Figuring Out a Masterplan

Ay yi yi. On the weekend I took a look at a blog or two of those who were my contemporaries two years ago. Man. I've had some of them write on my blog and to see how popular and how successful they've become, while I actually allowed myself to just fall away from it all.

What a shame. So, now I have to start the good fight I know is ahead. Now I need to rekindle those relationships, start doing all the commenting I used to do on other blogs, spend the time reading them, et cetera.

What I drastically have to do is to replace all the reading I do of news sources and start reading blogs mainly instead. I have to come up with a very calculated reading list, and start maximizing the use of my time, and writing on the things I find that I believe will most yield results.

It's really exhausting, but I know I'll be excellent at it right off the bat... just as soon as I get going.

Part of it is, I know I'm not yet ready for the success I thought I was running from. I'm getting there. At least I'm working towards it. At least I'm starting to want to want it.

I spent the weekend redoing my apartment. Cleaning everything up, but also re-cleaning all the areas I had done back in March but then mucked up since -- linen closet, storage, other closets, etc. My place, as a result, looks fucking fantastic today. Now, all I want to do is write. Clutter makes me a) bad at writing, b) bad at editing, and c) not fond of doing either.

Now that all my to-do's around my place are pretty much off my list, writing is the next thing I feel compelled to put into spotlight #1. Getting my action plan in place, learning how to carve my spot in the web again, learning how the fuck to do SEO (it confuses the hell out of me, or maybe the people I've seen are just shitty fucking writers, but more research is totally necessary) and how to do keywords for SEO.

I'll have to do the reading-the-important blogs with high reader counts things, and getting comments in early but also being fantastic at writing the comments. It MUST be a good comment or people won't click to read your blog. I mean, I used to take 5 or 10 minutes to come up with something witty. And it worked, man.

Now is the perfect time to get going on this, though, because the fall will be the busiest time of the year for internet readership, and I can really get some momentum on my side if I've got the right writing and the right commenting going by Labour Day.

Then, the other thing is, I need to start cracking on the book I want to write. What book is that? Good question. I need to figure that shit out. I have an idea, but now I need to figure it out.

Must begin with a gameplan so I can get to writing in the winter.

This is no overnight project, any of the above, obviously. I've been avoiding starting because I know that, once I start, I cannot stop again. This is going to be my new lifestyle for a very, very long time. I figure this is a one-year plan, minimum. It took me only six months to hit my peak before, though, and it might be arrogance, but I think I can do it again.

My writing's been hitting the mark every now and then of late, but man has my editing been fucking attrocious. My trigger finger is ridiculous, and I need to slow down my process a bit and take my work up a few notches through editing. I CAN edit well, I just don't enjoy it, don't have the patience, and don't take the time. And that is really, really, really stupid of me. That's getting moved up the priority list something fierce.

Oh, so, biggest mistake ever? Listening to my ex-boyfriend who seemed to think I needed to get a .com address and get off the fucking blogspot.com extension. But some other people were hopping for their own domain back then, so it seemed like I was silly to keep my blogspot URL. How fucking dumb.

I should've stayed strong and kept my motherfucking address, because that move just fucking killed me and it's after that that I lost everyone.

One particular contemporary of mine from '05/'06 kept her blogspot address, gets a million readers a month and has her own book now. Sigh.

In any case... right now, my home is a place I can really see myself enjoying hunkering down to write in. That's the important thing that just hasn't been true for a long time. I've been close on many occasions, but I've never been this completely organized. Ever, I don't think.

Now comes the fun part of my total-life-makeover challenge, I guess. The writing. God. This will be hard. But good for me for continuing to make strides in each area. Plug-plug-plugging away.

Great start to a week, I tell ya. Now, about those blogs... Eeeps. Yeah, I can do this shit. I know I can. I just don't relish the long-ass motherfucking climb before then and now.

But I know I can do it. I have my secret weapon: Me. Ha.