HOW DID I GET HERE?
Mark Taylor issued his call to arms in the last issue of The Chess Journalist requesting submissions, I wrote to him, offering to contribute some of
my blog posts. Mark instead asked if I would be interested in writing a column about chess blogging. Many of the best experiences I’ve had came from
saying yes when asked to do something I felt unqualified for, so I agreed to
write this column. I hope to explore some of the blogging decisions and
questions that I and my fellow bloggers have encountered and to encourage
the beginning blogger. I want to thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy
this series. I promise to consider and value any feedback you care to send
my way, positive or negative.
HEN
If you are a current chess blogger, congratulations for being
willing to share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences
with the chess community and the world at large. If you have
thought about blogging, you are in the right place at the right
time because it has never been easier to get started in blogging. Sites like wordpress.com, blogger.com, and chess.com
will provide a free ‘.com’ address, templates, and tools to take
the ‘tech’ out of blogging, all designed to make writing your
posts as easy as writing an email.
I got my start in chess writing by submitting articles of
tournaments I directed to the website and quarterly magazine
of the Iowa State Chess Association (IASCA). When I served
as the Scholastic Director of the IASCA from 2006 to 2008,
in addition to writing scholastic tournament reports, I wrote
a monthly web column to promote Iowa scholastic tournaments and explain tricky concepts like pairings, ratings, and
tiebreaks to chess parents. I gave up my position as IASCA
Scholastic Director in April 2008, my two boys stopped playing scholastic chess, and, just like that, I wasn’t around scholastic chess anymore. I missed running tournaments and interacting with the young chess players and their parents, but I
found I missed writing my monthly scholastic column most
of all; blogging seemed like an answer to satisfying my writing
fix. I participated in the 2009 U.S. Open in Indianapolis
with my son and planned on starting my blog by writing
about my games, but I got hung up trying to find a catchy
title. I was at a church meeting when my friend Eldon came
in with a big paper bag and yelled, “Look what I got for you.”
He pulled out a big ceramic pawn from a lawn chess set and
slapped it down on the table. The pawn broke into three
pieces. As we all looked at it, the name “Broken Pawn”
10
popped in my head and my blog was born.
How often to blog? Some bloggers like to write small snippets daily, others only write when they feel they have something of value to share, like tournament games or puzzles,
and still others write longer article-type pieces on a periodic
basis. I’ve always been a twice a week blogger and have settled
into the routine of posting an article of a thousand or so
words on Wednesday and Sunday. I feel it’s vital to pick a
regular pace that is maintainable, even if it’s only once a
month. A prolific pace can be had when you’re just starting
and flush with ideas for posts, but your readers will be discouraged when a week or two pass without new content. I
have times when the words seem to shoot out of my fingertips and times when writing seems like the hardest thing in
the world and my brain and fingers are stuck in mud. Your
readers will appreciate consistency and you’ll be in a better
position to provide it if you get in the habit or publishing
with regularity and saving some ideas and posts for a rainy day.
What to blog about is a personal decision, but it seems
obvious to me that if you write about topics you’re familiar
with and passionate about, you’ll enjoy writing your blog, and
readers who share your passion will find you with minimal
effort on your part. Do you have a passion for playing the
Staunton Gambit against the Dutch Defense? By all means,
blog about it! Your enthusiasm will shine in your writing,
you’ll enjoy writing about a topic close to your heart, and
people who like the Staunton Gambit and the Dutch Defense will be drawn to your blog because you have injected
part of yourself into it.
The Chess Journalist
Fall 2011