Writer’s Log: Quarterly Review (Q3 Year 1)

Measuring success or measuring joy?

It’s the end of my third quarter and I’ve taken another look at the data to see how the website is progressing.

The goals for my third quarter were:

Write and post what I want to write
Generate traffic/Be consistent in my writing commitment
Post an original fiction

These are not SMART goals as I’m not planning to set myself hard targets to be kind to myself while my health is in recovery.

My Third Quarter Data Highlights

Q3 Views: 48908, Average views per day: 532 (Q2 comparison: Views, 50026, Average, 544)

Q3 Visitors: 11483, Average visitors per day: 125 (Q2 comparison: Visitors 10218, Average, 111)

Q3 Subscribers: 422, Overall: 1319 (Q2 comparison: Subscribers, 555)

Q3 New Posts: 20, New Post Views: 5801) (Q2 comparison: New Posts, 15, New Post Views: 3007)

Articles	5	365
Fanfiction	5	5046
Fiction	0	0
Poetry	1	64
Reviews	9	326

Most popular new post: A Jump to the Left, 2090 views across 3 parts

Most popular tag: Harry Potter

Q3 Top 5 Website Stories Overall:

Harry Potter – A Jump to the Left
Harry Potter – A Step to the Right
Harry Potter – A Framed Investigation
Harry Potter – A Convenient Arrangement
Harry Potter – A Marauder’s Plan

I’m beginning to sense a theme…

What does the data tell us about our performance?

Write What I want to Write

I posted a lot in Q3 which I was pleased about, especially the 3 Q2 Big Moxie projects: The Murder at the Abbey, Family Bonds, and A Framed Investigation. The first and last were very much murder mystery investigations which is where my original writing is headed.

The reviews do not get a lot of views but I enjoy doing them. However, as I have started to focus more of my time in August to setting up my own business and will continue to do that for the rest of the year, I can see that if I need to sacrifice something, it will be the reviews. While I enjoy doing them, I’m also not passionate about them in the same way as I am about fiction and poetry.

I have managed to do a lot of professional writing over the past month and that has also been satisfying in a different kind of way. I do feel like writing non-fiction is ‘work’ whereas fiction is ‘joy.’

Post an original fiction

Kind of following on from the ‘write what I want’ and ‘joy’ – I wrote an original short story (21k) which I will be posting up at the weekend. My original plan was to post it this weekend, but I was hosting people and just did not have the spoons to make any post. At the end of my Q2 review I had this goal as ‘Write an original story’ which I must have changed in my goal journal to ‘post.’ I count this goal as semi-achieved, although the writing of it was joyful and definitely underscores that this is what I’d prefer to be doing every day.

Generate Traffic/Be consistent in my writing commitment

Traffic moved in a steady flow this quarter, peaking when I posted fanfiction. There was a spike at the end of June when the 3 Q2 Big Moxie projects went up, a spike at the end of July when I posted up the 2nd Chapter of A Jump to the Left for subscribers, and a spike mid-August when the full edited version of A Jump to the Left went available to all.

I still kept forgetting Memory Monday, but taking a relaxed approach and posting a memory during the week was a lot better and meant that I was able to do this. That said, referrals coming in from tumblr were very low overall.

Is this a good performance?

Weirdly, views went down from Q2, even though I was consistently putting up more new posts. This is because what I was posting (reviews) was not as interesting as fanfiction and Q2 did have the continued traffic from Evil Author Day.

Overall, I’m pleased with what I achieved, especially June involved a funeral and the end of July was horrendous on a personal level.

While I don’t have specific subscriber goals or donation goals, the website made progress on these fronts too. I received my very first donation in July, and just knowing with each donation that people enjoy my writing enough to support me in my pursuit of it is a joy to me.

And really joy is why I consider this quarter to be very successful. I found joy in my writing and that is what is most important to me.

What’s next?

I am focused on my business set-up primarily over the next quarter and I will be focused in November on the original novel which has now been completely plotted. My aim is to look at publishing early next year so lots to do!

I am currently planning out my Q3 Big Moxie fic which I aim to post at the end of September, and writing another original story. I also would like to get a couple of Stargate Aftershocks stories done this side of Christmas as this is the other major WIP project that is still outstanding for me.

My goals for this next quarter are:

Write what I want to write
Post original fiction
Generate traffic through consistency

Once again, wish me luck – and please don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe and share to help the website. Any donations will also be very appreciated.

Storytime with Rachel F Hundred