100th Post: Updates, Maintenance & Lessons Learned

Today marks 100 posts here at QE.  It’s an important milestone for me.  With the exception of a single holiday and previous maintenance weekend, I’ve managed to provide new content each and every day.

More so, I’ve really busted my butt to provide in-depth content (around 1000 words each post) packed with external resources to enhance the information.  We’ve covered a lot of ground, and I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to do here with all of you.  I’ve learned a lot from our collaboration so far.

With that being said, it’s time for maintenance and some updates.   Having a 100 posts in the bank is stellar, but I need to ensure new arrivals to the page can navigate and find the resources they seek.  One thing I’ve learned from this journey is the more posts you have archived the harder sweeping updates can be.  To alleviate this I am going to take a weekend every month (the 1st weekend) and devote it to organizing the page.  This should ensure blog posts are categorized correctly and navigation is simple.

I also want to use those periods to study the analytics of my page.  I love talking about writing, but I want to be sure I’m covering subjects you all want to read about and that provide you the tools you need to improve your craft.  The best way of figuring this out is really taking some time to analyze my site statistics and content.  When you have 100+ posts this is time consuming.

During these maintenance periods I am going to be offering a poll.  This will allow me to collect feedback from all of you.  Outside of analyzing site statistics, this is the easiest way for me to know what information you are all craving and what elements I am forgetting to cover.

I started this site on June 6th and the page has grown drastically in readership thanks to all of you.  This is great, but it also presents new challenges.  The biggest challenge is one of time.

The more time I spend on my page, the less time I get to browse and interact on others.  I want to keep my fingers on the pulse of WordPress.  It’s the best tool I have to find out what people are interested in and what challenges they are facing in their writing.  This awareness allows me to generate relevant content.  Recently, I haven’t been able to find the time to do this.

To manage time, and my page, here are some of the changes I am implementing.  Daily posting is here to stay, but I’m going to manage and organize it a little better.

• Monday:  Book blurb day.  I’ve read more than twenty books on writing since I started this page.  Every now and then I toss together a collage and write a blurb about a book. (My “reads” category contains examples.)  It’s not really a review, but an insight about the content of the book.  Now that I have a nice stockpile of read material, I will start generating a collage and blurb every week.  Again, this is my way of offering you all the resources I can and populating the page with useful content.
• Tuesday: I will publish a new post like normal.
• Wasteland Wednesday should be a permanent entity on this page.  Even after Wastelander: The Drake Legacy publishes next year, it’s the first in a very long Wastelander series.  Unless I land a publisher who prevents me from continuing this, it’s here to stay.
• Thursday: I will publish a new post like normal. 
• Feature Friday.  I want to take a day each week and highlight a post from another blogger who is generating well-written and insightful writing tips.  It’s always disheartening to me when I find an informative post written about the craft that has been sitting for hours/days with no likes or comments.  If you are sitting there reading this and thinking, “Hey! He’s talking about me.”  Contact me and I will add you to my reblog list.  I am fortunate to have great readership here at QE, and if my success can propel others it’s a small way for me to give back.
• Saturday and Sunday will be my personal re-post days.  Recycling previous posts will help people new to the site or to WordPress connect with my older content.  It also helps me.  It allows me to continuously edit, improve, and add links to my archived material.  I learn a lot from my discussions with all of you, my work as an editor, and my labors as a writer.  I want to be sure my past posts reflect newfound knowledge and continue to be relevant.

As for the here and now, my next blog day will be this Wednesday.  I’m taking a two day celebratory vacation from the blog-o-sphere.  Then it’s back to business as usual.

Lastly, I want to thank all of you.  I never would have guessed my page would be able to resonate with so many people.  This collaboration we have has really energized my own writing and love of the craft.  I’m looking forward to continuing on with this writing journey together.  Until Wednesday, keep reading, keep writing, and as always – stay sharp!