By Matthew Marczi
Having the ability to express one’s thoughts, opinions, and analysis in front of an informed and engaged audience is a wonderful opportunity that should not be taken for granted. Therefore, with this article, I would like to mark the end of my fourth week of writing for Steelers Depot by expressing my appreciation for such an opportunity.
Prior to taking up Dave Bryan’s offer of writing here, I spent the past year attempting to drum up interest for the articles that I wrote for Examiner. Because I was qualified as a ‘local’ writer there, my articles were only exposed to those who live in my area, which is a very small scale indeed considering the size of the total audience of the site.
I wrote over five hundred articles on the National Football League, and more specifically on the Steelers, Jets, and Giants, during the past year for Examiner. Very few of them even received a single comment. Exacerbated by the flawed pay per view system the site employs, the deaf ears on which each word that I wrote seemed to fall made writing seem like a tremendous burden, if not a waste of time.
That is why I was eager for the opportunity to write for Steelers Depot. The Steelers have long been my favorite sports team; I wished to cover the team exclusively for Examiner, but another writer already occupied the position.
Joining this website not only allowed me to do just that, but it also placed me in front of a previously established fanbase whose passion and knowledge for and about the subject at hand resembled my own.
At first, I was not used to the idea of subjecting myself to the task. Dave Bryan has had an established readership for years that has grown accustomed to his own style. I myself have been following his work for years.
In that time, I observed quite a bit of mixed reaction to the work of some of the other individuals who wrote for the site, so I was hesitant to see what kind of responses that my own work would receive, and how somebody else’s audience would embrace me.
About a month into the experiment, I have to say that things are going better than I anticipated. Many of my articles have sparked some interesting and insightful discussions already, which is more than I could have hoped for. I have also read several comments praising my work and my writing ability, and stating that I made a worthy addition to the team, and for that I am most grateful.
I must also add that through this process, I’ve learned to be more scrupulous with myself while writing. I’ve also learned not to believe that I can never be wrong or accept criticism. Through the eyes of an engaged audience, I get a chance to see my own writing in a way that I cannot by myself, and it has only helped me continue to become a better writer.
I only hope that I can continue to justify the enthusiastic responses that I have gotten so far in my first month writing for Steelers Depot. I am looking forward to proving myself as a valuable member of the writing staff and improving the site as a whole in any way that my abilities allow.
Thank you, readers, for helping to make this worthwhile. For respectfully disagreeing with me; for telling me that you learned something new from my writing; for turning my articles into discussions and debates; for even giving me the time of day: thank you.
