You had a good month Kieran. An older version of yourself would be tempted to sit back and take it easy but there is still plenty left to do. Here is a list of what needs to be improved in April.
1. Need to plan further ahead. You planned out your posts in March OK. You got better at it as you went along. April needs every post planned out in advance. The advantage of this is that you will have freed yourself up to write something on the spot. You might not grasp this yet but the more writing you do, the more it frees you up to write more.
2. Read over what you write. This is one of your weakest areas. You write a post and are editing it, think you’re taking too long then hit post without completing the edits. Read over your writing.
3. Get yourself an editor. You don’t need to pay for an editor, you don’t even need an editor but you need to take more care with editing. You should consider reading your posts out loud. If you could get some to listen to you read your posts then you would be able to understand the best places to make an improvement.
4. Audio versions of the blogs. You know how two people got in touch to tell you that they liked your voice, that was a good moment. You should capitalise on that and start recording the readings of your writing. You may as well and see where it takes you.
5. Go back and edit everything. You know it was good that you made a start this year and have been keeping at it. You are further on with the website than you have been in previous years and that’s great. You do need to go back to the earlier posts and improve them. Some of that early work is terrible and you need to bring it up to scratch.
6. Upgrade the website. The website is fine, you are still struggling with the general layout. I know that you don’t want to hear this but you may have to learn about coding. You need to upgrade to a business plan. Business features included such as being able to install plugins which you need to have. The website is fine but you’re losing out by not upgrading.
7. You need to consider phasing out the short stories. You enjoy writing the short stories but how important are they. There are so many other short stories out there. I know you like to think of yourself as a unique individual but why should people come to you to read your writing? Raymond Carver, you are not. Keep up the short story writing but there might be a more appropriate forum to release them. Tell you what, if you can get 10,000 words worth of short stories you can release a bunch of them on Kindle.
8. Integrate better with other websites. You are focusing way too much on Instagram. Yes, I understand that you enjoy it and it’s been good to you but there is more to the internet than Instagram. You had to set up that Facebook Page to upgrade to an Instagram business account. There are so many more ways you can promote the site. There’s Gab, Minds and Pinterest is still an app that people use. You don’t even have your twitter linked to your Instagram, that’s lazy.
9. Plan out Instagram better. You did well with Instagram but you spent way too much time on the app. Plan the pictures out in advance, use Later to more organised. You don’t need to spend that much time on the app. You can go on there to respond to comments and like other people’s photos.
10. Colaborate with another blog/website. You need to reach out to other people and talk to them. You only need to do this once next month to test the water. You like Skeleton Boy Blog, he’s local and you like his work. Get in contact with him.
11. Escribir un blog en español. Usted molestara a la gente pero se desafiara a si mismo. Es tu idioma preferida.
12. You need to use Youtube. You have ideas for longer videos, the one about what to do if someone asks you for a favour, that can’t be fit into an insta story. You have a Youtube channel, start using it in future.
13. Do a live broadcast on Instagram. I know that you are dreading this but you will have to bite the bullet and do one. You won’t get any viewers but that’s OK, all you have to do is do one.
14. You should bring in a guest writer. It would be good to get someone else in to write something. You know a lot of writers or people with strong opinions. You should consider bringing in Mark McCann to do a guest post.
15. You should interview someone. Again you could do this under the guise of trying new things out to see what sticks. You would have to pick a subject you are interested in, like talking to a pharmacist about the female contraceptive pill. Ask Matt if he knows anyone willing to go on the record. You will need to do your homework on that one.
16. You need to balance yourself more. You are writing more and more. Your word counts are shooting up and up and that’s great but you are becoming unbalanced. Plan your life out better. There is the play coming up and you will have to focus on that. You need to plan more. You are currently too vague.
17. You need to write about politics. Remember what you were told about becoming a contributor? You need to start writing about politics. Readers are going to get put off but make your peace with that and move on. It could be a good side hustle if you commit to the bit.
18. You have to make peace with the fact that your follower count will go down. That girl took a strop when you did that piece about how boys shouldn’t cry all the time. That’s a sign that you are on the right track. You don’ want to be read by people who are upset by you. It is part of the balance that comes with the territory. That is still a picture with the most impressions. You struck a chord with people even if they won’t admit it. Keep striking the chord and you will get a sound.
19. You need to quadruple your view count. You smashed your goals for March. You need to keep on going up and up. You need to get 1600 views for April.
20. You need to plagiarise yourself. You need to stop fretting so much about coming up with new material. You have years worth of old stuff that with a bit of tweaking could be pretty good. Remember all those short films and plays you wrote? Some of them are actually good, turn them into short stories. Now that you are a bit more confident with your writing you can go back over those deleted blog posts that you had. Fix them up a bit. You have done way more than you realise and you will continue to come up with new ideas.
You have made a new start. Don’t make the same mistakes again. Keep up the momentum.
