Writer's Block and Other Things

So this is what being a writer feels like. I have a deadline to meet and I’m not really interested or invested in an idea at the moment. Yet the deadline looms.

One of the reasons I decided to start my own blog was to learn how to hold myself accountable to meet deadlines. Deadline. Wednesday. 8:00 AM.

Another reason I decided to start my own blog was to learn how to create my own ideas and expand upon them. It’s 9:16 PM on Monday night…

Journal entry June 2007:
Got A Block?
Write around it! Maybe you're afraid of what you have to
say. Maybe you're too lazy to see a project through to the end.
What makes you decide to not keep going? Are the details too
tedious? Is the organization too difficult? Maybe you think too
much. Maybe you don't think enough.Maybe ideas are right in
front of your face. How do you take them from personal
narrative and give them story life? Rough draft is the first
step, don't you think? Just do it. Get something- anything
on paper. Go for it. It will be o.k. or it will suck...

This writing problem is sometimes called Writer’s Block. When I get stuck (AKA have Writer’s Block) writing my stories, I just keep writing. I put ridiculous things in the story. Just to keep it going. Eventually I find a way through the Block and can fix my work. 

That’s what I’m doing right now.

Just writing. I have no idea if I will scrap this before Wednesday or not.

I got the oil changed in my car today. I take it to the shop on the corner, about a mile away from my house. I’ve been going there for years. For the very first time a young woman mechanic took care of me. She wore the blue pants and blue button up shirt that is the uniform of mechanics- that included her name (Tammera) stitched onto a patch over her heart. She wore makeup and pigtails. She told me her mother’s name had been Nadine and that she’d never ever met another Nadine before. I was enchanted. When my car was ready I told her that her Nadine raised a lovely young woman. She beamed and said that meant a lot to her. And I wished her Merry Christmas.

You know, and the thing is, I debated saying anything at all to her. I thought that maybe her mom didn’t raise her, or that she’d be sad if I said something because her mom has obviously passed away. Or that saying something would be corny. It’s easy to be quiet, to just get in the car and drive away. But she put herself out there for me. She made an impact on me. I decided it was the very least I could do for her. It was right for me to acknowledge her mom in that way. It felt good.

It appears I’ve written myself out of a Block. In full disclosure, I had a few sentences about Dan Patrick wearing his socks inside-out today but I deleted it. The oil changing story was what I needed to talk about.

So this is what being a writer feels like. Another successful blog post. On time? Check! A small idea expanded upon? Check!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Happy Anniversary To Me!

I started this here blog one year ago. That’s 52 weeks with 52 posts. I’ve posted each and every Wednesday.  I’ve learned some important ‘bloggy’ things in this year.

On the technical side of things I’ve learned that I need to be careful to make sure my font style and font size is consistent from post to post. Because I’m not the most fluent of computer users, I always write my blog on a Word document and then cut and paste it to my blog.  When I post, I find that the size and font changes over the two formats. Also, I take a ridiculous amount of time getting clip art and pictures into my post. Maybe I’m taking “the long way” when there really is an easy way or short cut to adding images, I don’t know. Having mastered neither words nor pictures, I’m sure to continue to make mistakes but bear with me, people, I’m trying! One thing I did figure out was that there is a specific field for the title of the post. It does not go in the body of the work. I figured this out on week 44. (See?...) I spent a good hour moving all the posts titles to the right spot.

Dates and topics of each blog post for this year.

On the writing side of things I’ve learned a lot too. I love being able to talk about my thoughts and ideas in this format. I’m not a huge conversationalist anyway, so this is a fun way for me to share. I love the challenge of thinking up a topic to write about each week, expanding on the topic and then pondering a life lesson.  As a teacher, mother, thinker and introvert, it is my natural tendency to look at a situation and either brood about it or find a learning point. I strive to do the latter more than the former. And although I love to write, I am a procrastinator. It seems like an oxymoron. Why procrastinate on an activity you love, right? IDK. I guess sometimes I feel I’m being pulled in so many ways that my writing takes a back burner and when I do have free time for myself I either A: do other things besides write, or B: am too tired to think about writing anything. Whatever it is, I would be better off just setting a time each day to write and stick to it.  Again, work in progress.

As a blogger, I’ve learned that to be successful, I need to get my posts ready early so that I have time to fix any mistakes before I post. I’ve also learned that if I’m posting every Wednesday (and I am), it needs to be done early in the day, not at random times or at 11:56 P.M., as I’ve sometimes done.  I’ve noticed on my statistics page that often-times on Wednesdays several of my loyal readers check for a new post before it’s there. This is an area that I vow to fix starting now.

Blogging gurus say that to have a good blog one must find his/her niche. They say good blogs are about one topic only. I’ve narrowed the topics I've written about to three main areas:

1.    Reading (books, song lyrics, author visits)

2.    Writing (novel, poems, contests I’ve entered, workshops, search for agent)

3.    Daily life occurrences (trees, chairs, making curtains, sisters, dogs, grandkids)

Reading and writing can go together as one topic area, I know. But if I were to get rid of my daily life stuff, I’m not sure I would have enough fodder to keep up a weekly post. Also, if I just wrote about my daily life I would be remiss to not include reading and writing because that’s a big part of me being me.

Statistics are important to a blogger, after all, that’s why we blog. This year I have had 1,035 views. That’s about 86 views a month or 20 views a week.  The blog entitled March Madness received the most views at 31, which is a bummer because I am not a sporty girl and won’t really be writing anything sports related.

So, on that note, I am looking at different ways to become a more successful blogger. I’m not interested in making money; I’m just interested in getting better at this. Here are some of my ideas:

1.    Change my blog name. Nadine’s Notions sounds old fashioned. I didn’t think of that when I chose it, I just liked the alliteration.

2.    Move to another blogging host sight, one that is easier for readers to respond to. Blogger makes you give up your first born and recite the alphabet backwards before you can post a response!

3.    Focus on just one topic…reading and writing?....daily life???

4.    Learn how to hashtag (#icantmakeitwork)

5.    Use facebook, twitter or tumblr to gain more coverage.

Thank you to all my loyal readers. I’m open to ideas to make this blog a fun, worth-your-time read. Next week will begin my second year of being a blogger. I think that’s worth celebrating!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine