This is One Of Those Posts About Writing and Why I Can't.

This is a post about why I can't blog right now:

My desktop is creatively stifling

I share a computer with my husband and business.

Children keep finding me and shouting demands.

I can't figure out how to do everything from my phone.

I bit my tongue so hard that I haven't been able to eat solids.

I keep having existential crises about pointless things like rollerskating.

Other people are more successful than me ( yes I am perfectly aware they set goals and work hard,so what?).

I will write after I clean the house and dye my hair and all those other things I am refusing to actually do OK? Sheesh get off my back.

I am hungry, or I have a headache or something.

Writing is hard work.

I have no clear direction yet.

I am going to buy a netbook so once that gets here I will write all the things.

Really.
All I have to do is get over the massive case of writers block.

I don’t Know Why I Blog, I Just know I Need to

On my Twitter feed I see my virtual and real life friends hashtagging their excitement about the Blogging Conference they are attending and I feel a bit jealous. .

I have blogged for years. I don’t know why.

I see people blogging for profit or to educate others. I see people blogging their way through grief and post natal depression, through weight loss and renovation. Not me. I just blog.

I don’t think I would want to commercialise the blog to the point where I am no longer writing for myself. I don’t know if I would want to narrow my blogging scope.  I wonder at my audience. I know you are out there even though my Google analytics fell over because my coding is terrible, I still know there are around 500 views a month but my comments fields area like a ghost town, complete with tumbleweeds.

This may come across as needy but as a prolific commenter I wonder at those who look at my blog posts and have a peep into my life and then wander off without feeling the need to comment. I wonder if I am boring, or shocking or…I simply don’t know as I have no feedback from the silent audience!

I don’t know why I need to blog, I write about jam and children, about business and pets, about books and property, I am not a niche blogger but I am me.

Sometimes I read other people’s posts and I look at the number of followers they have and the number of comments and I think “I don’t get it, why are they so beloved, why does this spark so much commentary?”

I know that some is clever, ceaseless self promotion, I know that some people have talkative wannabe hangers on but it doesn't account for it all. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one feeling this way… Perplexed, but not bitter, I don’t begrudge anyone success in their chosen endeavour.

I don’t like posts on Social media purely designed to get comments (which are rife at present, is it just me who feels they are a trick and dislikes them on this basis?) , but I always engage if someone has a genuine question I can answer or a topic I feel I have something to offer.

I don’t know why I blog, I just know that I need to and I will continue doing so.

To my silent audience, I am glad you are there for whatever reason, but I will continue even if you disappear further into the ether.

Review: e-Book Kris Emery- Freelance Your Heart Out

I thought that this would be a good e-book to review for people who read my blog as it is aimed at entrepeneurial types, those who like to save money, make do and I think a few readers are aspirational writers/freelancers as I am myself . Well, let's be frank about me- I am a bit a of a dreamer who hasn't made a real go at it...yet. Kris Emery has though and she is freelancing through transcribing editing and writing which make use of her existing skills and qualifications. Although my writing dreams have not yet been realised I have started my own business and after 4 years am still running it so I know a little of the hard work involved in being your own boss!

Many how to books don't tell you how to, they more give you vague and nebulous ideas about how to. Kris Emery pulls no punches and lets the reader know how she does what she does through 25 lessons she has learned about freelancing. Some of the lessons have been learned the hard way and Kris tells us where she went wrong so we aren't doomed to repeat them! There are some great specific tips and pointers that would be really useful for those wanting to work as a freelancer as well.

I think we all tend to romanticise working for ourselves, but in truth it's hard work and it can be harder than you imagine. Kris Emery delivers a cold hard dose of conversational reality packaged in an easy to read e-format. If you are thinking of striking it out on your own do read this e-book and take on board the advice Kris has- if you don't like the advice it is worth considering if freelancing is right for you right now.
I found this a valuable book packed with great advice (especially lesson #25)

Kris Emery Freelance Your Heart Out can be found at www.krisemery.com and you can follow her on Twitter @kxecomms.