More Than A Year… Already?
I launched this blog in June of 2011 with a teaser post. It took another few months to get into something of a rhythm. It turned out not to be nearly as steady a cadence as I had intended to maintain.
I imagined filling this blog with travel writing or maybe musings about food and wine. That I’d post weekly or more. And I failed. Especially with posting frequently. Failure is good. It gives us a chance to learn, to reconsider, to adapt.
So in November, I revised the rules I’d set out for myself. I gave myself more latitude to just write. To write about what was interesting to me, when I felt I had something to say, in order to contribute to some larger dialog. I thought I’d be posting something every couple of weeks.
But the implication of that new focus, that I needed to have something valuable to say to post here, that turned out to be a major obstacle. Valuable meant important and important meant I was facing off with the dreaded inner critic that all writers have. I was losing. I was letting those lofty goals stand in the way of putting my words out there for the world to see.
In January, I again rewrote my rules and decided there was no point in continuing if I couldn’t have some fun every once in a while. I started doing blogging memes. (Yes, Kat, Part 4 is coming soon.) That helped. It got me going again.
Playful Poetry Box Courtesy of Jackie Boucher.
And having more fun had unanticipated side effects. I had more ideas. I was “putting myself out there” in other ways too: investing more energy into building relationships, expanding my personal and professional networks, and pitching ideas to editors. That renewed enthusiasm and openness is starting to pay off. I’ve begun doing new work. For example, in June I attended the first Emerging Media Conference in Seattle. You can read my recap of that two-day conference on the Wappow! Inc. blog. I’ve also tried my hand at being a sports photographer. (A post on that experience is definitely coming soon.)
What’s in store for my second year of blogging? Good question. I intend to post something once a month, to leave myself room to experiment and be playful, and to share stories from travels near and far. I’ll occasionally publish notices of other writings in other venues. And I’ll keep introducing you to the people I read: the people on my blogroll and links page.
Photo Credit: “Passage of Time” used with permission courtesy of Mike Pirnat.
Full disclosure: Access to the Emerging Media Conference was provided to me at no cost.
