I hate to admit it, but it’s the truth. This is like the 5th blog I’ve started. No joke. I kept a LiveJournal in college and right after, but then I had a job, and kids, and NO TIME. Besides that, I’ve had a blog for scrap-booking, and for poetry, and for my etsy business, and probably another one somewhere that I’ve forgotten.
Part of this issue is that my personality: I love starting new things. I love to write, but it’s hard for me to focus. I did pretty well with the scrapbook one (that was like 10+ years ago when it was popular), and I did well with the poetry (not consistently), but general blogging has me at a loss. I mean, people don’t generally care about my day to day activities because they don’t know me. My own parents wouldn’t even read that, although my Mother-in-law would (Hi Viv!). So, without a focus, I dropped off blogging.
So what has changed? Why am I sure THIS TIME IS IT? Well, two reasons:
First, I have a FOCUS: anything related to writing. I can write about writing or share my writing or write about how hard writing is, but everything should go through the filter of writing. Or editing. Or publishing. But those are all connected.
Second, I have a PURPOSE. I’ve wanted to publish a book as long as I can remember. I always wanted to write. I challenged myself with NaNoWriMo back in 2010, and won, but never moved into editing. After challenging myself again last year, I remembered how much I love writing and missed it. I decided to hunker down and actually do the darn editing (boo boo boo).
So what is going to help me keep on track?
- Accountability: I need to be able to look at my goals and see my progress. I’m holding myself accountable, and I’m bringing you along for the ride. I’ve now put this website and blog out into the world (and even shared it with *gulp* family and friends), and if there’s one thing I hate, it’s failing a challenge. I’ve challenged myself to publish a book, and blogging is part of that. Which leads into reason two…
- Platform building: Selling a book is a major challenge; the market is highly competitive. Even if I have a wonderful book that’s spectacularly written, *fingers crossed* there’s no guarantee of success. What sells right now is social networking, added content, and interaction with others. I’m anticipating having a sell-able book, so I’m building my platform in advance. Hopefully all this hard word work pays off!
So, join me, won’t you? Hold me accountable. Ask me questions. *cough*givemeideasforblogposts*cough* Let’s see where this goes!