I’ve always been obsessed with the structure of things.
When I was younger and shoved into learning disability classes for dyslexia, something clicked: I saw the importance of being able to string words together.
By becoming fixated on syntax — from the way letters went together to form words to how words went together to form sentences, paragraphs, and stories — I was able to overcome some of the negative effects of dyslexia.
I found comfort in writing, even though it didn’t come easy.
Why I Love Comic Books
The first thing I ever wrote for publication was a comic book story for an independent publisher.
I loved the structure of comic books (I always will). I loved how big a story could be, stretching out over years if you were lucky to keep going. But more than that, I loved how those big story lines were comprised of smaller story lines contained in individual issues. I loved how I had to think about page breaks and what happened on each page. I loved how I had to think about each panel and what went inside.
Those panels were the building blocks that gave me the foundation to move on to other writing: screenplays, novels, and articles.
Enter WordPress
When I started The Juggling Writer, I decided to use WordPress to manage the content I create. I’m very lucky to live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex — where we have a great WordPress Meetup Group.
My mind is not the most organized thing; WordPress helps me keep my online content organized. It helped me keep my podcast organized as well.
When I started podcasting my first novel, Hell Comes With Wood Paneled Doors, I noticed something: The Juggling Writer, my LinkedIn profile, and my personal site all started seeing more traffic.
Sequential Content
The Hell Comes With Wood Paneled Doors podcast gets several times the traffic of The Juggling Writer, my LinkedIn profile, and my personal site combined! More than that, new people find the podcast every week and make their way through the 21 episodes. The growth of my podcast — a sequential story that keeps people coming back — steadily increases, and some of the listeners have spilled over to my other sites.
Seeing this made me think about sequential content online and how it’s worked for me. I noticed when I posted a week-long series on The Juggling Writer, traffic during those weeks increased. I noticed when I started posting stories to my personal site that people moved from my About page to my stories (and now on to some of the short stories I have on Amazon.com). I even started thinking about the technical writing I do to pay the bills. The documentation I’ve written that people have thanked me for writing isn’t a white paper or a proposal — it’s been sequential writing (procedures) that helped them do something.
Next Month
On March 26, I’ll be giving a presentation about sequential content to the Dallas/Ft. Worth WordPress Meetup Group. (You can RSVP for the presentation here.)
I’ll discuss how WordPress can be used to organize all the Internet has to throw at it and how we can all use sequential content to keep people coming back to what we’re all doing online.
It will be great giving something back to one of the most helpful (and friendly) user groups I’ve ever been a part of. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll swing by, listen, and ask some questions.
The DFW WordPress group has definitely been a huge help. Not only have I been able to learn more about WordPress (not to mention figure out a few things that were giving me trouble), but they’re so friendly. That was one of the biggest reasons I decided to use WordPress for my new website — because there is a great group of helpful, friendly people in the area who share what they know about it!
Good luck with your presentation next month!
Cynthia,
I’ve learned so much about WordPress in the year or so that we’ve been going to the meetups. More than that, though, I’ve found it very nice to be around people fired up about what they’re doing.
As a writer and a member of a writing group I love, I have support there. I have invaluable support from you and other people who care about me. But I’ve come to love being around people who are excited about what they are doing online, even though most of the people at the meetup aren’t doing the kinds of things online that I’m doing.
Hey, i think there’s a blog post in this reply…
A bit quiet around here lately.
Paul,
Since upgrading to the latest version of WordPress, I’ve been unable to post entries. I can write them, but saving them and posting…no luck. I haven’t had time to troubleshoot things to see if it’s a conflict with the latest version of WordPress and the theme I use, a plugin issue, or something else.
I started a new job last week and have been busy with that. Now that I’m settling in, I hope to tinker with fixing the site this week.
I hope all’s well with you. Thanks for the nudge; I hope all your writing is going well!
Don’t know if you’ve ever seen Rod Duncan’s blog, Author Intrusion, but he is also a writer who is dyslexic. I’ve read one of his novels. It was compelling and well characterized.
http://rodduncan.blogspot.com/