by Tish MacWebber | Feb 7, 2019 | Flash Fiction, Writing
Here I go again. I am starting over.
I have been working for over a month and a half to get to this day. Today I relaunch my website. It wasn’t a simple task for me. I am not trained for any of this. I am using The Easy Author Website; template two of three amazing options. The creator of The Easy Author Website and The Happy Writing Co, helped me to build it, I couldn’t have done it without her. Dionne and a few of my other friends have been very supportive of my journey here on the internet. Without their answers to my questions, it would not have been relaunched.
A website is never really done, is it? There is a risk of it becoming boring and people stop visiting. This is what we bloggers try to avoid. Losing our audience. We work hard to reach out and stay in touch with our frequent visitors, friends, family and supporters. Every blogger needs a support team. To the people who have patiently waited for me to get this show back on the road, thank you.
What has changed?
Many things have changed. I published my first novel in October 2018 and I have been working diligently to organically market it. Marketing is a must in the Indie Author world. To do it organically, without paying for advertising is how I am approaching it. Marketing on social media is tricky to navigate. I have learned about marketing on social media, and I am applying what I learn every day.
Which brings me to more news.
Here I go again. I am starting over.
I am currently working on building a full time writing career. Things changed in my life. I found myself with an opportunity to dive into this adventure with all of my gusto. My peers in the writing community assure me that I can earn a living by writing. It will be up to me to get it started and keep things moving smoothly. I didn’t plan for this to be the way things turned out. Now I can focus on what is important to me for the first time in a really long time. It is scary and new. It feels like the right move for me.
I am going back to the original blogging schedule for now.
Tomorrow, Trust Your Gut Thursday will be back. I have new material to write, for you to read tomorrow. The angry tomato will return for the weekend warrior series. I will be continuing the #Tishspiration Tuesdays. Things may look different, and changes will keep happening. I plan to keep blogging.
The Tish MacWebber Always Blinging…online store opened today!
The store is new on my website. Dionne came to my rescue again. Writing friends are the best. We help each other out. I ask lots of questions and usually, one person out there has the answer I need. I love the supportive writing communities I am active in.
In November, I won first place in the Kit Sora Flash Fiction Contest, sponsored by Engen Books. The name of my first place winning story is Love in a Bottle.
The story was received well in the different places I shared it.
People want to read more, they want to know what happened next. I didn’t know what to put in a newsletter. I have decided that it would be good to add more to this story in it. Every month, I will send a newsletter out, with a new part of this story, and in the future there will be new stories.
I took a chance this fall and paid admission to a prestigious short story competition.
The NYC Midnight Short Story Competition has 3 heats. I have submitted my first story. If I get to keep going, I am up for the challenge. They assign topics, genres and a character to write into your short story. I want to win and there are prizes. The best thing about it is that we all get feedback on our work. It will be priceless to get feedback on how to improve my writing skills.Timing is everything. I am hoping it is my time to shine. I am ready. Are you with me? Let’s go!
by Tish MacWebber | Feb 28, 2018 | Treasure Seeker Tuesdays
Hello Treasure Seekers! In Treasure Seeker Tuesday #21 Getting my BLING ON! I am going to talk about the other passion that I am following. It might have been a little bit neglected over the past several months, but I need to give the Bling some love and attention! I have some projects that have been adding up, and this week I am going to play with beads!
While I am writing my books, I am also making a collection of jewellery for each book. That is going to take up a bit of time, and I want to get my current projects all taken care of before I start head first into writing and designing for Book 1. I have started both…and I am back into writing. I have not gotten far with the spring cleaning, but that is for my Weekend Warrior to explain.
Designing jewellery is something that I am learning as I go. Just like the blogging, and the songwriting and the book writing. I am just doing it. I struggle more with the jewellery designing. I have to try things, and take them apart, and try not to waste anything, and try again. I am half Scottish, so I hate to waste anything. When I have to take something apart, I try really hard to not wreck the supplies. It is just what I do
Trial and error happens a lot more in the Blinging. When I write, I just write. I can edit, but I don’t always edit my writing. It depends on what comes out. I started making jewellery from following patterns from magazines. I played with colour. Now I work with a few designs I have created. I have found myself starting to draw out designs. That means I am thinking out the projects from start to finish. It is a huge accomplishment. In gamer terms, I have levelled up!
That means when I am ready to launch Collections for the books, they will be completely unique to my creative designs. Quirky, fun, whimsical and something I would wear myself. If I wouldn’t wear it, then that falls in a custom design and is being made for a specific person.
They say you should have a person that you choose as the ideal customer. I have someone in mind. She is a fictional character, from a TV show. If I was to share it here, then it might bias you as a potential customer. You might think that actress wears stuff that you wouldn’t wear. I am not sure that I have captured the essence yet. I am going to try and implement designing the new collections with her in mind. Maybe one day I will reveal the identity. Obviously, I wish for everyone to love what I create.
I have a friend that really supports my jewellery designs. I have made earring sets for her, as she has two piercings, and she has told me that she likes them to match. She has been my biggest supporter in the last few years, and my best customer. With her in mind, I make more than one type of jewellery. The kind she would wear, and the kind she would not wear. I do work for originality, and when I create a design and then figure out how it will work, it is really something to put it all together. That is why I am bringing the Bling on this journey. I know I can make it work!
#TreasureSeekerTuesday
by Tish MacWebber | Jan 17, 2018 | Treasure Seeker Tuesdays
Hello Treasure Seekers! I have news for you, and it is all good! I have finished the Jewellery Brand makeover Bootcamp, and I have had some wonderful new ideas come to mind.
I have been struggling to find a way to move my jewellery business here, to the website, in my online store, the Boutique (Coming soon!) Part of the reason was that I wasn’t sure how to remove my jewellery line from the store my friend offered space in. I was nervous to ask her about it because I didn’t want to have it be a reason for any hurt feelings. My friend was totally fine with my decision, and I think she was ready for me to make a change. I have been talking about adding it to the website store, and now I am closer to making that happen. I was happy that my friend is being supportive of me in this. I appreciated the time that my jewellery was for sale in her store, but as I have not had a large number of sales, I think we both knew it was time for me to try something different.
Next, I had to think about the Branding. I want it here, but there is so much time and thought spent already in my Author Branding. Tish’s Treasures just doesn’t seem to fit with the new website. I thought about different names, and combinations of names to make the launch of the online store fresh, and new. A part of me is sad to let go of the name Tish’s Treasures. Deep down, I knew that I was going to have to do this, though.
Before this Bootcamp, I never gave it any real thought, of how to do this. But I knew that it was what I wanted to do, despite experts telling me that it should be one or another, not both passions sharing the same website. I joined a thread within the Bootcamp, based on branding. I worked through my thoughts and ideas with one of the admins, who also tried to steer me away from my dream of making Bling | Blog | Books a real and effective tagline for my website.
During that brainstorming session, I hashed it all out in that thread. I couldn’t understand why someone else was telling me that my idea wasn’t going to work. But then, it dawned on me. I needed to make it work by changing the name and matching it to my website. When I asked about it from a different angle, the admin agreed that this idea could work. I figured it out.
I googled my idea. When Google asks you if you really meant something else, and you are looking for a unique name that is not currently in use, that is what you want to find. I had my answer.
I took my current logo for the website and changed a few letters. And just like that,
Tish MacWebber, Always Blinging…
became my new jewellery business name. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. It seems RIGHT. When I get that feeling, I rarely make any further changes. It happens a lot. I am firm when I finally make up my mind, no matter how long it takes me to make that decision.
Tish MacWebber, Always Blinging… New Logo, new jewellery business name.
I am in the process of changing it where I can. Facebook was surprisingly fast with the update.
Now comes the best part. When I move the jewellery over, any existing jewellery will be listed under Basic Bling. I am also planning a new line for the new website. I am going to launch a new jewellery line with every book launch. Book Bling will have several Collections, one for every book I write. HOW EXCITING WILL THAT BE? I am beyond excited to see this happen. I am planning the first collection already. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but it will be unique and designed with cat lovers in mind.
It has been a creative and exhausting week. I also launched a new contest this morning to celebrate the new jewellery business name. I have another contest planned for February. I am going to try and have the store open for February. If not at the beginning, then before the end of the month. I am still sorting out the details of what to do next, but at least I have a clear direction, and a plan to get me there.
I have been trying to get this jewellery business to be successful for years under the Tish’s Treasures name. Now that I have made some tough decisions, and changed the name to Tish MacWebber, Always Blinging…
I have high hopes for new successes with this change.
#TreasureSeekerTuesday
