Connected

Stock Photo. GoDaddy license.

I’m afraid Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter distracted me from my blog and website. It’s so easy to tap out a couple words, or post a quick snapshot from the smartphone, that it’s even easier to neglect something that requires logging in and… thinking. And I’m thinking that needs to change. 

At the Surrey International Writer’s Conference in October, I took a Branding with Intent seminar hosted by Steena Holmes. It was insightful. And informed me I was falling short.

Not that Steena specifically said, “Deb, you’re falling short.” That was my observation of how I use my website and blog, in comparison to her recommendation.

In short, her explanation is that a website/blog, is personal. It’s not owned by Facebook or Twitter, but by the URL owner and or administrator; as long as Domain Name fees are paid, the owner/administrator controls what is posted–or not–and who gets to see it. Or not. Within reason. 

Some of you may have noticed, or had, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, mute or delete one of your posts. Or suffer a temporary blackout where you were unable to access your profile, or page. Or you locked yourself out somehow, and short of text or email contacts, were powerless to let know your Friends or Twitterverse family that you were alive and well. That, Steena cautioned, is the major flaw in limiting your (the author (or artist/blogger/seller/speaker, etc)) reach, by confining your content to media platforms over which you have 0 control. That’s where website and Newsletter are a creator’s best friend.

Website/newsletters are platforms controlled by the content creator; the author/artist’s living room, versus a corporation’s ginormous conference room full of millions of loud conference-goers. It’s easy to get drowned out and over-looked in a noisy auditorium. Just as easy for one website to get lost in vast virtual ocean of URLs.

Regardless, I plan to strive to spend more time here, thinking, and putting together–I hope–essays and posts that reflect what I love, and who I am. I hope you’ll follow along, and in turn, share some of the things that matter to you most.