Although I am still keeping a handle on everything I do, sometimes that pesky impostor syndrome finds its way into my workflow. Thursday, I was having a bit of a crisis and was taking a nosedive but managed to pull up before it got too bad.
It's good to talk to friends.
Part of it mostly has to do with how much I try to do on any given day. And I often put a lot on my own shoulders to push myself to accomplish certain goals. I'm constantly pushing to my breaking point just to see where it is. And that's something I really need to stop doing if I want to keep everything together this year.
Yet, I'm still trudging along and looking forward to what we can accomplish.
Chapter 3 of Despair Starts Saturday
I recorded the beginning of Chapter 3 of Despair on Wednesday. This is the audiobook on YouTube I've been publishing in episodes. Although they don't get a lot of attention, I still find them incredibly fun to make.
Anyway, the episodes are published on Saturday nights at 6:00 pm Mountain Time. You can also read along as Despair is published on Wattpad. I try to get Saturday night's episode up on Wattpad by Monday. That's because I include the audiobook portion with the text and have to wait until the video is live.
As the story progresses, I've realized that it's going to be an exceptionally long book by the time I'm done. I'm still not sure if I'll keep it on Wattpad or publish the books outright after they've been cleaned up.
Finding a New Blog Theme This Weekend
One of the many things I wanted to improve on the WriterSanctuary.com blog is its theme. I've used the same one for quite some time, and I think a change is necessary to get more out of the site.
I'm leaning quite a bit toward using Elementor to customize every element of the blog. But with the new sitewide custom templates in the new versions of WordPress, I might just wait until 6.0 is released. Then again, I have seen some amazing free themes in the repository that will probably work just as well.
At any rate, I have a few ideas of how I want the categories separated and displayed on the homepage. I cover blogging, freelance writing, and self-publishing. So, an emphasis on those three major categories upfront might be helpful for those who stumble across the site.
And I want it to have more of a "writer" feel.
Writing a Good Book, Not a Rushed Book
So, one of my goals this week was to push to get my book written before the first of April. Because I have so much on my plate that is a "priority," I doubt it's going to happen. But I'm not overly too upset about failing this challenge. In reality, there is simply just too much going on for me to grind out a book like this.
Sam, my friend, brought up a good point. She said she would rather "have a good book than a rushed book."
Not to mention that I kind of write a bit slower than many others because I scrutinize a lot of each paragraph to ensure it makes sense for the story being told. Seriously, I say the same thing about game developers. I'd rather creators take their time and put out a quality game than something that is buggy just to meet a deadline or make shareholders happy. Why should I be any different about my book?
What does this mean? Well, it means that I probably won't meet the May 1st release date I've imposed on myself. But that's OK. Wouldn't you all want to read something that was of better quality than something that felt rushed towards the end?
Lost A LOT of Watch Time on YouTube
After doing some research about why I'm losing impressions on YouTube, I've decided to set the live streams to unlisted on Wednesdays. This means people can still watch the live show on Monday, but I'll hide them from search and the channel two days afterward. If you have the URL, you can still watch them at any time.
Anyway, setting them to unlisted wiped out 1,800 hours of watch time for the past year. That means live streams accounted for 50% of watch time on the channel. In the grand scheme of things, that's kind of poor, actually.
Why am I doing this? Because some creators have pointed out how live streams have affected how all their videos are being shown on YouTube. Some suspect it has to do with the low click-through rate of live streams, while others suspect the length comparison.
There really is no quantifiable element to what happens. Especially from YouTube, which might give a bit more behind-the-scenes info about the algorithm.
In any case, I'm running this little experiment for the next few months to see if it makes a difference.
Overall, Still Doing Better Than in 2021!
Even though I keep having a few setbacks here and there, I'm still on track to do better this year than I did last. And that's the overall point of setting my goals for writing. It's all about self-improvement and working on ways to keep myself motivated and productive without burning out.
Last year was pretty amazing, especially after publishing my first book. But this year is going to be on a whole other level!