I’ve been writing on and off about anime for over ten years at this point and have been enjoying a relatively fruitful run the last couple of months. It’s taken a long time for me to get back to this productivity level because I’ve been through some personal ups and downs and some major changes over that time period. I know first-hand how difficult it is to focus on side projects like this when everything else in one’s life feels out of control. Getting back into writing regularly just feels right to me, though; it’s a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings about something I love in a way that occasionally reaches other people (it’s definitely preferable to sitting at home and talking about anime to no one in particular).
There are a lot of guides out there that cover the ways in which one can be a successful blogger and make a side career (or actual career!) from their writing (I recommend starting with The Otaku Journalist). Because of the uncertainty inherent to that prospect I’ve never considered that to be an option for me since I appreciate stability and consistency over all things. However, I have intuitively happened-upon a few things over the years that have helped me out as a blogging hobbyist and I thought I might pass them along to any readers who are interested in following a similar path. These are in no particular order, and many of the items have as much to do with general online interaction as they do with blogging specifically (and likely stem from a specific incident or interaction I’ve had).