Tuesday Tell All: A Day Late so Wednesday Writers? Analytics Deep Dive

image from open clipart.org provided by J4p4n

Blog Update:

NAWG member Christopher M. Palmer created a delightful post on "Creating Aliens" and comment wise it seems to be taking off.

Traffic wise our most trafficked day is still only 19 views, but we are getting steady 10-15 views a day and we are receiving many comments.  I don't know how it works that there doesn't seem to be page views but there are comments, I would think you couldn't comment without viewing.  *Shrug*.  

I haven't written anymore posts for the North Alabama Writers' Group but my post "What's in a Name?" dropped on Aug 26th.  All the credit for the idea and structure goes to Rick Polad.  This was a fun response/ add on post and I'd like to write more posts along these lines.

I added a little more content to my "September Call for Submissions Roundup" Post which will drop Sept first on North Alabama Writers' Group, so keep your eyes peeled!  I also added more content to another post regarding writers' tools.

On this blog, I posted my Twitter Plan (sitting at 5 views with no Twitter promotion).  It's worth reviewing because you can compare what I'm doing with the results I post each week.

I also posted a page on Bloggers and Groups I follow to stay up to date with calls for submission.  It should a a great resource for authors who want to keep update with the markets.

In the to be posted file:  I wrote a post on batching that will drop on Sunday.  Basic stuff, but it made me interested in exploring my process and increasing productivity.  I've started a post that's reviewing a book on publishing and promotion, but it's not finished.

I changed the layout, the book shelf look felt old, so I went pink watercolors.  What do you think?

Thank you all for viewing and Retweeting posts around this blog.  Last week's update got an impressive 57 views.  It's cool so many people stopped in to look at my projects and plans!  

Twitter Update: 

I've been active on Twitter for 12 days in in that time I've posted 120 times (10 times a day—too much to be sustainable long term), received 9,953 views, 377 profile views, 26 mentions, and I've gained 58 followers.   per Twitter Analytics.

That's 38 more followers than this time last week!  If I average 25 new followers a week (and can keep them), that's 100 new eyes every month.  Combined with my current following I could have 1k followers in 6 months.  That's steady growth I could sustain long term.

If I'd posted this update yesterday, my most popular tweet would have been my tweet with last weeks update.  467 views and 16 retweets!  You guys rock!  I hope you had fun/ could gather something from the number analysis.  However, as of this morning my most viewed tweet is a reply to @oceanviibes.  He/She has so many following, it shouldn't surprise me this of hand response to first place with 501 views and 8 engagements.

Using Hootsuite, I have posts scheduled until Monday.  It is becoming more difficult to find things to RT or tweet.  I think some of Twitter's repetition is hitting me.  To fight this, I'm playing more in Hashtag convos and hoping this will give me more fresh content to post.  

I've continued to delete inactive accounts from my following feed.  Brought the number of following to 653 and with a following of 406 I'm close to "reasonable" range, whatever that's worth.

Writing Updates: 

I completed editing all but two of my short stories, so I have 5 stories ready to go.  One of my stories is a "novella" length so I will wait until I'm back from Vegas to dive into that.  The other two will also need a lot of love, so I'm on hold in working them.

I wrote a new short story on the flight here.  Current title "Comes in Threes" and it's a horror fantasy genre.  This was a 100% original idea that wasn't on the list.

I've also gone back in through my novel.  Chapters 1-3 are complete.  Chapters 4 &5 need a complete rewrite but I have plans to work on that later today.  

Other projects are likely to be touched: the writer's group round robin.  I played with it in July and came across an editor's ethical quandary.  Since then I've decided I can do what I want to my part of the writing and I should create two separate endings for the work and post all up on North Alabama Writers' Group.  

I want to look at Cress Legacy because I think I could bring it to a close this week.  Also, I have a short story called "1000 Words" that I think I could cross off my list.

Got into the writing class and it starts Sept 3.  Blog posts on that are sure to follow.

Goodreads Update :

-All my reviews on Goodreads.com are up to date.  I was about 10 books behind and now I'm caught up.  Goodreads is part of my organic social media promotion campaign.  Since I already read a lot and often review, keeping up to date with it felt like a natural minimal effort add on.  More to come on the part Goodreads may play in my future social media chasing.

Two weeks away from trying to engage Facebook.  I don't want to, but I feel like it's the obvious next part establishing my blogs and writing in the larger world.  We'll see, maybe it won't be so bad or maybe it will drive traffic so wildly I'll wonder why I never bothered with it before.

My Twitter Plan in 8 Steps

image from openclipart.org by GDJ

1. Create and Share Interesting and Unique Content

- retweets of stuff that grabbed my attention: quotes, articles, funnies, unique perspective/advice, books I plan to read or have read
-sharing my personality
-sharing personal efforts vs results.  This differs from the other generic "how to get views bro" because it's about what I'm doing and what results I'm getting, but it's also different cause I'm not really doing as they suggest

2. Schedule Posts.

-Some days I'm super into Twitter and some days I'm low on social mojo.  An obvious solution is to use a Scheduling site to plan out posts.  My goal is to have 4-5 posts a day with only 10 posts in one day for consistency’s sake.  I'm using free versions of Hootsuite, Commun.it and Buffer to achieve these goals.
-Side benefit to my feed, when I Retweet your posts a week later is won't show up in anyone's following both of us as spam.  Instead, it will breathe a second life into great content.  I want to showcase stuff so it doesn't feel like an echo chamber all the time For reals, I want to help other people while helping myself because I believe we can win together.


3. Create More Personal Connections on the Medium

-following hashtag conversations and replying to people/holding a conversation
-replying to questions, following up with others
-thanking people for helpful content, posting reviews and otherwise interacting beyond the like button
-I want to get into #sixwordstories and some other creative hashtags.  Meet other creators, contest holders, and stretch my own creative muscles more
-trying to be a friend to people by offering advice and support instead of "on and bubbly" or "sharp and snarky". Looking for a whole person approach
-@ people with content I think they'll like or that makes me think of them. Right now that's real life people but a goal is to build relationships with people online that I "know" well enough I can tag them
-checking in once a week with people's feeds whom I connect to.  I've got a short list of ten names where I make a personal check in.

4. Using Commun.it's "Popular Tweets of Your Feed" Section to See What is Trending and What People are Interested in.

-When possible, I make a relevant RT, like, or reply, scheduled out to give a second surge to something already popular (fashionably late and not just behind the times, I hope)
-Also so I can test what's popular on my feed and better style my Tweets to fit--this is limited for me because I want to find my audience for my writing and if I mimic someone else too much, I'll just find their audience

5. Use of Hashtags

-I have about four related lists I'm working with.  I also have days of the week plans, and I schedule.
-Also I'm interesting in cultivating my audience for writing, so I peek in to hashtags that match my book so see what people are saying and who's out to play

6. Once a Week Check in 

-This is part a batching thing and part a community builder
-I will look at everyone's feed on who has followed me over the week on Friday to see if we have common interests and then I may follow them back.
-I am also once a week checking in on some people who have consistent content I enjoy that might get swept away in my feed

7.Checking in to Twitter Analytics:

-By looking at my success and failures at least twice a week, I can see what works and doesn't work in my post records.  I can tell if it's content or time that may have garnered attention.  I can figure out if the hashtag communities I am drawn to are working for me.  And, as a little of a numbers geek, I can find endless entertainment in my ranking.  What worked, what didn't work, and theorizing why.

8.Unfollowing More People.

-I started unfollowing people on Tuesday. I thought it would only take one purge to get rid of everyone who is not relevant. Sooooooo wrong.  I've been dropping about 50 people a day.  When I got back to my Twitter, I was following 900-ish people and now I'm following 676 people.  This is cool becasue it means soon I'll be able to pick up more groups that interest me.  Agents, publishing companies, asuthors, and finding a few more of those dreaded content marketers.  I have a love hate relationship with content marketing.

- I am cleaning up contacts inactive for over a month or people whose account appears to have shifted away from my interests during my time off Twitter.  Of my Twitter plans this is my least favorite part of the work load, and I hope it's least important.

And these are hopefully my 8 steps to a successful Twitter Campaign.  Am I missing anything?  Do you have a cool sight you use that I should sheck out?  Tell me in the comments below.

Want to see how this plan is going? Check out:

August 21st Progress Report
August 29th Progress Report
September 4 Numbers 

Progress Update: Blogs, Twitter, and Creative Writing

image from optnclipart.org by liftarn

Blog Updates:

I created two more blog posts for North Alabama Writers' Group one will post on Aug 22th and the next will post Aug 26th.  I've also collated my September Call for Submissions Post and it's scheduled to drop September 1st.

Ran through my older posts in the Writers' Group and added pictures to them from openclipart.org so they will be more tweet-able.

The response is still underwhelming.  3-19 views a day with no comments from people I don't know or interact with.  I'm not discouraged, the blog has only been on the scene for under a year AND we engaged other writers less than a week ago. I expect low numbers.

Resurrected this blog with a primary post yesterday. They viewed the post four times, which is far more views than expected give my lack of promotion.

  I filled out a page of blogs/services I follow because they keep me up to date on calls for submission and open publishers.  Have four solid links and am hoping to expand to ten links before publishing.

Continue working on it with an update/analytics post today and have two other ideas I'm fine tuning and will schedule later today.

Twitter Updates:

Twitter is very early in the campaign, but so far it seems to go well.  Thanks to  Hootsuite, I've got posts scheduled through Saturday.  My free account will take me up to 30 posts, with 21 lined up.  19 will still be in the queue Wed morning.

Twitter Analytics look amazing, but that's no surprise.  Resurrecting at three year dead account always looks promising at the start.  Still, 74 profile visits in 4 days is nothing to sniff at.  Added 20 followers, so a third of the people who looked at me followed.  Feels like progress.

My top tweet is funny if generic. and my second most popular tweet is a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon tweet.  First day is the most successful with diminishing returns on subsequent days.  I got 109 impression on Aug 20th with a Hugo Award announcement.

So far important, new, and funny gets the most eyes.  Seems blog posts and funny gets the most engagement.

Commun.it ssuggested about 74 people not to follow and I went through to delete anyone how hasn't posted sometime this year.  Annoying, but healthy to purge inactive accounts.  My follow to follower ratio is off and may come off as "desperate" even with all the unused accounts gone.  The only downside is now commun.it wants me to unfollow 90 more people, like it was encouraged by me taking some of its advice.  Guess what, I follow people cause I like the posts not because they follow me.

Commun.it also points out the most popular posts trending within my feed.  When possible, I comment or RT.  Also, commun.it suggests thanking accounts with high engagement, it's something I'm considering doing once a week to the top five accounts?  I don't know, feels very hokey and a little obvious.  

Looked up a ton of writers' hashtags and picked out 14 I like and will try to dip into.  From there I picked up themed posting and want to make certain I'm using days of the week hashtags.  Wrote myself a schedule and created a timer so I don't fall into the twitter abyss.

Writing Updates:

I put together full list of completed, in need of review, in progress, and ideas for stories.  The plans don't include a lot of creative writing until my vacation starts this Friday.  While writers' goals feel in order, I don't know what of these projects will strike my fancy while on vacation, so it's hard to set up any metrics surrounding the process.

 The main thrust of my work this week is knocking out all the basic social media junk so it will run on auto pilot while I'm working the story side.  At some point, the process will need fine tuning so I can manage both but that's a week away.

Last, I tried to sign up for a creative writing course, but it won't let me right now because "PayPal checkout is down".  Will revisit that tomorrow.

Putting On My War Paint: Time To Twitter

uploaded to openclipart.org by j4p4n

Two years ago, I began an ill-advised campaign to write/freelance blog/publish a book.  I bit off way more than I could chew.  My goals were too broad, and I added in more things I "had" to do too often. I decided the whole circus wasn't for me.  Instead, I focused on my writing, I reached out to agents, and got grass roots and joined a local writers' group.  

Well, I'm back at it again, trying to make something work.  What different this time?

First, my goals are more limited.  I'm looking to create a genuine community and audience for my creative writing endeavors.  

Second, I'll work with a team of fellow local writers trying to stir interest in our different projects instead of trying to shoulder all the work on my own.

Third, I've got a very strict schedule I plan to adhere to.

I will pursue audience by:

1. Posting in The North Alabama Writers' Group Blog, writers group blog I hope my fellow writers will join me in maintaining.  I've been curating it for the last year.  If the blog was a plant, it wouldn't survive my tender care, even if it was a cactus.  20 posts in 33 weeks sounds ok, but the spacing is fubar-ed.  Nothing between April until July and now I'm blitzing posts every four days.  Pacing in my social engineering needs some fine tuning.

2. Reviving my Twitter account and trying to mobilize old contacts while also making new contacts.  Of social media, Twitter seems to be the most manageable for me.   Short bursts into the void seems more tolerable.

 My previous attempts saw scattered successes.  This time, I have a specific plan for each day that should help me interact in ways that will be more meaningful but also be fun.  I also think Twitter will be less frustrating this time vs my last attempt.  The goal this time is to interact with people and show a little of who I am where the goal last time was to funnel traffic to the blog.  It's cool if you guys come to the blog, but I'm not in Twitter for that.

3. Bringing this blog back as a recording tool to track success/failure.  I love analytics and I know there have to be dozens of others who would show up for the statistic updates.  Beyond what interests others, there's something about complete statistical transparency that feels good.  It's a weird moral high ground, but if it makes me happy and accomplished, why not?

4. I will also use the pages option in this blog to create an organized collection of resources I use for writing, measuring analytics, doing the social media, and so on.  It would be soooo cool if this kind of researching helped others, but the pages would be a success if I didn't have to hunt and peck all the time for stuff I half remember once having a link and description to.

5. I will reinvest in my creative writing by taking a work shopping class.  I miss the creative writing classes I took in college and the structure might give me the kick in the butt I need to produce again.  Tired of standing in one place.

6. Write!  The workshop should help but key to the "revive my social media to gain audience" campaign is the assumption I have stories ready to share.

Companys with Good Writing Advise Blogs

Ordered alphabetically 

Apex Publishing: I love Apex Publishing.  They support new and emerging Scifi authors along with established authors.  They have open submission for their magazine and themed calls of submission.  They pay $.06 a word, they have awesome art and interesting themed prompts.  I guess you'd consider this blog inspiration fodder?

ProWritingAid: Beyond offering an AMAZING software series (see my personal experience here and also enjoy as I compare this service with peers) their blog suggesting other software applications, offering grammar/editing advise, and also supplying writing/plot structure is very enjoyable.

Scifi Monkeys: They have a lot of interesting reviews and conversations surrounding all current Scifi material.  They also hold a "Seasons" call for submissions for those looking to write/submit

Writers' and Editors Blogs I Read

This list in alphabetical order.

Alexander M. Zotari "Notes from an Alien":This blog centers around book and writing questions/topics Zotari wants to explore.  He only brings the conversation forward if people engage with his posts.  A wonderful way to bring in interested lurkers, though it sometimes leads to repetitive posts.  I enjoy seeing quiet people come out and post, and "Notes from an Alien" succeeds in catching many people's thoughts.

Ari Meghlen: She is a writer and outside of blogging focuses in the fantasy genre.  She gives excellent advice on how to start up an organized writing routine.  She shares her personal writing goals, she updates with her progress, she is one of the hosts of #themerrywriter on Twitter.  Her style is to the point and very approachable.  She's also building a job info list resource for writers.

Cal P. Logan: As I add this entry, he's just getting his blog up and running.  It looks like it will revolve around indie author book reviews as well as some notes on his querying/writing process.  I'm curious to read more

Christopher Graham: Has "The Reading Ape'd blog where he offers a lot of how to's that will interest authors.  I struggle navigating his site as the layout while very good is not intuitive to me, but his articles are worth the work.

Elna Cain: She is a freelance writer who manages I believe four blogs along with her freelance posts. I enjoy her post layouts and while some of her tips/tricks/suggestions are generic, I like how positive and persistent she is.  You can see that she has personally used her own techniques to gain success.

Hannah Heath: a writer who blogs on building one's platform and gives writing advice.  Fun and to the point blog style with a clean visually pleasing blog home.

Jacob Brundle: He promotes his upcoming publication and he writes about different ways to approach the creative process and how that may impact your progress/ you work.  He has a very clean blog with an engaging style.

Jeffrey A. Moulton: He has an interesting quirky blog style that's most at home with the speculation I enjoy in good science fiction.  His style connects odd outside inputs together for interesting conversation and writing prompt fodder.  Fun and offbeat on his blog with dark horror present in his novels.

Joy D Fanning: An aspiring writer she creates content related to the writing process and preparing to write/publish a major project.  As another writer seeking publication, I have a lot in common with her only her chosen genre is science fiction.  She's also part of a blogging collaborative "The Aspiring Author Blog"

Just Publishing Advice: The title says some of it.  This blog gives publishing advice, grammar advise, advertising advice and social media advice.  All interesting and easy to implement.

K. Kris Loomis: An eclectic writer who creates both fiction and non fiction.  She's into reading, yoga, and self care along with helpful suggestions on how to interact with others and build your presence authentically.

K.M. Weiland: author who provides step by step guides and advice to completing creative writing projects and seeing publication through.

Lauren Sapala: is a writer who focuses on the writing and publishing market specifically from the perspective of a highly sensitive personality type.  She approaches problems/issues/concerns from a deeply empathetic core and often provides more sympathizing that step by step advice.  She is patient, well spoken, and encouraging.  Her writing style speaks to me and is very engaging.

Lionel Ray Green: a local writer who encourages me and shares his writing breakthroughs with me. His blog is an eclectic mix of observations, reviews, and market announcements.  He has insight specifically in the horror market.

Morgan Wright: An up and coming author with an amazing twitter presence and what seems to be an extensive, growing blog presence.  I enjoy her layouts and services so I keep and eye on this blog even though these isn't presently much to talk about

Nat Russo: a writer who offers writing advise to other writers.  His book series is fantasy and currently on my "to be read" list.  I enjoy his advise and presence.

The North Alabama Writers' Group: A blog I curate with my writers group.  We post flash fiction, writing exercises, book reviews, and random writing topics we usually talk about in writers group.

An Outsider's Way: a writer's blog about natural healing and poetry.  It's more a spiritual vibe I enjoy that direct advice.  Still pretty writing and worth a peak.

Planet Simon: A fiction writer with insights into the science fiction/fantasy genre.  His site has a wonderful layout and a simple friendly style.

Polar Bear Editing: offers editing and publishing services and as such the blog specializes in publishing/editing advice.  Has a lot of delightful humor in it and fun graphics.  Also hits topical self published books pontoon out the good and bad.


Rachel Poli:  She is a writer who offers advice over different writing hurdles, advertises contests, flash, writes reviews, presents open calls of submission, and also hosts #themerrywriter on Twitter

Stefanie Sears: A freelance creative who blogs her own personal journey and accomplishments.  I enjoy watching her progress and gleaning ideas from her progress as I hope others find in my recording with this blog.

T.A. White: an author I found through her "Dragon Ridden Series" on Kindle Unlimited.  Her blog focuses on updates of the three series she's juggling the release of.  The woman is a machine and an inspiration for anyone looking to publish fantasy in today's market.

Women Writers, Women['s] Books: Love, love, love this blog site.  It offers encouraging and helpful information for all writers and it features female writers and their journey specifically.  It's easy to hear about Stephen King's thoughts, but where is the female experience.  I see Margret Atwood and Amy Tang quotes and advice once in a while, but it's nice to always have a sight I can go to to hear my fellows talk about their struggles in the industry or in their own work.

Writer Writer: a new blog created by Morgan Wright and David Collins.  They have short story contests where they publish the final work for free to their blog.  Views are public knowledge on their blog so you can decide if the potential exposure is worth "giving away" the story.  They also have resources for fellow writers to check out including books, worksheets, and articles.

So My Book is Written

Finally, after what feels like eternity, my book is completely written (well I say completely but the my mind flicks back to a possible three chapters that may need to be added)!    It's a been a joyous week of telling all eight of the people I know that I have a completed book and do they want to read it?  


Of course the work has just begun.  This past Tuesday I started writing and sending proposal letters to agents.  It makes me wish I were more consistently social because now I'm stuck cold calling and I better leave the most enticing pitch letter ever or no one will read.  How can something feel both like all my dreams are coming true and my worst nightmare at the same time.  How can I be so excited to write each new pitch and send it out to another agent and also completely dread hitting the send button.  There's always this sense that I'd have found some really convincing words if I'd just waited longer to send the pitch.

So far the process is more exhilarating than tedious.  I'm looking forward to recieving my first few rejections because that will put me closer to an acceptance.  I don't expect but I hope some of those rejections will come with corrective criticism.

Likewise, later I expect to be desperate or sad or bored or some other emotion but for right now, all I am is thrilled and I hope it lasts for at least the next six weeks or so.    

Is Making and Maintaining a Popular Blog Best for You and Your Vision?

(from openclipart.org j4p4n's collection)

So when I first decided to come back on the writing scene I wanted to freelance write for others.  It wasn't just that I loved writing, it was that I hated my job.  I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by writing again and feeding that part of me that keeps me stable, and making money at it--which would free me from my job.

(from openclipart.org from johnny_automatic's collection)

It was a few days research before I dove whole heartedly to blogging and surfing freelance sites for work.   I figured, look at all these people who do this, I can do it too!

I wrote a lot, and at first I felt better.  Writing anything after so long away was a relief, a purge of poison, and a dopamine injection straight to my neural pathways.

(from openclipart.org from GDJ's collection)

 Watching the numbers stack up also really boosted my confidence.  I thought it would take me months to build up a 1000 page hits, again based off previous interest.  It only took a month to hit 2000 page views.

The glow in victory was short lived.  Before long, I dreaded the blogging.   Instead of looking forward to sharing different thoughts and insights, I looked at it like so much work.  How will I title and structure this post for maximum hits?  Which communities will I post this in for advertising and have I read and commented on enough recent posts to get return traffic?  Have I looked at my core folks' blogs and +1, commented, reposted enough for them recently I feel confident in a return?  Do I have enough spacing between my own self promotion posts and posting other interesting articles?  Are the articles I'm posting of value, saying something new and different or at least saying it in an engaging way?

(from openclipart.org Steren's collection)

It became less and less about the writing and more about the marketing, or to use a buzz word more about the "brand".   At core, successful blogging comes down to creating a "personal brand" and marketing your "brand" to what people want.  People don't want to read frustrated rants about customers doing annoying things--especially when they may be that customer and doubly so if there's no suggestions on how to be less annoying.

(from openclipart.org j4p4n's collection)

• Readers want helpful advice broken into neat lists and bullet points. 

• Ideally, Readers want titles that tell them there are X number of things to look at here.  No matter how well formatted the following work, no one will look if the title doesn't suggest a strong list.

• Readers want tons of fun graphics that are engaging and apply to the posts they're reading. (and in this post, I've done an excessive amount of graphics.  Turns out I have a love hate relationship with supplying graphics for posts)   

• Readers want a cheery positive tone.  Better if it can be funny but minimally a positive can do attitude is needed.

(from openclipart.org johnny_automatic's collection) 

• Readers want to see you doing more than just writing.  They want to see you curating quality levels of knowledge in at "niche".  If they go to your feed, they want to see you liking and sharing related articles--even better if they see interaction between you and a more authoritative writer/blogger from the same "niche" positively interact

So what do Readers give Writers in return for all these extra hours of work--besides an audience?   Truthfully, the Writer gets nothing if he or she isn't selling or promoting a "brand" related service.   Adsense and amazon marketing tactics have shown to provide bloggers less than dollars a day in most instances.  So really, blogging isn't the money maker, it's the new advertising.  The question is--what am I advertising?  Is getting a ton of hits really effective to what I'm marketing?  Could I promote better through forum interaction that would be less demanding than maintaining a popular blog?  Do I get enjoyment or can I produce efficiently when blogging in the specific format it take to generate hits?

For me (and perhaps others)  it became apparent that blogging in the way that's designed to generate larger traffic was too exhausting.  While I felt driven to work on my novel, to browse through my poetry library, to share new thoughts and apply for more freelancing--the sheer time it took to maintain my presence via the blog ate all my time.

It's better for me to be more causal, with less readership, but have time to work on my actual projects: the novel and learning swift and playing with my Aquaponics fish tank.

For those of you who thought this would be a list of all the stuff to make a good blog--don't fret!  It's not in my goal set but I know who to follow to make that happen.  May I suggest:

Bloggers Who Offer Advice on Having a Successful Blog/Freelancing Career Whom I very much enjoyed reading and interacting with:
Kristy Stuart
Elna Cain
Sherman Smith
Sue Ann Dunlevie
Juntae DeLane
Carol Tice
Jeremy Crow
Gina Horkey

Artisans and Images that Just Aren't True

(from openclipart.org j4p4n's collection)

"I hate calling myself an artisan," the woman tells me.

I smile and nod because I think I understand.  Her ego is properly sized.  Calling oneself an artist of any kind seems pretentious to her.  It's an old story I'm ready to hear again even as I envy her the creative freedom, her ability to work from home, and the liberation from someone else's schedule set.

"I hardly call working on the same thing over and over again for 14 hours at a time an artisan thing," she continues.

My world halts.  The gears of the world pause for a moment as I consider her words.  It's never occurred to me that artisan could be the same as a small scale sweat shop.  I never considered that seamstresses or woodworkers even chose to make the same piece over and over again until it lost whatever little bit of soul it might have once had for the creator.

And I wonder is she as positively happy as I'd assumed anyone would be if they were "following their passion" or "had a skill that the market would support her to pursue".   As a thinker, a writer, and a researcher, I often envy others skills.  Even people just societally considered half a step above me like the artisan.   They after all, they can do what they love full time.  They must be deeply engrossed while I'm here behind the coffee bar handing off lattes and listening to small children tantrum while flustered mothers try to shop.

I'm so bored and quietly miserable--but here's the stay at home artisan in front of me and she's lonely and isolated.  Her hands hurt and her parents worry about her--just like mine.  She doesn't have time to explore interesting projects she'd like.  She just follows trends and has to keep making what is selling.  Yeah there are no screaming children and the rude people buying her stuff are in a store away from her--but she goes days without seeing another soul beyond her husband.  She's so busy at home that she can't cook a fresh meal.  Hot pockets are their go to lunch dinner and breakfast.

And I look at her--really look at her.  She's unkempt.  Her colored hair has about 5 inches of growth, it's falling down from it's low bun into a loose unruly mess.  Her black zip up sweat shirt is tattered, covered  in frayed edges, loose strings and random stains. There are bags under her clean make up free face.  Her build is sturdy but her husband stays close--is she about to fall over on her feet exhausted?

I see suddenly that we could be in the same place.  I write and I research for me and for art (which is so presumptuous to put down it makes me nervous to type) .  It's not my bread and butter.  How amazing would it be if one day  I wrote something took off and made money--but it's a distant dream.  I don't alter my writing to make it more marketable, not really.

Did she start the same way, making things because she loved it?  Did one or two things take off--forcing her to keep making more and more of the same thing over and over again because that's what people wanted?

This is how capitalism destroys us.  Here she is living what should be a dream, and other than scale, the work hours and some of the conditions are little better than sweat shops.  Does she work this hard to keep up with demand or because she needs to sell this much to keep herself a float?  Is this how she wants to live deep down and she's just hunting for some sympathy from me?

And here I am brewing her coffee and smiling all the while.  I'm only half listening to her, my mind is off in deep thoughts about what else I'll write for various blogs and whether or not my main character in my novel should show vulnerability and weakness.  I have her drawn up as an distrusting fight first kind of woman.  She's dragged along by her friends into a host of environments she finds distasteful--and I'm wondering if she needs to fall, even as she protests, to some of the dangers inherent in the scene.  Part of me doesn't want to open her up to the loss of control--as that's largely what I like about her--and part of me feels like it's so inevitable that people lose control in that the point of her succumbing would make that impact loudly and dramatically.

And how is me working on these elements in a book inherently less valuable than standing around in a coffee shop making small talk about the weather and other peoples' jobs?   Does everyone else in the system not feel as small and constricted as I do?

These are the questions we should be asking our culture and our society.  Are the things we value in line with what the culture demands for survival?  How do we define value or work?  What does it take to be more than a corporate cog--if one so desired--and is it feasible?

Performing For a Live Audience: And How it Can Stymie My Creative Process

(from openclipart.org j4p4n's collection)

The only thing worse than prolonged conversation with people when I need alone time, is performing in front of a large group of people.  Blogging and networking online forces me to do both, and thanks to all the ways to track views, the very meter of success forces me to acknowledge how many people I may be performing for.


The desire to create a good impression to so many people--whose expectations and experiences are so alien to me feels crippling.  I wake up early, planning to write three of four blog posts, and then to post one on each blog and suddenly I want no part in it.  I start picking up almost anything to avoid writing these posts.

This blog is a chance to go over parts of my process that I struggle in and am sensitive towards.  As everything seems clearer to me once I write it, it seems like it would be good to hash it out in works.  Yet, the very fact these are sensitive and troublesome aspects of my process keep me from wanting to post them.  This juxtaposition would be largely humorous if it wasn't standing between me and more success.

(from openclipart.org johnny_automatic's collection)

My less important Aquagarden Blog, that records more a hobby than anything that could be a career maker, still manages to create this feeling of anxiety.   I like taking the pictures of the tank and the plants.  I like being able to look back and see day to day growth compared.  And still, I see the 200 page views on 20 days of work, what most people would consider a pathetic turn out, and think it's too large.

 It concerns me to think of so many people looking at the blog and judging me with no more context than I've provided.  Part of me starts filling up all this supplemental reading and writing I should create to justify the blog.

Perhaps a betta 101 care post along with references to prove I'm taking good care of the fish. The whole post would only take three hours to research and write.  It would both prove my ability as a fish care taker and possibly increase traffic.

Then, I remember that how large a betta tank should be is a HUGE source of controversy, and I realize that will need it's own post.  For this I'd have to look up the varying opinions, analyze them and then integrate whatever scientific research there is on fish mental, physical, and emotional health.  This is minimum six hours.

Another point of controversy between the fish hobbiest community and the aquaponics community is exactly what kind of filtration system fish need and whether water changes need occur.  Honestly, I've done a good 30 hours research and can't give an answer to these questions.  I sort of just skim over them on the blog.  My tentative answer seems to be that plant roots can be a complete filtration system, but there are a lot of factors at work in my own tank--let alone what may be going on with others for me to truly answer this concern.

(from openclipart.org  bmichalik's collection)

And I've only scratched the surface of the fish side of the equation.  I'm already how many hours justifying a hobby blog where truly, we may not have an answer yet for some of the questions or concerns aquaponics raises.

Why do I feel so compelled to justify myself?  Why am I so nervous to just to put my thoughts or feelings out there?  What do I think is going to happen when people read my posts?  

I wish I could understand this crippling fear.  Never afraid to write, only afraid to present.   Still, I know if held me back from creating a new Aquagarden post for a week.  I had to force myself to take pictures I suddenly dreaded, look at my blogger account, and go through and post.

Likewise, here I have three posts I've started and abandoned.  One about what as an aspiring novelist I'm trying to create, one about race portrayals in fiction and creating responsible character diversity, and this current post I'm slogging through.  As the least controversial, it's easiest for me to share.  Why am I so afraid to get things wrong?

All I know is that of my three projects, I like my novel best because it goes out on paper completed.  There will be no addendum, no corrections, and no ongoing conversation as I create.  Sure there may be judgement and discussion on the final product, but it won't be the extended relationship that blogs and networking sites allow for.  Something in that format seems so much safer and more distanced.

On the other hand, I've spent a few years researching details for the novel--obsessed that even the smallest little pieces feel real and as if they're coming from a rich and vibrant tradition.  For all I know, it's less the judgement and more that I've allowed myself more time to do all the insane research so I feel more ready.  It's a shame the internet needs things to go too quickly to allow for the same level of in depth detail work.

Every Blog Needs a Intro: Welcome to My Current Projects and Obessions

(From openclipart.org j4p4n's collection)

Maybe other writers are more organized than me?  The ones I've met seem to be fairly scattered and spread thin.   I fit that mold well myself.  Reading writer's work and process often feels like roaming through my own inner mindscape.  It's very homey and insightful at the same time.  There's a lot of "I do that and I didn't even know why till now" or "I'll have to try that" or "Lucky me I'm not currently procrastinating on my project like this person is".

These blogs about the process along with gems of insight into how to make it all come together seem to be very popular--or at least popular in my circle.  I thought I'd try my hand at my own blog on my writing and project process.  If nothing else, I thought it might be fun and a perfect diversion from writing.  It's procrastination that I can pretend is productive or meaningful in some way
.

( from openclipart.org Fabuio's collection)

My writing and project work process is scattered at best.  I consider myself a pretty creative person, and I get a ton of interesting ideas that spawn more interesting ideas that spawn even more interesting ideas that then keep me up at night so I can neither sleep nor create anything because I'm soooo tired.

Then I go to my day job and think about all the progress I'm going to make on my totally cool awesome ideas when I get home.  This of course makes me scattered and irritated in dealing with customers while I sling coffee for a living.

(from openclipart.org jean_victor_balin's collection)

Just To Date Projects I'm working on Include:

1. A novel that's in it's fourth revision and about 20 pages short of an ending.

2. A Small scale aquaponics blog that dovetails very nicely into a larger outdoor model I'm studying to create--which doesn't sound creative but finding cheap supplies, thinking of different things to plant, and recording it all is a very creative process.

3. A blog responding to all the Kindle Unlimited Books that I'm reading.  Currently the blog is a template but I have about 20 articles sitting on my computer waiting for publishing to proceed.  Indeed, I was actually supposed to be posting there today when instead I decided start ranting in this blog that's been without any writing for about four months.

4.Learning Swift so I can make a writing related app.  This is going slowly because I hate learning the programming language and it's really very new, but I really like my app idea so I'm sticking it out at a few hours a week learning the junk.  I'd actually had an idea for a blog addressing changes in Swift 2.0 to Swift 1 and how to augment online free tutorials for the code changes--but I'm not that good at the coding yet and I don't want to spend more time with Swift than needed to have a pretty clean and sleek looking app.

5. This blog with project notes and thoughts.

(from openclipart.org j4p4n's collection)

Projects that Are on Hold or Dead in the Water:

1. My Barista to Boss blog.  The sad thing is I have about 7 posts edited and ready to go up, but I just couldn't take being so cheerful and happy about coffee and customers who as a general rule are terrible people.  Beyond that, I don't want to read any more about SEO or how to write a catchy post.  The experiment taught me a lot in how to get views.  It also reminded me that I'm not  social even on a computer screen and I need a lot more me time than networking was allowing.  I require a more slow and organic creation of online presence.  Preferably with one social media outlet.

2.  My children's book series.  I have two books written and illustrated with creative commons pictures.  I needed to revise them as each page was a little too busy and I needed to add a small dictionary in the back but otherwise the projects were a bright and colorful success.  I'm just not interesting in hawking them in the market.  I enjoy looking at them from time to time though.

3. A tarot card/ meditation series,  Was going to be active in this as it would generate interest potentially in my urban fantasy novel and be something fun to do, but 5 projects is more than I can handle already.  Plus swift is very time consuming and there's a lot of pressure to perform in that project from loved ones in my life.

4. Three vague novel ideas.  I'm waiting for the first to be complete and to have a few publishing inquiries in.

So how do I push through on these projects?  

My Aquagarden Blog is pretty simple.  As I'm here in my studio working I can see my fish tank and the green wheat grass going. It's physical presence reminds me to take a few pictures, upload and edit those pictures, and write a few words that come up off the top of my head on the tank's progress.  The visuals tell most of the story really.  Occasionally I have advice or a potentially helpful tip to add.

  Doing that usually brings a few questions to mind that I track down online or collect some research from amazon to look at later.  The whole process can be as brief as 30 minutes or as long at five hours depending on research and how much has changed in the tank.  As the tank stabilizes, my update will be fewer--though if I do end up setting up an outdoor aquaponics system this March, that blog may take off.

Since this project is mostly for my personal enjoyment I don't have to do a lot of selling on it.  Yes, I publish to my google+ feed and I tried to find some relevant communities.  It would be good if other people enjoyed my project or it inspired them to try their own gardening project, but the goal is just to record the tank's growth. I'm actually surprised with how many page views it has.

Swift is another fairly structured project.  Because my fiancee and my mother continually ask me about how this is going I sit down, schedule time and plug through it.  Also I'm not in the creating part yet as I'm still learning the programming language--I'm not even on how to program with the language yet.  Plus I keep learning notes and journal notes on how I feel about what I'm learning and sometimes how I imagine what I'm learning will work in creating my app.  Since I like to write so much that actually fuels my continued progress. I have a feeling this will stall some once I'm doing more than learning the basics and sketching potential App screens.  Who knows though, by then I might have it all worked out.

The real work--at least for me-- is going to be promoting my app and getting people using it.   I'm hoping that I'll have worked out some following somehow by then that will at least get people downloading it to play with it for a little bit.

My Kindle Unlimited project feels promising but isn't ready for presentation.  So I've spent the last three months reading like normal and writing feedback on my reading.  The main difference is that this reading and writing has all been focused on what books I can read through the Kindle Unlimited program.

This blog has the most potential to transform into money and networking gold.  Here I am reading and reviewing independent authors, the very thing I might become when publishing my novel.  These people could help me promote and sell my book.   Of course a major stumbling block here is that so far I hate the works by independent authors I've read and my reviews, when or if I post them are scathing.  That seems counter productive to my aims of making connections in the market.

Likewise, since my blog may help interest people in Kindle Unlimited, if I promoted correctly and had a high enough following, it might be a blog that amazon would notice and want to work with me on.  Maybe not, I mean Amazon is a huge company and little old me has never successfully created a blog with a crazy market changing following.  It's this potential that has me stymied on how best to proceed, because there are concrete things I'd like this blog to do along with just being a bit of fun.

Writing my novel comes in spurts.  The idea came to me in a dream, and I started writing it later that month.  The original outline  was written in out of order chapters--most of which I had to write but were scrapped in actual production.   I have a ton of bonus content though should readers enjoy my characters and writing style.

The serious work started in June this past year.  I actually took a week of work to churn out about 100 pages of content and finish the outline on what happens and how the characters get resolution.  I have two different people proof reading these efforts for me and I'm exploring agents and self publishing options.  Neither is going smoothly enough for me to feel confident.

I love my book.  I love the plot, I love the characters.  I love both the fantasy and real world elements.  I love the many different themes and messages in the work.  I love the hundred or so different things I'm trying to do and I love the prose tie it all together.  With all the heart, soul, and joy in creating this book, I need to invest equal quality in getting the book published and marketed.  I just don't love that side of the process as much at the writing part.  In fact I think approaching that part of the process has slowed down my writing.

This blog is a thought bubble, and so should be easy enough to produce.  I'm just sharing thoughts on my creation process and hoping they resonate with others.  As such a personal blog it shouldn't take extensive editing.  It shouldn't require very regular updates and it should have just as much promotion in it as I feel like putting in.  What will probably take the longest is finding and adding the clip art in to make it look more interesting and break up my writing.