My follow-up article at mental_floss on the story of Tanner Sandlin’s sale of Air Raid for the Atari 2600, was reprinted by CNN.com last night. And then it became the #1 story on the news site earlier today!
Needless to say, it’s been a good morning.
Wow, it’s been quite some time since I last updated around here. I have no excuse other than I’ve been writing like crazy. And that’s what this update’s going to be all about – a listing of my mental_floss articles that I haven’t been keeping up on. So, sit back, relax, do some clicking and reading, and enjoy. I’ve been kicking around a personal story, so look for that update soon.
February 23: A Brief History of Bulletproof Vests
This one was a bit disappointing for me. It got some hits, but I was hoping for more.
March 5: They Made A Toy of That? Misguided Action Figures
This one went over pretty well. It got quite a few comments and I have a feeling it’ll have legs with time.
March 10: What Does ‘Kiwanis’ Mean? The Story Behind 4 Civic Groups
This was a lot of fun to research and write. I actually felt a little civic pride telling people more about these groups. Hopefully with a little more information, someone out there will decide to join one of these groups.
March 12: The Story Behind 4 More Civic Organizations
As I was writing the first story, I had about 75% of the Rotary International story written when I realized my word count was getting pretty high. Reluctantly, I cut it. Once the first story of four civic groups hit the web, the readers soon let me know I made the wrong decision. So, out a sense of guilt and obligation, I finished a follow-up story that my editor was kind enough to post. I learned a valuable lesson – don’t finish the story until it’s done.
March 13: Behind the Wheel of the Cozy Coupe
This was a reprint of my mental_floss Magazine article from the January/February issue. It had previously been posted by neatorama.com, so my editor went ahead and posted it at our home site.
March 18: 9 Very Rare (and Very Expensive) Video Game Cartridges
This has been my biggest hit of 2010! It’s gotten quite a few comments on mental_floss, was reprinted by neatorama and even CNN.com where it went on to become the Most Popular Story at one point on 3/21/2010
(CNN trimmed it a little to fit their word count requirements.)
So it’s been a month of ups and downs, but I guess that’s what writing’s all about.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this update and, as I said, look for another, personal one coming soon.
And, once again, thanks to all those who have supported me over the years.
You may remember back a few months ago, that my application to write for The 3six5 was accepted by the geniuses behind the project. Well, today, March 1, is my day. So go check out my post here.
It’s strange to say, but it was kind of nice to have a deadline to blog. I had to come up with something to write about today. That doesn’t happen to me very often. Usually I have days to develop an idea, do the research, and write it up for mental_floss. But today, I had to think fast, edit even faster, and try to come up with something fairly coherent. All that considered, I’m pretty happy with what I wrote. Even if you don’t agree with it, I hope you got a kick out of it.
My latest mental_floss article is online
Throwback: 4 Football Games From the Good Old Days
I thought it was a fun angle to take on gridiron history in honor of Super Bowl week. The original idea came from someone I follow (and he follows me) on Twitter, which was kind of cool.
Do you remember your favorite football game from childhood? Tell me about it!
8 Stories of Vicious Man-Eaters is up at mental_floss with one serious comment attributed to it. The other is about Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
This bums me out. I worked my butt off on this over the weekend.
I feel like I’m in a slump since November. I haven’t had anything go Popular on Digg. CNN has stopped calling. Things have just really slowed down for me. I understand there are going to be lulls in any career, but this one’s hitting me pretty hard.
Well, the only thing to do is get back on the horse and try again next week. I’m not sure if my next idea is a home run or not, but there’s only one way to find out.
Wish me luck!
