Resurrection
On the Christian liturgical calendar, it is still Lent. I am, nevertheless, taking this opportunity to resurrect my blog. It's been two years since I burned myself out posting "reviews" - perhaps we should call them "ornate appreciations" - of my friends' performances at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Last year I didn't even go to the Fringe Festival, partly because of overwhelm in other areas of my life, and partly because I had set such high expectations for myself where the aforementioned "ornate appreciations" were concerned. Perhaps I had unrealistic and unclear expectations for blogging too. Most people do.
I began this blog shortly after my 50th birthday, naming it after a column I wrote for a couple of church newsletters in my past life as The Rector’s Wife. (How many of you remember the book by Joanna Trollope, who followed in her 19th century forbearer’s footsteps writing novels about clergy family life? What is she up to now, anyway?) Ordinary Time is what the church calls the period after Pentecost and before Advent. This year I'm approaching another milestone: double nickels, as my friend and fellow storyteller Loren Niemi likes to say. So maybe it is time to reassess.
I'm taking my creativity much more seriously these days, and trying to actually generate income from it. I’ve been the Producer and Artistic Director for what is currently the largest storytelling festival in Minnesota, Northstar Storytelling’s Tellabration! ™ at Open Book. I'm writing more, and performing more. I've applied for a Bush Fellowship to study best practices in arts membership organizations - particularly storytelling organizations. I've applied for my first individual artist grant - my second, if you include the Work of Art scholarship I received to attend Springboard for the Arts workshop series on Business Skills for Artists. I have a one woman show myself coming up - with a preview at the Northlands Storytelling Conference in April, and a full fledged Minnesota Fringe Festival performance in August, dates and times TBA.
So in that evolving context, what is my blog FOR? Is it a way of writing chatty, interesting letters for friends and family who have come to enjoy them - and have had precious few in the last couple of years? Is it a way of trying out written material or a place to publish finished stories I have performed? Is it (God forbid) a soapbox? Is it a form of self-expression, or a business-marketing tool? And what business am I in these days, anyway? Am I a writer? A storyteller? A freelance development geek? A producer and artistic director?
Umm. Yeah. It's a garbage plate.
I know this unfocused, patchwork quilt approach to blogging is one that has to go. The sporadic posts, the long periods in absentia - the lack of motivation is as much about focus and strategy as anything else. At some point I will need to wipe this out or close it down and start fresh, with an integrated, clearly branded approach to the work I do. And no, fellow creative types, I do not believe I am "selling out" by understanding the essential principles of good marketing. In fact, since I am not in the position to hire someone to do this for me at this point, I pretty much better understand them.
In the meantime, however, I see no reason not to continue using the tools that I have. It is a good antidote to perfectionism. Therefore, over the next few months I will be examining - I hope on a weekly basis - how freelance writers use their blogs - and in particular, how they focus and brand them without painting themselves into corners that become boring to read - and boring to write.
Twitter is helping me some with this kind of discipline, particularly the hashtags that set aside days of the week for particular topics. My current three are #mindfulMonday, #writerWednesday (also #ww) and #foodieFriday. The fact that I preferred to institute #foodieFriday over #fundingFriday may tell you something about the amount of energy I have been devoting to marketing my grant writing these days. That’s going to have to change. (But seriously. What would you rather think about on Friday?)
One of the main issues I recognize with my blog as I have used it so far is that it has been little more than electronic paper - one dimensional, and not very interactive. The more fluent I become in social media (and I do not ever expect to be smarter than a fifth grader - at least not in this lifetime), the more of a missed opportunity this seems. So I will throw the question - okay, questions - out right now - and back this up with requests later in the week on my Facebook page and on my Twitter feed: What is your blog for? How do you use it? What do you enjoy about it? Are you pleased with the level of interactivity? And what could you use help with?
I began this blog shortly after my 50th birthday, naming it after a column I wrote for a couple of church newsletters in my past life as The Rector’s Wife. (How many of you remember the book by Joanna Trollope, who followed in her 19th century forbearer’s footsteps writing novels about clergy family life? What is she up to now, anyway?) Ordinary Time is what the church calls the period after Pentecost and before Advent. This year I'm approaching another milestone: double nickels, as my friend and fellow storyteller Loren Niemi likes to say. So maybe it is time to reassess.
I'm taking my creativity much more seriously these days, and trying to actually generate income from it. I’ve been the Producer and Artistic Director for what is currently the largest storytelling festival in Minnesota, Northstar Storytelling’s Tellabration! ™ at Open Book. I'm writing more, and performing more. I've applied for a Bush Fellowship to study best practices in arts membership organizations - particularly storytelling organizations. I've applied for my first individual artist grant - my second, if you include the Work of Art scholarship I received to attend Springboard for the Arts workshop series on Business Skills for Artists. I have a one woman show myself coming up - with a preview at the Northlands Storytelling Conference in April, and a full fledged Minnesota Fringe Festival performance in August, dates and times TBA.
So in that evolving context, what is my blog FOR? Is it a way of writing chatty, interesting letters for friends and family who have come to enjoy them - and have had precious few in the last couple of years? Is it a way of trying out written material or a place to publish finished stories I have performed? Is it (God forbid) a soapbox? Is it a form of self-expression, or a business-marketing tool? And what business am I in these days, anyway? Am I a writer? A storyteller? A freelance development geek? A producer and artistic director?
Umm. Yeah. It's a garbage plate.
I know this unfocused, patchwork quilt approach to blogging is one that has to go. The sporadic posts, the long periods in absentia - the lack of motivation is as much about focus and strategy as anything else. At some point I will need to wipe this out or close it down and start fresh, with an integrated, clearly branded approach to the work I do. And no, fellow creative types, I do not believe I am "selling out" by understanding the essential principles of good marketing. In fact, since I am not in the position to hire someone to do this for me at this point, I pretty much better understand them.
In the meantime, however, I see no reason not to continue using the tools that I have. It is a good antidote to perfectionism. Therefore, over the next few months I will be examining - I hope on a weekly basis - how freelance writers use their blogs - and in particular, how they focus and brand them without painting themselves into corners that become boring to read - and boring to write.
Twitter is helping me some with this kind of discipline, particularly the hashtags that set aside days of the week for particular topics. My current three are #mindfulMonday, #writerWednesday (also #ww) and #foodieFriday. The fact that I preferred to institute #foodieFriday over #fundingFriday may tell you something about the amount of energy I have been devoting to marketing my grant writing these days. That’s going to have to change. (But seriously. What would you rather think about on Friday?)
One of the main issues I recognize with my blog as I have used it so far is that it has been little more than electronic paper - one dimensional, and not very interactive. The more fluent I become in social media (and I do not ever expect to be smarter than a fifth grader - at least not in this lifetime), the more of a missed opportunity this seems. So I will throw the question - okay, questions - out right now - and back this up with requests later in the week on my Facebook page and on my Twitter feed: What is your blog for? How do you use it? What do you enjoy about it? Are you pleased with the level of interactivity? And what could you use help with?