THE WRITING ASYLUM

Bloggers, have you ever looked at your webpage on your phone?

Come on, it’s the 21^st century. Tannille shames herself. 

Let’s rewind like it’s the 20^th century… 

For the past month, I have been obsessed with Medium. I put my all towards being initiated into the “100 Club” (the magic follower number means you can apply to be paid if you’re from a country that is a USA brown noser — Australia qualifies).

Anyway, I’m pretty sure those closest to me are silently saying “Will you shut the fuck up about Medium already”. 

Medium is fantastic for many reasons, but what enticed me was the ability to repurpose my blogs’ content by reposting on Medium without Google search having a hissy fit over SEO (nerd stuff). 

Yes, two blogs because I enjoy whipping myself. The Story Cauldron is for fiction readers and the other, The Writing Asylum, is for writers who want to read the rants and musings of a writer descending into madness — I’m your gal.

I made the two-blog decision based on SEO and marketing purposes. I’m such a prissy purist, anyway. Medium seems forgiving, so I’m letting everything mix (I hope this doesn’t burn like a sandpapered crotch). Hell, I may even write some personal essays just for Medium readers at some point. Keep nagging.  

As I’ve just established, I’ve been anal about my blogs — this goes here, that goes there. I like them to be aesthetically pleasing and waste hours tinkering. In my mind, they are like electronic diaries — an extension of me. Medium takes choice away from us. Love it or hate it, the uniform look Medium offers makes life easy. Write and post the bitch. Oh, and for bleep’s sake edit before you post.

Reading on Smart Phones

My reading habits have changed. Bye-bye scrolling through the head fuckery commonly referred to as the news, and hello Medium. The point is, Medium is easy to read on the phone. I devour stories like I did the news. 

Glued to my phone, you know a quick read before bed or waiting for dinner, it occurred to me, I never bothered to design my blogs for a phone audience. I solely designed my pages on my laptop. Old school. Big mistake! Big! Huge!

Look at Your Blog on a Smart Phone, Does it Suck Balls?

On inspection, my fiction blog passed the Tannille test. The theme works and the designer obviously had mobile screens in mind. 

The Writing Asylum… FUGLY! Two box menus… ugh… I condensed content into one menu by using a dropdown menu for one of the tags. The dropdown kept staying open on larger screens. Insert your choice of a four-letter word here. Still FUGLY! In the end, I compromised and created a navigation page listing categories and tags. Now that’s thinking outside the box — rocket science. I am proud of my solution, like a kid fixing a problem on their own. Please don’t pat me on the head. I swear I will bite. 

The second phone issue I found on both blogs is the subscription button is pushed all the way to the bottom of the page. Damn-it. I created sign-up pages and added a link to the menu bar. More important than looks is readers finding the shiz they need. Phones are a thing now… although have you heard dumb phones are on the rise? Saving the world one brick at a time. 

Takeaway

Being a Medium writer and having access to a shitload of readers is making me step up my game online. Excellent, release the hounds. Oops wrong game.

Medium sparked motivation. The Writing Asylum has a new facelift (it takes quite a number of posts to establish an organic identity for a blog and now she feels like mine). I’m finding my voice — Queen of Snark (as my best writing buddy calls me). I’m having a blast unleashing The Muse on non-fiction. Not surprising because she took over The Story Cauldron. The Muse as a driving force means more content for potential famished readers. Because writing non-fiction doesn’t have to be as boring as bat shit. 

You can read all about my conversations with Queen of Snark, The Muse, here.

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If you’re wanting to check out Medium, please click here for my referral link (you know the drill, and thank you if you do).