Thursday, March 3, 2011

Cobblestones Laid Down on the Road to Hell

The week after a writer's conference is a lot like the week after New Year's.  On one level, you're kind of exhausted, but in an excited sort of way.  You feel good about the fact that you're exhausted. 

On top of that, at least for me, you're energized with new ideas.  Ideas you're ready to implement.  You have ideas about what you're going to write, about how you're going to write, and how you're going to sell what you write.  And THIS TIME, like with New Years' Resolutions, you're REALLY GOING TO DO IT.

Of course, as that initial buzz coming off the convention wears off, you don't have that same drive you did right afterward. It takes discipline to keep the lightning in the bottle.

It's great energy when you can use it.  I finished the rough draft of Thorn of Dentonhill in post-Armadillocon fueled 2500 words-per-day frenzy.  I started this blog right after another con.  At the time, I tried to post daily, and then lost that momentum after a month or so.  I did keep blogging, of course, but it came out sporadically, more or less posting whenever an idea crossed my mind.

So now, I'm going to take a real serious attempt at regular posting.  Daily, I know I can't do without burning out.  If I tried that, I don't think I'd have anything left for fiction writing.  Once a week, I think, isn't frequent enough to properly build a blog following. 

My goal, therefore, will be twice a week: Monday and Thursday.  Blogs will be posted in the afternoon.  

2 comments:

A. Lockwood said...

Twice a week is a good goal. And you're on my google reader, so I for one will read whatever you post.

Marshall Ryan Maresca said...

That's a start! And I appreciate it!