Finding a theme for my blog (and my career)

So, I've gotten a little off focus lately. Whining about my career path and money. Blogs are supposed to have a topic, a theme, a thread. My sub-title up there says "acknowledging positivity and serendipity while randomly musing my way to publication." Have I done that lately?

Penelope Trunk writes in this post that blogs have to have a topic to be successful and to help your own success. She advises that you use your blog to get known for what you are good at. She asks:

a) What do you want people to know you for?

b) Where do you want to go next?

What do I want to be known for?

I want to be known as a writer. A non-fiction, personal narrative writer. A writer who muses about my life and the paths on which I daily ramble. I, like Anais Nin, taste life twice through my writing. I experience it then reproduce it in words. I find meaning this way. I woke up once in the middle of the night with this phrase banging around in my head:

I am a writer. I have to document my life.

So, while this blog may seem random - kids, money, career, religion, writing - it all huddles under one umbrella: life as interpreted by me, in my words.

I approach my life as a writer. I'm not here to offer my readers advice on how to write or what to write, only to offer myself up as an example of how one writer thinks and lives. The fact that more minutes of my life are dedicated to being a mother, a wife, a housekeeper, and a struggling business woman than a writer, means what I write are these things. My other hats are fuel to my writing fire.

The fact that I look for and believe in Serendipity and Thinking Positively makes these things natural themes in my writing. Due to life's current struggles I haven't focused on them lately, however, and this is where I think I need to make a change. I do strongly believe that if you look for the positive you will not only find it, but it will also find you.

So, that brings me to Penelope's second question: Where do I want to go next?

What I want is to take this blog to the next level. I want to make it a source of Positive Thought and Serendipity from the point of view of a writer. My "outside" writing and the (inner) journal writing instruction will merge with one concrete theme: Helping others to Live Authentically using their Inner Wisdom. This is my focus, my theme, my thread.




In another post, Penelope emphatically states you should not have more than one blog. Oops! I have three. My logic was: one for writing my everyday musings, one to promote my journaling workshops, and one just to have a place to shove various essays or stories that were laying around. I am in the process of launching a real website to promote my workshops and my husband's psychotherapy practice. Writing to wellness and self-actualization and seeing a counselor for such go hand in hand, kind of like him and me, so why not live together in a little patch of cyberspace.

I am planning to launch my new website January 1, 2010 (to give myself plenty of time to conquer the scary HTMLs and other such foreign languages I don't understand). Please stayed tuned!

Happy 1st Blog-day!

Tomorrow is my dear blog's first birthday. A year ago I had finally took the bait and began this new adventure. And I have loved every minute of it!

I believe I have grown as a writer - not necessarily technically (i.e. what an magazine editor likes to see: Hook, Middle, Climax, End) but in terms of thinking like a writer. My day's events, conversations or thoughts and feelings are all material. Some become sentences in my head, others get jotted down, still others are written in a post before I've barely had a chance to sip my coffee. I have even dared to call myself a Writer... in public! I have a business card that says: Writer, Artist, Journaling Instructor. A year ago that would not have been possible, my ego was not up to it yet.

In honor of my bloggy's birthday I am going to re-post the one that began it all.

In the beginning there was the word... "blog"

A few months ago I was chatting with a fellow mom who asked me what I do (she obviously meant other than carting my children around to preschool and dance class and swimming lessons as well as keeping them supplied with nutritious fodder and clean-ish clothes.)

"I'm an aspiring writer," I replied sheepishly.

"Oh, do you blog?"

"Nooo, I don't blog!" said I. (I didn't say that, but I did think it. Being the traditionalist that I am, writing online just doesn't seem real, any more than reading a book on a kindle - or whatever it's called - or listening to music through teeny weeny headphones seems real.)

What I actually said was, "No, I'm more of a paper and pen kinda gal, ya know. I'm not really into the computer that much."

"Oh, you should. I just got asked to write an article for someone because they read my blog."

And my world tipped just a bit.

Fast forward to this week. I have finished my first non-fiction article and I am almost ready to send it off with a query letter. To garner some support in my new endeavor I started chatting with some other writer-moms online. To my utter amazement I discovered they all write online either for publication sites and/or their own blogs. AND THEY GET PAID FOR IT.

World tips completely over and I'm falling head first into cyberspace.

I have been calling myself an aspiring writer for many years now but I was intimidated by the world of dash-your-dreams editors and query letters. But now (dammit) I have no excuse. Just write a little article, get it accepted at one of about a trillion publication sites, and wait for someone to send you a check for, oh, about $2. Who cares, you're published!

And this blog? I'm still loyal to time spent curled up in a chair with journal and fountain pen writing words for no eyes but mine. But if this blog really can help my writing career by forcing me to write everyday - to hone my craft - and maybe, just maybe, catch some editor's eye, then ok, I guess I'll give it a try.

But I do still plan to write for those real publications one day.

OK, so I still haven't made $2 - or even .10c - for my writing. But I have been published and I have received that all important personal note from an editor. I have been asked to write an essay for a possible book compilation and another essay on my son's natural birth is still awaiting an editor's approval for another compilation. I do not feel for one moment that I am not making it as a writer. I have had to put other things first this year (like my "real" job and my journaling workshops). If there's one snippet of wisdom I hang onto more than other other it is:

Writers Write!
and that's what I am doing almost everyday.

Thanks blog! Happy Birthday!

Just add it to the pile

No, not the laundry pile or the pile of bills; the guilt pile. We all know about the mother of all guilt - mother's guilt. It's an all invasive emotion that rob us of our self-confidence, self-esteem, and "selfish" sojourns in the bathtub when we should be watching them watch a movie, shouldn't we? Well, now I have added another source of funding to my guilt account... my blog and, damn it, your blog too.

I haven't fallen in love with too many blogs out there. I'm afraid to go out and look, frankly. It's too overwhelming to know just how many fish there are in that sea. I have found a few and I am happy with my little collection of blogs who live on the bottom of this page faithfully updating every few days or so. Problem is, I can't give even these few my full attention. My first love, this blog, is even feeling my the effects of my distraction... and the guilt, oh, the guilt!

I had a new year's goal of updating this blog at least twice a week and having a blog-reading session once a week. Well, haha. I feel that I have a responsibility to those I have added to my blogroll. I'd want them to keep up with my blog (I'd really feel bad if they missed out on one of my daily, um, I mean tri-weekly gems) and it only seems right to reciprocate, especially when some have even openly expressed their blog-love to me. What right do I have to spurn them?

But I have to admit, I have filled my little black book too full. Trying to start a business while working part-time, mothering full-time and writing in-between-time is more than this cassanov-ette can handle.

This blog was my refuge in the beginning, where I'd come for some self-indulgent me-love. But now, six months on, it's seeming a little needy, pulling on my time like everything and one else in my life.

And the rest of you... staring at me from my blogroll, with your big, tempting titles, making me wish I could click on you... I resist! For now, my hamper is the only place you're going to get dirty laundry on me. But I still feel guilty and I promise to come visit real soon.

Obligatory New Year Post

At the end of the year it is the law of the land that you look back on what you have accomplished (or not) and then look forward and make unattainable goals for the new year.

I was going to say that I don't like to follow rules and refuse to do this. But the sad truth is I'm actually the worst kind of conformist - to my own rules. Therefore, I decree, I shalt ponder the year...

As this is primarily intended as a writing blog, I will focus on that.

What I accomplished in 2008:
1. Completed a two year long Children's Literature course.
2. Began writing this blog (and got a small number of readers).
3. Accepted to Journal Instructor Certification course.
4. Submitted two articles and two queries.
5. Had one article accepted.
6. "Hired" as a journal instructor.
7. Hired as a grantwriter (and do-everything-elser) by a non-profit.
8. (and this is the biggest achievement in my mind): Began thinking of and believing in myself as a Writer (yes, that's with a capital W).

What I hope to accomplish in 2009:
1. Make a writing schedule for myself that I stick to as if it were a work obligation ("no, I'm sorry I can't bake 24 dozen cupcakes for this afternoon, because, well, I don't bake, and I have to work.")
2. Write this blog at least once a week, preferably twice.
3. Continue "The Tale of Two Couples." (The telling of this story became hard for me, something I wasn't expecting. I have yet to figure out why... still too close to the heart??)
4. Take the time to read more blogs.
5. Write in my journal daily.
6. Read more of the magazines to which I would like to submit.
7. Write, write, write, submit, submit, submit...

Anyone want to be the "Ethel" to my "Lucy" (i.e. be my buddy and nag me to keep to my goals)? (I credit The Momstown's Guide to Getting it All for this idea, and I think it especially appropriate to me as I have the right name.)

OK, obligatory reflection and goal-setting done. Now I have to wish you all the obligatory good wishes and success for the coming year.

May there be:
A world-wide effort towards peace (starting with me and you)
Food for hungry stomachs
Hope for trembling hearts
Joy in tear-filled eyes
Fewer natural disasters and no human-made ones
Less hate and much, much more love.

And I send many good vibes to our new president...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

How to get readers for your blog

I don't actually have an answer to that.

But I'm wondering... is anyone reading this blog? Do I sit here each morning dedicatedly babbling to myself? It's OK really, I love to write and having this excuse is lovely.

I have been researching tips on how you get you, dear reader, to come spend some time with me each day. I do think I have something worthy to say - well, some of the time. This article by Darren Rowse is where I found a great list of techniques to draw readers in. See the title of this post? See what I did there? Very sneaky. To the point and something someone might actually search for in google (as I did). Ooo, I feel so manipulative.

The reality is, I can spend time researching and acting on these promotion techniques but the only results I get is a completely wasted morning, a headache, and a pile of laundry still waiting to be attended to. How many times can I attempt to post something in the HTML before I throw the computer across the room?

Think positively...

So, dear reader(s), if you're just joining us, please scroll down... I'm testing the system right now and I believe you will find some interesting reading just a post or two away. And if you find something you like, please let me know so I will know I'm not just talking to myself over in this lonely corner of cyberspace.

Thank you and happy reading.

Put the blog down and step away from the computer

I should have known. I know what I'm like.

This blog, the blog I insisted was not for me, has me and won't let go. Each time I walk past my desk it calls out to me. I check 50 times a day to see if anyone has happened upon (out of the 2, 010,030 possible google hits) my silly dawdlings. Or I mess with the layout, the colors, or the wording of my profile. And I plan to polish up my rusty photoshop skills to make an artistic banner for myself. And photos? Oh, the possibilities.

I don't have time for this! I am in danger of neglecting my other responsibilities. I have two incredibly - to put it nicely - active children whose wills do not match each others' ways, one hard-working-comes-home-starving husband, and an old house that is in perpetual danger of crumbling into the sea of strewn toys and piled high laundry baskets.

And what about the very reason I began this blog - my writing? OK, yes, I'm getting valuable daily practice, but no publishing gonna be happening just because I have a pretty blog page.

No, I must organise, prioritize, departmentalize. If I'm going to be charged with neglect it would be better to have an under-nourished and under-dressed blog than children fighting over whose dust bunny collection is largest.

Then again, my blog doesn't back talk, produces no dirty laundry, and goes to bed the moment I ask it. Hmmm...

A blog by any other name...

I have commitment issues.

My Blog-to-be needed, nay, demanded, a name. Not any old name either. It had to big, bright, worthy of it - worthy of me. I couldn't have my dear Blog going around with a small, pitiful name. My very individuality, personality, career... life hung on this one name.

Blog waited patiently while I looked at various words and phrases, played with puns, and pondered on the meaning of this relationship between Blog and me.

Finally, I choose. Commitment made. Phew!

But then what do I find out? The name's exchangeable! My Blog can reject the name - my name - and I'd have to start the search over for a new - better - one. I'd made a decision and now... oh, the turmoil.

I'm questioning myself again: Did I choose the right name? Is it bright enough? Will it catch other people's eye? What does it say about me?

But for now, I am sticking to my guns and making my dear one keep this name. I've committed to this Blog, so it can wear the name I gave it.

Until I find a new one.

In the beginning there was the word... "blog"

A few months ago I was chatting with a fellow mom who asked me what I do (she obviously meant other than carting my children around to preschool and dance class and swimming lessons as well as keeping them supplied with nutritious fodder and clean-ish clothes.)

"I'm an aspiring writer," I replied sheepishly.

"Oh, do you blog?"

"Nooo, I don't blog!" said I. (I didn't say that, but I did think it. Being the traditionalist that I am, writing online just doesn't seem real, any more than reading a book on a kindle - or whatever it's called - or listening to music through teeny weeny headphones seems real.)

What I actually said was, "No, I'm more of a paper and pen kinda gal, ya know. I'm not really into the computer that much."

"Oh, you should. I just got asked to write an article for someone because they read my blog."

And my world tipped just a bit.

Fast forward to this week. I have finished my first non-fiction article and I am almost ready to send it off with a query letter. To garner some support in my new endeavor I started chatting with some other writer-moms online. To my utter amazement I discovered they all write online either for publication sites and/or their own blogs. AND THEY GET PAID FOR IT.

World tips completely over and I'm falling head first into cyberspace.

I have been calling myself an aspiring writer for many years now but I was intimidated by the world of dash-your-dreams editors and query letters. But now (dammit) I have no excuse. Just write a little article, get it accepted at one of about a trillion publication sites, and wait for someone to send you a check for, oh, about $2. Who cares, you're published!

And this blog? I'm still loyal to time spent curled up in a chair with journal and fountain pen writing words for no eyes but mine. But if this blog really can help my writing career by forcing me to write everyday - to hone my craft - and maybe, just maybe, catch some editor's eye, then ok, I guess I'll give it a try.

But I do still plan to write for those real publications one day.