My Journey to Become a Writer 01/16/2024 Post #16

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*Editor’s Note: This post was done last night, on time; but Culver’s Wi-Fi started getting wacky – maybe because I’d been taking up space at one of their tables for so long. Anyhow, I’m definitely looking forward to having internet installed on Friday – not sure what I was thinking trying to get away without it while trying to run a web-based business…

I literally set my timer for fifteen minutes to make this a lightning round, because it’s 7:29, and I want to be someplace by eight. I do want to be a writer; but even writers have gotta rest sometimes.

What Did I Accomplish Today to Be a Writer?

The appointment I had with somebody to swap work got postponed, and my writing group got cancelled. I’d already gotten to the coffee shop where we meet, which turned out to be a good thing, because I finally got down to business with G4 and figured it out. I’m so glad that’s over!!!

I did Day 16 of the 100 Words a Day Writing Challenge 2024 through LA Writer’s Lab.

I wrote a post; but don’t have images or links ready, so I scheduled it to publish automatically tomorrow night, and wrote in my planner that I need to fill in those missing parts.

What Am I Afraid of Doing Next in My Journey as a Writer?

I don’t know. Figuring out G4 was such a huge hurdle that I am feeling pretty bullet-proof (of course, by tomorrow, I could be a puddle, crying over how I still can’t figure out how to make a contact form or an email campaign – and don’t know that I want to).

Stuff I find myself saying: I need to go to the bathroom (but I’m still using public Wi-Fi, since mine won’t be installed until Friday) and don’t want to have to pack up my computer and purses to make yet another trek to the ladies’ room.
– Jody Susan

How Am I Balancing the Different Aspects of Being a Writer?

Today I wrote posts, watched some Income School videos, went back over my unfinished tasks from Project 24 and made a plan for moving forward, figured out G4, finally got on ManageWP for the first time in months, and said no to a couple of distractions. It felt nice.

What I’m Doing About Building a Body of Work as a Writer

Figuring out how to be more focused in my writing. I need to keep trying to follow the tips I talk about in the article I’m planning to publish tomorrow night.

What I’m Doing to Complete My Manuscripts as a Writer

The woman who is looking at my first five pages, and planning to edit my book, contacted me yesterday, and I think we’re both fine with pushing back our start date by a little bit.

What I’m Doing to Grow My Website as a Writer

G4 is going. I was surprised by the amount of hits I’m getting on the site. It has really gone up since my lull this fall, when I was hardly posting anything.

What I’m Doing to Build My Blog as a Writer

Writing this. I just finished the draft on tips to write efficiently. Watched Income School’s blog post recipes – I’m backtracking quite a bit on their blogging course, because I feel like I need to master the concepts quite a bit more.

Not so Fun Fact About Me: The sound of my boots crunching on dry snow makes me cringe. It’s total sensory overload, and causes my whole jaw to hurt. Does that happen to anybody else?

Part of why I keep doing all these dumb “About Me” facts is because somebody suggested I have Chat GPT write my About Page. I don’t like the thought of that; but I do think it would be a funny experiment to see if all these little quirks show up in whatever is generated in a search on “Jody Susan Writes”.

What I’m Doing About Networking as a Writer

The weather and other writers not feeling well caused some cancellations today, but that’s okay. As much as I would like to meet with those people, I think it was kind of nice to get my bearings a bit more – especially since the G4 Analytics issue was so intimidating before.

What I’m Doing About Monetization as a Writer

Nothin’ – I’m at Culver’s for free Wi-Fi, and I had a coupon for a free meal, since I got a gift card last month. I got my coupon’s worth by ordering a triple-burger, in hopes of stretching it out for two or more meals – and I did splurge on cheese curds – an upgrade to common place fries.

What I’m Doing About Social Media as a Writer

Still struggling through what I want to do about it.

I went over my Social Footer at the bottom of my web page today, trying to add some more widgets in and test ones that didn’t work before.

I about had a heart episode when I saw that I had been suspended by something called X for inappropriate content.

I didn’t even know that’s what they were calling Twitter now, and the fact that I had been publicly kicked off for some mysterious reason felt pretty humiliating.

I couldn’t tell if I should flee, or defend myself. Apparently, they were just trying to determine if I was a spambot; but still – I didn’t like the insinuation.

What I’m Doing About Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a Writer

I wrote a post about tips for writing faster, instead of relying on Artificial Intelligence.

What I’m Doing to Stay Organized as a Writer

I did some major updates in my planner today for long-range goals. I’m finally starting to get back into the swing of things. We’ll see if it lasts.

Looking Back at My Writing Journey

Seeing all those months on my Project 24 story board made me remember how little time and strength I had this fall for focusing on my site. I did put a lot into my manuscript during that season – which is more evidence that I do best when I don’t focus on too many big things at once.

Any Other Thoughts on Becoming a Writer, Random Rants, Tales, or Trials…

I drank soda here at Culver’s, because it came with my free meal; but now I’m wishing I had my toothbrush handy.

Sorry if I said anything offensive, off-kilter, or redundant in this post – I’m not really editing it, because it’s time to be done for the day.

Thanks for reading what I’m writing,

Jody Susan