NaNoWriMo, revisited

It's November again, and that means "NaNoWriMo," at least for some people.

I've been asked a number of times why I don't "do" NaNoWriMo... and even though I've toyed with it a few times, I just never have. Perhaps the most central reason is that I just don't write fiction. And the "No" part is short for "novel" and I have little to no interest in actually writing a novel.

One year I tried to "adapt" the NaNoWriMo concept to fit my style by embarking on a challenge to "write 30 articles in 30 days" but it didn't really work out for me.

I suppose it is not surprising: Even in the past, "structured" writing exercises have never been my friend. Whereas I recognize their value-- as a tool to "get in the habit" of writing every day, creating something to a "writing prompt" had never resulted in my churning out anything better than "mediocre garbage."

The "lure" if it is there, every year, however. I start seeing posts on forums and Facebook, and I start getting notices in my email... and I start thinking "Maybe I should DO that!"

But no, I'm going to pass.

The Effort Involved in "Updating"

Yesterday, I finally got started on the process of looking at the articles that were transferred from Squidoo to my "new" account at HubPages.

I am still feeling a little bit "meh" about the fact that we are not able to combine the accounts, or at least do a one-time transfer of articles between accounts, for those of us who had existing HubPages accounts at the time Squidoo announced its demise. I would have liked to have been able to "organize" my content into somewhat meaningful categories.

I have been putting off dealing with the editing process because I know my articles are "long and involved" and it would take a lot of work.

I was not wrong about that: Editing my first article-- in Introduction to Stamp Collecting-- took me a good three hours of work, because of the time it took to "re-format" different segments and get rid of sections that "made sense" on Squidoo, but do not work with the HubPages interface. I well understand why I have been putting it off.

Fortunately, I only have a total of eight (now seven) articles I need "convert," so it's not a huge amount of work. Even so, it feels a little like I'm going to spend 20-25 hours doing something that will end up earning me $5.00 a month... that's pretty measly pay.

The "Facts of Life:" Not having time

It always ends up sort of offending me when I don't have time to write.

Perhaps what is really bugging me is living a reality in which I am sincerely struggling to make the daily living, to the point where time given to writing has an "opportunity cost" that literally means that when I give three hours to writing, I am taking away three hours from doing something income producing... which, in turn, means that the "cost" of writing could be "the electricity gets turned off."

Just another reminder that writing isn't generally something people get paid for.

Recently, I have been considering writing "social commentary" again. One of the things I like to rant and rave about is the inequities of life generally attributable to a capitalist system run rampant. Or, at least to a system where the Machine of Life has been given free license to operate without restrictions, and greed is "valued" as an attribute that leads to ostensible "achievement."

My thinking about taking up this angle of writing again mostly has to do with a call from Liane at OM Times Magazine, lamenting that her pool of some 1900 contributors seem to exclusively want to write about Metaphysical Woo-Woo, rather than some of the other areas broadly covered by a magazine about "Consciousness."

And so, I was thinking to myself "I can do that!"

The idea of "consciousness" and living consciously has always appealed to me... perhaps since my childhood days where I just couldn't figure out why people were so unkind to each other.

Stay tuned for updates.

Writing.... as Meditation, and its Commercial Implications

I think part of my "problem" with being a writer is that the vast majority of what I write is in the form of personal "meditative journaling."

That is the kind of writing I like the most, and it essentially amounts to some 80% of all my writing. When I "sit with myself" and am completely honest about my motivations, I have very little interest in writing about "topics." I like to just sit down and let the words flow, by themselves. And it is pretty rare that they flow in any direction that might be described as "commercially viable."

Writing-- for me-- is ultimately a personal meditation of sorts. It pretty much always have been, and in more recent times it got a bit of a shot in the arm after I read Julia Cameron's "The Artists Way," which inspired me to pursue a more structured routine of writing "Morning Pages."

As my writing "career" has unfolded, I have increasingly turned to variations of "personal blogging" that only has the faintest of connections to something "useful." Now, I have to confess (in my defense?) that my own interest-- as a reader-- is in people's personal stories. I like to read about human beings and their striving for self-actualization and attempts to find inner peace. I really don't care about "the stock market" or "the Middle East" or "how to install cabinetry" or "decorating with a Hawaiian flair."

In many ways... I believe our writing reflects our interests. My "interests" are psychology, self-development and the human condition. In the greater scheme of things, these are minute niche markets. Now, if we add in my other ventures and hobbies... like stamp collecting, beach combing, and my artwork... I still end up with tiny niche markets with little broad appeal.

I'm not sure exactly why I am "musing" on this, right now... other than maybe for the reason that I am increasingly becoming resigned to the idea that my writing may never be much more than a very minimal income stream. Put simply: I'm not writing anything that's likely to get 100,000 readers a day.

Not that this will make me stop, mind you. Nor will it make me want to sell my soul and start pursuing so-called "popular topics." But it is something to think about... just how small are our niches?

Overwhelmed, Again...

I am finding myself feeling overwhelmed, again.

I know some of it can be attributed simply to the fact that I am an HSP, and we are easily overstimulated. No new news there.

Understand that I don't have "Writer's Block." I'd call it "Writer's Congestion" or "Writer's Sewage Clogs."

Meh... it means that I have plenty of things to write about, and loads of ideas, and loads of outlines... but I feel like someone standing before a 5-acre parcel of land covered with scrub, with only a pair of hand clippers to clear everything.

Daunting.

Oh, and wait! "Clearing Brush" isn't actually my job. I have to do something else, full-time, and then find the energy to clear five acres of brush with hand shears,

My short little span of attention doesn't like the idea of starting in on something that will take several years to complete. I get "uncomfortable" and start squirming in my chair as soon as a project might take more than 30 minutes to complete.

Hence the thought of turning some five million words of scratch notes, outlines and partially written prose into organized and good quality content... as blog posts, articles, web content and even books... is stunningly overwhelming.

Situations like these tend to make me buzz around like a fly in a bottle, going in circles but not really "getting anywhere."

More on the Squidoo to HubPages Transition

I am feeling a bit stuck.

I keep going back to have a look at my "new" HubPages account, which holds my articles that formerly were over at soon-to-be-defunct Squidoo. I am watching them slowly starting to get more page views, and I am watching their "Hub Scores" slowly improve. A few days ago, I actually got my first Amazon sales since the switch, and that was kind of exciting.

I also know they are in very "rough format" at the moment, and I will have to go through all of them and substantially rewrite them all, in order for them to not only look good, but to comply with HubPages formatting policies. Because the Squidoo format really didn't translate all that well. But hey, I'm grateful... at least I still have some articles.

There is a LOT of "busy work" associated with writing online, and I find it frustrating. Part of that is my nature... I have never been all that much of a "go-getter." I want to do things, stick them out there, and then "be done" with it all. Period. I was never very good at (or comfortable with) the whole self-promotion thing.

This has led me to consider the whole issue that bugs me about this "industry," namely that SO much writing feels like not "writing" but thinly veiled "sales pitches." My insight being that it may be that the majority of people doing this "gig" are not really "writers," but "sales people" who happen to write a little.

It makes me ponder whether this is a shark tank I even want to swim in... but for now, I shall continue.

The Cyclical Nature of Ideas

One of the reasons I expect I never "made it" as a professional writer is that my level of inspiration and creativity is extremely cyclical.

I never quite know when I am going to wake up and have the ideas for 10 new articles, and when I will wake up times in a row and draw a blank.

Even when I worked as a technical writer, this was an issue. Seems a bit odd, when I look back on it, as the material I had to write about was "given" and "fixed," ahead of time. Even so, some days the words flowed easily, and some days it was like pulling teeth to get anything done.

Of course, part of my problem may be that I have been living with ADHD my entire life. I never really talk about that, as I refuse to be a victim of my own mixed up body chemistry.

Well.... that's not entirely true, as I do keep a blog about being an adult with ADHD. But that's sort of a cathartic exercise for me... not really "part of what I write," as a writer.

This past year, I have been somewhat studying the comings and goings of my writing creativity. Seems that stress pretty much kills my creative spark. I've been told that is "odd," and that most great writing comes out of pain and suffering, not out of happiness and calm. Be that as it may, it never really has held true for me.

A bit like a Wikipedia

How does someone who does not necessarily write "in volume" get the most bang for the buck?

I've been thinking that one effective approach is to use areas of specialization to create "mini websites" or wikis on the sites where I contribute.

For example, when I write on HubPages, I have distinct categories my different articles will fit into, and then I can crosslink between these articles, wikipedia style. It may not draw a huge number of extra views, but at least it opens up the possibility that "a visitor" ends up reading more than just one page.

Although HubPages (and other sites) allow contributors to have segments of "link lists," I have a feeling that using in-line links might be more effective.

This is definitely something I will be experimenting with, as I continue to build my base of articles. When you don't have the ability to write a lot of articles, you have to make up for lost ground by maximizing how much you get out of each article.