September's Here

It's September. I'm back! I didn't go anywhere, but I thought I would take a few weeks away from the blog to do a bit of a reset, and to get my plans together for the near future. There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon, and I hope I have the right steps to get there.

Hanging Out on Medium

I've been trying to ramp up my presence on Medium. While so far all of it has been reposts of older works or excerpts of longer projects, I am getting ready to start producing more original content for my account. I'm still in the editing phase for what I've written, so more should be posted in the next couple of weeks.

My only issue with the platform is that I can't access all of the data that I need to. I can get data points such as views, referring websites, reads (and how a ten-line poem only gets a 33% read rate is beyond me...)--but I can't get data that helps me understand who pays for a Medium account. I have yet to make a dime from this site, and if I knew the demographics of who pays for their accounts, I think I would be in a better position to craft articles that target a better defined audience. It seems to me that a lot of articles making money in the space where I write is the writer who writes about writing. It's a bit redundant, but I think I can work with that.

Two Down, Two to Go

It's also the time to check in with my yearly goal of getting four works published by the end of the year. So far, I have If It Was New York, Summer 2009 and "A Picture at Sunset" published in Indiana's Best Emerging Poets 2019. I still have to get two more out there. September is usually when the last round of submissions go out, so hopefully I'll get an acceptance before December 31. If not, two original pieces published on Medium shouldn't be that hard to complete.

One Set of Research, Two Stories

I loved researching all things pop culture for that story I was writing set in 1970. The problem? My research led down another path for another story. I'm not abandoning the first story, but I had to see where this second on went. The first story is a lot of teenage angst/confusion/drama condensed into a few months for the main characters. The second one starts in the same era, but spans decades for the main characters. It seems like a daunting task to create a story that will probably have huge time gaps without seeming like it skips a lot, but I think that sharing the research between these two stories will eventually end up making writing both stories a little more efficient.

The Great Website Debate

This blog can get frustrating at times, with a lot of that frustration due to limitations of Blogger. I like that there is the ability to add the other pages, but updating them is quite a feat to get it to look right. I also don't like running multiple blogs on this platform, and I think that merging TSW and Book Review Bin is long overdue, especially since this change may get me more Fiverr spotlight gigs again.

I've always thought about transferring the blog to an actual website, but I don't know if I am ready yet to take on that kind of task. That, and there is always the debate about the cost vs. the effort spent. It wouldn't take much to buy a domain name, but the ability for any money spent to turn into a profit is always on my mind. I don't know if transferring this to a website would give me the ability to break even on domain/hosting costs, which is what I'm looking for before I get started.

And this wasn't the only website I was planning. I've been working on an idea for more than two years now that's associated with books and reading, but like transferring the blog I would need to find a way to make the website profitable. I know that I couldn't create all of the content on my own, and I definitely don't want to be an exposure-only outlet for other writers. This project is stalled until I can find a way to make it profitable enough to pay contributors. This is the time when I wish we could all go back in time and hit up the Social Register to find bored, rich benefactors to fund our work.

I'm still planning and planning. I even tried to make an editorial calendar for content last year, but I never actually got it off the ground. Eventually I will have to execute some part of this idea, or I'm just wasting my time.

Your Call to Action

I can't leave this post without a blatant self-promo section. If you want more of what I offer, Patreon is a good place to start. And don't forget to check out my work on Medium. I'll be back next week with another rousing account from the writing world!

A Few Short Updates

I'm getting back into the swing of things, full force this time. And here's just a few updates about what I'm embarking on this summer.

Upgrading The Career

I've been freelancing for almost a decade, and for most of that time I've had a sense of pride for how little I have had to invest to live the dream (which is probably 60/40 dream/nightmare at any given time). But things are changing. I'm still committed to making money solely from writing/editing/being generally creative, which means I have to start upgrading the business. I've been making tons of lists on what I have to do to get all of this going, but really it starts with two simple things: a P.O. box and a website.

Without a business address, I've been stunted at what I can do. I can't have a mailing list through MailChimp or any other company without one, and I certainly don't want to put out email blasts with the home address. Without a website, I don't feel I can do all I need to do with communicating my writing services, my work, and everything else. That, and as good as Blogger has been to me, it just doesn't look professional to have a Blogger web address on a business card (which is another one of those pesky tasks on my list). I'm amazed I've been able to work this long without these two very important items, but that time is coming to an end.

Submissions Calling

When it comes to submissions, I'm getting back up on the proverbial (and temperamental) horse. Although I missed the deadline to send in my poetry chapbook to one particular press, the manuscript itself is not dead. I've been researching places that take chapbooks and have found quite a few that may be a good home for what I've created. I found this list of chapbook submissions particularly helpful, and maybe you will too if you have something to submit.

Unfolding Life on Playster

Draft2Digital just added a new distribution channel, Playster, and I've placed Unfolding Life on it. Honestly, I hadn't heard of it before this, but it seems similar to Kindle Unlimited where you buy a subscription rather than individual titles. So, if you're already a subscriber, please check it out. And by check it out, I mean read the whole thing, because with subscription services, I don't get paid unless the book gets read.

Those Lashes, Though

I've also been keeping up with my product testing and reviews over at Showered in Beauty. The latest review is for Revlon mega Multiplier Mascara.

That's it for my updates. What are you working on this week? 

Leaping Like a Leprechaun into March

March is here! Spring should be too, but with the snow still on the ground, I guess we'll just have to give that a little while longer to show up in the Midwest. No matter what the weather looks like outside, March is going to be a fun and fast-paced month for me. If everything goes according to plan Unfolding Life should be available for purchase before the end of the month. And since it's way too exciting to think about, I thought I would slip in another sneak peek at what you will see in the book. Here's another haiku from Unfolding Life:

Feel free to share it with your friends and get them excited about haiku too!

Along with the book release, I'm still forging ahead into my novel, In Another Life. I'm steadily making it to the finish line of the first draft, though it still seems like that line is pretty far away.

On the business side of things, I plan to give my website I significant update since I'm well aware is still lacks a lot of content. I'll be putting up more info about the haiku book and some of my other notes of interest. As long as I keep checking off items on my to-do list this month, you'll be seeing a lot more of me in March.

Facebook Page and Site Are Live

I guess I should have put a little more fanfare into the whole launch deal on Friday, because there was an apparent lack of enthusiasm for the Facebook and site launch. However, it has picked up a little bit of steam over the weekend. If you haven't visited the Facebook page or the website yet, what are you waiting for? Of course, I do realize there are some... issues with the website. They are minor and I have the fix scheduled today. Overlapping widgets are really the least of my concern. : )

As far as other things go, I'm deep in the middle of my outline for Nanowrimo. I find that outlining first makes me much more productive during the month of November because it gives me a bit of a road map to follow--at least until all my characters betray me and go off to do whatever they want. As always, I plan to hit that 50,000-word mark this year, but I'm also a realist. I've been doing this for years and I don't think I've topped 20,000 words in the month of November to date. There's always room for change though, isn't there?

Well...

I must confess--I'm out of the retail world almost as fast as I jumped into it. While I liked many aspects of the job, there were just some I couldn't handle. I know I'm being vague, but that's nearly the same thing I said when I quit. Although I can't list all the things that were wrong, I just know that job wasn't the right fit for me.

So, I'm back to writing full time. At least for the moment. There are other jobs out there to be had, which are mostly seasonal now. That may actually benefit me in a way, so that I know there's an end in sight if I just can't deal with the next one.

And unfortunately, when I say I'm back to writing, it's only web copy. I haven't touched a piece of fiction since I started working outside of the home office. I really want to get back to it, but I'm having a hard time just clicking on the computer file. I don't know why, but as soon as I figure it out I know that the words will just start pouring out again.

While I'm picking up all the pieces, I'm really pushing to get the website and Facebook page launched. I was able to get a great deal on a site (at least for the first year), so I need to roll it out by the end of the week--hopefully sooner. And the only thing stopping me from publishing the Facebook page right now is getting the profile pic up. It's a hard decision, and I may have someone just go ahead and take a new one so I don't have to think about it anymore. As always, if anything is ready to launch, I'll make sure to let you all know.