When I taught college last semester, the first homework assignment I gave my students was to code a basic HTML page about themselves. They’re all journalism majors, so many of them introduce themselves as “aspiring journalist,” “aspiring political reporter,” or “aspiring news anchor.” If you’ve read my manifesto, you know what I’d like to tell them: why aspire toward a career when you can start it right now?

If I could give all students, not only mine, just one piece of advice, it’d be this: start a blog right now. Don’t wait until you’re out of school. Don’t wait until somebody pays you to do it. Don’t wait for the “right time.” Don’t wait until (you think) you’re done learning. That day will never come.

I power my blog with WordPress, a free blogging tool, and host it on Bluehost. You may have noticed that I’ve recently put up an ad for Bluehost on my sidebar. This isn’t something I do lightly. Next to WordPress, Bluehost is my favorite blogging tool. That’s why I want you to use it, too.

I’ve used other hosting services before. I remember their labyrinthian user experiences, confusing terms of agreement, and the long hold on the phone when I finally called to cancel my account. With stuff like that, I’m surprised more people don’t switch over. My guess is they don’t know there’s anything better.

At $70 a year, Bluehost isn’t for everyone. If you’ve never blogged before, it might be best to start with a free account on WordPress.com while you find your blogging voice.

But if you are interested, let me help you. As an HTML/CSS teacher who has also been building websites for ten years, I believe there is nothing more empowering than getting your own space online. I also have the credentials to make it a cinch.

If you want my help, all you need to do is click the Bluehost icon on the sidebar of this blog, and sign up. I’m an affiliate of the site, so that kind of thing earns me money. Enough money, in fact, that I don’t want yours. I’ll spend half an hour with you setting up your site, absolutely free of charge. Simply email me after you sign up (with your new domain name as the title) to let me know you’re interested.

So think about it. It’s the beginning of a new year, the perfect time to begin something. Are you ready for a blog, a side project, a new career? Is a lack of Web knowledge the only thing holding you back? Blogging changed my life. Maybe it’ll change yours, too.

Happy New Year! I hope your 2012 is as off to as great a start as mine. I just got engaged at midnight.

Now it’s time to work on my New Year’s resolutions. Yesterday, I wrote that one of my goals is to revive Otaku Journalist back to its previous regular updating schedule. For the entirety of 2010, I wrote a blog post every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. During the craziness that was 2011, that sort of fell by the wayside. I wanted to blog, but after a day of reporting and writing, my brain was often fried. And although I often planned to write up a week of posts on Sunday evenings, it hardly ever happened.

This year, I’ve come up with a plan to keep myself prepared with regular writing prompts– and practice my graphic design skills at the same time. I’ve devised three columns on topics I know I’ll always be able to write about in an interesting way. Allow me to introduce them:

Today in Fandom will be about trends or occurrences in the fan communities I follow. I might write my opinion about why the Gamer Girl Manifesto‘s simple message of tolerance attracted so many trolls. Or about whether I think bronies are overreacting over Hasbro’s cease and desist letter. If it’s geeky and it’s current, I’ll weigh in here.

No matter what else is on my plate, I make an effort to keep up with the current anime season (how disciplined of me, I know). Chances are, you’re watching the same shows as I am. I’ll use What I’m Watching to post my thoughts on the shows I’m watching in as spoiler-free a manner as possible.

Remember that blog post I wrote back in September, where I went in depth about three recent stories in a row? A lot of the stories I write for the Daily Dot have a bit of a backstory. In The Inside Story, I want to take you behind the scenes on some of my recent stories and share my reporting process.

If my columns idea turns out well, maybe I’ll start adding more topics and make this the format for my blog in the future. I hope you’ll join me in this experiment, and suggest topics you’d like to see!

Not everything has to be perfect

In April, I decided my blog’s appearance didn’t reflect me at all. It didn’t resonate with my content the way it used to. It got to the point where I decided to stop blogging altogether until I could devise a redesign.

This was a dumb idea. I’d gotten into this mindset that my blog had to be this perfect version of my online identity. As it turned out, what’s worse is having no online identity at all. Design is only a fraction of it; content trumps all.

I hope to continue updating the look of my blog every two years or as I get tired of it. (At least I’m better than I used to be: at 15, I redesigned my pitas.net blog every two weeks!) But I really don’t want to ever repeat a blogging silence that pronounced.

Ask and receive

The majority of opportunities don’t come to you when you “get discovered,” they happen when you ask for them. I experienced this firsthand in 2011. Over the summer, I wanted to try anime voice acting lessons, but I didn’t have a lot of extra money. So I called up Edge Studio and asked if I could have a lesson in exchange for promotion on my blog. They said yes. Within the month, I was on the phone with Dan Green, the master himself.

Sometimes it’s better to act than to think. I could have sat around wondering if my blog was good enough or well read enough or whether a review from me was “worth it” for the studio. Instead, I took action and let them decide. Even if they’d told me no, I would have taken comfort in the fact that I’d been brave enough to try.

Different platforms for different goals

When I started my NaNoJobMo project, I didn’t entirely understand how Tumblr was all that different from WordPress as a blogging platform. But this year, after I began using Tumblr on a more-or-less daily basis, I realized that it’s more of a step in between Twitter’s micro-blogging and traditional blogging.

As it turns out, Tumblr has never been redundant to my blog. I use it for link sharing, off-topic updates about my life and stuff that’s too short to turn into a blog post. Sometimes, if I write something on Tumblr and still have more to say, I bring it over to my blog. I like being on more platforms because it’s just one more way to connect with more people.

I’ve also changed the way I use Twitter this year, too. Since I started working for the Daily Dot, my follower count has doubled. With 1,100 people watching my every tweet, I try harder to share things I think my followers will find interesting, especially stories I’m reading or writing. It’s a constant temptation to use Twitter as my personal search engine, but I do my best to give as much information as I get out of it.

My blog is not my life’s purpose and that’s okay

Three years ago when I started my blog, I thought it’d be a portfolio builder to help me find a job. But as I got more familiar with the blogosphere, I started having a lot of what-if thoughts. What if I could build my career around blogging? What if I amassed an audience of fifty thousand? What if it started making a profit?

Then I got my job at the Daily Dot and I couldn’t be happier. Gone are the days I used to dream about self employment, because the Dot lets me write about what I want when I want where I want. I started Otaku Journalist because the job I truly wanted, the one I have now— writing about online communities and subculture for a living— didn’t exist yet. I’m certain Otaku Journalist played a role in getting me that job. But in admitting that my blog was a stepping stone to my dream career, I’m admitting that my blog isn’t said dream career.

However, that’s exactly why I continue to blog. Just putting my work out there has opened up a host of opportunities— my guest post on Forbes being just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows what awaits Otaku Journalist in 2012?

Happy New Year’s Eve! My 2012 New Year’s resolution is to revive my blog and write two times a week, every week. For more about how I plan to do that, check back tomorrow.

Photo by Graham Doig.

December 21 marks my 25th birthday, the third birthday I’ve celebrated since starting my blog. Here’s what I wrote on my 24th birthday and on my 23rd.

Looking back, I can hardly remember what it felt like to be the person that wrote those entries. As I get more comfortable with the reality of living life online, my writing has become more personal and less afraid.

For the past two years, I made my birthday blog post about the past year’s accomplishments and the future year’s goals. I guess now, it’s a tradition.

This year I:

• Attended five cons: Magfest, Katsucon, Anime Boston, Otakon and Anime USA.
• Got my first real job as a web developer in downtown DC.
• Fell down an escalator and attended Katsucon in a wheelchair.
• Got a little help and redesigned my blog with a custom theme and enhanced SEO.
• Became a more vocal feminist, blogging about geek women’s issues here, here and here and even submitting a proposal for a feminist anime convention panel.
• Was interviewed as a source for The Washington Post’s controversial article about Otakon. I wrote about that in two parts: one and two.
• Summoned the courage to enter Forbes blogger Susannah Breslin’s contest for young female journalists–– and won.
• As a result, got the chance to write for Forbes about maids, cat ears and furries.
• Then I got lucky, really lucky. Daily Dot editor Owen Thomas read it and offered me a job on Twitter. I’ve been working for him ever since.
• Traveled to San Francisco to meet my Daily Dot co-workers.
• Reconciled my identity as both a fan and a journalist and compiled it into a handy manifesto.
• Became an adjunct college professor and learned just how challenging–– and rewarding–– teaching can be.
• Gave back to the DC otaku community by volunteering as Anime USA’s press liaison.
• Moved to a new apartment with the love of my life.

Next year, my goals are to:

• Find my online/offline balance: occasionally read books on paper, write instead of type for a change, knit more socks, go on nature walks.
• Keep my design and tech skills sharp by undertaking projects that employ them. Maybe edit a vlog, format an e-book in InDesign, or learn and implement HTML5.
• Resume a consistent blog-posting schedule, with regular weekly features.

This year, I didn’t take time off for my birthday. I just had a quiet dinner with my family and my boyfriend. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I needed a party. After years of angst and uncertainty, I’m finally sure that I’m in the right place and doing what works for me. And that’s a celebration enough.

Yes, I’ve been quiet. But if there’s any day to break the silence, today is it.Yesterday, November 14, was my two-year blogging anniversary. Here’s my very first post, and here’s my one-year anniversary post.

Have you ever heard of the 2 Year Blogging Curse? I’ve always thought that if I could just reach that two year mark, my blog would be in the clear. By that point, it’d be habit to blog three times a week.

Of course, it’s pretty clear that this hasn’t happened. It’s been a year full of change for me. Last November, I was working as a part-time cashier and had plenty of time to blog. Now, I’m a full-time journalist, part-time professor, and year-long convention volunteer for Anime USA and Anime Boston. As a result, I’ve only blogged regularly for about nine months of the year.

But even with all that on my plate, I think constantly about blogging. As long as I have something to say, I’ll keep aiming for that three-a-week blog post goal. And now that I’ve had a nice long break, I think it’s time to start writing again. I’ll have lots to say (and lots of time to say it) as soon as Anime USA is over!

For now, I want to focus on reflection. Here are my six favorite posts of the year:

• Welcome to the NHK, work and life. I couldn’t have picked a better time to marathon Welcome to the NHK. I was living with my parents because that’s all I could afford. I was working a part-time job that didn’t measure up to my potential just to feel less guilty about it. NHK reminded me that making the effort is what counts.

• Katsucon from a wheelchair. This was a perspective from with I never thought I’d be writing! I fell down a Metro escalator and hurt my foot pretty badly (it’s okay now, I can even run a 5K!) and was in a wheelchair for three days until my MRI results came in. (After that, I was on crutches, and then in a walking cast, for two months). Being in a wheelchair made Katsucon different, but it didn’t dampen the experience one bit.

• How I ended up writing about cat ears, maids and furries for Forbes. Writing a column for Susannah Breslin was the most significant highlight of my year. It changed the course of my life. I got a job offer at the Daily Dot and, days later, was invited to teach at American University. But nothing can top the one day the article came out — I was a minor Internet celebrity.

• How a Civil War reenactment is like an anime convention. After working with Susannah, my writing style shifted on the blog. I wanted to be more open about my personal experiences. I had been pretty reserved ever since getting trolled by 4chan, but I decided to stop living in fear. As someone who makes my living online, I’m always going to be a target. So why worry about it? This post was as much about me as its subject.

• On being a fan and a journalist, part I. (Part II is here.) After writing about sex offenders at anime conventions, I became a source for the Washington Post’s Otakon story. Maybe you’ve heard about that one. Working with Mr. Dulac forced me to test one of my deepest beliefs — that my interest in fandom only makes me a more dedicated reporter, not a more biased one. The experience was more complicated than I ever expected, but I was stronger for it.

• The Otaku Journalist Manifesto. I wrote this one on a plane to San Francisco, intending for it to be part of a free e-book download. (You see, I really do have tons of plans for Otaku Journalist. I’m constantly thinking about ways to improve it, even when I’m not writing). That of course didn’t happen, but it got me to sit down and finally explain what I’m about.

I’ve actually written 96 posts this year (counting this one) since my last blogging anniversary post. If you’d like to go down memory lane with me, check the archives or refresh the random post button on the sidebar. It’s been quite a year.

Today on Forbes you can read Susannah Breslin’s compilation of people’s personal 9/11 stories, mine included. My story is on the second page if you want to get right to it.

On September 11, 2001, I was 14. I had such a different mindset back then that it’s almost like looking back at a different person. When Susannah asked me to contribute, the first thing I did was revisit what I wrote on September 12, 2001 in the blog I kept as a teenager.

I’ve been blogging for more than ten years now. I told this to my students on the first day of class as a way to explain why I’m a qualified HTML professor, despite my age. My first blog was pure HTML, so if I wanted a title on my post, I’d manually input <h1> tags. If I wanted a new “blog theme,” I’d hand code it in Notepad.

I’m lucky my parents warned me to never reveal my identity online, because my subject matter was pretty embarrassing. Most of my blog posts, (written under a fake name at least), were about fan fiction attempts, video games and “kawaii bishounen.” I do remember sitting in the basement on September 12, coding a new patriotic theme for my blog and thinking, “I don’t want to write about this, but it’s what everyone else is doing.”

So I wrote, in eye-bleeding gold on black:

“ -_- what a sucky reason to get a day off from school. I half expected there’d be snow outside. . . My uncle, who works at the Pentagon two offices away from the impact, got out perfectly fine, but as I am, I hope everyone’s praying for the less lucky people. . . I hope your grandpa is doing well, [friend's name]. . .”

I wish so, so badly I had written something more substantial. It would have made it a lot easier to write my piece for Susannah. But since this is what I had, I wrote about it from that perspective. September 11 was such a horrific event that it burrowed in and compelled my self-absorbed teenage self to write about something other than me.

Memories are fragile, but nothing on the Internet ever dies. No matter how silly I was as a teenager, my blog post is still a time capsule into a tiny part of our collective experience. A lot has changed since September 11 and having that piece of the past keeps me from glorifying my memory of that day. The Internet’s tenacity ensures that I’ll never forget.

From the silence on my blog, it looks like I’ve taken a surprise week off. But I assure you it’s been anything but. Here’s some of the new things I’ve been up to this week:

Teaching

Last week marked the beginning of my career as Professor Orsini. Tuesday was the day I taught my first college class. I’m teaching basic HTML and CSS to undergraduates.

I spent many weeks before the course started agonizing over details, but it’s amazing how many times I’ve been surprised in just the first week. I didn’t think I could admire my own college and graduate school professors more, but I have new appreciation. But the biggest thing I did not expect? How teaching HTML would remind me of how magical it seemed when I first discovered it, back in seventh grade. Here’s hoping my enthusiasm translates to my students!

I definitely want to write more about teaching, especially since I know some of you are college students and might have some great advice for me about what you like/dislike in a professor.

Reporting

I wrote ten articles this week for the Daily Dot. It wasn’t my most prolific week, but it was a good average. I’m doing my best to find more stories on fandom since I want that to be my specialty.

Of course I wrote about Finkelgate, though this was no opinion piece. My favorite piece this week was an interview with the creator of the Women Fighters in Sensible Armor blog since he was so well spoken. My most popular article this week was about DragonCon personal ads, some of which would make Otakon personal ads blush!

I’ve got a big (multiple interviews, weeks of research) piece slated for this week, so I’ll tweet and post it to my Tumblr when it comes out.

Press

I was honored when freelance anime and gaming journalist (and friend) Colette Bennett chose to quote me for her article on CNN’s Geekout! blog. I talked about the way anime fandom has changed (and stayed the same) in the decade I’ve been a fan.

I also had a small interview in an Italian language blog about winning Susannah Breslin’s contest in Forbes and earning my job at the Daily Dot. It’s been a while since that happened, but I appreciate it just the same.

Podcasts

Count ‘em — I was on three this past week!

• Untapped — @mtgmedina invited me on to this Magic: The Gathering themed podcast as a guest after he read my Daily Dot article about Finkelgate. Some people have already asked me where I stand on the issue, since on the one hand I have a soft spot for Gawker interns and on the other, I date a Magic nerd. If you want my real, unfiltered stance, definitely listen to this podcast.

• Otaku in Review — My appearance on episode 81 is actually my second; my first was last year on episode 9! Thanks to Scott Spaziani for seeing potential in me back when nobody online had any idea who I was. We’d been planning for me to show up on this episode since Otakon to discuss fandom journalism. This is a good prelude to what I’d like to discuss in my SXSW panel — if it makes the cut.

• O-Talk — I was on this episode for maybe 10 minutes. We started an hour and a half late and then I had somewhere to be. However, Dan, Cassie, Patches and Charles went on to have an amazing conversation about Miyazaki’s body of work. O-Talk’s schedule (and the podcast itself) is always kind of crazy, but that’s what makes it so charming.

Gundam

Everything else in this post is career related; this is what I’ve been doing the rest of the time!

Longtime fans will just have to bear with me, because I am going through a Gundam obsession to rival my middle school mania for Gundam Wing. I started building my pink Zaku II (she’s on the right) during the hurricane and finished it early in the week. In better lighting, that model is more salmon than red, almost hot pink.

Next up: another version of the Gundam model on the left. The one in the picture is in Destroy mode; the one I’m working on next is in Unicorn mode so it’s got a single horn instead of two prongs.

This weekend, John and I also watched Char’s Counterattack, which was a perfect time capsule of everything that was ridiculous about the 80′s. I haven’t seen all or even most of the Universal Century timeline, but I’m definitely making a dent.

Source.

I’ve always been a little wary of SEO, or search engine optimization. I even turned down a recent writing opportunity because the company asked me to use “an SEO friendly subject and phrases” in my finished article. It set off my alarms, and I decided it wasn’t worth the publicity.

When people tell me I need to improve my own, I look at them like they just asked me to write lengthy and frequent blog posts about Lady Gaga. If my blog isn’t popular, I think, it’s because I don’t blog frequently enough, or about the right topics. How is being a top search result going to change that?

My friend Aaron Clark finally convinced me to do something about it. He’s an SEO professional, which explains why his website, EvaGeeks.org, shows up on the very first page of any Google search for Evangelion. He convinced me by saying that I wouldn’t have to do anything and I could just pay him. Sounded like a deal to me.

I still think SEO falls in an ethical gray area, so we had an in-depth talk about what to change. Most of the optimizations were changes my blog needed anyway, like cleaning up code bloat and removing features I no longer use.

He’s not done yet, but I’ve already noticed a few changes. Such as:

• My traffic from search engines went up from 15 percent of my total traffic to 30 percent.
• I’ve started getting email from people who tell me they found Otaku Journalist through a Google search.
• A PR representative asked me to review their TV show on my blog.

I’ve been blogging for almost two years, but those are all new experiences for me. I haven’t altered my posting habits or surged in popularity, so I know this is Aaron’s work. That means that more traffic, more email and PR requests are perks I’d already earned without changing my content. Now, my only regret is not optimizing sooner.

Geek, subculture and anime bloggers should seriously consider SEO. I was too quick to assume that low traffic was the fault of my unconventional coverage. I used to think optimizing would mean changing the way I write. But it turned out I only had to shift a few things behind the scenes to connect with the audience I already had.

I have to hand it to Aaron on this one. He really understood my geek aesthetic and my concerns. If you’re interested in hiring him for your SEO, you can reach him here.

Dear Jen,

First of all, congratulations landing an internship at Kotaku! That was one of the trickiest internships I ever managed to obtain, so that tells me right away that you’re a savvy young female writer.

You know, being Kotaku interns isn’t the only thing the two of us have in common. We’re both writers, gamers, women and oh yeah — we both majorly screwed up. You can read all about my screwup right here, complete with all the embarrassing details.

Our mistakes aren’t exactly the same. For example, you actually did an interview and research while I just waxed philosophic about a meme. (Lesson of the day: that kind of thing is what kills a meme.) That should cheer you up!

I see what you were trying to do with your article. The sassy, flippant style you used is standard in mainstream news. Traditional media treats stories about our geeky interests lightly, categorizing it as “News of the Weird.” Even though we’re geeks, we’re also journalists, and the temptation to write like our more famous, well-paid brethren is tempting. You weren’t trying to alienate your audience at all. You were doing the best you knew how. You couldn’t have known just how seriously the Kotaku audience takes games until you tested it.

Even though you didn’t mean to, the mistake is out there. You’re embarrassed, I feel you. I’ve been there. So here’s what to do now:

• Block 4chan from your computer, especially /v/. In fact, avoid the Kotaku comments on your article as well. These people are strangers who don’t have the first idea about who you are, nor do they deserve to. Don’t feed the trolls.
• Avoid vanity Googling for a few days until people find something else to talk about. (Though I have to admit, I just Googled you and the coast is almost clear.)
• Enjoy the mountain of hits this is bringing to Kotaku. My article was one of the most-read intern articles of the summer. Kotaku needs hits to be successful and it doesn’t matter where they come from or why.
• Remember that it’s better to royally screw up one time than make a ton of little mistakes over and over. I’ve never forgotten about making that public mistake, and perhaps you won’t either. This memory will make you a better journalist. It will always remind you how far you’ve come.

For the rest of the Internet, this will go away quickly. My mistake would have been long forgotten if I didn’t keep dredging it up. And the net is limitless, full of space for your future accomplishments to follow in the wake of this temporary mess.

If you take one thing from my letter, here it is: this is not the end of your game journalism career. It’s only the beginning.

Your friend and fellow geek,

Lauren

UPDATE: Otaku Journalist will return June 6, 2011. I don’t want to do this half way, so I’m taking a little extra time. Believe me, it’ll be worth it!

This has been a long time coming.

Otaku Journalist will be on a month long hiatus from May 1 to May 31. In the meantime, I will be working on a complete site redesign that will result in more features, better content, and many much-needed updates I feel a lot better saving my content for the new look than I would posting it up now.

In the meantime, if you’re curious about how the redesign (or my life in general) is going, check out my Tumblr and Twitter. I will also continue to participate on Otaku Dan‘s O-Talk podcast during this time.

I sincerely thank you for your support during this time of change.

See you in June,

Lauren