For a while there, I really didn't think I was going to meet my goal of growing my Facebook page to 500 likes by my birthday. I was feeling a bit disheartened and lamenting the fact that I ever set such a goal.
But, you all came through for me! So many of you shared my page and encouraged your friends to hit the like button that the page hit 500 just before midnight and was up to 504 by time I got online on my birthday.
THANK YOU!
I am thrilled to have reached 500 page likes and to have so many people interested in following my work.
Facebook is still, by far, where the majority of traffic to my published pieces originates. So, it is important to me to maintain and grow that page.
Unfortunately, Facebook makes it terribly difficult to get me work seen, even by those who have chosen to like and follow my page. They want me to pay to "boost" my posts before they will show them to all of the page's followers. Without paying real money, even a post with a good amount of interaction is only seen by a fraction of the people who follow the page.
It is beyond frustrating.
Which brings me to my latest endeavor, my mailing list. I am truly excited about putting this together, even though I know it will be even harder to get people to sign up their email than it is to get them to like a Facebook page. But, I am hopeful because if they do, it means all of my links will be delivered, once every few months, directly to the people who are interested in seeing them, without any algorithms standing in the way.
This week, I published "Every Personal Essay I’ve Ever Written is Another Bullet Point on a “Random Things About Me” Listicle: Exploring 38 Personal Essay Topics on My 38th Birthday." It ended up being the perfect post to introduce myself, and the topics I write about, to all the new page followers – even my mom said she learned some new things about me!
I made a new Instagram image about how I am proud to be aging, too.
InspireMore syndicated my piece about being a cancer survivor, just in time for my official remission anniversary – 13 years!
I also saw that my piece about writing with anxiety that was syndicated on The Mighty last week, was also picked up by Yahoo! Lifestyle.
A couple weeks ago I mentioned sending out several queries, including one to a publication I had not yet worked with; I am happy to report I received an acceptance for that one and will be working with another publication come April!
And I finished a new poem last night. I started it weeks ago and finally found the right words. I may try querying it for publication in the coming week.
