The Struggling Writer

The chronicles of a freelance writer as he tries to make a living.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Why am I here?

Recently over on Absolute Write, Teddy Gross offered to do some blogrolling on his blog, Cobwebs of the Mind. OK, I'll add myself to the list, but it got me back to thinking about just what the heck I am trying to do here.

When I first started looking into freelance writing I did a lot of research and learned a lot of interesting things. After a couple of months of this it occurred to me that I could start documenting some of the things I discovered in the hope of helping other up and coming writers. I also could document my daily writing so others could learn from my mistakes and, frankly, because I’m more motivated if people are watching.

In February I made 15 posts. In March I made 4. Hmm. Then I made 8 in April, 4 in May, and this is my 7th post for June. Not exactly the daily update I had hoped for.

I don’t want to turn this into a personal blog. I want to talk about my writing, not the fact that today is my niece’s 2nd birthday (oops, did I slip that in?). That’s why I don’t participate in the AW activities like the Monday Memes or the AWChain.

Then we have the vicious circle: I don't post because I have no traffic, and I don't promote my blog because I don't post.

I know one of the rules of good blogging is that short entries every day are better than a long entry once a week. I need to sit down every day or two and write about my writing, whether it’s some interesting fact I’ve learned or a mention of how many queries I sent out this week (ok, that will usually be “none” but that’s not the point).

So, we’ll see if I actually do that this time...

2 Comments:

  • At 2:49 PM, Blogger Flood said…

    Happy Birthday to the little pookie-button.

    There are a lots of ways to gain blog pals and increase traffic. You just did one of them. (I hope. I'm trying it out too, but I think Teddy is being very generous with his time and blog no matter the result.)

    Another way is to decide your theme, which you've also done. There is a whole community of writers out there, with the same theme, but it's wonderful to read so many different perpectives. Stick with that!

    Finally, be sure to visit other blogs and comment. Something you say will speak to someone who will be sure to visit you.

    And yes, you have to post regularily.

    All elementary stuff, but it bears repeating sometimes. Good luck.

     
  • At 11:17 AM, Blogger Andy said…

    Yeah, I know this stuff, although you are right that it bears repeating. But knowing and doing are very different things :) In fact my post a while back commenting on another blog's post on content writing was done for exactly that reason. I think this blog can help inspire me to keep the writing going, but I need to find a balance between ignoring it and obsessing about it.

     

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