I’ve had some friends in the past few weeks ask me, “How did you come up with the name Jason Boom dot com?” Can you guess my favorite response? I’ll give you a hint — it’s a scientific creationist theory.

“It was a Big Bang”

Even more people have asked how I received so much traffic so quickly. That’s a little more difficult to answer with one phrase. For that reason, I’m writing this post to blow apart what’s happened since January 12th and look at each individual piece of the experience, with a little back-story.

The Big Bang
My About page describes my situation fairly well. I’m a technical writer, freelance writer, small-time web host, and computer savant. For about 12 years, I had a ‘fuse’ that I refused to give up — cigarettes. January 7th of this year, I quit. I threw the fuse away. With that came increased energy and a renewed interest in pursuing my dreams.

One Friday evening, I sat down at my desk to surf popular blogs. I revisited my Google Reader which I’d largely ignored for several months, and sifted through some posts. One post from ProBlogger attracted me to the idea of writing my own blog. I read so many of his posts that day that I can’t pinpoint now which one it was. I’ll think of it eventually.

So then I went to my GoDaddy account to see what domains I owned. There were around eight to ten in there. Of the ones I had, I only considered one a viable name. I setup the domain and installed Wordpress. This was a Friday. By Saturday, I posted to this blog, under a different name.

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Lorelle challenged me. Me! I’ll show her. I can write about traveling. After all, I’ve been places. Let’s see. Yes, there was that trip…and that one. Ahhh! Dynamite!

You know how in narratives the reader sometimes has the upper hand on the character? The piece of the story the reader knows but the character doesn’t seem privy to because of his or her shortcomings?  This is not one of those stories. I know what’s happening, but as the reader you will have no clue til the end. However, there’s a lesson in there. Somewhere.

A Mysterious Dragging

One evening, a friend and I had been driving for a few hours on a main interstate that bisects Illinois. It was dark. We were approaching a major city, less than ten miles ahead of us. My friend was smoking. It was winter. The air was cold coming through the sliver of an opening on the passenger side. Up ahead a car was in the right lane, while we moved along in the left. As we drew closer, I could see something hanging down from the driver’s side door, bouncing along the interstate asphalt.

It had to be the driver’s coat. They must of had one of those long coats, with the floppy tails. A business man for sure. The driver had shut their coat in the door. I saw their license plates–Ohio. How could this person drive from Ohio cross an entire state without shifting out of his coat? He must be damned uncomfortable.

“What is that hanging out their door?” I asked my carmate.

“Not sure. Looks like he shut something in his door.” It looked rubbery as it slid and fluidly bounced along the interstate. In the darkness the form of it began to take shape. It looked like a stuffed toy a child would carry. One of those old monkeys with the long tails and the short fur. Or, maybe it wasn’t stuffed.

Unfortunately for the Ohio driver, when they packed their Cadillac full of clothes and necessities for their trip, they did so in the comfort of their garage. The warm garage that the family cat had access to from the utility room door. And in that cold January evening when they had packed everything in the trunk. They started their car and closed the door. However they closed it on the cat’s tail.

The new Cadillac had appealed to that driver. When they took it off the lot for their test drive, they loved how it shut out the sounds of the world. How the traffic seemed to fall away like a dream.

My friend and I tried to inform the Ohio man, with his eye beams focused straight ahead. He ignored our horns and waving hands. Our blinking headlights, until at the dawn of that city, we rushed off the exit ramp.

 So how does this story and challenge pertain to making our blog more successful. Easy. There’s a dynamite lesson in that story for any blogger. The destination seems to matter the most. However, we should know exactly what we had to give up in order to get there.