How Starting a New Blog Can Help You Find Your Audience
by Marcia Kester Doyle
I had just started menopause and wanted to reach out to
other women who were sharing the same experience.
My intention when I started “Menopausal Mother” was not for money but exposure for future writing endeavors.
How I Discovered that Writing Humor was My Niche
I have always been a fan of Erma Bombeck’s writing. When I started writing humorous stories about the antics that go on in my family, it was my father who encouraged me to publish the stories.
Several people pointed out that my humor was similar to Bombeck’s, and that gave me the confidence to share my stories in the form of weekly blog posts.
Humor has always been my strong point, and honestly, I enjoy writing it far more than the deeply personal essays that have been featured in places like The New York Times. I have struggled with depression and anxiety most of my life, but humor helps me stay grounded.
Marcia enjoying some baby cuddles with her one-year-old granddaughter.
Why I Decided to Put My Blog Posts Into a Book
A year into blogging, I decided I wanted to put a collection of my best blog posts together in one humor book about midlife, menopause, and aging.
I hired an editor and a PR person who helped me navigate my way around publishing houses, agents, and building a strong reader platform on social media. My goal was to bring humor into the lives of women who struggled with midlife issues and menopause.
When these women reached out to me privately on my Facebook page to discuss their difficulty in handling the unexpected changes in their lives, I was motivated to share my experience with them to assure them that they were not alone.
If You Have a Post that Goes Viral…
I had no idea [my Huffington Post article] would catch on so quickly. [It went viral.]
I was still fairly new to blogging. I wrote about something a bit controversial—how teens and young adults these days feel entitled and ungrateful.
The essay received a lot of push back from angry parents, and many of the reader comments were cruel. But the attention the article received opened the door to several opportunities for me—podcasts, guest posts blogs, and radio shows, so in the end, it was worth it.
My advice to writers who have posts go viral? DON’T READ THE COMMENTS.
The Secret to Getting Lucrative Writing Assignments
The most lucrative assignments are through well-known sites like the NY Times, AARP, Washington Post, and many more.
I spend each day researching sites that might be a good fit for my writing and I write drafts specifically tailored to them.
The secret is to never stop pitching!
Advice for a Young Writer: Persistence is Key
Persistence is key. Writing makes you vulnerable to criticism, so you need a tough skin to handle the rejections—there will be a lot of them.
Pat yourself on the back though for putting your work out there. Research the websites you’d like to see your work in and pitch, pitch, pitch! Have faith that sooner or later, you’ll get published.
The only way to keep a writing career alive is to be persistent and to KEEP WRITING.
Put aside a few hours every day to write; shut off your cell phone, ignore the lure of social media and focus on your writing.
As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. If it’s your passion, never give it up.
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Marcia Kester Doyle is the author of the humor book, Who Stole My Spandex? Life In The Hot Flash Lane, and the voice behind the midlife blog, Menopausal Mother. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, The Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Woman’s Day, and House Beautiful, among others.
For more information on Marcia and her work, please see her website, Menopausal Mom blog, and Amazon author page, or connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.
Who Stole My Spandex?: Blogger Marcia Kester Doyle tells it like it is and nothing is off limits. Who Stole My Spandex? is a witty selection of stories from Doyle’s madcap world of menopausal pitfalls, wardrobe malfunctions, and a family full of pranksters.
This clever compilation includes laugh-out-loud pieces like “Queen of Klutz,” “One Size Fits None,” and “Hands off my Egg Roll!” From couples’ colonoscopies to nightmare holidays to disappearing spandex, no topic—no matter how crazy or unimaginable—is too taboo.
With a heavy dose of self-deprecating humor, and a dash of sentiment, this marvelous collection of anecdotes will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt the call of nature at exactly the wrong time. Welcome to the nuthouse that Marcia Kester Doyle calls home.
Available at Amazon.
