It’s not that this week left me with nothing to write about. In fact, it was more like the opposite:
- My car broke down and I experienced the kindness of friends and strangers alike.
- I did something I’ve wanted to do since I was 15—I got a purple streak in my hair.
- I released my ultimate GitHub tutorial for people without programming backgrounds. I didn’t even know how to USE Git before May, so I’ve been researching this just as long. (Part one and Part two.)
But mostly, I spent a lot of time processing what I learned at a workshop for female entrepreneurs that I attended last Saturday and Sunday. Its teacher, Alexandra Franzen, is one of my favorite writers on the whole Internet and this was my first time meeting her.
Maybe you’re wondering how a professional writer like me got suckered into a writing workshop. The thing is, Alexandra’s brand of writing isn’t slightly like journalism. It’s about communicating your mission and clarifying your business, something I’m always struggling to do with Otaku Journalist. In fact, I’m probably the only one who sees this as a business since I’ve really only started to open up about how this blog makes money.
So I’ve spent the week thinking about what I want to do here. What can I offer my readers? How can I better entertain and inform you? I did a reader survey in January, but I know a lot has changed since then. So here’s what I’m working on:
- More in-depth blog posts on fandom and journalism topics that leave you with something to think about.
- Getting the rest of my digital guides out the door! I think I promised Covering Live Events in August, and now it’s October!
- Putting the finishing touches on products that will solve the problems readers email me about the most.
My whole journalism shtick is about transparency and authenticity, and I hope this post helps add the same traits to my blog. And thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing to read Otaku Journalist!
4 Comments.
Solving problems, huh? Reminds me of an editor’s view on what defines good articles. He said:
“Now, if something big happens, we’ll cover it. What do we define as big? Twitter’s IPO is not big to me. Twitter suddenly changing its algorithm to bury stuff you’re sharing so your customers can’t see it, and then saying, “Yeah that’ll be $50 to make sure they see it”, is something we’d cover. And if that sounds familiar, yes, this is pretty much what Facebook did not too long ago with their sponsored posts. That’s more important to me than the IPO. Twitter going public, as a standalone story, doesn’t matter. It matters if that IPO flops and they start to make changes that affect your ability to get stuff done.”
I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned!
@Tony, your comment means a lot. I try not to write a lot of personal stuff on the blog because I always think, “Does anyone care?” Sometimes it’s nice to be wrong =)
People do want to hear personal stories sometimes though. Maybe not always about yourself, but it can sell when positioned correctly.
Really love the purple streak!