The Geek Gig: Amy Ratcliffe

When I think about how much effort I've put into this blog thus far, I almost start to pat myself on the back.  Then I remember Miss Amy Ratcliffe, and how she has been doing the same thing for far longer, has built a reputation from it, and continues to provide quality geek content for all her readers on a regular basis.  I need to pull my arm away from my back at this point.

An operations/logistics worker by day and blogger by night, Amy Ratcliffe blogs over at Geek with Curves, which boasts over 600 readers.  This is nothing in comparison to her Twitter handle where an impressive 12,000+ followers await her every 140 characters.  "Being a geek is such a big part of my life that it was only natural to write about it," she says in an email interview.  "It's fun to share my experiences and meet like-minded people."

The geekery all started for Amy when she caught an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  "I was instantly hooked, partially due to Wil Wheaton, but mostly because it was an awesome show and unlike anything I'd seen before," she says.  "TNG was on the downward slope by the time I caught that episode, and I remember watching a few of 'best of' marathons before the series finale aired. Those were some perfect weekend afternoons." 

Despite her success with geek blogging, this direction for her life was not clear from the start.  "I'm sort of a late bloomer," Amy admits.  She mentions that her interests in careers varied from marine biologist, to psychologist, and eventually to forensic anthropology.  Realizing these degrees took too much effort for her taste, Amy quit college and only eventually returned to get a degree in business administration.

"I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up until five or so years ago," she explains.  "I always enjoyed writing though.  I wrote short stories and essays and occasionally contributed to newsletters I stumbled across... but I couldn't make it click.  Finally, two years ago after a few false starts with blogs focusing on food and travel and various things, I found my niche: I decided to write about geeky stuff.  I put in all my effort and it's worked out."  Amy blogs about geek crafting, conventions she attends, her thoughts on the latest Game of Thrones episode, and even the occasional sci-fi parody video.

In addition to her own blog, Amy writes for such sites as Fashionably Geek, IGN, and The Mary Sue.  Her writing has provided her many geek-out moments of meeting people she admires.  In particular, she remembers talking to supervising director Dave Filoni at the premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as she covered the event for Newsarama.  "I asked him a question about whether certain characters in the The Clone Wars were at all inspired by the Bene Gesserit in Dune. There was a connection and he elaborated on it. I mean, I got to talk about Dune and Star Wars with Dave Filoni and I was getting paid to do it. It was definitely a 'pinch myself' sort of moment."

Amy continues to write and publish her work across the Internet.  She provides some solid advice and encouragement for geek writers when she says, "If you'd like to get involved in blogging, geeky or otherwise, you've got to dive in and realize that it takes hard work and time.  A friend of mine constantly says, 'Don't tell me how bad you want it, show me.'  If you're starting with the intent of showing your writing chops, building a brand, or wanting to get paid for your writing later, you've got to take it seriously.  Write every day and understand that it is rare to get paid for content right away."

"Most importantly though, writing about the topics you're passionate about makes writing about a bajillion times more fun (and easy) and that travels through the words to your readers."

For more of Amy Ratcliffe's geek wisdom and writings, visit her blog Geek with Curves and follow her on Twitter @amy_geek!

When not writing, Amy can often be found crafting geeky
items, like these Star Wars heels.