On Leveling Up and Finding The Way

Operation G.I.T.

My brain has been all over the place this week.  I’m closer to back in the groove of normal schedule, but not quiet there.  Mornings after taekwondo are always the hardest for sticking to my vow to get up and write before walking the dogs and the gym.  I don’t get to bed nearly as early (since I’m amped up from epic cardio), so dragging my butt out of bed at 5:15…hasn’t been happening.  This morning it was the writing that suffered (though I didn’t quiet know what I wanted to do with the scene until after my walk–I’m sure anyone who would’ve seen me in the pre-dawn muttering to myself would’ve thought I had a screw loose).  Dogs got walked and I did a weight lifting workout at home. We’re 9 days down with Whole 30.

Writing

The writing has been going well, though.  After few words on Sunday due to just being overly busy, I cranked out 4500 words in the last two days.  I need to maintain a pace of around 1684 to make it to the end of this book by the tail end of January.  My own personal NaNo, if you will.  Which is, more or less, the name of the game all year.  I was jiggering around with my production schedule, trying to figure out how I could squeeze in another novella this year, in addition to the three short novels and one long one I’m writing.  Think I’ve sorted it out–with room to spare depending on how much is necessary in revisions on various projects.  I may be over-reaching, but I don’t know.  I kinda feel like I’ve leveled up as a writer.

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Blogging

I still haven’t gotten back into blogging, really.  Or social media.  I’m not, NOT on it.  I just haven’t been anywhere near as active the last year or two because…well, I’ve spent my time writing my butt off.  One of the things I was thinking about yesterday is that I’ve slacked off on all those fronts, not just because I’m writing, but because I finally found my tribe, as it were, locally.  I was SO SO active on blogging and social media all those years because I was, frankly, lonely.  And feeling very misunderstood.  None of my close friends were here.  The ones I did have moved away.  I didn’t have anybody I felt like who really GOT me–and all the efforts I made on that front usually left me wishing I’d stayed home and written instead.  That changed, thank God, when, ironically, a local fan internet stalked me over Red.  We got to talking, decided to meet and hang out, and through her I have met MY PEOPLE (All hail the Sisterhood of the Snort ‘n Curl!).  BOOK PEOPLE.  (Who are all also fans, which was secondary but awesome because I ask about their kids, they ask about my characters, and nobody thinks I’m a lunatic)  And it’s been awesome.  It means I’m doing more living of my life…you know, in real life.  Which is healthy and good.  And it’s meant I’ve had less to say online than I used to.  So I’ll be fumbling my way through figuring out where that happy medium is.  Or rather, no.  My word of the year is INTENTIONALITY.  So I’ll be giving some intentional thought to what the best way to approach it is.

Web Stuff

I somehow found my bounce rate on my website yesterday, which is abysmal.  Most of the people who are landing here aren’t actually looking for me or my books (in fact, they are looking for pants for women with curves and how to change the editor font in Scrivener–my two most popular posts!) and they don’t stick around.  It’s on the list of things I should do something about but…eh.  Website stuff (particularly the under the hood things) is on the short list of things I’d like to hire out for at some point.

I haven’t been happy with my website.  I think the theme is cute, but it’s got some quirks I haven’t been able to fix.  I’ve tried to simplify the navigation, but I don’t know if people actually dig it or not.  And I’m starting to think maybe it was a mistake to move my food blog in to have everything under one umbrella. Particularly as I’m not food blogging with anything resembling regularity and probably won’t be for the foreseeable future.  It’s just not where my creative energies are going.  There’s a bunch of under the hood stuff that needs doing THERE in order to make it more practical, but it involves doing stuff to the code of Every Single Post (I have around 600 recipes), and I just…don’t wanna.  I’ve got limited time and I don’t want to spend it doing that.  Not to mention the stretch I worked on it gave me an almost paralyzing bout of carpal tunnel.

But whatever.  My focus is, as ever, on getting the next book written!

3 thoughts on “On Leveling Up and Finding The Way

  1. Sounds like you have some, good concrete goals and things going on. I had a feature on food/cooking on my blog that lasted two posts. No one was reading it! So, out it went.

    Glad you were able to find some writerly people IRL. I’m still working on that.

    Awesome on the words!

  2. It certainly seems you have leveled up as a writer–well done! Your thoughts on blogging are interesting, as I think I am looking for a tribe online as well. I need in person interaction, too, no matter how close online peeps may be.

    Your struggles with the website seem to be part and parcel of the online marketing argument. I think you’ve created a fan base on FB that serves you well–and that may replace some of the angst with the website?

  3. Happy to hear you found some good connections in the real world! Really does make the allure of social media dramatically reduced, doesn’t it? Social media online pales in comparison to real world relationships, the way we’ve been doing things for thousands of years. 🙂

    As far as the bounce rate goes, don’t fret (not that you seem to be). Bounce rates on MOST websites are abysmal. It’s just the nature of the Internet these days. People DON’T stick around. That’s just how it works. The way I see it, you help the people you can help and that’s your job. The rest is in God’s hands (or fate, or the Universe, or coincidence, or whatever concept you’d like). We get too caught up in SEO and subscribers and all that jazz. You do what you’re supposed to do, the rest takes care of itself! It may not always look the way we want, but it certainly does work.

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