Where I tell you a little about what works me
and you tell me a lot about what works for you.
Happy last day of January. Sad.
This week I wrote a two page concept/synopsis for a middle grade novel called The Lemonade Stand, I read The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (which I gave 3/5), and I opened my WIP, Stepbrothers, on my thumb drive and stared at it for a few hours before closing the document. Yeah, let's not go there right now.
So essentially I have really done nothing but vehemently blogged. Is this a bad thing? I dunno. I am learning a lot from you fellow bloggers, I am being inspired by you fellow bloggers, and I have been sharing the love with you too. It's been a great few weeks. If I get to fifty-three followers by midnight tomorrow night, I'll have gained fifty in the month of January. That means all of you have been here since after the new year began. I believe that that is a great start to 2010! If I gain 50% of the followers I gained this month, I'll have seventy-five by the end of February. If this trend were to continue until the end of the year, I'd start 2011 with 4324.8779296875 followers, gave or take a few decimal points. Of course, that could never happen. So I am setting my sights on a number that makes sense. Let's go with...*picking out of a hat*...125. Is that what you expected? It wasn't the Sorting Hat!
Goal: 125 followers by the end of 2010. (Don't forget once I hit 100, you'll all official become my minions and we can decide on a name for our group.)
Back to my initial point. Everyone has tactics to motivate themselves: coffee, licorice, hanging upside down for an hour chanting your MC's name. Here's the one that works best for me: people who've got it. It.* Whatever it is, they got it.
EDIT: Here's one of those that has got it, but no followers. Go show her some love and I dare to accept her challenge, Flootin' About.
EDIT: Here's one of those that has got it, but no followers. Go show her some love and I dare to accept her challenge, Flootin' About.
So get out there this week and find some peeps, make some friends, and network. We all need to have that support group. It helps during every stage of our writing and by the time our book comes out, I can tell you there will be people waiting in line.
*Glitter.
I used to hang upside down chanting my main character's name, now I chase the likes of you around the internet and it is sublime.
ReplyDeleteI am motivated! Now if I could just find time!
Holy crap! You have 50 followers in ONE month! It took me a year to do that! Glitter, indeed!
ReplyDeleteBlogging is entertaining, informative, and a great way to connect with the writing community. I have found though that it does take a lot of time. I used to blog four to five times a week, but had to decrease it to 2-3 times just so I could have more time to write. If you are more organized than me though, you can keep up with the seven!
Well, I'm sure it's just a fluke of a month. Watch, I'll gain three in Feb. I'd be fine with that. I have been keeping up with seven so far...but I think I'll have to trim back a few. I'm thinking every-other-daying-it.
ReplyDeletethat is amazing blog love! 50 followers in one month - I agree with Kelly, it took me a looong time to get to that.
ReplyDeleteBut, your blog is hilarious so there you go. Glad you're liking the blog community. I love the support and the knowledge gained.
I may get motivated listening in on the twisted conversations of my stepdaughters and their friends. But that is a well-kept secret.
Love the glitter.
Terry - I like your well-kept secret, I wish I had that opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI hope people don't think I'm flaunting my follower numbers, I'm totally amazed too! I think the blogging community has so much to offer and somehow people keep coming back here.
It could have to do with the fact that you are friendly. The blogs I like best are the real ones. Nothing is forced or fake. And that's the kind of writing I like too. That 's why blogging is a great creative exercise - esp. when I'm revising! :)
ReplyDeleteHeh, minions. Do we get stickers or something saying "I am a minion of Jon's" ??
ReplyDeleteSorry I havent been commenting lately. I have read all your posts, I've just been too busy to comment. School sucks.
Me, friendly? Thanks! It is a good exercise, except when your writer's block turns into a blogging craze and now my desire to return to the WIP is shrinking by the moment.
ReplyDeleteUgh.
Don't worry, Nat. I totally understand.
ReplyDeleteYou wanna sticker? Oh I'll get you a sticker!
You see that Tina, they want stickers.
ReplyDelete... that sounded a little threatening =P
ReplyDeleteNope, not a threat. There will be a few pins debuting in the next few weeks, nice timing on the comment!
ReplyDeleteMuah hahahah! Excellent.
ReplyDeleteThat's what sounds threatening...
ReplyDeleteDid you join Gmail yet?
lol. No. Why should I? Like, what are the benefits? I already have several email addresses floating around.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat kidding, but regarding your post about chatting, I don't have any of those things. I guess we can't be friends...but you can still have a sticker.
ReplyDeletelmao
ReplyDelete*Taking award back.*
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of writers become better writers from blogging. Seriously, they're getting a feel for voice, which is so important. I can name at least ten bloggers I could identify purely from a post, without seeing their photo or anything...merely by their approach to the world, word choice, sentence construction, etc. Moral: Blogging is not a total waste.
ReplyDeleteJon--you got those followers on your own merit, by visiting everybody's blogs and leaving a nice trail of glitter.
ReplyDeleteI have decided that my blogging purpose has been fulfilled--I am doing something that I think helps other writers (the friday interviews) and helps connect people.
And I have connected with writers that I admire and can support. So, even if I stay at my present number, I will be satisfied (like john cusack--"I'm walking around, satisfied" "Lloyd, Lloyd all null and void, listen to the truth you're tryin' to avoid--Lloyd dissed in the Malibu, doesn't know what to do...")
As far as the writing--do you have an Alpha? Someone who reads your draft in rough form, and tells you when you jumped the shark? Because sometimes that is good when you are stuck on a WIP. (Although I guess that opening and closing a document doesn't necessarily mean stuck...)
I'm sorta glad that I forgot you were blogging every single day, and came over to comment so late, so that it cuts down the ammount of people who will see this very random comment.
It's a well-deserved fifty, brother! I'm at 15 and if you discount family and ones that I'm pretty sure are spam, I think I have... 4.
ReplyDeleteKeep it up!
good luck - you will easily meet that!
ReplyDeleteAnita - Thanks, I truly needed that.
ReplyDeleteKris - Well, I have a feeling your traffic is about to increase...*wink, wink*.
Shelli - Thanks.
HK - I have an alpha, but she's a grad student and never has anytime...also, she's my best friend and maybe not entirely honest with me.
ReplyDeleteI'll start the search for a new one.
Oh, I think you'll have 125 followers by the middle of March. Dude, you've racked some serious numbers in the past month. I'm in awe:)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you say to a guy who gets 48 followers in one month? Share more love?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jon, you are awesome. Glad to be your first 50, look forward to be your minions.
I forgot to ask a question:
ReplyDelete1. Who is your favorite Beatle and why?
2. Do you have a favorite 80's hair band? :) (don't make fun of me for loving hair bands...okay you can make fun of me for loving hair bands...)
Kelly - Thanks for the SAMS questions!! I love them.
ReplyDeleteI feel famous *grin*
ReplyDelete