Incentive

Just checked my stats. Was shocked to see that in the last month this blog has been viewed by several folks. I appreciate that. Especially since I post so irregularly. No matter how often I vow to do better, time slips away and it's months some times before I write a new post.

Maybe I was also inspired by participating in the Kingsport Mini Maker Faire this past weekend. If someone hasn't heard of a Maker Faire, it is an event to showcase interest in whatever creative activity or hobby one spends time in doing. Hardly surprising that quite a number of participants were engaged in technology inspired pursuits, a couple in the robotics field.

Our spot at the Faire was arranged by Billy Crawford of Bubba's Book Swap. The purpose of the writers who manned the Appalachian Authors Guild and Lost State Writers Guild booth was to reach out to aspiring writers. We passed out information on how to get started, encouraged them to put pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard would probably be more accurate. Even though both Guilds have been around the region for a number of years and participated in lots of regional events and festivals, many have never heard of us. We hope to change that in time.

Running in Place

That's exactly what I feel like I'm doing most of the time, it seems. I really must move this blog and my own website upgrades higher on my 'to do' list. Why is it so easy to over extend oneself, say 'yes' when you should say 'no'. When you're holding down an outside job you absolutely know you have committed eight hours plus whatever your commute time might be, so everything else has to fit into the time left. Not so when you're retired. You tend to think your time is your own. Well, it doesn't really work out like that. You still have family obligations, the accoutrements of living like grocery shopping, at least minimal housekeeping which includes laundry, cooking, bedmaking, vacuuming, ya da ya da ya da.

Then of course with all that time, you surely can volunteer for all the worthy causes that come knocking at your door, or phone or email. You don't want to feel like a no good slacker who doesn't care about the human race, or at least friends and neighbors and abused pets and hungry children. So you say 'yes' to all of them and one day you realize you're still spending most of your precious 24 hours per day on other people's concerns and the things you really want to do go wanting.

In my case, I envisioned a second career in writing after retirement. I've reached some milestones toward that end. Several stories I wrote have been published online and in anthologies. Self-pubbed some books. But I still find myself fighting for time to actually write. Even when I, as it felt like,  'woke up,' from about a year of being mired in dealing with widowhood. I no longer feel required to put three meals a day on the table, don't do as much laundry, etc. Instead I seem to have obligated myself to important volunteer work. 

Organization I'm sure is the key. And choosing more carefully what I commit myself to when some of my activities end, as some are. Wish me luck.

Learning More about Social Media

I'm on the email lists of several writer/bloggers that I think have valuable information to share with other writers. One of these writer/bloggers is Kristen Lamb's blog. Kristen has written two books to help writers to create an active, positive presence on the Internet. She is also a founder of WANA, Internet classes to teach writers how to create this Internet presence. The name of her book from which the class site takes its name is We Are Not Alone.
Any writer wishing to create a greater Internet presence to publicize his or her work would probably benefit from Kristen's classes or even just reading her blog.