It’s a typical pattern after an especially popular blog post for me. I write, and then I turtle. A popular blog post is followed by a month or more of radio silence. Can you really call it a pattern, though, if it’s only a couple of posts?

I’ve tried over the past year to figure out which kind of post does the best. Is it the ones which are tongue-in-cheek? Or is it the serious ones? Ones where I talk about the craft of writing or ones where I talk about that damn khajit?

Two posts stand out above any others in terms of popularity. The first was the book launch.  People seemed to dig it! Probably because I just made fun of my sister in it the entire time.

Somehow, though, I don’t think that making fun of Lisa is the secret sauce to a more popular blog. (I could totally be wrong – feel free to sound off in the comments if you want to read more about that. I’d be more than happy to oblige).

The 2nd was my last blog post. New York: The Writer’s Conference. This is significant because – even though I don’t make fun of my sister – people still seemed to dig it.

Both of these signify pretty huge steps in my writing journey. The first was about the launch of Far from Ordinary. The second was about trying to break through into the writing industry.

After all, it’s one thing to write a book. It’s entirely another to get it published in an extremely competitive industry.

So that’s the secret sauce, then. Just keep doing epic shit – stuff that is far from ordinary, pardon the pun (available on Amazon, check it out!!)

Also easier said than done.

The posts where I have a massive update are the ones that are the most popular. That makes all the sense, doesn’t it? Therein lies my problem, as well. How the hell do you follow that up?

I mean, I could always write about a khajit. The internet seems to love cats, even if they’re complete and utter assholes. Which khajit should I write about? The one that I miss, or the one that tortures me every day? Decisions, decisions.

There’s no excuse for not writing blog posts. Not for me, anyway. Writers are supposed to write every day. No excuses. But, of course, there are. There are always excuses. I’m tired. My mantlepiece needs cleaning. Mercury is in goddamn retrograde.

The only thing I want to do after a post which does better than average is to follow it up with another one that can do just as well. That’s almost impossible, though, unless I’m starting to be less than honest with my posts.

NEXT WEEK, I TALK ABOUT HOW I SINGLE HANDEDLY SOLVED THE CLIMATE CRISIS, WHILE SOMEHOW HAVING A FANTASTIC HAIRLINE AND GETTING THE DOCTOR-RECOMMENDED 8.5 HOURS OF SLEEP EVERY NIGHT!

No, I don’t think I’ll do that. Hashtag fake news. I don’t like clickbait, and I assume that you don’t, either.

Here I am, then, taking that integral first step. Do me a favor and like the post, mmkay? It will help my desperately fragile writer’s ego.

SO

What did we learn this week (month)?

1. It’s no fun being a non-practicing writer. Let’s fix that, yes?
2. I’ve been sitting on a couple of story ideas for my next novel. The first? Far from Ordinary 2: Electric Boogaloo. The 2nd? UNTITLED HORROR STORY PROJECT.
3. I’m still working on the title for the second one. I’ve wanted to do a horror story for a long time now. There’s something about a good spooky story. A freezer book. A journey into the macabre, so to speak.[insert friends freezer book
4. You’ve got to start again sometime. Here’s to the blank page
5. Next week I’m going to talk about results! Specifically what I’ve gotten from the writer’s conference so far

Later days,

M