New Bloggers! Don't Quit - Keep Writing - Followers Ahead!

Aloha,

All this week, I tried valiantly – but unsuccessfully – to personally respond to the 171 comments stemming from my recent D-Day post.

I ground to a halt and my mindset shifted gears when Lily Eva Blake replied to my comments and said she was “honored” that I stopped by to comment on her “baby blog.”

While I appreciated her very kind words, it shouldn’t be an honor to receive a comment and a new blog is only a Alex J. Cavanaugh-type blog in waiting.

My point is that I am no one special and there no magic tricks to the (perceived) success of my blog, so anyone starting off needs not to feel worry, but excitement.

I wrote my first post on 9/11/11 – but only because I’d been struggling to find a topic to write about.

And on the 10^th anniversary of the worst attacks on our soil, I knew I felt passionate enough to share my feelings.

I wrote, rewrote, edited, sat on it, rewrote it and sat back with a satisfied sigh.

I garnered one comment – from my pastor.

Point: I didn’t know what to write about – and I still don’t sometimes – just look at my labels, but the point is to be just YOU.

It cracks me up no end to see all the different direction I have gone with this blog and that’s fine.

MY point is your online “voice” has to be the same as your real voice. As in real life, we all have a unique voice, so have a conversation with us – don’t share your thesis.

These days, my “writing” blog seems to be much more about Parenting and Patriotism than Prose and Parenthesis, and again that’s OK. It’s working for me.

PS. And, be patient – pay your dues.

I’ve been blogging nearly three years and have just recently finished WIP#1.

I have no agent and my book isn’t published – but boy what a wonderful internship I’ve had here in what I jokingly call the Blogisfear.

So, comment on other blogs, promote a cover reveal, enter a bloghop or tweet a new release. Keep doing things like this, and we will find you ;)

Finally, never, EVER give up.

IF writing is your dream – don’t quit – there is no age limit to being a published author.

Remember… Failure is not an option – it’s a choice.

Can anyone add to what I’ve mentioned and share any other tips with new bloggers?

Raising 2 Kids, 1 Homeschooler & a Baby Blog

Aloha,
In an earlier post, I mentioned a couple of reasons why I’m doing the blog, and wanted to share another big motivation.

Things often get a wee bit hectic at Casa Koopmans, and though I’m mad busy as a stay-at-home dad/rookie homeschooler to our boys (four and eighteen months) I’m constantly thinking about writing.

Regular posting gives me a great opportunity to siphon some of the creative juices swirling around my addled brain, and I must say mahalo to you for reading. It’s like this blog is an alternative medical treatment for my condition – I’m calling it “parentitis.”

For example, I’m sitting here writing (and listening to Samuel Barber’s classic Adagio for Strings.) We don’t have an official study (yet), as many of the boxes from our recent move
two months ago
remain unpacked (yet.) This means I sit here, on the perch of my temporary writing “sanctuary”
aka “our dining room table”
and look not over an exotic Hawaiian island drenched in a golden sunset; but a kitchen island with pots and pans dripping with soapy water.

Sadly, I’m not going to put quotations around temporary. I know I’ll be sat in the same spot when the movers come and get us in three years.

(Yet) even though it’s 2:04 a.m., Hawaii Time on a Tuesday morning, I’m feeling good.– the kids are sleeping and my wife has to be up early, so I hope to get some good writing in. It’s been a day or two since my last chance, so after grabbing my wooden in-box, I rub my hands together.

Might I find something inspirational? Do I need to return a terribly important phone call?

Nah, there's nothing there. instead I plough through layers of discarded notes, 3x5 cards, commissary receipts, my son’s yellow golf ball, (“Look, Papa, it BOUNCES really high on the tiles!”), several writing pads, pens, a pair of scissors
(note to self when reading posted blog: Have you moved the scissors already?)
and one of those plastic electrical plug thingies meant to stop kids from sticking a pen (or a scissors) into an outlet as they scream, “Don’t taze me, bro.”
(Note 2.0: Move pens, too. Buy more thingies.)

Before we moved to Hawaii, I was “just” a stay-at-home dad chasing my book, er, my boys, around the house.

Now, with our third boy scheduled to be born in late December or early January 2012, we’ll have our own rendition of “Hawaii 5-0,” and I plan to upgrade my official title to “stay-at-home: mad?”

I’m only kidding, in fact, I can’t wait to say “book ‘em, Daddo” at least a hundred times… safe in the knowledge that my wife will again cringe, shake her head and tell the boys to keep moving:
“Yes, Papa’s humor is a little strange sometimes… and it’s OK if Papa walks ahead, just a little…."

Please don’t get me wrong – I ain’t complaining – no, this is the most fun I’ve had in donkey’s years – but good grief, Charlie Brown, there’s little time for my daytime television experience – and the new Fall Season has just started.
What about my soaps? Who’s going to take care of them? I can’t believe that Regis is retiring. What’s Kelly gonna do?

My point is: (And this was a hilarious moment when it hit me across the back of the neck,) when our oldest boy weighed four pounds, I truly, truly believed I’d have so much time that I’d easily write the NEXT, GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL while my infant slept all day long.
Well, except for the ten minutes, or so, that he’d need to eat, burp or poop.

Oh dear Lord, how you left the blinders on! I thought this was going to be easy?
Easy? There’s a reason why I’m a stay-at-home mad?
But, I wouldn’t change anything for the world…. I’d rather be changing diapers than sipping margaritas at happy hour.
OK, OK, my fingers are crossed (hnnnn, its mush harter to type…)

On a final note, I am giving a shout out to fellow blogger, Daina Rustin, (http://www.mystictreehouse.com/) who recently became my first follower who’s not a friend, relative or me.
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As always, I appreciate you reading my blog, and hope it was time well spent.
Mahalo and aloha,
Mark.

“Aloha to learn what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.”
– Queen Lili‘uokalani (1838–1917) the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands.