When I started this blog in 2013, I wasn’t sure what to write about. I flailed around, sharing posts about this and that, wondering if anyone cared what I wrote. From my early stats, not very many people did. After three years, I gave up. Between January 2016 and October 2017, I didn’t post anything.
What got me posting again? An idea I had while driving between California and Oregon in 2017. I decided to start a newsletter, which I named Sticks & Stones, focused on poetry book reviews. I’d written several reviews in the past, and enjoyed the process enough to want to write more. I wrote about this epiphany in the blog post “Reviews, Reviews, Reviews!” (11/17/17). With a review of Jenene Ravesloot’s Sliders, I launched Sticks & Stones in January, 2018. The newsletter has been quite successful. Every month more readers sign up, which makes me very happy.
Back to the blog: readership has grown, albeit slowly. After almost ten years, I have some useful statistics. My readers are much more interested in “how-to” blogs than some random thought I had about being a writer (unless that thought was helpful to them). Things that haven’t worked for me include sharing other people’s blog posts, travel diaries, and rambling diatribes about rejection. What has worked is staying focused on how I can share any knowledge I’ve gained about being a writer—truly useful information that poets and writers will enjoy reading.
So here goes: the blog is in the process of being re-imagined, and I hope to have a direction and a bunch of new posts ready to go by the end of summer.
How you can help: If there is anything you’d like to see me cover in this blog, or any post you found particularly helpful, please let me know in the comments, or send me an email at ericagoss@comcast.net.
Thank you!
PS. To date, my five most-read blog posts:
How I Review a Poetry Collection
What About X? Writing the Abecedarian
When I think of what kind of blogs I read, it really comes down to just a few types, but “How-to” do something (writing, woodworking, etc) tops the list. When it comes to writing poetry I love to read about how a poet is inspired to write something and how they go about their writing process. I also like posts that share resources that have been helpful like books, blogs, classes, etc – places I can go to find out more.
Thank you, Andrew. That’s very helpful. Inspiration and resources are definitely going to be part of the new blog.
Hello dear Erica, I’ve loved the blog as it is, just following your heart and nose, a delight every reading.
Love, Susan Wooldridge
Thank you, Susan!
Looking forward to seeing what’s next!
love from SJ, Kelly
The sound of water says what I think. ~ Chuang Tzu
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Love back, Kelly!