Why I Started Blogging: A Josh's Geek Cave and Review Basement Retrospective

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. The week started off pretty busy, so that's why I'm just getting around to doing this post today. It's also not going to be a long post either. With this week being the 10th anniversary of me starting my blog over on Word Press, as The Geek Outpost, I just wanted to talk a little bit about why I started blogging in the first place. So, let's get into it!

To start off we need to go back to February, 2015. I was 28 years old, lived with my parents, had a girlfriend, and had been out of college for almost five years. I can't work, and I was encouraged by my girlfriend at the time to write reviews and post them. I'd kinda started doing this in the Notes section on Facebook back in like 2010 or 2011, but I didn't continue with them. Also at this time, superhero movies and TV shows were extremely popular thanks to the huge success of the MCU, which had started with Iron Man in 2008, but had really taken off with The Avengers in 2012, and the success of Arrow on The CW, which had debuted in October, 2012. I was also heavily into YouTube channels such as Geekvolution, The Nostalgia Critic, ComicPop, Comicstorian, and Comics Explained at this time. So my goal was simple: write reviews about comics, books, TV shows and movies that I had access to, mainly what I could borrow from friends, owned physical copies of, owned on DVD, watched on TV, or went to see in theatres.

I was also steeped in geek culture in 2015. Not only because the MCU was everywhere, and DC Comics based TV shows were coming out, but I was attending Ottawa Comiccon every year for the entire weekend it was scheduled for. I ended up getting a lot of content for my blog from my attendance of Ottawa Comiccon. These first two years were filled with uncertainty because I got really sick and my parents and I were getting ready to move into the city after 23 years of living out in the rural area where we'd been living. So I wasn't sure if I'd be able to continue doing the blog since I couldn't fit it into my schedule because of showings, hospital stays, and the actual moving part. But, once we got settled into the new house (not so new now though), and I had fully recovered from my medical issues, I got back on track.

Then the pandemic hit and suddenly I found I had a lot more time on my hands than I ever had before so I moved over here to Blogger and set up The Review Basement, which I ran for almost two years before I started Josh's Geek Cave. Though it'd still be another few years before I finally settled into how the blog is now.

I started this blog because, aside from having a girlfriend who encouraged me to do so, I had the time to do it. I had the time to put as much effort into it as I do. I have the time to sit here, and type out blog posts the way I want to do it. In a way I really do think of this as my job. While I don't post daily like I used to and most weeks I don't post more than once a week, even when I'm not posting I'm thinking about what I'm writing about that week, gathering the images I need for each post, and even looking information up for said posts. I don't commit anything to paper in terms of planning my week of posts out. Normally on Thursday or Friday every two weeks I decide what I'm going to post for the next two weeks and then I do the work to get what I need for said post, such as images and looking stuff up to make sure I'm remembering correctly what channel a show aired on, or what VHS or DVD release I first saw a movie on, that sort of thing. 

Most of all though, I keep this blog going because it's fun. I never expected to have more than a couple of readers. Namely a few close friends and my family. Instead I people who read my blog all over Canada and the United States, and probably in other countries too. Which is super cool. I've also been on podcasts and my blog has been featured on other blogs too. 

I've been asked before why I didn't do YouTube or my own podcast. The answer is that, YouTube is not what it was back when it first started in the late 2000s. Plus I've always felt I can get my ideas and opinions out in writing better than I can in a video. As for doing my own podcast, it's pretty much the same reason. I've found it easier to get my thoughts and opinions out in writing than I have speaking. Also, I can do it anytime, be it day or night without disturbing anyone. And that would be the case whether or not I was living with my parents. It also gives me the chance to do this however I want, and allows me to take my time writing the posts as well.

I think that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with lots more blog posts. Until then, have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.