On Blogging and Inconsistency
So, I've been posting on this blog for a while now - since some time in 2010. And somehow, in five years, I have yet to consistently post on a schedule.
Why is that?
Why is that?
Well, for one, my home life has yet to be consistent. In five years, I have lived in nine or ten different places (I lost count), over three states. I seem to live in a place just long enough to fall in love and get a little comfortable, then leave. I'm like a serial monogamist in that way.
In the last five years, I've also been in quite a few different occupations: Waitress, Student, Resident Adviser, McDonald's Cashier, Dominoes CSR, and in August I'll be entering into the first year of my Master's as a Graduate Assistant. All very different, nothing for more than nine months.
I'm also a military spouse, which goes a little way in excusing my lack of solid career or home town - though not all the way.
Additionally, my writing goals and process have constantly evolved and changed over the last five years, making it impossible to nail down any objective or consistent lessons I've learned. Though I've definitely learned a lot about writing overall - something I'll continue to explore in this blog and elsewhere - there's nothing I would say applies every time to every person. The rules of process are more like.. Guidelines. So, creating a schedule based on writing topics seems like an exercise in futility at best.
Perhaps the most honest reason behind my lack of a schedule is that life is hectic and, on the crazy rollercoaster of inconsistency, my blog is fairly low on the list of priorities - under eating healthy and hitting my word count. That's ok with me.
Too often I think writers are expected to make the internet their career. They have to write a blog on a schedule and Tweet X times a day to maintain fan engagement and have google hang outs and blog tours and keep to strict book deadlines - which seem to be growing closer together in a digital age where a novel is expected to go from glean in an author's eye to bookshelf in a few weeks.
Writing fiction is my career; it doesn't matter to me that I'm not getting paid for it yet. Blogging is the hobby - as are Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and Reddit.
I think we'd all do well to remember that, and not get down on ourselves when we miss a few blog posts in a row or take a Twitter break.
In the last five years, I've also been in quite a few different occupations: Waitress, Student, Resident Adviser, McDonald's Cashier, Dominoes CSR, and in August I'll be entering into the first year of my Master's as a Graduate Assistant. All very different, nothing for more than nine months.
I'm also a military spouse, which goes a little way in excusing my lack of solid career or home town - though not all the way.
Additionally, my writing goals and process have constantly evolved and changed over the last five years, making it impossible to nail down any objective or consistent lessons I've learned. Though I've definitely learned a lot about writing overall - something I'll continue to explore in this blog and elsewhere - there's nothing I would say applies every time to every person. The rules of process are more like.. Guidelines. So, creating a schedule based on writing topics seems like an exercise in futility at best.
Perhaps the most honest reason behind my lack of a schedule is that life is hectic and, on the crazy rollercoaster of inconsistency, my blog is fairly low on the list of priorities - under eating healthy and hitting my word count. That's ok with me.
Too often I think writers are expected to make the internet their career. They have to write a blog on a schedule and Tweet X times a day to maintain fan engagement and have google hang outs and blog tours and keep to strict book deadlines - which seem to be growing closer together in a digital age where a novel is expected to go from glean in an author's eye to bookshelf in a few weeks.
Writing fiction is my career; it doesn't matter to me that I'm not getting paid for it yet. Blogging is the hobby - as are Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and Reddit.
I think we'd all do well to remember that, and not get down on ourselves when we miss a few blog posts in a row or take a Twitter break.
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