I've been pretty regular in doing my weekly Lection Reflection pieces, and they have gotten good attention, due primarily to being linked from TextWeek. (A great resource, by the way — visit it, use it, and throw some support to Jenee, the person doing it.) It's been good to have a deadline, as it has forced me to meet the first requirement of being a writer: putting your butt in the chair and actually writing.
Now, though, I am embarking on a serious challenge, that will push me to get even MORE serious about writing. I hope I'm up for it.
For some time, I have owned and had in place a range of web addresses and sites. My original site, brucemaples.com, is still up and in place, and gets some traffic based on search results that hit certain older posts. I moved my faith-based writing from there to here, along with my poetry and other more “serious” writing.
Then I registered and built out the ThreePols site. ThreePols stands for Policies, Politics, and Politicians, and I had big plans for it. I wanted it to be a site that housed my thinking and research on various policies, as well as commentary on politics and politicians. I also hoped to make it a gathering place for progressives in Louisville, but gave up on that purpose for the site. Instead, it is (for now) purely my own writing.
I also registered both the “progresskentucky” and “progresslouisville” domain names. The ProgressKentucky name is, of course, completely useless at this point, due to the work of the group opposing Mitch McConnell. At some point, I may be able to use it, but for now it just sits.
Progress Louisville, on the other hand, is up and running, and waiting for content. I've built it out as a BuddyPress site for now, which means it can have groups and members and even sub-sites with their own blogs. I have approached some local progressive groups about becoming member groups and supporting the site with their own content, but don't have answers back from them. So, for now, it is like ThreePols — my site to build and use as I see fit.
I have a lot of big ideas for it, but they all take TIME, and that is the thing in shortest supply. So, in order to get it to work, I'm going to have to put more time into it. And into ThreePols. And into brucemaples.com.
So, the question is — can I keep four different blogs going with fresh content each week? And promote them? And make a difference doing so?
That's the challenge. I'm counting on Scrivener getting their iPad version out, so I can keep ideas in it. May also have to look into other tools for idea capture and writing on the fly. But for now, the goal is to post to each blog at least once a week, and preferably three times, minimum.
That's 12 blog posts a week. If each post takes 30 minutes, that's six hours. Obviously, some will take more. So, a fair estimate is an hour a day, minimum. That's my goal for this week.
I'll post some updates along the way. And the best way you can help is to read, COMMENT, and like on Facebook. Audience helps keep the pressure on!
But in the end, the real pressure comes from believing that I have some talent here, and something to say, and so a responsiblity to use it wisely. May God give me the grace to do just that.