Welcome to another meeting day of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (#IWSG). I wish I could share that I’ve been doing well in the writing department. Well, in some ways I have, but I still haven’t written the story I intended to write for Chicken Soup for the Soul. I’m not even sure I will, as somehow it seems so insignificant right now that we’re not in lockdown anymore and I can see my husband again. When I had the COVID scare a little over two weeks ago, I did want to write, but couldn’t find the motivation really.
That being said, in other ways I did pretty well writing-wise. I decided to join #Blogtober20 at the last moment. Of course, I couldn’t join earlier, as I didn’t know about the challenge until last week. So far, I’m doing well, writing a post each day. I’m not always sticking to the prompts, but that isn’t required.
On to the monthly optional question. The question is whether you consider yourself a working writer and, if so, what it means. Or if you consider yourself a hobbyist or aspiring writer, what that means to you.
I obviously am a hobbyist writer. I cannot even say that I’m an aspiring writer, because I haven’t submitted a piece in years. In fact, the only piece I ever submitted was the one accepted into the anthology on typed communication by autistics in 2015.
I did at one point list my blog as my place of employment on Facebook. Now I don’t, because I don’t want my family to read it. Not that they most likely will, and of course they can still find me if they truly want to.
Being a hobbyist writer doesn’t mean I don’t have goals. I mean, I participate in #Blogtober20 and the goal for that challenge is to write a blog post each day of the month. I also during the rest of the year have somewhat of a rule that I need to post at least twice each week. I don’t have set days to publish a post, but if I haven’t written anything for a few days, it tends to feel awkward.
Being a hobbyist writer also doesn’t mean I don’t care how my writing is doing. I got really excited when, last week, I got lots of comments on a few posts. I also feel disappointed when I get only one or two comments on a post. I love seeing my stats go well. I don’t use Google Analytics anymore, because I was struggling with it and didn’t want to pay the money for having it on my WordPress.com blog. However, my WordPress stats do mean something to me.
A Multitude of Musings 
Over on Blogger you could integrate Google Analytics, but I never understood them.
I like the “aspiring” writer – surely you either write or you don’t?
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Yes, I know Blogger has Google Analytics integration for free, but I never really liked Blogger or Google Analytics much.
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Does it look different in WordPress, then?
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No, Google Analytics looks the same with WP as with Blogger, at least as far as I know. I meant to say that I find both Blogger and Google Analytics hard to use, so there’s no reason for me to transfer. (Of course, with the block editor, for me WP is harder to use nowadays too, but so far I can still avoid it.)
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Google Analytics is too complicated for my liking.
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Same for me. I tried it for a bit when I had the Premium plan on WP, but eventually downgraded to Personal as I didn’t like Google Analytics and had no other reason for being Premium.
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That makes sense.
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Hobby writing is much more fun that trying to struggle making a living writing, that’s a tough profession.
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Agree 100%. Plus if I made more than a certain amount of money, my benefits would be cut.
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There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a hobbyist writer.
Sending hugs!
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Thank you! 🙂
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I don’t know if labels are such a good thing. I’m a writer. You’re a writer. If it fills us up, isn’t that enough? 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
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Thank you and I agree. And by fill us up, I assume you mean emotionally.
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I do.
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I agree with Anna 🙂
Ronel visiting on IWSG day Revamp Your Backlist
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My wordpress stats mean a lot to me too! I like to be doing well getting a lot of views! I would also consider myself a hobbiest writer. xo
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Your stats are awesome! I’m so glad you enjoy writing.
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