Last Thursday was my eighth year anniversary of writing my blog. It was meant to be a record of the changes I would experience moving into the knitting industry. I went back and read some of the annual posts I wrote and it was very interesting for me.
I had joined a writing group which didn't work out. The group was completely focused on fiction and spent so much time being really polite to one another that they really failed in providing constructive criticism. A book writing friend told me he went through three groups until he found one which had the constructive criticism part working effectively.
I'm in a photography group for knitters. We are down to only three members but I still get extra practice with them. Last time we met, we spent time looking at styling and sharing designers we each like and why their photos work or don't work.
I'm no longer part of the Pro-knitters group for a long list of reasons however, the group is still running.
This year I had an amazing number of offers for other work. My wrist sprain meant I couldn't fully commit to any of them. I'm glad I didn't as I'm pretty sure deadline knitting would have been a really big problem.
I also had an offer to write for someone else. After last fall's social media storm out there about teacher rates. I read carefully and realized I didn't like the contract I was sent during the negotiation so I didn't move forward on the offer. I was also concerned about the time commitment it would have required. That link also discusses why I'm teaching and doing talks less frequently.
The other ironic thing about being offered work writing is that it arrived just as I started thinking about how much time should I spent blogging. My husband is beginning to look towards retiring (no date at this point). I know that will be a period of transition and I expect life to change significantly. I have posted three times a week almost without fail for eight years. Will I want to continue writing as often? I really don't know so it's something to ponder.
This post got a lot of views on the topic of compensation and also had the advantage of helping me sort out my priorities.
The interviews are still going strong. This year so far I've focused mainly on Canadians who are part of a KAL and I'm fast closing in on 400 posts.
My collaboration with Signature Yarns continues and works well. I get to work with gorgeous yarns and it's a great deal of fun bouncing design ideas off of someone else.
Here's a few more links to the first post and some of the anniversary posts.
2009 First post -Monday, June 8, 2009
2012
2013
2015
2016
Happy blogiversary!!
ReplyDelete~Marilyn