Subtitled: If I was remotely interested in reaping SEO benefits from Google Keywords this post would definitely kick some ass, which is not to say I’m not generally, or sometimes, interested in that kind of thing – ‘thing’ being a non-specific noun that creative writer teachers and SEO experts alike would frown upon – but today I’m not.
Explanation: I’ve just been to the Problogger Training Day. The lingo is still passing through me, quite like the alcohol did. The time throughout went, as it often does, both fast and slow, with half-conversations over coffee breaks while trying to balance a drink in one hand and a napkin topped with a cake or slice in the other; where volume levels necessitate shouting once the post-conference networking (and the flow of wine) begins but where also the shattering of crockery from a unbalanced tray can level the place into startled, quick silence.
Blogging: Quite often I find the moments of insight, or discovery, about oneself isn’t done in the main room, or a breakout room. Sometimes it’s in the hotel room of friends you’re visiting to relax for a while. You sit there under the gentle thrum of the air-conditioner and suddenly it hits you – the truth, or a theory, at least, which is as close as some of us ever get to ‘truth’ and once spoken it hangs in the air, reflective like a soapy bubble, before floating away: why we come to conferences, our agitations and agonies, joys and jealousies. Thirst for self-improvement (and success). Sometimes it strikes me as comic, and yet it’s wonderful because it’s so human.
For me, at least, it is. For I go too, looking for answers, even if I am seated next to a man who has no qualms about rubbing his arm on mine, or have to battle off a rogue dude working the room, asking women if they were single or not.
So while I may have (re)learned a lot about what is considered important in such areas as:
1) Traffic
2) Monetisation
3) Readers and Audience
4) Trust
5) Motivation and Resolution
Again, for me, it all comes back to the stories told, and told well. In the breaks, in the lunch lines, waiting for a toilet, by a talkative taxi-driver on my way home late at night.
I can only speak for myself, but my writing and blogging world’s are difficult to marry and manage (I don’t know how many times I said that yesterday), but it’s worth it.
So worth it.
Re-titled Title: If I was remotely interested in reaping SEO benefits from Google Keywords this post would definitely kick some ass, which is not to say I’m not generally, or sometimes, interested in that kind of thing – ‘thing’ being a non-specific noun that creative writer teachers and SEO experts alike would frown upon – but today I’m not, and I don’t really mind.
p.s I need to talk about the new book project some more, yes I know. I will get on that ASAP.
p.p.s I need to talk about the morning tea too, I know. Ah – if these posts could only be like a crab and go backward (HAMLET REFERENCE FTW), then my timelines might be in order. Soon, soon…
