Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

A New Word Processor


18 Jul

I removed Open Office from my laptop because it’s just too big for the processing power of my $300, three year old, barely meets the specs for its Vista OS laptop. But that means that I need to find a new way to work on my fiction when I go to critique group. So, I’m giving Google docs a try.

This morning was the first time I’d gotten into Google docs since I uploaded the pieces there. After some confusion about which account they were in and then a computer crash, I was able to view and edit my documents.

Discipline


17 Jul

It’s summer, the time of goofing off, relaxing, and not keeping to any set schedule. I can use that excuse right?
I need more discipline. I should write more. I should exercise more. I should clean more.
Okay, only one of those things actually sounds like fun- writing. And yet…
In conversation with the June winner at Fiction in 50, he asked me why I don’t submit a piece each week. I used the 3 other blogs as an excuse, but truth is, I have time to write 50 words a week. I just need the discipline to do so.

Weekend Posts


28 May

I’ve decided not to stress if weekend posts aren’t up at 8am. It’s still be my goal to get them written the night before and have them auto-post, but if it doesn’t happen, I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I do this for fun. It shouldn’t add stress to my life. As long as a post gets up sometime in the morning on weekends, I’ll call it good.

This plan will allow me to sleep in on weekends without feeling like I should get up and get a post written. Instead, I’ll write it when I’m ready.

Bonus Content: Trying to get back on track


06 May

My head has just been off this week, for no particular reason that I’m aware of, but it has, and it’s really translated to this blog. I don’t think I have had a single on time post all week. I doubt there are many of you breathlessly waiting at 8am for my latest post, but at the same time, people like consistency. I haven’t been delivering. I’m sorry.

I’ve taken today as a “mental health” day, and hope that by having a long weekend, by being able to take things a little slower, will help get me back on track.

Happy Anniversary!


30 Apr

Today is the first anniversary of this blog. 349 posts and 4,371 views later, I’m going to call it a success. It took me a while to get in the post a day habit, and, naturally, today’s post is going up late.

It took a little while for readership to grow, too. This month alone, there have been almost as many views (1086) as there were total in the first 8 months (1224). Almost three full quarters of the views have come since January. With this kind of growth rate, I can’t wait to see where we are next year.

Thank You, Readers (here are your stats)


22 Jan

Yesterday I reached 1,500 all time views on this blog. It took 266 days to get there, giving me an average of 5.64 views per day since April 30.

This month has is my best month ever in terms of viewership. With 10 days still to go, I’m already at 25 more views this month than my previous best month. With 275 views in 21 days, January has averaged 13.1 views per day.

So I want to thank you all for coming here. Thank you to those who comment. And please, keep coming back, and comment more. I love feedback.

Updating Life by Pets


03 Jan

I started Life by Pets because I was thinking a lot about Moree dog and reading about how “dogoirs” were currently so popular. So why not try to have my own “dogoir”, or more accurately, a “petoir”, a blog dedicated to telling stories about my life as it intersected with the lives of the pets I have spent my life with.

The problem has been, I have not been disciplined about making regular updates. The goal for the new year is to post on a MWF schedule. The current plan is to write the coming week’s posts on Sunday night.

 

Announcing the Fiction in 50 Contest


02 Jan

My microfiction site, Fiction in 50, is now running a monthly contest. I will pick weekly winners from the submissions, and then at the end of the month, readers will get to vote for their favorites in a poll. The poll will be open for one week. Monthly winners will receive a $5 Amazon.com gift card.

It is not much of a prize, but I’m hoping that the contest nature, and the fact that there is a prize, will help draw more readers and writers to the site. Sometimes, you have to take risks in order to meet your goals.

 

New Year Goals


01 Jan

I rarely make New Year’s resolutions as they always seem like promises that you have permission to break. I did know one woman who made one made a resolution to give up chocolate. And she did, permanently. That will never be me.

But a new year is as good a time as any to evaluate my goals and make some changes. This year, I want to grow all three of my blogs. Here I need to maintain. On Life by Pets I need to get on a regular MWF schedule. Plus Fiction in 50 is turning in to a contest.

 

Shameless Self Promotion


06 Dec

On Tuesday, Nov 23, I hit 1000 views on this blog. It took 1 week short of 7 months to get there, but get there we did. To celebrate, I’m sharing my other blogs, Fiction in 50 and Life by Pets.

Fiction in 50 was started on October 7 and is already at over 500 views. It is dedicated to inspiring people to write at least one 50 word micro-fiction story a week.

Life by Pets was started on Dec 1. It’s a longer form for myself and others to share stories about the pets we love and live by.

100 Words On

topics explored in exactly 100 words