Friday, January 3, 2014

So.... how 'bout those Bears? And where else I've been

Jay Cutler got signed for a 7-year contract.
Can you hear that?  That's the sound of me banging my head against the wall.
Moving on.....

For someone who completed NaNoWriMo, I committed the sin of not touching my novel since.  Sure, a couple days or a week off is allowed.

Yeah, haven't looked at it since November 28th when I reached those sexy 50,018 words.  Shame on me.  Really, I am bummed with myself.  And the cool part is that the couple close friends I shared a few snippets of my novel with are also annoyed.  One of them, a former marine, and threatened me with his utility knife to get back to it so he can read more.  In a loving way, of course.  His fiance, my BFF, has threatened to make me babysit her 4-year-old.  Adam hasn't threatened (yet), but he's certainly making his point.

"I see you're playing Age of Empires II again."
"I am."
"I see you're playing as the Spanish again."
"I am."
"You know where the Spanish are from?"
"... Spain?"
"Yes, and you know what else is in Spain?"
".... what."
"Maisie (my MC), BECAUSE YOU LEFT HER THERE!"

This isn't an exact conversation, but it's close, and happens often.

I have dozens of excuses.  Took a week off and then had to prepare the house and plan for our Christmas Party.  Then we had to plan Christmas Eve dinner that we host.  Then I got the surprise of my life when my awesome Mama flew up from Florida to surprise me Christmas Eve day and stayed here a couple days (THAT is a totally valid excuse, I don't see my Mama often so even if I had been writing, I still wouldn't have done a damn thing and still spent every waking moment with her, so suck it).  Then the last excuse was, "Hell with it, it's the 28th, may as well wait until the New Year and get a fresh start."

Happy January 4th, still haven't touched it.

BUT!  BUT BUT BUT!  I did download the magic that is Scrivener.  After updating my so-called blog I will be screwing around with it and begin to incorporate Life and Body Organs into it.  Oh, I never mentioned the title?  Well, there it is.  Not sure if that's official yet, but there you go.

My current plan for the blog is to post twice, maybe three times per week.  To help me stay on top of that is creating and scheduling posts in advance.  Yes, that means for the past.... *counts on fingers*... seven months I have been typing and posting immediately.  Which is why my post frequency has gone a bit downhill.  Between work, writing, and life, I feel two per week is feasible.  Three would be a bonus.

Also on my task list for the month is my participation in the Start The Year Off Write challenge.  There's another way to fill one of my goals (keep reading for more on that).  Those of you who write, whether you got it down and live it every second of the day, or you're like me and you love it but suck at trying to make the time because of other obligations to keep the utilities on at home, should definitely check this out.  Starts Sunday.

In the world of full disclosure, other goals, trends, and habits for me in 2014 are:
  • Organize this blog more, regarding layout, tags/labels, and other things most bloggers use and I just haven't felt the need to use.
  • Increase my social media presence by more use of Twitter and Google+.... which, by the way, you can follow me on those and Tumblr to the right.
  • Both Adam and I are taking part in the Nerd Fitness Academy because it's not a New Year unless you've made some sort of fitness plan... only we won't give up on it in the first month.  I love the philosophy, definitely check it out for yourself.
  • Write daily.  Between my WIP (do you have any idea how long it took me to realize WIP stands for work-in-progress?  Derp!), journaling, and here, I don't have a lack of sources.
  • Read daily.  Specifically, beyond blogs.  I have several books I want to get through, numerous about writing, I'm working on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, Mama gave me three awesome books for Christmas, and I have an ever growing list beyond that.
Lastly, one thing I have learned to connect with and build a blog audience is to ask questions and engage any readers I may still have lurking about.  Why do I want an audience?  Because I'm fucking awesome and hilarious and I need to share this glory that is Dara WITH THE WORLD!

Did you hear my ego grow?  Because it needs to.  It barely exists.

SO!  New Year "resolutions" aside, this question(s) for today's post mostly pertains to my followers who have a blog of their own.  And if you don't, answer anyway and pretend you have one.

How do you set your blogging schedule?  Do you sit, type, and post immediately, or do you plan ahead and schedule weeks in advance?  How do you determine the number of posts/updates you share in a week?  How do you determine the topics of your posts (personal vs. professional/writing)?

1 comment:

  1. I didn't look at my NaNo project until the very end of December. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I didn't hate it.

    I attempt to blog three times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) and last year I was horrible about it. I'll try to do better this year. I usually write my posts the night before and then schedule them to go live the next morning.

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