This is my one-hundredth diary at Daily Kos. Since I started writing, that's not quite two a week. It's not what anyone around here would call prolific, like kos at almost 13,000 diaries, or even Joan McCarter at 6,700 and some. Still, I've had some things to say.
When I look at my full list, I can see a quarter of them have been about quilts and quilting. Many of those were published through the DK Quilt Guild. Eighteen more are Daily Bucket diaries for Backyard Science. I find this kind of funny, as the more regular writers of bucket diaries are people with many years' experience closely observing nature. Some are naturalists by profession, or otherwise scientists. I am none of these things, but merely enjoy being outside and observing the world around me. The diaries (my own but especially others') have taught me so much. It's been a true pleasure to be embraced so warmly in the group.
A handful of my diaries have been political, but there are so many great writers who do that so well, my voice will rarely have some unique slant on the subject. I did enjoy writing Sheldon Adelson's Big Bet, after speaking with my son about Adelson's expected value of political contributions.
Jim and I have written several together. Of course, only one of us can take the by-line, and it isn't always clear which of us "should" have it. We laughed a lot when we wrote Our Librul Holiday Letter, imagining actually sending it to the conservatives we know. More significant was the one on the AIDS Quilt Touch Application.
Two of my favorite diaries are about Iowa. Neither of us was born here. We moved here more than 20 years ago so I could attend grad school, and when we did, we assumed we would move on when I was done. Yet here we are, not because we got stuck, but because we choose to live here. My very first diary was Ten Things You Didn't Know about Iowa. Several month ago I added the homage THIS is Iowa.
I may be most proud of one of my recent diaries. Based on quality of writing, the diary itself is nothing to brag about. But with it I helped establish a group, Hunger in America, to raise awareness of the problem and potential solutions, and to encourage advocacy on behalf of solutions. We've just started, but I look forward to the insights of those in the group as well as outside of it. If you're interested in joining us, please let me know.
"Success" is a pretty hard thing to measure when it comes to writing. We have various stats for comments, recs, views (remember views??), whether or not a diary hit the rec list or Community Spotlight. How they've done by the stats seems uncorrelated with how much time they took to write. Some diaries have taken me days, even weeks to write, to find the words and tone I wanted to use. Others I jotted off in a few minutes. There are so many other variables that impact readership, including the news of the day and how impassioned others are about it.
I've had a few on the rec list, though I'm not really a "rec list writer." And Rescue Rangers have deemed my work worthy of the Community Spotlight a few times. It's fun and flattering when it happens. But really, success has to come from my own satisfaction, not from tags, or from statistics. As an old hand now, I'll indulge in giving a little advice:
- Write for yourself, about what interests you. Don't try to write for the flavor of the day. Don't worry about stats or whether or not you hit the rec list or spotlight.
- Edit. Give readers every chance to understand your point of view. One trick that helps me a lot is to read my words out loud. With this method I catch a lot of typos and other clumsy writing. If you need help with editing, ask. The New Diarists group is willing and able to help both new and more experienced diarists.
- Be a generous host. Encourage readership and comments by sticking around and responding.
- Be a generous guest. Read and comment constructively in others' diaries, including any of several community diaries. This can help you gain name recognition and build a following.
- Don't get discouraged. Yours is a unique voice and you can add value to the community with it. Keep writing. Writers write.
Thanks to everyone who reads my work. Thanks to those who "follow" me, and the confidence that implies. Thanks especially to Jim, who always encourages me, often makes suggestions, and occasionally co-writes with me.
And thanks to you for reading this rather self-indulgent diary today.