Still Learning by Lynn J Simpson

I am a starter.

Definitely a starter.

Things new feed my energy.

So when I embarked on my first blog back in 2011, I was excited. I'd been thinking about it for while. And finally with the push of a few attendees at a personal development seminar, I started. Actually, it was more than I push.

I became accountable to these people to get my first post completed within a week or my 'consequences' would be an invitation to my ex-husband and his wife for dinner.

Total truth. (The concept being to complete goals with either a reward or a consequence. I learned rewards work for me too, thankfully. The next time I was held accountable, I got to buy myself a Lulu Lemon jacket. And to this day, I am still reminded how I completed, got done what I set out to do, every time I wear that jacket. It reminds me that I can be successful).

So I did my first post.

And then came my first comment! How exciting!

And I wanted more.

So I read up on how to blog, how to create a network. I spent a couple of hours a day commenting on other blogs. I set up a blog schedule, having read the importance of consistency in your blogging. I joined blog-hops, had guest writers, and wrote and wrote.

I also was up at 4am every morning, with the goal of writing 500 words a day toward my first novel.

I also was posting daily on my photography blog as part of a 365 Days of Photos blog project.

And there was my full-time job, life and kids, and bills and laundry. The 'not so exciting' stuff, but necessary none the less.

And then I got side-tracked with something more tangible, enticing, Eve's apple.

And I bit.

And that became the new excitement, even though it turned out to be the wrong direction.

But one of the many good things about God?

He is a God of second chances.

So, once again I take on the business of writing through building a platform with the help of online mentors such as Michael Hyatt, Donald Miller, Jeff Goins, and Darren Rowse.

I'm still figuring this all out, this 'business of writing' and feel the constant tension of where to focus my time between the craft of writing and building my platform.

And thinking a bowl of Easter M&M's may be the perfect reward for completing my writing goals for today.

And maybe. for excitement, even try whipping up this new Easter dip a blog buddy posted the other day that includes M&M's!

My Writing Blog