Redirection

I’ve been thinking about my blog a lot this last month. We hear so much about how our blog should be targeted and we should know who our audience is. When I started blogging, I did it as a funny fluke. When I became serious about it, I knew just one thing. I didn’t want it to be for other writers only. I wanted it to be readers (which includes writers because, well, writers are readers too!!!)

So, what IS the goal of my blog? Here’s what I came up with.

• To enter into life with others. I think Christians are called to do this, to pray for each other, to celebrate the highs and support each other in the lows. If we stay inside our own little world, we suffer. I know I’m not always good at this in person, although I’m trying to get better. But I really want my readers, both of my blog and my future published books, to feel welcome and part of the atmosphere.
• To Glorify God. Bringing God glory is first and foremost in EVERYTHING I do, not just blogging. That doesn’t mean I want to use my blog to preach, but to let Jesus shine through me in the way He sees fit.
• To entertain. This is the goal of my books, and I want it to be the goal of my blog too. If you come here and leave depressed or burdened, then I feel as if I’ve failed. I do make an exception to this at times when I have a prayer request, such as with baby Phillips, because I believe there is an enormous power in prayer to our Heavenly Father.
• To make you laugh. Laughter is wonderful medicine. And it helps you lose weight, right? So laugh on my friends… and please make me laugh after baby is born, I need to lose this baby weight FAST!
• To make you think I’m the coolest person ever so when my books get published you will all flock to the stores in groves to buy them in mass quantities to give to all your friends. I can dream right?

If you’ll notice, teaching people to write is not one of those. And really, encouraging other writers on the journey isn’t one of those main ones either, but I love to do that as well… it just wasn’t the purpose of this blog.

So, as I was contemplating the future of my blog, I was approached by a GRAND friend of mine about a new blog by a group of writers. The idea is that we would each post one day of the week, and it would be all centered around tips and encouragement for writers on the journey.

I LOVED it! I admit, I was a little undecided at first. Did I really want to commit to a second blog? But then I realized that doing so would help me further in my focus on THIS blog. I can reserve this for my funny posts, my posts that help encourage moms/women/Christians, and I can still do a once a week “writing” post as well, because ideas for them keep popping into my head!

So, without further adu, I’d like to help announce the beginning of a NEW blog, The Writer’s Alley. Pepper, Casey, Mary, Sherrinda and I will all team up to bring you writing tips that are… you guessed it… write up your alley:-) Saturday’s will be reserved for guest bloggers, and we already have a FAB lineup for May and June, and July is filling up fast! There are also “shops” on the alley that give you fun links/tips about different areas of writing/genres. Those are works in progress so be sure to check them out… links are at the top of the blog.

I am SO excited about this, and invite you all to come on over and check it out when you get a chance. My posting day will be Fridays.

Discussion: If you blog… what are YOUR goals for your blog? If you don’t… any goals you want to accomplish this week? Feel free to share and we’ll see how we did on Friday!

My goal for this week: To write ONE chapter, and finish the outstanding critiques for my crit partners.