The Writing Base

Now that January is over, I can safely say that this month has been great! Of course, this was also the month I was ready to pull my hair out and bang my head against the wall - neither of which I did by the way.

Trials:

I'll begin with the trials. It was a strange month to say the least.

Blogging everyday: Yes, it's a trial. I attempted NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) back in November. The idea was to post every single day. I attempted it along with Sal, and managed to do great. Then for some god forsaken reason, I wondered out loud about attempting it again in January on my personal blog and before I knew it I was posting everyday along with a friend. I had no inspiration and absolutely no wish to blog everyday after the first week. I had too much work and what used to be an outlet became a frustration.

Sal warned me against it but I'd already given my word. I stopped after day 28th. Completely. I know it was just three days short but I couldn't bring myself to spew dribble on a blog that used to be my haven.

Deadlines: I had trouble meeting deadlines this month. Not that I was late. But meeting a deadlines was a trial. I had to push myself really hard to complete the work on time. Has it ever happened to you guys?

Working on side projects: Because my work wasn't on schedule, I felt guilty even thinking about my personal side projects. Yet they seemed so much more interesting! They still do! I can't wait take them live!

Triumphs:

Payday: In my short freelancing careers, this month has been the biggest earner. And no I'm not earning anything substantial but its still more than I've earned in the past months so I'm feeling very proud!

CSS: I couldn't make head or tails of it. Then I decided to just do it. I bought a domain, hosted the blog with the guidance of a friend and uploaded a theme. Another friend made me a header which made it look uber cool and suddenly everything just had to be perfect even if it meant I had to learn it from scratch. I read countless tutorials. Bugged designer or CSS savvy friends till I learned enough to tweak/customize a template on my own.

Learning SEO: January has been a month of learning and pushing myself. I took a risk and bought Remarkablogger's WordPress SEO Secrets. And have to say - so far I haven't been disappointed. It's money well invested.

Got rejected: I applied for a gig for an e-learning blog. Since it's something I'm interested in and felt I was qualified for. Outside of school and college, my learning has all been online and I'll also be taking a few courses online, so I knew I could do a good job of it. I sent them an email pitch and haven't heard back. But thanks to Google Analytics I know they checked me out. That  feels like a triumph. It tells me I made it past the initial stage. They decided to check me out. The fact that I didn't get chosen is of no consequence. There is a huge chance of someone applying who had a lot more experienced than me.

But they checked me out! :D Why am I taking it as a triumph? Something in my pitch must have been interesting to them for them to not just delete it. I now have some idea of how to write an email application that would attract potential clients.

That's the summary of my month. How's yours been?

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