Blogspiration: Royce Young of DailyThunder.com

Royce Young is the man behind the DailyThunder.com blog, a project he started five years ago in his final semester of college that has since become his job. He’s 27 now, married to an elementary school teacher and working full-time both as a blogger independently and as a sportswriter at CBSSports.com. On Twitter, Royce has over 27,000 followers. His website gets an average of one million page views per month, with 100,000 unique visitors. Royce lives in Oklahoma City, and with the combination of both his blog and CBSSports, he makes enough money to make this his career.

Royce’s blog is unique because he started it simply to put his thoughts down somewhere, but has since developed into his own brand. “I had decided pretty much in my last semester of school that I wasn’t going to be a semester,” Royce said. “But I missed writing and more than anything, missed putting my thoughts an opinions in one convenient place.” He is the sole writer at DailyThunder, commenting on each and every game the OKC Thunder plays in, both home and away. He also covers various other things, such as trades, interviews players do, and how other teams will make or break the Thunder.

Royce blends the traditional beat coverage of a team with fan-blogging. He isn’t afraid to publicize that he’s a Thunder fan, something that most traditional media frowns upon. Being passionate about the team allows him to connect with fans because they share the same favorite players, but he also has no trouble calling the team or individuals out for doing something he thinks is wrong. Royce gets to talk to players and coaches on a regular basis, which gives his fans the feeling of an everyday fan getting one-on-one time with Kevin Durant.

Daily Thunder, being run by a single person, has a single voice. Normally, that’s great for a blog, but in the sports world, it can be dangerous. However, it has established Royce Young as a local celebrity in the minds of Thunder fans. Royce encourages people to blog about things they are passionate about. “People love to start blogs. Not everyone likes to continue writing them,” Royce said. If you find something you’re passionate about writing, you’ll continue to do so.

Royce’s biggest bit of advice is that a blogger needs to find their voice. “It’s kind of simple,” he explains, “find the style of writing you’re most comfortable with, and best at.” Royce recommends writing, and writing a lot, to develop your style. He says it’s almost embarrassing how many words he’s written over the last five years, but because of that, he’s improved a lot as a writer.

Diverse audience.

There's a lot of people from a lot of countries that have visited my blog. I'm actually kind of in shock. Granted, I know a handful of the people personally, both in the US and in Denmark. (We hosted a foreign exchange student from there last semester and so I feel the need to give her a shout out! HI EMMA!) But still, the rest are a mystery.

It's really wonderful how technology has given me a chance to connect with people across the world. From Twitter to Tumblr to Blogger, I've got this ability to communicate with people who may have never even set foot in America in their entire lifetime. Granted, I've never been to any of the countries in the world besides America and Mexico. At least not yet.

So if you're reading this and you're from a foreign country, feel free to drop me a line. I'm pretty friendly and I love hearing from people. I've actually got a bit of an obsession with pen pals, too. Oh, and thanks for stopping by my blog.

Be like the flower.

Lately, there have been sad and heartbreaking events occurring what seems like left and right. The Boston Marathon bombing kick-started it this week, followed by the explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The Virginia Tech campus remembered the lives lost in 2007. Tomorrow morning at 9:02 marks eighteen years since the Oklahoma City Alfred P. Murrah Building was bombed. 19 children under the age of six years old were lost, and I can't help but think about them all specifically because I was only three when the incident occurred. Saturday is the anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings. It's a lot, to say the least...

But the thing is, events like these have been happening for ages. We just happen to have social media, specifically Twitter, which allows news to travel across the world in seconds. Suddenly, the smallest incident is now broadcast everywhere. It's not to say that the events aren't bad, just that they're not exactly new. The location may change, the death tolls vary, but tragedy and inhumane acts are nothing new.

We have to learn to be like the flower in the middle of the sidewalk. While the world is weighing down, everything saying we should be depressed, angry, bitter, we reach upwards. What fun is it to play by the rules of the world, anyway? After all, I'd rather be the tiny bit of color in someone's day than give them any excuse to frown.

Don't give up. The bad guys don't win when the death toll hits a certain number. They win when we bow down. Keep your chin up.

The Ugly Word

I know a lot of hideous words. There's words that mean terrible things, words that bring nightmares to some, and words that shouldn't be said in front of your grandmother. Sure, there's plenty of them. I hate the way "moist" sounds pretty much any time it's said, unless we're talking about cake. (Total fat-kid moment, oops.) But one word I am absolutely terrified of is "regret."

I've always liked to think that I was going to live a life with no regrets. Sounds pretty great, right? I was the golden child, the one who never partied or drank until I was legal. I've never smoked anything, including hookah which is supposedly a pretty harmless thing to partake in. I've lived like this for so long that I started calling it "safe" rather than "boring."

I used to think that living with no regrets meant living a life I wouldn't regret. Don't get a tattoo at 18 because when you're 58, you'll regret it. Don't sleep with that guy because you might never speak to him again. Don't, don't, don't. In twenty one years, I've told myself not to do things more than I can even begin to remember.

The thing about living with no regrets is that it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. Living with no regrets is about not letting yourself regret the choices you did make. For example, I quit my job without having another one lined up. My dad was quick to remind me of all the reasons I should have done it while my mom was pointing to the fact that I no longer had an income. It's not so easy to keep the balance internally, but my brain's doing okay so far.

I'm going to have to stop worrying so much about the outcome of choices, avoiding the ones that seem scary. Instead, I need to make choices, take chances, and just accept the outcomes I get. I'll be just fine.

Life in Tornado Alley

I live in quite possibly the most bipolar state around. Oklahoma's known for it's crazy weather by all of the residents here. Let me break down the next 24 hours for you: Right now, it's creeping up to 80 degrees with the threat of a tornado outbreak hovering over us. Tomorrow? Oh, that high's going to be about 40 degrees, with a chance of wintery mix tonight while we're sleeping. Welcome to my life in Tornado Alley.

There's this feeling in the air during tornado season around here. When the weatherman start getting all jittery with the excitement of being able to cover such events, the entire state joins together in a massive groan of annoyance. We've all been through this before. My hometown is protected by an Indian legend that keeps us safe from tornado activity as within the city limits, so my entire childhood was spent worrying for nothing. Now that I'm older, I don't go running into Mom's closet in hopes of riding the storm out there. Instead, I usually open all the blinds and watch the sky do some pretty majestic things.

If you've never experienced the scientific wonder that is two fronts colliding, you're missing out. Somewhere in the sky, things are happening that even the least excited middle school science student can appreciate. The sky becomes electric, turning this shade of brown that reminds me of caramel. The clouds all turn grey and it's a pretty dark sight to see. You know the feeling you get when you jump off a diving board, before you hit the water, where it feels like your entire body is anticipating the impact? That's how the sky feels, and it's contagious. I find myself sitting, waiting, looking upwards for the first sign of a raindrop.

When it finally hits me, or my windshield, I am five years old again. I'd be lying if I claimed that I didn't dance in the storm every now and then. You don't get a lot of time before things turn nasty, the wind picking up and lightning crashing across the sky, but you get just enough to feel alive. It's easy to forget moments like this exist, tucked away in cities with underground passages to keep us safe from all sorts of weather. I'll never stop loving the way tornado season feels, never stop craving the electric buzz that it gives me.

"Stay weather alert." That's what everyone's saying, but I'm just hoping you stay alert to the magic that's all around us.

2 weeks & a very busy Laura

Sorry that my blogging has pretty much ceased for the past two weeks. It's been busy in my neck of the woods. Between Greek Week festivities, hosting the NCAA Womens Regional Basketball Tournament through my internship, and just all around lack of inspiration, I've had a bit of trouble figuring out what to write about. Don't worry, I'll be back in full swing soon. Today's one of those days where I'm feeling that tick, that itch to put my thoughts into words that can be shared. Stay tuned, readers of the blogosphere. Laura will be back shortly.