Fresh Nonfiction: So My Blog Got Skinny Fat
A collection of creative nonfiction across all forms of media, Fresh Nonfiction covers the embarrassing, awkward, mundane, and meaningful. (And it all actually happened).
So My Blog Got Skinny Fat
So, friends, the old blog got skinny fat. It’s a familiar story: blog reaches middle age, starts opting out of the regular workouts, and begins limping along on sporadic posts, recycled articles, and not-a-lot-else. Still looks decent, I guess, but it ain’t healthy. Not signing up for any 10k’s, not CrossFitting, not American Ninja Warrior-ing.
Still, I’d been doing pretty well. Categories! Tags! Frequent posts! Pretty pretty pictures! It was acting as both my resume and portfolio. It convinced a few of my favorite writers to contribute their words. It landed me an attractive publishing deal!*
*JK. This has never actually happened to anyone, even the bloggers you read about it happening to. Ever.
Otherwords was always an attempt, as I put it in my first post, “to open things up a bit.” To wander with intent. To agnostically mix fiction with nonfiction with marketing, garnished with some quality, outsourced articles and interviews. I’d hoped it’d be easier to write and publish more consistently, particularly after letting a few previous blogs run out of gas. I tend to beat myself up even about minor setbacks, so I’d set up Otherwords as a very blatant play towards my strengths.
But you know the saying: life is what happens when you’re busy drinking beer. You get snowed under at work, you sleep badly, you spend way too much time in Texas, you do an #uglyvideoselfie with Fabio, you stop hitting the gym, you gain weight, you get regressively drunk at a Frightened Rabbit show, fall into the garbage, and #fail at taking your Siggy to the airport for her work-sponsored volunteer vacation in the Dominican Republic, and your blog suffers. It’s literary attrition. The soft and steady erosion of deadlines. And it’s totally natural.
So I’m trying to hop back on the wagon. Trying to get myself back in the gym, trying to stress less about work, trying to set some regular writing deadlines. Trying to keep this little blog afloat, trying finish a new project (which I’ll share very soon), and trying not to beat myself up too badly about all of it.
Thanks for visiting, reading, and understanding, friends.