M.L. BLACKBIRD

Let’s talk about schedule, or, as I like to call it: Bonus Monday fella!

Given that this month we had our usual four-week schedule already, I thought that I might use this bonus Monday for something special… like actually explaining what the schedule is!

The topics this blog talks about

There is one main subject this blog is about: “How can we be better writers?”.

To tackle such complex topic I decided to split it into three parts:

• Reviews: the best way to learn how to write is to read other people’s writing. I believe this to be true but I like to extend this concept. Because of this, I try to consume every story I can, whatever the format. I am a big believer that we can learn a lot from different subjects (the post from last week gave some indications of this). This is why I spend time reviewing books (of course) and also movies, comic books and video games.
• Writing: Of course, I am going to talk about writing…duh! I spend most of my free time reading about writing, watching videos about writing then the most logical thing is to spend some time also to write about writing!
• Marketing: You haven’t really written a book till someone reads it. No, your mother doesn’t count (nor it does any other member of your family or friends). Because of this, I think writers should concentrate on improving their platform because again: you need people to read your books! Also, I may be not entirely romantic, but I consider blogs about blogging as part of this topic.

The schedule

Let’s put this stuff on a calendar!

We have three topics and four weeks per month, on top of that, I am way more productive during weekends and it just happens that Monday morning is the best day for blog posting in general. Given this, here comes the schedule.

• First and Third Monday of the month: a blog post with the review of a story. In a rotation: a book, a game, a comic and a tv show/movie.
• Second Monday: a blog post on writing.
• Fourth Monday: a blog post on marketing and blogging.

And what are you going to do when a month has five Mondays?

Well, I have to say, I didn’t really plan about that at the start. Recently though, I found myself thinking about how could I use this opportunity that the Earth’s revolution (and the Gregorian Calendar) has given me. I finally decided to use this time to improve myself, that is why, whenever a month will have a fifth Monday, I will post a short story in English.

I mostly write in Italian so I think this will be good for me and, hopefully, for you.

The additional schedule

I don’t think this can be enough for a busy audience can’t it?

This is why, since the start of November I will fill-up another two slots in the schedule:

• On the last Wednesday of the month, I am going to post my writing goals for the upcoming month – this will keep me real on my commitments and you informed on my progress. In the same post, I’ll give you an update on how I did on my previous goals.
• On the first Wednesday of the month, I will post a story haul. I consume way more media that I can review, but I’d like you to know more about what I am going to read, watch or play.

A present for NaNoWriMo

Last but not least, November is going to be an exciting month for everybody with the passion of writing. It’s NaNoWriMo!

For this reason and as a token of appreciation to all the people who are following me here and on social media, I am going to post a series of short stories I wrote while participating in a writing contest.

You are going to get one of these every Friday for the whole duration of November. Isn’t this great?