I am having a hard time immersing myself in this new process of blogging, which is actually symptomatic of the difficulties I am having as I try to enable myself to become the writer I have always dreamed of being.
I long to be witty, engaging, and insightful; creator of an online conversation that will bridge gaps and leave the reader of my humble little blog feeling the truth of the importance of his or her role in this whole process.
My friends and family have been so patient and supportive as I try to develop my voice, my platform, and my meager skills at self marketing. I often resort to sending them emails and messages with links to my latest blog posts, essays in contests, and other online projects. They are faithful to "vote", "like", and/or share as I often request. Their support has meant everything to me as I chase this life long dream and long to make the transition complete-from production factory worker to working writer.
I certainly could not travel this road alone. I truly appreciate the wisdom of it "taking a village" to raise a child. It has taken not just my efforts and years of perseverance to get ahead but the critiques, support, prayers, and faithful friendship of so many, many people.
I worry. It is something I often do at times. I worry that my need for help and guidance will overwhelm others. I know it has overwhelmed and humbles me. I worry that I really am doing nothing more than pestering instead of promoting. That is the dilemma that troubles me most about my forays with social media. Hopefully I will become more at ease with this whole process as time goes by and I publish more stories and essays.
I am so thankful for all the communities I belong to; friends, family, co-workers, writer's groups, and online communities. Every single person has had an impact on my ability to better be able to share and tell my stories. I am truly grateful for this.
No work is ever complete. It can always be edited and re-edited. Published work goes through that rigorous process not by the writer, but by publishing companies. I am a blogger myself and I hope that my writing inspires you to write more. My blog is about fishing and started off small. It took a couple weeks and over a dozen posts to get 1000 hits on my page. My blog is a work in progress and I'm ALWAYS learning. I just made a post that blew up and has had over 600 hits in just over 3 days. It was over 150 in the first hour. How did I do this? Facebook is a networking tool and I use friends with similar interests to post on the wall, or in a group, or a page. Know your audience and if you think they will like it, link it. Most would be honored you thought of them. I couldn't believe the positive feedback I have gotten. Even though it is a small success I still find it humbling that something I wrote would be so well liked :) MN
ReplyDeleteThat is quite exciting about all the hits your post is receiving. I know I thoroughly enjoyed it when I read it! :)
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