Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:41

Blogging in 2017..."So, why don't you have a podcast?"

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So, why a blog? Ah, the not-at-all eternal question.

When deciding to revamp my website for the 4th time (yes this is my 4.0 update...go in the Wayback Machine some time to version 1.0, 2.0 and most recently 3.0 ...ugh), I knew that it needed to be, let’s say, a little more dynamic. Not just a book report of a site, but something that changes...new information, aka “content”, that appears regularly (aye, there’s the rub) to DRIVE traffic to my site. (that's a lot of SEO type stuff in there...pay no mind, please keep reading.)

As my schedule isn't that dynamic (I mean it IS geographically, but not in terms of a weekly update) and I'm not really “Breaking News” type of guy...a blog seems like the best fit. As a comedian, I am also, at least nominally, a writer as well. Ideally I am squirreled away, hard at work for several hours a day crafting bits of insightful nuance into comedic gold (“It’s gold, Jerry!”)... so why not expand and alter that effort into a product designed for consumption by an audience who reads instead of one that listens (through a din of rum, fake-Cuban cigars and Chocolate Melting Cake).

Yeah, I am a cruise ship comedian, an endeavor oft-maligned and stuck in a time-warp of misunderstanding. Yes, there was a time when the population of “ship acts” was over-represented by the tuxedo-ed buffoon, begging you to laugh (and try the veal)...but those days are long passed...at least on Fiesta Cruise Line, where I work....more about Fiesta in the weeks to come.

I do document my travels to some degree on social media. The funny signs or peculiar geographic phenomena I see end up on my Instagram. Musings on the abysmal state of air travel wind up on Twitter. My breathtaking landscapes of Aruba, Alaska Jamaica and Hawaii, designed to raise the ire and jealous hackles of friends stuck in a Buffalo February make their way to Facebook. (I have no idea what I am supposed to put on LinkedIn and my kids won’t let me have Snapchat).

But I have no long-form warehouse/distribution hub to manage the whole enterprise...so here we are. Plus, I shouldn't lack for potential topics as so many people seem to be so very curious about the nuts and bolts of what I do here: “Where do you sleep? Where do you eat? Do you have to row?”

Plus, as a ship act, I (ostensibly) have my days to myself while working (performing) exclusively at night. Theoretically therefore, I have plenty of opportunity to construct at least one new blog post a week giving:
A) You, a reason to return here week after week AND
B) Me, something to post on TwitterLinkedBook
One fresh, new, substantive post a week...lets see how that goes.

I promise to be honest and forthright and not engage in schtick or try to pass along bits of my act disguised as thoughtful commentary (though presumably it could work the other way around). It’ll be as long as it needs to be and no more. I’ll do my best with punctuation, but I’m not going to obsess over it and neither should you. To me, written communication is about just that, communicating...thoughts, feelings, ideas. If my use of capital letters, questionably-used semicolons or gratuitous ellipses helps me do that... well ... you get the idea. I will try to hold the line on grammar and as for spelling, we’ll go as far as the dictionary on LibreOffice v.5.2.5.1 will carry us (why are you a still using Word?)

Gonna throw this up and see what happens...stay tuned. Got go, my turn to row.

Read 11470 times Last modified on Saturday, 23 September 2017 13:50
Kelly Terranova

Kelly has been featured on CMT's Comedy Stage, FOX Sports and the DryBar Comedy Network. He was a finalist in both the Funny Bone Comedy Club's World Series of Comedy and the CCL Las Vegas Carnival Comedy Challenge. Kelly is a regular performer aboard the Carnival Cruise Lines’ Punchliner Comedy Club and has appeared with Michael Bolton, Joan Rivers, Kevin Nealon, The Doobie Brothers, Brett Butler and Mahatma Gandhi (just wanted to see if you were still reading).