I’ve been writing/blogging for quite a while now, upwards of 10 years or more. Writing is just something I like to do. It doesn’t matter who, if anyone, reads it…it’s just a way to empty my brain in a fun way. I never expected my blogging to result in much, and it hadn’t until just recently. I’ve officially become a guest blogger.

A unique writing styling?

Anyone that reads here regularly knows that I’m a somewhat…shall I say, verbose writer. I don’t worry about word counts and paragraphs. Hell, half the time I don’t worry about spelling and grammar. I just write like a talk, for better and for worse. Sure, I could re-read and edit my posts, but it then ceases to be fun so I usually just let the crap fly. However, someone recently discovered Morning Toast and thought my flavor of writing was something they could deal with…much to my surprise.

That place is TMA Toy Reviews. I had discovered the site after following a link from one of my many regular toy/diecast sites. I was there to read an article about Matchbox cars when I discovered they had a good stash of retro toy articles along the lines of GI Joe, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, and so on. They also have a good heft of video game posts too, so the site was quickly added to my feed reader and I frequently commented on the articles I enjoyed.

Ninja Turtles and more at TMA Toy Reviews

Somewhere along the way I learned that commenting on other blogs is almost more important than writing on your own blog. This little adventure proved that theory true. One of the editors of TMA Toy Reviews (I assume) read one of my comments and followed the link to Morning Toast, where he found a virtual cornucopia of ramblings about toys, video games, and everything geeky in between…and he liked what he read. He apparently liked it so much that he mailed me and asked if I wanted to guest blog for his web site.

Completely out of the blue

I never thought my blogging would yield anything except a few comments here and there. I certainly never expected my extreme casual writing style to catch the eye of anyone managing what I will simply call a “real” web site, or one that serves a purpose and has a goal. All the things which my blog is not.

I quickly and graciously accepted his invitation to guest blog and was then faced with a tough choice: what do I write about? The editor, Ryan, kind of gave me free will over a topic, which scared me. I need something to spark my writing. I really can’t just pull stuff out of my butt to write about…same with my design/art. You can’t just say “paint me a picture” and I come up with something. But give me a seed like, “paint me a picture of ants fighting to the death,” and then I have something to work with.

But at least the site covered an industry I love, toys. I took a look around and came up with a few ideas for articles and let Ryan decide which one he wants on his site. Somewhat unsurprisingly enough, he wanted me to write about Hot Wheels. Great…but now what do I write about Hot Wheels? My goodness, so much yet so little to say. After all, this wasn’t an all-Hot Wheels site or anything, so I couldn’t get to specific. I chose to write at a high level about how you can have fun with Hot Wheels beyond just child’s play.

And here’s the result:
5 Ways to Enjoy Your Hot Wheels Collection

One thing you might notice about the article is that’s short. Yes, for the first time since college I had to write within limits. Ryan gave me a limit around 600 words, which proved to be very tough. I mathed up a few of my more recent posts to discover my average words-per-post is about 1200 words. Somehow I had to cut my normal ramble in half. And again for the firt time, I had to edit and re-edit my post to meet requirements while also trying to class up my writing style…however, Ryan did say in an e-mail he did “really enjoy [my] voice and sense of humor.” Talk about a first!

Blogging for others

So what did I get out of all this. If you’re wondering if I got paid, I did not. This was a great opportunity to get my passion for toys and my writing in front of a larger audience with no strings attached. They did give me a link to Morning Toast (which reminds me that I should really spiff up this joint if new visitors are coming). So the only payment I (may) receive is traffic to my web site, and that’s fine with me. I love blogging and I love toys, so any chance to blog about toys is just fine with me.

I’m hoping this guest blogging may lead to more articles at TMA Toy Reviews and then way, way, way, way down the road may lead to something more involved, but for now, this is awesome. I’m a guest blogger! Ha! Does this mean I have toy cred now?