Today is a day of big changes. #1 daugher has moved back in, a member of the so-called “Boomerang Generation.” #2 son is starting college. #2 daughter has an interview for an important job. #2 son is going back to high school without his big brother.
As for me, I have a day off (after a bit of computer work). Since school begins today, we are sort of past BTS, though not quite. The uncertainties about my job should settle fairly soon; I had a promising talk with The Empress. I also picked up an application at Hancock Fabrics. My kids continue to urge me to do a proper job hunt for a job in our town which pays more than my current job, but if things work out with my current job as I hope they will, I could bring it back down to 40 hours a week and do 10 hours somewhere else and be fine. I am thinking I will probably do tutoring, actually, but the fabric store had a sign on the window so I asked. I could do that on weekends, it would be low stress, and I could perhaps make further progress toward my goal of learning to sew well this year.
I haven’t heard anything on that other job I applied for. However, they said it would be within three weeks, and it hasn’t yet been three weeks, so who knows?
I also leafed through an issue of Writer’s Market yesterday, while returning a Wii game. They were having a special issue on making a living as a writer.
Writing has been part of my paid work for years (it’s about a quarter of my current job, and that proportion should increase), and I do make a couple hundred a year on the side with it as well, so there is certainly a sense in which I am a professional writer. But I was wondering whether I could earn a couple hundred a month with it rather than a couple hundred a year.
The magazine didn’t have enough that looked useful to cause me to buy it. I did read through the article on how to use a blog for promotion.
This is my personal blog. I don’t promote it or use it to promote anything. Just wanted that to be clear.
But I do have two blogs for work. One is about six months old and I have been promoting it as shamelessly as I know how and have time for, and it gets about 1800 visits a week. The other is about two months old, and I haven’t promoted it at all (it exists for a particular, limited purpose), and it gets about 10 visits a week.
Now a big, serious professional blog should get at least 500 visits a day, so neither of these work blogs is really a big deal, but the difference between the traffic at the two suggests to me that promotion makes a difference. Doing more with both of them is one of the things I plan to do once we get through BTS at the store.
But here’s the thing: all of the suggestions in that article were old hat to me. You may recall (if you always read my blog and have total recall) that six months ago I knew nothing about online marketing or e-commerce, and indeed was unable either to find information on the subject or to understand it when that fellow #2 daughter dated pointed me to some of it. Now I am actually doing all the things the article says a person should. So I think that this shows that I have made real progress in this area.
I like real progress.
Yesterday I successfully spent being a couch potato, except for church and grocery shopping and cooking and helping #1 daughter unpack and a bit of housework. I even napped for about five minutes during an Audrey Hepburn movie. Today I may also spend lolling around, once I get my work done. But I am hoping that I will also get some sewing in. My kids think I should be out there jobhunting, but I have to rest up first. Seriously.
You for sure do have to rest up first. I’m for that. It seems to me that it’s hard work enough just to try to adjust to the total upheaval in your life at the moment, even if the only other thing you do today is breathe. Sending good wishes your way…..
Here’s wishing you lots of knitting while watching movies today.
real progress…good for you! you make me laugh, a day off, that’s just too funny… a mom with a day off, never!