Happy Blogiversary to ME!
One year ago today I wrote and posted my very first blog entry. Happy 1st Blogiversary to me!
“Writer, writer, word delighter, how does your business grow? Submit and wait and indeterminable length, You only reap the rewards you sow.”
Never has this rung truer for me. When you plunge a tiny seed into the unknowable depths of the future, you never know the crop you’ll yield. It’s hard, sometimes, to take the time, energy and courage to plant these seeds, with the knowledge that there is no guarantee they will grow. And to be honest, not all of them will grow. So then why? Why do we do it? Let me tell you.
Last week I had five bountiful harvests. Five seeds I had planted grew into five wonderful, profitable, measurable, visible yields. Some crops came from seeds I planted last spring while at a conference in Milwaukee. Some new growth occurred because I reached out to an old contact and reminded them of my (in their words) “excellent blog entry” they had wanted to repost. Another sprouted slowly, the correspondence of two busy people making headway to something amazing one inch at a time. And a few new crops grew seemingly overnight or in front of my eyes because I simply ASKED them too. Five seeds, planted at different times, in different locations, at different venues, for different purposes… all bloomed in the same week. It felt pretty darn miraculous.
But do you know what is even more exciting than having a successful week in my passion project? It is the knowledge that planting my seeds is the right thing to do. It is the confidence in knowing that if I continue to do what I am doing, I will get where I want to go.
In March I am planting a new seed. A big one. This seed has taken a lot of development, a bit of research and a ton of think time. On March first I will launch 30 Scenes in 30 Days. This seed is an online writing community, a group full of word nerds who want to write a story, but are not sure where to start. Or maybe they know where to start, but just need a little motivation, or an accountability partner (or seventeen). For 30 days in March I will post a scene prompt. Participants will respond and then offer feedback to the other community members. We will build our story one day at a time, one scene at a time. When the month is over I hope we will all take away a solid foundation to our stories as well as a newly established writing habits and a few good word nerd friends.
To celebrate my blogiversary, I am giving away one free entry to 30 Scenes in 30 Days. Usually it costs $30 (Are you sensing a theme?), but everyone who joins my Word Nerd eNewletter will be entered into a drawing to get in free. (Joining will also get you a PDF with 5 FREE writing prompts). I will pick a winner one week from today (2/23/17) and notify you all via the eNewsletter the name of that lucky word nerd. I will also tell you how to sign up and pay if you didn’t win.
If you want to skip the drawing and head right toward the action, you can click right here to sign up.
Who knows how this new seed will grow. Will participants walk away feeling like they gained useful writing knowledge? Will my epic plan build creative friendships and brilliant story lines? Will this be the first of many online communities/courses I create/teach? Will I really be able to get up at 5am each morning and post the prompt (and live to tell the tale)? Who knows! But I’m ready to dig in, plant this seed, water it and find the sunshine that I know is hiding somewhere, to make it grow.