If some part of your conciousness, or even unconciousness, just keeps knawing at you to do something, sometimes it’s best to listen and do it. I think that’s the case here.

So I’m going to start writing, and I’ll use this blog to keep folks posted on how it goes and what I learn in the process. (And look for a new look for the blog sometime in the near future, too!)

Wish me luck!

This is it.

Look here for the announcement of the official launch of MakingOfABlogger.com. (You could go look now, but what’s there currently is less than exciting, I assure you.)

To those of you who have been following me here, I appreciate your support and I hope this isn’t disappointing for you. But a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do, and I’ll make more immediate progress, and find more immediate gratification, by following this path.

Take care.

I’m talking about writing for paying markets. I walk into Barnes and Noble and think two things: “I sure miss the Tattered Cover,” and “Wow, there’s a whole lotta books and magazines in here. My ultimate chances of getting published can’t be that bad.” But then reports with lots of statistics come out about declining book sales, adults reading less and less, etc… and … well, all that. It can get discouraging.

But it also seems lots of folks are out there doing okay with writing, just of a different kind…

Some folks seem to be doing very well writing blogs and for online markets.

While researching an article I came across a blog of a quilter from the Midwest. She posts about quilts. Her blog looks simple and unpolished. She has a few Adsense ads. AND–here’s the kicker–she has a pretty high pagerank. That means she gets a lot of traffic, her views are respected (high pagerank => lots of links from other web sites), and those ads are probably serving her pretty well. Plus, the increased traffic probably helps her sell quilts. (I didn’t ask; this stuff wasn’t the focus of my article. But you can bet what my next article will be about.)

So what did she do?

I read a few of her entries. It’s clear she knows a lot about quilting, and she loves it. She’s managed to turn one of her passions into something she can share with the world, and maybe make a little on the side for her efforts. AND she’s targeted a very narrow niche.

Hm…

That niche thing, I’ve heard that before. A common recommendation to geting started in the copywriting business is to look for assignments for trade magazines and newsletters. This advice is meant to steer new writers towards underserved markets for their services. But this advice also steers writers into niche markets. (Write for a few trades in the same industry and before long you’re an Expert! A specialist! You get to charge more! Cool.)

So it’s time to diversify. I have a few passions I could blog fairly regularly about, I think, so I believe I will. I’ll get to keep flexing my writing muscles and develop some writing samples I can use to build business or use as clips.

And maybe make a little money on the side.

But that’s just making excuses.

I just have to decide what’s important I guess.

(By the way, you should go check out his themes. Along with his themes for sale, he’s got some beautiful free ones. In addition to the one I use on this site, I use another of his for a review blog.)

Let me know what you think!

Just need to make sure my posts are interesting and show my real growth as a writer.

I’m pretty sure this one doesn’t do that. But it’s here!

Bet you’re glad you subscribed now, aren’t you?

Okay. I better stop.

I came up with a couple yesterday while I was mowing the grass.

And what do I do with these ideas? I dutifully jot them down in my notebook until I can sketch out a rough outline or synopsis, and then…and then…

And then I work on more ideas. Because it’s easy. It’s the writing that’s scary.

Think about it: There’s no risk in coming up with ideas. There’s no real work in coming up with ideas. “Hm, that’d be a good story (jot jot jot)” is pretty much the extent of it.

The real work, and the real risk, comes in trying to turn the idea into a real, written product. It’s in the writing that I, the writer, can fall flat on my face. What if I take my great idea and turn it into a lousy story, or book, or whatever? What if it’s just no good? What if I’m a no good writer?

The finished product can be a real stinker, but a great idea is always a great idea. As long as I’m just dealing in the ideas, I don’t have to face my fear of failing.

That’s what it comes down to, doesn’t it? Fear. Fear of being no good. Being laughed at for my efforts. (”Um, yeah. Don’t give up your day job.”) Sticking with idea generating is safe.

But, this blog isn’t called “The Making of an Ideator,” it’s called “The Making of an Writer.” As long as I’m not writing, I’m failing to become a writer. (Duh.)

So what’s it going to be? Do I let the fear continue to win, keep jotting down ideas and pretending it’s real writing? Or do I suck it up, sit down, and start filling that screen with words?

PS: Yes, “ideate” is a real word.

Finding time

I knew this would be a tough one, and it is. What with the work, the kids, and all that, finding time to just write is tough. But not impossible, and others have done it.

It’s meaning making some choices, adjusting sleep times, and other changes. But it’s important, so I’ll do it. Having a supportive wife helps!

Finding heart

Sitting down to that screen and filling it up with characters is tough. Especially when the characters are coming together to make crap. See, that’s that internal editor all the writing self-help books I’ve distracted myself with over the years tell me I need to ignore. So I try that, and keep plugging along. I hope the just-write-edit-later part gets easier. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist anyway, so it’s really tough to put something down and, knowing it needs fixing, not try to fix it right away.

Just gotta remember that train: I think I can! I think I can!

It’s not reading a how-to book.
It’s not reading how-to articles on the web.
It’s not reading a writing magazine.
It’s not dinking around with writing software demos.
It’s not grasping at thin excuses for work in an effort to avoid real work.

It’s not “planning.” It’s doing.

Trust me, this is a big deal.