It should not be news to anyone by now that I hope to one day earn money by writing. I guess that is the goal for a lot of people who blog on a regular basis. I mean, who would write almost daily if they don’t want people to read what they are writing and if you can get a bunch of people reading what you are writing then why not find a way to monetize it, right?
And that is true for me. Of course, I would rather make money from people buying my novel but I have that problem of being an independent writer who has little means of convincing people to buy my book other than personal magnetism. And while I am indeed a charming fellow in person, that doesn’t help spread the word too much past my immediate circle. Thus: blogging.
Originally this site was just for short stories. And then reviews as well. And I did okay at those, but I didn’t give the site that much love. And then when I started on the first novel I wrote less short stories as the creative shift went towards long form. Even now if a good idea strikes me I would rather see if it has a place in my novels than in a short story. For me, at least right now, short stories are more like experiments or stretching. Not a put down on them by the way. Just my own limitations.
It was really only the end of 2014 that I started trying to be more serious about this site and do regular updates. 2015 was more of the same. In 2016 my goal became daily updates and until the camp season came around I was largely successful. Only a few misses here and there. Camp was a big hit. I’ve missed more days since the start of on site training than I have the rest of the year combined.
With those daily updates I started to write more about my daily life and my thoughts on writing. Which is neat even if it does feel like I am showing the truth behind Oz’s curtain. Turning this into a personal blog almost feels like a cheat. Or maybe like a fake. I’m just a guy who teaches, works camps and wants to be a novelist. I have a wife and baby and the three of us are happy even as the wife and I are exhausted most of the time in our attempt to keep the little guy happy.
But, well, people seem to like it. I talk about our life here in Japan and people read it. I write about writing, which feels weird seeing as how I don’t know anything and those writings are more to get down and organize my own thoughts, but those posts get hits. Strange, huh?
Another strange thing is that I looked at the amount of traffic this site has gotten this past year and 2016 has already surpassed 2015. Which is great. Hopefully that means I am reaching more people. I don’t know. What I do know is that I am still pretty small potatoes (as you’ll be able to see in the attached photo.)
I also know that I want to write and I want people to read what I write and I don’t know another way to do that than to just keep writing and hope more people keep reading. I’m sure there is a better way to game the system. Maybe when I start to try and convince people to buy book number two I’ll look into that. For now I’ll just content myself with reminding all who have read this far that I have a Patreon site and every bit of support it greatly appreciated. (aka: give me a dollar.)
Deadly Troubadour 