I’m experimenting now. This means a variety of posts will cross the wall of this blog.
For years, I’ve struggled to get this blog going. I’ve let this blog die by the roadside while I veered off onto other writing avenues. I’ve felt the need to make this blog about fiction, nonfiction, encouragement, reading, etc….
Before I had this website, I wrote at Contentedly Neurotic, the first blog that I housed on Blogger. I didn’t know any better, so I wrote what I felt and I didn’t worry about setting an image for potential clients (I didn’t have any then). I also didn’t worry about setting an image for a potential literary agent.
Then I began this website for my freelance writing career. I stressed over every post and would spend twenty minutes writing a rough draft. As soon as I began the editing, the fear crept in. Is this good enough? Does this really fit my platform? What would a potential client think? What would a potential agent think? What would a potential reader think? Oy Vey! So many fears. I edited the pieces for hours. Then I debated for hours over whether or not to post the piece. People, hours. Seriously, I would spend hours agonizing over whether or not to post what I had just spent hours revising. And 9.5 out of 10 times, I deleted the work. Posting nothing on the page.
On the few posts I would let creep out into the world, I would spend time coaxing the SEO redlight into green territory. Stressing over headers and keywords and meta descriptions. If I couldn’t get those right it was yet another reason not to post.
Clearly, there is a problem with my voice. So I’m doing what I always do when I encounter a problem. I’m going back to basics. I’m going back to where I can find my voice again. I’m ignoring all the hoopla of what I should be doing, what I must say, or mustn’t believe.
It’s time to regroup and I do that best back at the beginning and unleashing all the thoughts without fears, without barriers, and expectations.
Where these posts will lead, I don’t know. But I do know what will happen. I know that as I write and put the thoughts into the world, I will find the voice I need at this phase of life.
For now, I’m pulling off all the hats and trying on one at a time. What do I believe and what do I feel? And if the SEO traffic light shines red then I’ll take my free right turn on red and continue along my way.
If you are struggling with something in your life, I encourage you to step back and revisit the basics.