Of Updates and Noteworthy

I decided to change one or two things about this blog.

First of all, I changed the layout, this one is much more clear and easier to use. And let's face it. Usability is something very important on the Internet.

Another thing you might notice is the Twitter feed in the sidebar. I've been using Twitter for a long time now, though admittedly I use it more ever since I got a Twitter desktop client (I'm not a big fan of staying logged on the site, it distracts me like nothing else).

Why the Twitter feed?

Because apart from random, RL tweets, I'm posting links to my articles almost immediately after they're published. I've written about it before, but it is worth repeating. Twitter is great when it comes to promoting your work.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter, but don't worry if you don't. I will keep posting links to my articles in my blog posts.

Another thing is a recommendation.


279 Days to Overnight Success, a free manifesto by Chris Guillebeau. It's a great ebook telling a story of how Chris became a full-time writer in less than a year. More importantly: how he is now capable of supporting himself purely on his writing. It's good to see that while Chris' website isn't huge, he still manages to earn enough money to pay the bills AND travel the world.

And while at first the idea of creating a successful business in under a year was a bit surreal, I quickly remembered that all you need is the right approach and everything is possible. After all, I did manage to get a Google Page Rank for this blog in just two months...

Visit my Helium profile
Visit my AssociatedContent profile

Jane Update for June

I've recently read three very interesting articles. "Success At Your Own Risk: The Monkey Bar Theory", "How to Achieve Ridiculous Goals" and "11 Pointless Blog Posts that Waste my Time". I have to admit they've made quite an impact on me. Because for the entire May, I've been procrastinating like there was no tomorrow...
Not to mention, they made me feel better about not posting regularly here. Made me realize I'm not spamming this blog. Which at the same time is a good and a bad thing.

Because I'm not posting regularly, I tend to forget I have this blog. Which usually leads to forgetting about the writing gig (especially when it's really busy at my day job). But because I'm not spamming this blog with pointless entries, I keep this serious. Not an excuse for a blog.

What the articles I linked to made me think about is setting up goals. Realistic goals to be completely within a month. And since I need a motivation, and nothing's a better motivation than avoiding public humiliation, I'll be posting those goals here and then reporting my progress at the end of the month.

JUNE GOALS:
Freelance Writing:
- Write 15 pieces (articles, reviews) capable of earning money.
- Make one post per week at Inspired.
- Go back to using Qassia at least once a week.

School:
- Pass all exams in June.

Other:
- Finish editing Monster Story
- Write 1K fanfic for fic exchange
- Reach 6K total wordcount
- Limit RP time so it doesn't take over my life.
- Going to gym at least two times a week.

Those goals seem realistic and enough of a challenge for the first time. I'll let you know how's it going.