Feb 3rdChanges are Coming

I’ve been writing like crazy. For good reason too. At 6 chapters from finishing the first draft of Rule of Fire, the story is really picking up. I’m excited to write it for reasons beyond the finish line being in site.

I did take the time last weekend to play around with new profile pictures for various places.

I’ve always believed that if I’m bored while I’m writing, the reader is sure to lose interest too. It keeps me on my toes when I’m developing a scene! Not every paragraph can be packed with action, but if it is going to be in the book there had better be a purpose. So now, so close to the end as the plot lines are coming together and the action is ramping up, well the writing becomes engrossing. A lot of my other projects I should keep up on are minimized (sorry honey!).

And that isn’t a good thing. I should be marketing Born of Water and definitely spreading the word about the upcoming sequel. I feel like my marketing has been flat the last week or so. It led me to buy a new marketing book (I’ll let you know if it is useful when I’m done) and also to really assess what is working and what isn’t. And not just about marketing.

I think every once in awhile it is really important to pull back and analyze how things are going in your life. Otherwise, you can find yourself on a tangent and really wonder how you ended up focusing on something that is hardly important. It made me re-look at No Map Nomads. I love that site, but a hard look at it makes me know it could be so much more. We never plan on monetizing it, so what keeps my interest in it has to be something else. And it isn’t there now. It needs some tweaking and a different voice, a focus as well.

Sparked by the small blurb I’ve read of the new marketing book, I’m also trying to focus on what I uniquely have to offer (truth be told, I’ve heard that phrase from so many people, especially successful bloggers). In a way, that is a tough one. I’m far better at giving away ideas to other people . . . . Hey! I’m really good at giving away ideas. Maybe I should stop giving them away? Funny how things come to mind.

I’ve been frustrated with the background theme to this blog for awhile. It has limits that drive me crazy. Well, once I realized that I have other skill to market than writing, I realized it has to go. Perhaps if I was better at editing CSS or it was easier to plug and play with this theme, I’d feel differently. But it isn’t and it is holding me back.

So, if you stop by the next week or so, expect to see things changing. I may try a few different things before settling on a new look, maybe a new over-all name. I don’t want redesigning the blog to become my main focus though. Plans are right now to finish the first draft of Rule of Fire within the next week and a half! But I can’t forget that writing is the cream. I have to focus on more than the stuff I enjoy.

-Cheers,  Weifarer