The Journey Is the Reward

Blogging is exciting.  Blogging is creative.  Blogging is fun.  Blogging is not easy.  Blogging is a ginormous time suck.  Blogging is something that I really, really want to do.  And I want to do it well, sometimes to the point of perfection, which takes so, so much time for me to complete one post. -Ronda May 30, 2018

Welcome to the...WELCOME TO THE JOURNEY. 

The little literary nugget so eloquently expressed above, was the beginning of one of my blog drafts from back in 2018.  I just ran across it again today.  I've been at this game awhile, it seems.  I guess I'm not the quitter that I sometimes reckon myself to be.  That's a good thing.  Way to go Ronda.  

It seems my blog following has dropped considerably from the summer of 2018.  That's what happens when I don't share the links to my blog posts on social media. Surprisingly my blog posts from July of 2018 had 184, 143 and 136 views.  Not enough to earn any revenue, and to bloggers reaching millions of readers (like the Jonna Jinton's of the world although she's a YouTuber, but you know what I mean) these little numbers would be insulting.  But to me, little Ronda, hiding in my living room in North Carolina, that wasn't too bad.  In fact, I was very self-conscious of that many people's eyes on me.  It's probably part of the reason I pulled back....then.  But I am getting better about things now.

I'm getting better at self-expression, self-love, self-acceptance and well, self-promotion, I guess.  I am still getting comfortable with that one though.  Just this week I've attended multiple online "office hours" and networking events for marketing and masterminding my art and my other exciting new projects.

It seems that people like to see my art.  Throughout the history of this blog, posts featuring my artwork always got pretty good views, so I'll probably start doing more of that again.  My Purple Cow going to Maryland received 260 views and my Peaceful Sheep with a Georgia O'Keefe quote got 239.  Again, I'm not greedy, and I'm not out to make a ton of money from my blog, per se.  I'm here to inspire, to educate, to elevate and maybe on occasion, to entertain.  But more than that, right now, I am here to connect.  

I'm happy with where I think things are heading, although social media is a beast and marketing is a huge time suck when you are doing it all for yourself, even more ginormous than blogging if you don't know how to do it and do it right and do it well.  But I'm not alone in this struggle.  This week's zoom calls helped me realize either 1) I'm not the only one in this boat, or 2) we're all schmucks and being played because we are all so fucking desperate to make something meaningful out our lives that we have resorted to spending a ton of money to get what was promised to us as the thing that could save our poor, pathetic lives.  I'm gonna go with number 1.

Although now, five years after 2018, I realize I have still been semi-hiding my blog, only difference is that I'm just coming to you from the guest bedroom instead, what with all the video editing and writing and course taking.  I needed a bigger place to put my laptop.  But I can't afford to do that anymore.  So soon, in the next month or so, I will be launching a new website and after that I will finally get back to the promo and marketing that I have been supposed to be doing all along with my art website that launched last fall. 

I'm happy to announce that I will also be featuring this blog on my new website, so my content and philosophy will be able to be shared with a wider audience. This is all part of the journey.

And I am pretty dang sure that for at least the next 6 months I am in for a HUGE, freaking, life changing, work altering, game changing effort that if done properly, done thoroughly, done honestly, done patiently, done realistically, leads to a beautiful metamorphosis.  I will not be who I now am on the other side.  I will be changed.  I will be.  That is the one thing that is certain.  Who she is on the other side is still up for grabs, but I believe she will be better, stronger, even more real.  I've got divine support surrounding me.  I've got friends in high places who want to see this shit happen.

So, buckle up buttercups.  Things ARE changing.  I hope you will stick around for the ride.  In fact, I hope you will join me.  The journey is going to be brilliant!  The journey is going to be the prize.