Week in review: Week 26

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Sunset over Lake Champlain, July 1, 2022. By Howard Fielding

Here we are, halfway through the year, and I need to account for myself.

I’ve posted only intermittently over the past 20 weeks. Partly that was because of the state of the world. I worked on projects, both personal and professional, that interfered with a three-days-a-week deadline. I was also dealing with a lack of inspiration and material.

But mostly, it was time. It was a springtime of preparation for and recovery from an extended family reunion. It involved the logistics and adapt-improvise-overcome thinking of a complex military campaign. This is fodder for the sort of thing I wrote about in my columns, so there’s promise here for new material if I can ever internalize and translate it.

A large part of my absence was the conflict between the creative and promotional sides of blogging and writing. My time as a writer is limited. Do I want to spend it creating, or cross-promoting and commenting and otherwise participating in the communities of writers, readers, and bloggers? Because, I have learned, if you don’t give, you don’t get. Even before social media, the successful writers were out there mixing and mingling and corresponding with their peers and other influencers.

Observations: Readership drops off quickly and dramatically when I fail to post regularly. Also, missing a deadline once makes it much easier to do so again. Deadlines stimulate the creative side. That comes from a lifetime of daily newspaper work.

Interaction: Interesting. After all my promotion of “Inventions that Changed History,” no one asked me about it. A follow-up post is in order.

Professional development: Sat in on some virtuual writer’s conferences by Publisher’s Weekly and the Mark Twain House.

Next week: Try to build back to three posts a week. Make progress on a speech, complete a fundraising brochure, bring a journal up to date, and move “Margery” toward completion.

In case you missed it

  • Cowardice or practicality, 1979

    Cowardice or practicality, 1979

    Reading Time: 2 minutes As every captain must decide whether to head in to port or continue the mission, I had to choose to limp home or explore strange new worlds.

  • A bargain I cannot afford, 1979

    A bargain I cannot afford, 1979

    Reading Time: 2 minutes The Riverside was a popular place for cheap diner food. Even so, eating out is more expensive than cooking at home, and always has been.

  • … Garp! 1979

    … Garp! 1979

    Reading Time: 3 minutes I was reading the book from a single-minded, new writer point of view, not as literature, so bear with me if 24-year-old me sounds naïve.

  • Potential for collaboration, 1979

    Potential for collaboration, 1979

    Reading Time: 2 minutes Perhaps this was another lost opportunity. Not all ideas are good ideas, but if they’re good enough to write down, they’re worth following up on.

  • In Other Words: Season 2, Episode 12

    In Other Words: Season 2, Episode 12

    Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m not a pantser poster anymore. That means I can develop and foreshadow recurring themes — and I can tell you about them.

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