How & Why To Write A Blog

 While I come by writing naturally, I didn't come by blogging naturally, it's been an evolution.  Recently I received an email a viewer of the Kyle Phoenix television show asking me why I hadn't written more on this blog (it's existed since 2008), that I could be using it to fill in some of the informational blanks that the show couldn't answer in a half an hour.  Then a friend and I were talking about a manuscript I have in editorial turnaround (that's when you've finished writing the story sent it to the editor/publisher (I'm one of the publisher's---Business Rule: Own Your Products) and they send it back with marketing edits and I do alterations and then I send it back and then they send it back with the editors new edits and then I send it back until we agree it's ready for publication---hence the term turnaround) and he suggested I post some of my old published articles and short stories as a way to invigorate this blog.  So I took the viewers and friends advice and really committed to writing more often but it is alot more work than simply writing.  A lot more.

What I've learned so far is to organize what I have to say---right now I have another 300 of these articles in Draft Form (on a range of subjects suggested by you the reader).  My process is I generally first add textual pieces and fun or sexy pictures to them.  I found that if I edit too much upfront it doesn't come off in the natural casual tone I'm generally aiming for in this.  I want it to be as close to how I speak if you were sitting right with me.  Also the Blogger composing screen only does so much spell checking and grammar alerting so I often have to return which a clean eye awhile later to do edits.  I start out simply saving essay ideas and headlines, then I drop in additive pieces (text, art, pics) then I try to clean up, and strengthen the essay.  The number I aim to post is about 10 a week, purposefully crafting them to coincide with the television show and YouTube videos.  I publish it, distribute it to a few close friends to get some feedback and then generally do some touch ups in the first week of a posting.

Distribution
I've recently learned how to include links to the www.kylephoenixsite.com, the television show simulcast on Thursdays at 12 midnight, the podcasts and then send it out by Twitter.  I've been experimenting with a deeper symmetry between all of these media types and trying to make sure that the information is useful and accessible in only 1 or 2 mouse clicks from every entrance point.  A lot of you readers have signed up for the e-newsletter through the website (Thank you!) so I'm working on how to send out information all while producing new segments.  It's a lot!  This month there were close to 10,000 people from all over the world signing up.  I've learned a deep sense of responsibility to not only produce useful information but also remain true to my own voice and thoughts.

I would say that's the two biggest things to blogging: maintaining your voice and sending it out to the world.  I use email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and YouTube for initial distribution of each blog.  My goal is to upload one piece of media and have it disassemble to multiple formats as well as to as many people/venues as possible.  As of now I'm up to close to 4 million people (!) throughout the planet from the tv show,blogs, YouTube (and other video sites), Facebook, and Twitter.  So I'm really working on how to codify that into one distribution method and I think I'll have that by January 2013 pretty much set up.

Content Is King

Content and amount of blogs to release a week are also the next big factors.  The television show and online videos give me a content warehouse of ideas plus the email responses and comments I get to both of those venues helps immeasurably on what to write.  I also have about 20 to 100 books and magazine articles on a lot of the topics---I try and distill it or include an Amazon link to the item in the blog itself so that the reader can check it out indepthly for themselves.  All of the layering controls how many blogs I produce in a timeframe, if you're doing this you really have to be conscious of your time and how long creation of content takes.

While I want the exposure to the work and the interconnection/interplay that happens I also don't want to saturate cyberspace with too much new content without giving it a chance to be digested.   But that means that sometimes though there are prime releases of articles and then a handful of reviews that are published but I don't immediately push it through all of the above channels at once.  I also limit the amount of text in reviews to only 1 or 2 paragraphs or about one to two minutes if read aloud/posted in a video.  Time, time, time.

You, The Reader Are My Editors
Thinking about the reaction from a blog has proven to be another factor.

The most important factor in all of the above planning, is you, the reader.  I'm always looking at online posts, bouncing ideas off of friends and colleagues, asking groups I facilitate for their input or thoughts so that I can craft the best item, essay, or show.  Having 20 years of writing experience and being published all over the country prior to this has given me some experience with submitting something to not only readers but more importantly an editor.  A good editor generally pushes a writer to consider clarity in their ideas so that you, the reader can not only understand me but on some level relate.

And finally I spend time considering how much of myself to put into the blogs, how much is genuinely interesting or useful, how to present my self, my interior self and experiences in a way that you can not simply relate to but also see as a human being.  I don't want to just be someone dispensing thoughts and advice and knowledge without there being a real person with strengths and flaws behind it. I originally created the television show and it's current subsidiaries to focus on men of color, particularly MSM.  Now that's expanded because of those initial viewers and readers wanting more information about education, finances, investments, entrepreneurial ventures, relationships, parenthood, race issues, motivation, politics, religion.  And that's where Kyle Phoenix and all the things I do is headed, focusing on your life success.

Thus far, at almost the end of 2012, four years since I started this---that's my process, what I've learned and why to do it.  I hope that you take advantage of the internet to share your thoughts and work and ideas and experiences in cyberspace, it's an amazing experience that has brought me friends, adventures and yes, even jobs from all around the world.

Enjoy!

Thank you,
Kyle Phoenix
kylephoenixshow@aol.com
http://kylephoenixsite.com/
Thanks and enjoy! You can Like Us on Face Book or Follow Us on Twitter!  Don't forget to watch The Kyle Phoenix Show on Channel 56 (Time Warner), 83 (RCN), 34 (Verizon) and the Thursday/Friday 12am/midnight simulcast on http://kylephoenixsite.com/