Right, so… hi, it’s me, Tyler D. I’ve had some more time to think, and I realized something: I’ve been overcomplicating things. I was so focused on fixing one problem that I accidentally created an even bigger problem. Now, instead of one semi-active site, I have two rarely active sites. Why did I think that would help me?
My logic at the time was that dividing my posts between domains would help keep things more consistent… but why was I so worried about that in the first place? It’s not giving me more consistency, it’s just sacrificing one kind of consistency (time) for another (style)… and it’s not like I could make up for that with sheer content volume. Messing with my upload schedule was exactly what got me into this mess in the first place.
So… what now? Well… for one, I’m going to retire Typing DeWords. I won’t delete the site (yet), but from now on, I’ll be posting exclusively here on Tyler DeWriter. That, of course, includes my poetry. The Poetry Compilations will not be returning. Instead, I’ll continue to post my poems individually. It takes less time to do it that way, and it should also help a bit with the post frequency issue.
There’s still the matter of the style consistency problem, but between that rock and the hard place that is a split identity crisis, I’ll take the rock any day. I’ll just kick it down the road for now, and worry about sorting out this mess first.
I’d also like to refocus my priorities. First thing: forget the scheduling. It’s one thing when someone else sets the deadlines, but whenever I try to give myself deadlines, it never seems to end well… so I just won’t. No need to rush, I’ll just post when I want to.
Second: downplay the formatting. I’ve noticed that I tend to (for lack of a better word) filibuster my writing time on trying to make things look nice. I don’t want to ignore formatting entirely (for obvious reasons), but it’s clear to me that if I want to start uploading more often, I need to cut down on that bad habit of mine.
Third: rethink the way I review things. I like to write about the things I’ve seen, and draw inspiration from them. That being said, I’m admittedly a terrible conversationalist. Listing pros and cons is easy… but if I can’t explain why people should care in the first place, then what’s the point? The way I’m doing things right now, it just feels like I’m adding nothing of value to the table, and that everything I say has already been said at some point by someone else.
I haven’t quite settled on anything yet, but I might move away from in-depth reviews, and shift towards something like free-form discussions. Something where I’m not constrained by formatting or judging limits, where I can just talk without feeling like I need to impress or convince anyone of anything. It’s not like I’m being paid to do this… so why am I pressuring myself so much? Even now, I’ve been sitting here for half an hour, just re-writing the same few sentences over and over again, in an effort to make myself sound coherent.
Perhaps, this whole time, I’ve been approaching things with the wrong mindset. Perhaps, instead of focusing on making things look good, I should instead try to nail down what it is I want from myself, then go from there.
I know there probably won’t be many people who read this, but if you’ve made it this far, thank you for your time. I hope you can learn something from my failure, and that you can avoid falling into the same traps I did.
Tyler DeWriter 