Originally published on Trevor Trove on October 30, 2016
Day 365!
Because Alex O’Neill tricked me into starting this on a damn Leap Year, my year of writing every day, which began way back on November 1st (which actually published November 2nd because of all those days I wrote late into the night), culminates awkwardly here on October 30…
Way to go, O’Neill.
But what a year it has been!
Up through Day 300, I was writing and publishing every single day. And while I haven’t published as much over the last couple months, I’ve still been hard at work behind the scenes. In fact, some of the most fun I’ve been having have been the pieces where I gave myself time to breathe and let a piece grow.
Over the past year, I’ve averaged just over one review per week with more than 60 Reviews/(Not a) Reviews on Trevor Trove since November 1st.
I’ve covered PSX, all three North America PAX events (South, East, and West), Kinda Funny Live 2, RTX, Let’s Play Live, and (remotely) E3. Writing about all of these events made up more than 60 articles: nearly one-fifth of the coverage. Ever since I first wrote up the recap for the first Kinda Funny Live, my intent for covering these events has been two-fold.
- Try to document the experience in a way that’s enjoyable for those who aren’t able to attend.
- Try to document the experience in a way that I can look back on and trigger the memories.
I hope I’ve been able to translate even just a fraction of the experiences I’ve had to this audience.
By my estimates, I’ve written a little over 265-thousand words for Trevor Trove over the last 365 days (not including these ones). That’s just over 725 words per day and doesn’t factor in the content I’ve written for other sites or that I’ve written and have not published.
I’ve been humbled to have my content published (either through written work on by appearing on podcasts) with the following awesome people:
- Irrational Passions
- Knerds Online
- BzG News/BaiaZona Gamers
- Lipstick Nerds
- We the Gamercast/We the Nerdy
- PlayStation Enthusiast
- Pixel Pulse Radio
I’ve made a dream come true writing for IGN (I even made the top of reddit). I have been incredibly moved by the support and opportunities that members of that team have given me. And I would be remiss to overlook the support of Greg Miller in particular. His insistence that people looking to get into the industry should get out there and do it, along with Alex’s “don’t break the chain” story, lit this fire under me. And the kindness, friendship, and support Greg has provided have moved me to tears on multiple occasions and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him down by not making the most of the opportunities I’ve been given.
With the recent addition of Trove Talk to the repertoire, I get to sit down with one of my friends every week and visit with them for hours on end about our shared passion for gaming, as well as learn new details about their other interests. This, too, was very much a year or more in the making as I’ve been toying around since the first Kinda Funny Live with wanting to host a podcast and trying to figure out a way that I could maybe do something nobody else was touching on. There’s certainly still a lot of the gaming podcast standards in there, but I think the long-form nature of the show and the targeted effort to step outside the gaming sphere make it special (at least to me).
Which leads me to the thing I am probably most grateful for over the past year. I have developed remarkably life-changing friendships through this community. Far too many to name and at the risk of leaving anybody out I won’t name names. But if we’ve ever interacted in person, over Twitter, on Facebook, in a Twitch chat, etc.: THANK YOU! To everyone who has read anything I’ve written or watched any of my videos. THANK YOU! Even to the people who look at me and think I’ve changed for the worse in the past year (and I know those people are out there), THANK YOU!
In fact, I have a special message to that last segment: I’m sorry if you feel I’ve slighted you or the amazing communities that I have been a part of. That has never been my intent. In fact, because I have seen and felt that sense of abandonment in the past (namely in the friends I would make in the theatre community that didn’t have the time for me by the time the next production rolled around), I often actively try to fight against that perception, but I’m sure I’m not always successful.
I’ve written about it before, but the events, especially, have become one of the trickiest waters to navigate. As an aspiring industry personality, I approach them, in part, as an industry event. As someone who has become one of the better-known members in the Kinda Funny Community, I try and be as outgoing and welcoming to other fans as I can in the hopes that they get the same incredible experiences I have had. But they are also the rare occasion I get to see many of the literal best friends I’ve made over the past couple years in person. I hate the idea that people feel excluded because these cliques of friends have naturally formed. I hate knowing that there are people who aren’t able to attend these events for any number of reasons feeling like they are somehow less of a fan or “Best Friend.” I try to fight against that mentality.
I take solace in the fact that I can look back at every event I attended in the last year and identify incredible conversations with people I had never met or interacted with previously. I try to be responsive to tweets or private messages as well: answering questions, addressing criticisms, etc. So if you ever want to chat or get feedback or whatever, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
I repeat – whether we’ve met or not, whether we’ve interacted or not, if you’ve read this or anything else I’ve done – from the bottom of my heart, thank you. My life has been made infinitely richer over the past year because of this site and the friendships I’ve made and developed while working on it.