Lessons Learned

My two cents for the day is basically sharing what I've learned through my short career thus far in blogging. I've gotten a few good lessons though probably not as many as a published author or professional blogger of several years.

I think the first lesson I've learned is everyone is, in fact, a critic. It might sound cliche but over my three blogs I've gotten all kinds of comments but without a doubt most of them have been criticisms of some sort. From the helpful hints and tips to the "no you're just wrong type" I've had my share of both. I prefer to receive the helpful kind but it's rather inevitable that as a blogger with any sort of opinion you receive negative comments. Sometimes it is worth trying to listen to what the writer might be trying to say but there are times when I'm just likely to ignore them, especially when they are particularly mean, crude, or nasty. Those I tend to delete and post some small note in a comment as a reply to the effect of "This comment has been removed because..." and fill in the blank. Simply put just because someone is rude to me I don't have to be rude in return.

The second thing I've learned is that readership isn't built overnight. Even with all of the advertising tools built into most of the blog publishing sites traffic to a blog can be very slow. I'm not a very patient person and I never imagined collecting a readership would be so difficult. Of course I never realized that I wanted to collect a readership until I started watching the statistics counter on my blog's homepage. To that effect I have tried to make the best use possible of the various tools to promote my blogs but alas it is more difficult than I had anticipated.

Last but not least, I have learned something about myself. When I first began writing my blogs I had only one and I was determined to publish twice weekly. I then found myself starting another and then yet another for my business. I did fairly well, up to a point, publishing two of them twice a week and the third once a week. Unfortunately I found out that keeping that pace while employed full time is nearly impossible. Slowly I began to drop a post here and one there. The inevitable happened of course, which was that all my blogs suffered a lapse of posts for a rather long while. Learning to write habitually and what to write was a great deal harder that I thought it would be. I am getting better slowly with time though I still have occasional lapses. I still need to learn when to write and how often. The biggest issue with when I write has to do with planning ahead. There are often time periods when family obligations, holidays, and other things fall in the way of my usual odd writing hours.

That's pretty much all it in a nutshell. Lessons learned and those I am still learning. I find that I've said far more on the subject than I intended to. Isn't it funny how some posts just turn out that way?

Writing For January

There's a lot going on in my household for the month of January. The basement is on it's way to being finished, they started working this past Tuesday on it. A lot of progress over the box cluttered basement. There are actual things that look like walls now! Almost more exciting is the fact that the DRIcore flooring system is going to go in today. All very exciting stuff!

Even more exciting is the amount of work I've put in on my blogs over the past week. I am more than just a little pleased with myself. I've gotten no less than two posts for this blog done to be posted in the future. I've also completed a monster post for my website with another one in the works that I hope to finish today. I'm trying to get ahead, can you tell? I've added a goal to my sheet this year and that is to post weekly on each blog at least! I have three so that's at least three articles that I should be writing a week. Or something equivalent to that. That being said I've been rather naughty and haven't been writing much in any of my novel writing projects. This isn't anything new really. After NaNoWriMo in November I tend to short out. Then you pile on Thanksgiving and Christmas and it's like running a race, finding out you have to jump hurdles at the end and once you've finished you realized that you didn't eat anything for breakfast. I guess writing my blogs uses a different part of my creative writing node in my brain. It's all good though. I usually break out of my funk sometime in February. It takes time to write blog posts and such. Especially those for my site. Those usually take a bit of research as well. During the month of November I don't think I posted anything at all, choosing instead to focus on my novel. I suppose this is payback.

It's probably just as well that both of my "regular"jobs (both of which are seasonal) have no need for me at the moment. While this does hurt my wallet it gives me time to really tackle my writing and other projects around the house. Like keeping track of the basement finishing and taking care of appointments for my son and pets.

So just a little update this time around. Look forward to some fascinating posts on this blog soon!                           

Writing Workstation

***So before anything and because I live in New England (specifically Massachusetts): GO PATS!***

Alright now that that is out of the way I can officially start this post. We've finally moved which is why I haven't been writing much...okay, at all. The good news is that I'm hoping that will change soon. I've got my desktop up and running, which is easier to type on for me (read: bad eye sight and arthritis), and I have a nice clean and quiet nook to write in. Now we'll see how long it stays that way. I'll take a  picture tomorrow in the day light and add it to the site. It's quite nice. 

Now for an actual writing update:

Most of my writing since NaNo has been for any of my novel ideas or works in progress...rather I have been trying to stay on top of the rather over zealous goal of writing for each of my three blogs twice a week. I realize that I can't do that and maintain my website, care for my son and a new house. So I'm paring down my posting to once a week in the hopes then that I will be able to work on actual writing projects. That being said, I failed miserably at NaNo this year. 

My NaNo this year was miserable. Between the family holiday obligations and dealing with purchasing this house, the month of November was a nightmare for me. Also, mid-November I started to fall out of love with my idea and was wishing that I had chosen to complete a previous NaNo project. I think I'm going to make it one of my goals this year to put my old NaNo project into the new writing software (yWriter) and try to complete that during the year and see where I get. Beyond that I'm still working on getting myself settled in the new house and catching up to all the new housework I have to do! 

Writing for a Blog

I've been writing for my blogs now for some time and I have to say it's by far some of the most difficult writing I've done. Writing for a daily audience is trying. My website blog is by far the most difficult. I write about my research and while being informative I also find myself having to be entertaining to keep the interest of my readers. Balancing humor with fact is like walking on a fine wire.

I write three of my own blogs including this one, each tackling a different topic. This one, my writing, and my others cover my thoughts on motherhood and family life and lastly, my business. My family life blog is by far the easiest. I can vent there and mull things out "on paper," so to speak. This blog is a tad more difficult for me as I try to put some thought behind my posts though I do sometimes give in to the need to rant a few times. Especially when I hit writer's blocks or some such thing. My last blog is on my business website and I'm trying to use it to draw people to my website which, hopefully, will get them to look at the products I'm offering. To that end I try to sound more authoritative and decisive in my posts. That's not an easy thing for me since I'm not one of those people that has a natural knack for selling ideas. In short as a self-promoter I stink. I try the best I can though and with a little sarcastic humor I get by!