Well, Why Not?

Over the weekend, I asked my husband to set up an RSS feed for my blog so it can update live to my Goodreads and Amazon author pages. After I asked him to do this he looked at me and asked, “Why are you writing these posts?”

Now, this question wasn’t rhetorical. He wasn’t implying that I’m doing this without cause, or trying to convince me to stop. He was instead asking me to clarify, to both him and myself, where I want to put my energy and focus. If I start to get masses of readers, how many will convert into buying my book? Sure, it will get me more sales than I had before, but from a marketing standpoint it’s not the most productive way to get my book (or merchandise) out there. So why am I writing these?

1) Content is Always a Good Thing. Whether it’s for SEO purposes, or just plain staying relevant, creating content on the internet is a powerful thing. When trying to build up an image online, whether it be personal or professional, it’s important to make sure that you’re offering a lot of well-tailored content to your audience. You don’t want to be all over the place, talking about food one day and cool science facts the next unless there’s a thread tying them together. That’s one of the reasons why I like writing this blog: we all have a lot in common. We’re readers. We’re writers. And I love that. Which brings me to point #2:

2) It Helps Me Stay Connected with You. I love you guys. So, so much. I love hearing what you have to say, and keeping you informed of what’s going on, and how I’m doing with my next project. I love posting pictures of when you come to my signings, and I love creating posts that I think you’re going to like. Blogging every week keeps me thinking of and grateful for all of you. True story. And, finally, the last reason why I write this:

3) I Love It. I do. I really do. I love being able to write in a space where I don’t have to worry too much about if I’m using the same words too many times, or my placement of commas. All of that is fun too, of course, but blogging has a freedom that noveling just doesn’t. I love writing directly to my audience, while usually I’m on a track all of my own. I also love sharing my thoughts. Writing is fun, and writing is hard. Thinking of content for weekly updates can be exhausting and/or cathartic. But there’s always something to say.

And so I write. I guess that’s really what it comes down to. If you want to be a writer you have to write, and that doesn’t only apply to your current works in progress. You have to keep bending and stretching your brain, getting it to think in different ways and explore the things that you normally push aside. Personal writing, like journaling and blogging, is an excellent exercise for this. And so I’m going to keep doing this.

What about you? Do you have a blog or a journal? How frequently do you update it? Why do you post it? Let me know what your process is, and if I can give you a shout-out on here sometime. Cuz you’re the best.

— Amy

While I’m at it, here’s a snippet from my day job on how to optimize your blog posts. Why not? 😉