[1] In the early 1850s Almazov joined the young staff of the magazine Moskvityanin, alongside Alexander Ostrovsky, Apollon Grigoriev, Lev Mey, and started writing humorous sketches, under the pseudonym "Erast Blagonravov."

One of his pieces, "Dreaming of a Comedy," dealing with Sovremennik' negative review of Alexander Ostrovsky's It's a Family Affair-We'll Settle It Ourselves, had the heated exchange of insults between the two publications, as a result.

The marriage proved to be a happy one, but the couple was dogged by financial troubles, for Voronina came from a poor family, and her husband was known to be an impractical man.

[1] In 1859 Almazov contributed two essays ("On Pushkin's Poetry" and "A Review of Russian Literature, 1858") to the Utro (Morning) almanac, compiled by Mikhail Pogodin.

Writing under the pseudonym "B. Adamantov", he enjoyed considerable success with his humorous verses, satirizing Russian police's interference in people's private lives, the inconsistencies of the liberals, and the advocates of serfdom.