16 September 2019

Doing More Stuff

Do not attempt to adjust your screens! I am really writing a non-IWSG post! For the first time in...exactly a year! Yup, September 17 of last year was the last time I wrote a regular blog post. Not the same date, but the exact same Monday. That's actually just a weird coincidence, because this blog post wasn't even a thought in my head until yesterday afternoon. Well, because I've been doing a bit of thinking...

I realized I don't really do enough stuff. Writing, you say? Well, yes, but you already knew that. But, I mean, online stuff. Blogging and networking and such. I have my toes in the water but I feel like I've fizzled out. I used to blog three times a week! Well, I don't think I had a job when I did that. But like I said above, my only posts are for IWSG. But blogging isn't the only thing. So I'm trying to come up with some ideas to get me out there more, doing more stuff! And maybe the stuff will fuel the writing, and vice versa.

1. Blogging

Obviously! Or this post wouldn't exist. I'd really like to get back to posting something every Monday. I think I've stopped not only because of motivation, but because I don't feel like I have any good ideas to write about. But I want to start paying attention to any thought that pops in my head. If I think it'll make for a halfway decent post, I will write it immediately!

I also don't visit other blogs enough. Like writing my own posts, I only visit others on IWSG day. I usually feel out of the loop with other bloggers' news, blog tours, book releases, etc. I have no idea what's going on! And if I can hop on some blog tours, that covers writing my own posts, too! Two birds, one stone, people.

I could also possibly let Jordan write his monthly posts again?? That would be fun. I may change when they happen, since I found whenever the first Monday of the month was the same week as the first Wednesday (IWSG day), I got less traffic, which was disheartening. Maybe the last Monday of the month? There could be overlap there but I think it happens less often. I'll figure it out. Now I just have to wake up Jordan and convince him to do it...

2. Twitter/Instagram 

Twitter drives me nuts sometimes because I have about 2,800 followers but I feel like I get hardly any interactions. So I think two main things need to happen--I need to tweet more, especially writing related stuff, and I need to interact more with others' tweets. Hopefully if I just keep putting myself out there more, it'll start to come back.

Instagram is a little more tricky, because I feel like I don't have a lot of things to post. I can only post so many pictures of my cat, right? So maybe with this, I need to do some more research first about what other writers tend to post, and start figuring out what I can do. For now, I'll just continue with the cat.

Ok, I thought I had more major things but maybe that's it? Of course, those aren't the only things I want to accomplish...

Frightening tasks that I may or may not attempt in a more distant future:

- writing book reviews and posting them on Amazon and Goodreads
- trying to get some of my poetry published/write more poems
- try to write a short story or two (yeah right, they'll just turn into more novels)
- figure out the whole Goodreads Author thing. It looks tricky. Especially since I've only been published in anthologies.
- find more anthologies/contests to submit to
- set up an Amazon author page (I've been putting this off forever)
- updating my LinkedIn page and trying to get some actual writing jobs!!

Since blogging is one of my major goals, and this blog post is now DONE, I guess I'm off to a good start? But I should probably get back to actual writing now...

7 comments:

  1. Welcome back to regular blogging. I had a long hiatus from blogging, longer than a year, and then suddenly that turned around. I only try and blog once a week now as opposed to twice, but I seem to be getting in the swing of things again now. You're right about struggling to find interesting content to post about though.
    I also joined Twitter a little while ago. I only have aroung 150 followers at the mo but do find it good at keeping in the loop with useful people :)

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  2. Start simple with blogging. I usually post once a week and it works.
    A lot of that stuff is detail work but it is necessary.

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  3. I used to post once a week, but now my goal is 2-3x a month, including IWSG posts. So far, it's working for me. (And I hope it's working for my readers!) Good luck with all of your ideas! Go for it! :)

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  4. Twitter drives me nuts, too, and you have more followers than I do. I just never know what to tweet. I'm not good at thinking of random stuff to tweet. When I have done it, I get not interaction on these.

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  5. Twitter is like that. I have 2 accounts and both only seem to get a handful of interactions. It's like shouting into the void. I've been trying to interact with people, but sometimes it feels like a one way conversation.

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  6. Yes, you are off to a good start. I need to get on Twitter and Facebook more. Just not enough time in the day though.

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  7. Way to go!!!
    I like the pictures of your cat on Instagram! Maybe mix it up with pictures of your revision notes?

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