitter now, and whilst I'm still not totally used to it, hopefully I'm witty and entertaining enough to be a valid member of the blogosphere. I'm new, bear with me.
As for plans for the future of my blog, I've started to get invites for advanced screenings which should give me more time to write good articles and reviews. I'm hoping that soon I'll get my blog recognised by LAMB, which is the Large Association of Movie Blogs. Inclusion on their site could increase the amount of visits to my site dramatically and make me part of a huge network of bloggers. Somewhere down the line I'm also hoping to be recognised by the OFCS (Online Film Critics Society). I don't think I'm totally eligible yet, but that would give me great validation and could open a lot of doors for the blog.
So far throughout the 100 posts that I've put onto my blog I've never actually mentioned what it is I do for a living. Well, I work at Blockbuster. Some people out there might think thats pretty cool, and yeah, at times it can be. The opportunity to view DVD's early has certainly put me at an advantage and been a great help whilst writing reviews for the blog. Blockbuster was only supposed to be a temporary measure whilst I found another job, but for one reason or another I'm still there.
It can be frustrating. I earned a degree in Film Studies for a reason and hoped to put it to better use than this. Writing about film whilst working in a video shop is kinda the equivalent of saying you're an actor and then waiting on tables at Planet Hollywood.
I don't have a deep seated hatred of Blockbuster though (far from it), but I'm loving writing about films and would love to do it more if time allowed. But as I said, I've only been writing this blog for three months, so who knows where I could be in another three.
Going forward I do have plans to refocus the blog to what I originally intended it to be. From now on I hope to bring you 'the best and worst in independent and cult classic cinema'. Whilst I'm doing that though, I'll still be having a go at the ridiculousness of Hollywood and be sarcastic about the sheer crappiness of a lot of modern movies.
These are the kinds of films I love and enjoy talking about, and I hope you'll stick with me as I praise the best and punish the worst.
I've decided to make some cosmetic changes to the blog too. It was starting to look a little cluttered so I'm going to have a bit of a redesign. Some of it's done now and hopefully it'll be completely finished soon (no stupidly small text or crappy double spacings), but bear with me in case there's any teething problems, and I'll have a blog that you'll all enjoy to visit.
Anyway, thanks friends (old and new) for the support so far. I hope you'll all continue to look at the blog and maybe share it with other people. I've had some highs and lows but it's definitely been an experience.
All the best, Colin
I am so proud of you, it was you who inspired me to attempt a review site of my own! Keep up the cracking work, I recommend you to everyone! There is some hope for us* all in what you have achieved x
ReplyDelete*film and media graduates