Guess Who’s Back!

Istarted Writer Dad last summer with a five day a week commitment and didn’t drop the ball once for the first six months. Since then I’ve been trying to hit a bulls-eye with a shotgun.

By the end of last year I’d written myself in a corner. I had succeeded in nurturing a wide, warm and loving audience, but had zip, zilch, nada to boost my online income.

Not cool. By trying to pour myself a business and pleasure on the rocks, I was only adding acid to each. I was making Writer Dad less interesting while also severing any opportunity to generate money from the site.

My solution, I thought, was simple: plant a few seeds in fresh dirt and see what I could grow. Yet with only so much fertilizer and water each day, I quickly realized I would need to take a giant step back from Writer Dad. I made the move to once or twice a week. I reasoned that less content would keep each piece focused. Rather than throwing a net over every subject that crossed my mind, I would keep the site focused on fatherhood, family, and those themes I thought my readers would enjoy most.

In other words, I would take the existing recipe then add a dash of vanilla and a heaping sprinkle of monotony.

Obviously I left a few typos in the strategy. I never asked the audience what it wanted and now I believe my instincts were wrong. I think I removed what the audience loved most: the consistency of checking in five days a week, even if nothing more than to say hello.

Truth is, I miss it to.

I miss the immediacy of a daily post. The great gift of being a writer is getting the chance to know yourself a little more each day, and publishing those thoughts is like pouring cement in your personal history. I also miss the explosive growth of this site. I am a creature of ego, no different than anyone else. Compliments and links, for me, are fuel and a heavy foot on the pedal.

I am a writer and a writer writes. There is no reason I can’t come up with enough content to keep this site running five days a week. It’s what I do. I make time for all kinds of writing, I need to make more time for the place that started it all. The solution is simple. I don’t even need to write more any more than I already am, I just need to share more of what I do.

In the last year that I’ve been writing, I’ve stockpiled quite a bit of this and that – much of it now ready to hang on the wall. Starting Monday, Writer Dad is back to five days a week.

Please allow me to ask for something in return.

I don’t get paid for writing around these parts and the extra minutes of my day are few and far between. This is not a money generating site, but I would still like to make money from it indirectly, at the very least as a vehicle to spread my voice as much as possible.

That’s where I need your help.

I make my living from the words I write.
The better they do, the better I do.
The better I do, the more I can follow my muse.
The more I can follow my muse, the happier I will be.
The happier I am, the better writer I will become.
The better writer I am, the more precisely I can tune my thought.

It is the right words that can help to change the world.

I will do all I can to deliver my best 5 days a week. Any time you like what you read, please share it in whatever way works best for you: link it or Tweet it, bookmark it or email it to a friend, but please do share.

It’s better than recycling!

Writer Dad

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