Thursday, February 16, 2012

Achieving Goals Through Social Networking

This post has been moved to the new site. Read it there!

This is not the LTUE post I promised you (which is still coming over the weekend!), but it is related. James A. Owen's keynote address was inspiring, and it's motivated me to recommit to my goals, so in this post I'm going to go over my goals and what I am doing to accomplish them, finishing with my long-term goals. That's the coolest part, so you can skip all this and just read the ending two paragraphs if you like.

Social Networking Complications
One of the main hurdles I needed to surmount is the problem of where I am going to base my "self" - what do I link people to when they want to look me up? Ideally, I'd link people to this blog, but the URL is really long and difficult to remember, which is less than ideal.

After much consideration, I've finally decided that Twitter is going to be my center of attention. Everything will link to Twitter, and from Twitter I will post the most updates and link to the most information.


I have a Google+ page as The Wordsmith, a Twitter account as Sablenews WordsmithAtPlay, and a Facebook page as The Wordsmith, along with this blog as Wordsmith At Play. All of my tweets will get posted to Facebook, and all of the more important ones will get posted to Google+.

This blog is the only thing that won't get updates as frequently as the everything else. Soon I will have an email list you can sign up for to be emailed once a week about my new posts. This email will go out Saturdays, the last day of the week. I will have a post once every week at the minimum - this week I might have two, depending on when I get the LTUE post up.

It's easy to connect your Twitter to your Facebook, but connecting Google+ isn't as easy as it should be. I found a site that linked my Google+ account to my Twitter, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I have to post everything to Google+ first, when I want Twitter to be my hub, and it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour for the updates to be posted to Twitter.

If you're following me on Twitter, you deserve the fastest information I can give you, and Google+ does not serve that need. In addition to this, Google+ has no character limit and was altering the quality of my posts, as seen by the strange double-URL of this tweet. I decided to unlink my Google+ account and continue to post to Twitter, giving Google+ separate posts so all of my followers get the most up-to-date information as quickly as possible.

In this way, I now have four synchronized social networking sites, with Twitter at the center. I'm very pleased with this. I would like them all to end up as The Wordsmith - this blog would change to thewordsmith.blogspot.com and my Twitter account would be twitter.com/thewordsmith, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Other Goals
Blog post every week
Mailing list for this blog
Improve my LinkedIn profile and connect it with the rest of my sites
Guest post on other blogs
Advertise for proofreading/editing, talk to people about my work, get flyers, etc. Get the word out.

Artsy Stuff I Need Help With
My current avatar is the one you see in the corner, the bloodstained white rose. While I'm very fond of it, it's much too small to use as my Facebook profile picture and it doesn't really have anything to do with writing. I would like to change my Facebook page to the new Timeline style, but I need a cover before I do that.

I also need to make new business cards and compose some flyers for my proofreading business. I feel like the fact that I proofread gets shoved off to the side in favor of other interesting stuff, but I need to start advertising it, especially in my college so I can start actually earning money.

However, I am not very artsy and it's been forever since I've used Photoshop or Illustrator, so I am currently looking for artistic types who wish to volunteer their services. Compensation can be discussed on a person-by-person basis, as I am currently a poor starving college student.

Long-Term Goals
In three years, before I complete my junior year of college, my manuscript will be completed. I will have more people following me than people that I follow on Twitter, and my weekly mailing list will be sent to hundreds of people.

I will have a solid web presence as The Wordsmith, and I will have an excellent artist to work with me on the book cover. By the time I begin my senior year in college - that's September 2014 - I will have published my first book, Heaven's Wrath, as an ebook and as a physical book.

I already have an amazing idea for the cover, and I'm going to have cool business cards. Instead of visiting LTUE as a student, I will be a guest author, and you will be able to meet me there and listen to me talk about my books and my writing in person.

It's gonna be great. Are you coming with me?

4 comments:

  1. Hey Wordsmith! You commented on my husband's writing blog and I was stalking him and found you. Hi. I'm Allie. I'm jealous you got to go to LTUE! My husband got to go but I've just been left to study other people's blogs about the conference.

    I'm glad you recommitted to your goals. I just read James Owens' book, Drawing Out the Dragons, and it inspired me to recommit to my goals too.

    Here's to both of us being guest speakers at LTUE 2014! :o)

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    Replies
    1. Heh, which blog is your husband's? I've been commenting on quite a few blogs recently.

      LTUE was a ton of fun! I still have a few more posts about it in the works. ^_^ I'm sorry you weren't able to go! Maybe next year, right?

      I'm glad you got inspired by Drawing Out the Dragons, it's an amazing book, probably because James A. Owen is an amazing person.

      ... and yes, I did just take the time and read every single one of your posts. I admire your regular weekly posting. I've been posting weekly, but not regularly. I want to change that, but I'm afraid if I commit to a schedule I'll kill myself trying to keep to it. Just committing to posting at least once a week is enough for me. For now.

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    2. Next year indeed!! I'm excited to read your posts about it!! And thanks for checking out my blog. :^P

      My husband's blog is here. He writes dystopian stuff.

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    3. Ah, that was my guess. I like that blog - it has a good title. ^_^

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