One month in

I've been blogging for a little over a month now. Time to take stock. Like everything else, blogging is something you learn by doing. In this short period I've figured out a few things -- and still have to get a grip on others.

As to those "others", my tag cloud is a mess down there on the bottom left of the page. I guess you shouldn't tag every post uniquely, huh? Duh. I'll work on that. Plus I tend to publish posts and then edit them, thus republishing them again and again. Keith, do your editing when it's a draft. See? So that's another one I have to work on.
 
As for the numbers, it seems I wrote 53 posts in November, which isn't bad for a working writer who's pretty busy. And I had over a thousand visitors. I don't know how that happened but it did. (And no, I'm not tracking my own visits.) There are allegedly visitors from about ten countries, though I wonder if some of those "visits" aren't merely bots cataloging what's on the net.

Of course, the best thing is that I finally have a few comments! There's only one commenter, though. Thanks, C!  C'mon people: comment! It's half the fun of visiting a blog.

One thing that changed during this period was the blog's description, the one-paragraph summary of the blog's purpose that sits atop the page. After a few weeks I realized my initial concept of the blog did not mesh with the blog I was actually writing. My first description was far too confining. It said this is a blog about writing fiction -- and not much else. It is indeed a blog about writing fiction. Most of my posts have been about writing -- how to do it and what it's like. But the blog is bigger than that.

So I altered the description to reflect the atheistic, liberal, pro-gay, pro-science nature of the place. Before I did that, I think folks arrived looking only for writing tips, saw anti-pope posts, and fled to say a quick rosary. That's not the reader experience I wanted to provide -- though I kinda like the fleeing and rosary-saying part of it. And when the description was only about writing, there was another problem -- visitors thought only writers were invited to comment. Blogs are for everyone, and anyone can comment here.

Now, a month in, the place seems comfortable to me: a nice, atheistic, rational environment with a touch of humor and a smattering of snark. The strangeness is gone; this is home. I feel free to write here about what it's like to be a fiction writer, or anything else that crosses my liberal mind. I like that much better than "just" having a writing blog. I hope readers will too.

Onward and upward.

What worlds?

"The Worlds" is the name of the first sci-fi novel I wrote just a couple of years ago, at the age of 60.  The name is appropriate in another way too.  We writers create worlds, and I want to talk about those worlds -- how we make them, and what it's like to do this.

I've written two more novels since then.  The second one was the follow-up to the first novel.  I plan to write a trilogy, now that book 2 is finished.  That second book is called, "The Pod, the God, and the Planet."

After that, I wrote a Xmas horror novel.  After writing two novels that take place in my "Worlds" universe, I wanted to see if I could write in a different genre.  So I wrote "Xmas Carol", a fun romp through the Xmas landscape, with shivers along the way.

I haven't submitted any of the three books to a publisher, mostly because I can't decide if I want to pursue traditional publishing, or self-publish.  More about that later.  But my books did not sit unread.  I'm lucky enough to have a group of four or five faithful readers who are always willing to plow their way through my books.  I'm very grateful to them because I've gotten a lot of good feedback.  The best thing, of course is that my readers keep telling me they really liked what they read. (And I've learned how to ask my readers useful questions, like, "What part did you like the least?  Why?  What did you like best?  Did something bore you?  Tell me about it."  "Which characters seemed the most real to you?  The least?"  Etc.) 

They did a great job and unless they're all lying to me (and I know where they live, so they'd better watch out), they really did like them.  I repeat this because it's so shocking to me.  They liked my stuff.  

Hearing that someone liked your book, that they worried about this or that character, even cried when something happened to a favorite character -- is amazing.  Getting reader feedback is a tremendous help.  They can point out obvious problems that you, the writer, were blind to.  I've altered the trajectory of two books because of reader comments.  They were invaluable.

But here's the thing.  Nothing I have ever experienced compares to the excitement I've felt while writing these three books.  It was almost a magical experience.  When I'm writing and the going is good, I feel like I'm on a roller coaster, that I'm hurling through a landscape, that everything is going 100 mph.  I just type without thinking and watch, amazed, as the scenery (the words on the screen) go by.  It's like being an observer, as if someone else does the writing.  It's the most amazing thing I've ever felt.

And that's why I wanted to start this blog, because of that electric excitement I feel when I'm writing.  I want to talk about it, to revel in this wild process that's taken hold of my life.  It's all about writing now; it's the only thing that matters -- creating new worlds.  And as a bonus, I get the opportunity to point out a few truths about life along the way. You can't beat this.

I start this blog, hoping to connect with other creative people, especially those who are actively writing (or creating in another field).  We are the luckiest people in the world.  I believe this, and will write much more (undoubtedly too much) about it very soon.