Why in the world would you start a blog about board games?

Originally published on TenuredGames.com

I went to go see a close friend of mine shortly after I started developing this blog and I was SO EXCITED to tell her all about all of my ideas. She’s one of the most supportive people in my community, but I do think I took her aback with this one. When I started going back to school for my MBA as an engineer, even though most of what I do right now as an engineer is highly technical, she saw the future value. When we started creating, demoing, and selling our own board games, she saw the opportunity in that side-hustle right away.

But a blog?

Aren’t there already a million of those?

Do people even read blogs that much?

What makes you think anyone will follow yours over the ones that are clearly established?

Are you wasting your time?

And so, the imposter syndrome sets in.

Let me be clear, she absolutely was coming from a place of love. But I didn’t have a response prepared then. I do now.

Why in the world would I start a blog about board games, you ask? Let me give you a couple of reasons.

I can add value to someone else. Even if just one person finds value from what I write, my time isn’t wasted. I’ve learned, and continue to learn, so much from my own personal experiences, from my studies, and from others who have generously shared their experiences with me.

In my experience, most resources out there in the board game realm are about game design – theme, mechanics, art, etc. While I am designing games myself, I have found that the majority of my time is spent researching game logistics. Who can make my parts? How do I let people know what I’m working on? What are people’s expectations for finished games and fulfillment of purchases? Each game I design, I find new resources and perspectives on those answers. What works well for my game X does not necessarily work as well for my other game Y.

The information is out there. Often, a fellow designer can point me in the right direction. Sometimes, I found the answers I was looking for in the common practices companies use in other industries. Other times, I fixed a problem my own way.

Regardless, I’ve had to figure some stuff out. I’d like to have a place I can share what I’m learning. I would like a place where I can get feedback from others as well. And I really believe in the ability for a positive environment to bring out the best in others, so I wanted to have a little bit of control setting up a culture. A blog fits my goals.

Beyond that, I wanted another vehicle through which I can personally grow. I’ve been journaling for over 20 years and it has taught me how to reflect through writing. By taking my comfortable hobby and publishing what I write in a blog, I hope to do two things:

1.     I want to practice writing content heavy useful pieces that clearly communicate ideas to a broad set of readers. I’ve written for myself for a long time, but I want to bolster my communication skills with others. A blog is a great way to practice.

2.     I want more opportunities to receive feedback, good or bad, and learn from it. I believe I can learn something from anyone that I meet and creating a blog will give me a chance to meet more people who are as interested in the topics I write about as me.

And so, the feelings of imposter syndrome melt away. Welcome to my blog!