Welcome 2024!

2024 has finally arrived! I managed to get through the Christmas movie season without losing my mind. It actually might be the first year that there weren’t too many completely awful movies. I guess we’ll find out in my wrap-up posts this week.

Now that Christmas movie season is over, daily posts are also be ending soon. Once I finish the big Christmas wrap-up posts, my plan is to do three posts each week - Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Reviews will be a little more relaxed in January as we all recover from the holidays and the busiest season of them all.

In February, I’m planning to review a variety of romantic comedies. They won’t necessarily be new movies, just a variety of romcoms that I have never seen before. And there are a lot. I generally don’t choose to watch romcoms in my free time. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and that you are looking forward to 2024. Let’s all try to make this a great year.

Christmas is done! For now...

I finally finished the last of the 2021 Christmas movies! I know you thought it would never happen. Of course, it’s almost time for the 2022 Christmas movies but not quite yet.

Like last year, I am planning on doing 31 Days of Halloween again this year. I’m not completely sure that there are going to be enough scary/Halloween-themed movies to fill the whole month. So, if needed, I am going to add a new series called Cold Reviews. These are going to be reviews of movies that have not been recently released. “Recently” will mean within the past month. This will allow me to add movies that were released earlier this year or in previous years.

Since the 31 Days of Halloween won’t start until October 1 and there are still a few weeks left in September, I might start posting some Cold Reviews this month of movies I haven’t had a chance to talk about. This way I don’t feel so bad about talking about movies that are considered ancient by internet standards and you still get some content. Win-Win!

As always, if you have any suggestions for media you would like me to review, leave a comment below.

The Struggles of Daily Blogging and Why I Do It

I’m not going to lie. Blogging every single day is difficult. And there are a variety of reasons why it’s difficult. Sometimes it’s a time thing, sometimes it’s a topic thing. Let me tell you about the struggles I have and why I continue to do it.

My biggest struggle with daily blogging is going to get filed under “Laziness,” even though it isn’t really laziness. See, in addition to writing this blog, I work a full time job. Sometimes I don’t want to run over to my computer to write a review or blog post after logging off of work. Sometimes I want to sit on my couch and play games on my cell phone or watch a movie with my family. It usually takes me around an hour to write one blog post. That doesn’t include the time it takes for me to find or create a graphic to use on the post. As a result, the blog gets put on the back burner. I try my best to combat this feeling by writing a stack of posts at once that I can schedule throughout the week. Of course, that means getting the gumption to write a number of posts at once. It really is a vicious circle.

Once I get over the “Lazy” problem, the next struggle is finding something I want to write about. Sure, I can write a review every single day. I watch a lot of movies and a lot of television shows. I could easily talk about any of those. However, I’m not sure I want the blog to only be reviews. Would that be interesting to people? Would someone keep coming back to read what I think about various movies or whatnot? Despite the fact that a majority of my professional writing has been reviews, it feels like a cop out to only write reviews. But maybe I’m being too hard on myself. If I write it, they will come, right?

So, if blogging is such a chore, why do I do it? Well, I really do love writing. If I didn’t have to work an outside job full time (ugh, money), I would gladly write all day every day. While I did pooh-pooh a bit on reviews earlier, I love watching a show or listening to an album and telling people my opinions. Yes, it feels like a chore sometimes but once I sit down and let the words start to flow, I feel….well, I feel like myself. Like this is something I should be doing with my life. Like this is what I was meant to do. It’s a shame that I let “real life” get in the way of the things I thoroughly enjoy. That sounds like a New Year’s Resolution….

I turn to you, my audience, for some feedback. Do you like my reviews? Would you like to see me review more things? Not just movies but television series or music albums or maybe alternate reality games (ARGs)? Leave me a comment telling me if I am heading the right direction or am I just yelling into a void. I need to hear more than just my own voice echoing back at me. I appreciate it!

That's All, Folks!

As you might have noticed, I haven’t posted any Christmas movie reviews since Saturday. I was hoping to get the other fourteen movies on my list reviewed by the end of 2021 but, alas, it is not going to happen. That doesn’t mean these movies will never get reviewed though. Let me unveil my lofty plans for 2022!

While posting daily movie reviews is very exhausting, it does keep me on my toes posting-wise. And I really would like to post more than two or three months every year. So I am going to attempt to post something every single day in 2022. Now, I won’t be posting movie reviews every day. I may not even be posting reviews every day. However, I will be posting something. This also gives you a chance to help out with the blog!

If you have a topic that you would like me to talk about, you can leave a comment on any of my posts or send me an email through my contact page. And, seriously, it can be anything. Do you have a favorite movie that you would like me to review? Let me know. Is there an album that you adore that you would love to let other people know about? Send it on over. Is there a topic that you would like to know more about or a craft that you aren’t sure how to complete? I will try my best to give you all of the knowledge I have.

I will be taking the rest of this week off and I will begin the new year with my traditional Best and Worst Christmas movie lists. The movies that I have not watched this season will be sprinkled throughout the year until we reach the 2022 Christmas season. I hope to make my blog as entertaining and informative as it has been these past three months. (Moreso, I hope that I can find 365 interesting things to talk about!)

Well, wish me luck!

How to Begin Blogging

I have seen a lot of people talking about wanting to start a blog but having no idea where to start. I have been blogging on various platforms since 2002 so I thought I would give a few tips on how to start and where to find things to write about. Even though I have been blogging for so long, I am, by no means, an expert. There is no One True Method to blogging. Please take these tips and change them around to fit your particular style. 

Where To Host Your Blog

A lot of people start blogging on either Wordpress.com or Blogger. Both of these are great places to start blogging for free. However, if you are looking to make money with your blog, you will, at minimum, need to register a custom domain name. Many pay-to-blog sites will not accept blogs with wordpress.com or blogspot.com subdomain names. 

If you are willing to spend a little more money, you can purchase hosting services for your blog. For many years, the previous version of this blog - The Geek Within - was hosted on GoDaddy servers and used Wordpress as the blog software. When I decided to change my blog into a fully formed website, I moved over to Squarespace. They use their own blog software, which has taken some time to get used to, but I am able to do so much more with my site now. 

These are just a few of the most popular options out there. If you are not satisfied with these, there are some other options. Do a Google search for "blog software" and see if any of those tickle your fancy. 

What To Call Your Blog

In my opinion, this is always the most difficult part of the process. When I was using Blogger or LiveJournal or Vox (which no longer exists), the URL was always my name (cassandramorgan) but the title would change depending on how I felt that day. Sometimes it was a song lyric, sometimes it was just my name again...there was no consistency. When I registered the domain for The Geek Within, I had decided that I was mostly going to talk about "geeky" things like Japanese dramas or video games or nerdy television shows. However, after seven years of the name, I felt like it was too constricting for me. I wanted to write about other things that wouldn't necessarily fall into the "geek" realm. That is why I made the big domain change this year.

So. You want to make sure your blog title is descriptive of what you do. (Yes, I know Cassandra Morgan is not particularly descriptive. I intentionally made that decision.) BUT. You don't want to make it too limiting either. If you call your blog "Fox TV Shows," what will happen in a few years when you want to write about shows on other channels? Perhaps a better title would be "24/7 TV" or "The Television Guru." Be creative!

How To Find Topics

If you have found a title that you love and a subject that you are dying to discuss, topics should come fairly easily. Write about the things you know! When you get stuck (and there will always be a day or two when your writing muse has decided to take a nap), you can turn to sites like 30 Days of Lists or Pinterest for ideas. Google is your friend. Do a little bit of searching and I'm sure a topic in your particular niche will pop up. Don't be afraid to write a "fluff" article once in awhile. No one is expecting you to write prize-winning blog posts every day of the year. That said, try your best to stick with your genre. If you are writing a celebrity gossip blog, you might lose readers if you start writing about the hottest cars of the year. 

Blogging really needs to be something that comes from the heart. You shouldn't blog because you want to make tons of money or get free products or anything like that. I have found that if you write like you are talking to your friends, people are not only more likely to return to your site, they will also recommend it to their friends. 

Are there other things you want to know about the world of blogging? Leave me a comment and I will try my best to answer all your questions. 

One Lovely Blog Award

I was nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award by Carol from Intrice. She reviews beauty items and is so super cute. Thank you, Carol! Everyone else, go read her stuff. She is awesome.

So. There are rules to this here thing:

The Rules: 
- Take time to thank the person who nominated you and use the award logo in your own post.
- List 7 facts about yourself.
- Nominate 7 other awesome bloggers you would like to get to know better.
- Follow the person who nominated you.

Seven Facts About Myself: 

1. My very small house is very full. The house itself is over 100 years old. The occupants include myself, my husband, and my daughter. But then there are three dogs, two chinchillas, a cat, a bird, and a gajillion fish. Sometimes it feels like we don't even have room to move. 
2. I love Japanese culture. I watch anime, I listen to J-Pop, I watch Japanese dramas, I eat Japanese snacks...the list goes on. I'm not nearly as rabid about the fandom as I used to be but I still do those things occasionally. 
3. I doubled majored in Theater Arts and Visual Communications in college. Because I am insane, I also threw in a music minor. 
4. I hate the winter. I dislike the cold very much. I prefer the summer. 
5. I drive a light blue Honda Fit Sport and I love it!
6. I have been blogging on various platforms since 2002.
7. I get bored easily. As a result, I have a lot of hobbies.

My Nominees: 

1. Coriander at In The Spice Rack
2. Lynn at Savory Tart
3. Rachel at This Teacher Wears Makeup
4. Celise at Geek's Path 2 Beauty
5. Deana at Tesori Belle
6. Jessica at Sassy Gal Reads
7. Shannon at Canongirl

I can't wait to hear more about everyone! 

A question for you

Since the new relaunch of The Geek Within, I have been struggling to figure out what I should talk about here. There will always be reviews of movies and TV shows and whatnot. And I am going to talk about the various subscription boxes that will be arriving on my doorstep. But are you interested in the other stuff? Last year, I started a tumblr account where I planned on posting reviews of random things I purchased. Then I kinda forgot about tumblr. Would you like to see those reviews posted here? What other sort of things would you like me to talk about? Should I go back to posting individual episode reviews instead of just a series?

Help! Post your wants and needs in the comments!

30 Days of Lists

One of the reasons I haven't been writing every day is simple writer's block. I just don't know what to write about. So I signed up for the 30 Days of Lists. Every day for the month of March, they will give me a writing prompt. Some of them are lists (for example, 'Name your 5 favorite female TV characters.') but some of them are not. I'm hoping that this will get the creative juices churning again and I will find that writing spark once more. My friend, Heidianna, did the December version of the list over on her blog, In The Spice Rack and it was super cool. I can't wait to start!

Hello Again

It's been a very long time since I've really blogged here. So I'm going to start over. Sorta. Some things have changed around here. I decided to stop doing paid blog posts. Not only were the assignments very repetitive, they were also very boring. I'm glad I got the opportunity to do it and I was able to make some decent pocket change to allow me to do some other things in my personal life but now it is time to move on.

I've also printed out some prompts to get the writing juices going again. Since tomorrow is the start of a new month, tomorrow will also be the official start of the new Geek Within.

Let me know if there is anything you'd like me to bring back. TV reviews, Favorite Friday, whatever. Tell me what you want to read in the comments and I'll do my best.

A new look!

Those of you that have visited the website should have noticed a drastic change in our theme. The previous theme was a bit depressing so now it's a cute winter theme. The reason for the change? Girl Scout Cookies! My daughter joined Girl Scouts this year and we'll be selling cookies until March 3. If you live in the Reading/Pottstown, PA area, use the link on our website to order your cookies. Once we receive your order, I'll contact you to set up payment and delivery. Yay cookies!