Welcome To Perseverance

Happy middle of August everyone! It's hot as all get out where I am, but that didn't stop one side of my family from coming out to our 84th Family Reunion. It was very hot, but we had around 30 people there. 84 years is a long time and we're hoping we make it to our 100th reunion.

Anything (be it an event, a business, or life expectancy, etc.) that lasts to 100 years is impressive. It requires dedication, hard work, a pinch of fun, and a lot of perseverance mixed with persistence (yep these are two different words with very similar meanings). I also think it's fun to think that so much has changed in that 100 years.

I have wanted to be a writer for a long time. I started a "family newspaper" when I was about 10 or 11 years old. There were three or so issues and I'm pretty sure one of my aunts has a copy somewhere in their house. I unfortunately didn't keep up with it (though thinking back that's probably a good thing). In high school, I took my school's journalism class and two creative writing classes. I also wrote my "first" novel around that time (it's in quotes because though there might be a paper version hiding somewhere out there, but for the most part it's lost to technology advancement).

I figure, if I keep at it long enough, I'll eventually polish up one of my other novels I'm working on, and send it out for publication (whether on an independent or traditional track is up in the air). For now, I keep working on my blogs (click here to see my second one that involves food - shameless plug, this is), my webcomic (see below - the title also shows up if you type it into Google), and experimenting with my writing style with fanfiction (sorry no links provided, but I'm working in the horror genre).

Mortimer's advice for marketing a webcomic...

I've made some progress since posting my first works. I have small followings (and a couple of fans who get annoyed when I disappear for a few months), but nothing major. I'm certainly no Anne Rice or Steven King (or that lady who wrote 50 Shades of Grey - seriously it was originally a Twilight Fanfiction). However my writing career is still more of a pass time hobby, then the driving force of my existence. It could change, but I have a lot more work to do before then.

This past week, I got to see Matthew Santoro at a book signing. He makes educational videos on YouTube, which are entertaining and great to listen to. The book is a "fun facts" type of book, with tons of weird and hilarious fact, much like his YouTube channel. Before he signed all of the books (over 100 people were at the event), he spoke to us for about an hour, allowing his fans to ask him questions. A lot of the questions he answered were about starting his YouTube Channel. He started uploading videos in 2011, but didn't start getting big until late 2013. There were many times he wanted to give up, but he kept on doing what he loved. He also said not to try to make it big with anything controversial. Not only will it fizzle and die out quickly, but you'll likely make a lot of enemies.

That is a great success story. His persistence and perseverance paid off and now he has turned his hobby into something that he loves. He's also not alone. On the website that I upload my webcomic to, there have been a few people who have made an announcement that they have been hired by one of the big comic book publishers. They now get to make comic for a living. The president of my current company is another good example.

Don't get me wrong, it does take some luck to turn a passion into a career. However, it also takes a lot of hard work, and perseverance. J. K. Rowling loves to talk about how many times the first Harry Potter book was rejected and look at how successful it has turned out (I bet all the people who rejected her initially have been kicking themselves ever since). Fred Astaire, one of Hollywood's biggest stars back in the day, was once told that he "couldn't act, couldn't sing, could dance a little." I guess he didn't take that criticism to heart.

I'm sure a lot of people want to be noticed right away (the media certainly seems to think so anyway). They want to go viral, they want to have a following, they want to matter to people. It just doesn't happen instantaneously. Most success stories talk about the first few years struggles and how many times the person or group almost quit. Then there are the failed stories that we never get to hear about (and it might have been for any number of reasons, not because they didn't work hard enough).

I write because it's what I love to do. Would I love to have 100 hits with each post or become a house hold name (well maybe not the latter - I like being in the shadows too much)? Yes, I'd love that kind of recognition. But I'm also happy when one person clicks on any of my work (sure it might be a spam bot, but it was a hit none the less and I will be excited about it).

I still need to balance my writing passion with my day job. I won't lie, I kind of like keeping the two separate right now.

But if you have a passion or a drive to do something, please keep at it! You never know what might happen. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome To Being A Writer

Writer's Block Is My One True Enemy

I'm sure if you've been reading this blog for a while (or you've finally caved into Facebook annoying you into clicking on it). Then you will know that I like to write. It helps me gather my thoughts, express my feelings, and make sense of this crazy world I've stumbled into. I don't necessarily post everything I'm thinking (that would be silly and likely get me into a lot of sticky situations).

Writing is my hobby (along with several others, but this post is just focusing on writing).

A little over a year ago a posted about how I wrote a novel. I've reread it and have started rewriting it. That part of the writing process is not fun. There are a lot of changes I want to make all while battling the urge to move onto my next story. It's been a long process and I've needed to step away from that project to work on a few others.

Que me starting a webcomic. I'd already been drawing (more like doodling) and wanted to expand on what I was already doing. In truth it was an experiment to see if I was able to post one comic per week and be able to improve both my story telling and art style over the course of at least a year. I'm coming up on my one year anniversary next month and so far I've managed to gain 4 followers, 1 regular commenter, and significantly improve in quality all while only missing one week. I'm calling it a success.

I blame TV for setting our expectations too high.

 So now I have one regular blog I write and a webcomic in my spare time. How else can I over complicate my down time?

Why not start a second weekly blog? This one focusing on something a lot less personal, food pairings! I'm already cooking a lot, I might as well take an hour out of my week to write it all down.

Somehow I am able to do all of this. That's not to say some of my writing hasn't suffered (*cough this one *cough), but I'm branching out and trying new writing styles. I'm also slowly (like snail stuck in molasses slow) gaining a following. Also I want to be clear that I the only thing I get out of this is the fulfillment that I am able to write (the attention is also nice, but it can come at a price - I still fly under most people's radar, so it's not an issue right now).

Maybe someday I'll be able to quit my job and turn my hobby into my source of income. Many people do it, but right now I'm still learning. I still need to refine my writing style, figure out my voice. Until then, I'm going to keep trying. It's hard work and a commitment to my time, but it's also great for getting rid of stress, organizing my thoughts, and reminding people that I'm still hiding out somewhere on this planet.

If you or someone you know is interested in writing (novels, poems, comics, etc.) the best way to start, in my opinion, is with a journal. It doesn't have to be super expensive or even fancy. It could be an old unused composition notebook you didn't use in the 2nd grade.

Cause here's a big secret: if you write you are a writer.

Sure I might not be famous and don't make any money from my work, but that doesn't stop me. I keep writing. Oh, and don't forget reading. Reading and writing go together, like bread and butter. Most writers (at least the ones I prefer reading) will always tell their fans who want to be like them to read and write as much as possible. I know I am.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Now where did I leave my outlines?

Welcome to Marketing Yourself

 

Why should someone invest in you?

I often struggle with the concept of "marketing myself". It can take many forms. This blog for example is a platform that I use to put myself onto the Internet. It has it's positives and negatives.

After all, does everyone need to know about my transition from college to the American work force? Probably not and if I didn't link this blog to my Facebook, I doubt I'd get any readers at all. There are tons of people just like me with the same idea and going through the same transition. So why should some random person read about my transition?

And that's an important question. Why should people who have no idea who I am care? What makes me special? 

In my opinion there is no right or wrong answer to this question. People who know me think I'm special (or at least amusing enough to pay attention to), but the Internet is full of people who don't know me. They don't care to know me. 

Well that's also not necessarily true. If YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter have taught our society anything, it's that anyone can become famous in this day in age. Anyone can have a photo, blog post, video, etc go viral (many times with the help of Tumblr and 4Chan). 

What separates these stars from the general Internet populations? Do they bribe Google?  Are they just so amazing that by virtue of existing people want to take notice?*

Any one have an answer? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Well I think at lot of it has to do with two things. Number 1 is obviously Networking. Without Networking you have no one to go to for advice, no one to advocate for you, and no one to point other people in your direction. Networking is a vital part of going viral, becoming a person of importance, and especially getting a job.

But networking only works if you have the other chief component: marketing. 

We are in an age where marketing is vital. Companies large and small use marketing all the time. They get people to connect with a product and choose to invest in it. Authors do it for their books. Hollywood for their movies. Farmers for their produce. 

Disney did it with a mouse

Not only is marketing important for companies, it's also important for people to market themselves to potential employers. After all why should someone hire a person? Sure person number one can do the job and do the job well, but so can person number 2, number 3, ..., to the Nth person.**

How does someone market themselves to get the attention they need to get that job, book contract or Internet fame? It can come in several forms depending on the end goal.

A person looking for a general run of the mill job might clean up their social media accounts (make sure those crazy college pictures are well hidden), get a public LinkedIn page, and have an email account that looks professional. If someone were to put your name in a search engine, you want to make sure what pops up looks professional.

Unless you don't want to be found, but that defeats the purpose of this (very long) post.

Now someone searching for a book deal or to launch a video game they've just developed would want to do same things as the job searcher and go a few steps beyond. Blogs, Twitter accounts, and a Youtube page are all fine and dandy and great resources to build a personal brand, but it's not quite enough. Commenting, following, and creating a presence that shouts "hey I'm here and I have something to say!" are just as important marketing strategies.

Because it's all fine and dandy if you just want put stuff out on to the web. People might not find it, but it's there. If an impact is to be made a brand  must be built, an emotional connection formed, and a strategy to get the message out there created.

Even if it's a pain in the butt.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week 

 *Please note this seems to happen at an overwhelming rate to people who don't want the Internet fame and yet somehow it falls into their lap. An example would be that poor guy from Target whose picture was shared several million times. 
** The mathematician in me need to write this out as an equation. For those who don't like math, substitute the letter "N" for some really big number. Like 594580234573248907048578. Yeah, that's a big number.