{"id":3608,"date":"2011-12-31T16:10:44","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T22:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=3608"},"modified":"2011-12-31T16:11:03","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T22:11:03","slug":"best-of-the-juggling-writer-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/12\/31\/best-of-the-juggling-writer-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of The Juggling Writer &#8211; 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/images\/calendar2.jpg\" alt=\"A desktop calendar.\" width=\"250\" height=\"317\" \/>2011 wasn&#8217;t as busy a year for <em>The Juggling Writer<\/em> as last year. I&#8217;m sure, in part, that starting a new job was partially to blame for only 93 entries for the year &#8212; not the 150 entries of the year before. But it was still a good year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I wrote almost 95 entries this year.<\/li>\n<li>I <a title=\"Opening to A Magic Life.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/10\/26\/opening-to-a-magic-life\/\">started a new novel<\/a>. And <a title=\"More from A Magic Life.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/11\/17\/another-change-in-writing-plans\/\">I like how it&#8217;s coming along<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I <a title=\"My short stories on Amazon.com.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s\/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=christopher+gronlund&amp;x=0&amp;y=0\">self published some short stories<\/a> and <a title=\"Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Hell-Comes-Paneled-Doors-ebook\/dp\/B0056U4ZLO\/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1325361799&amp;sr=8-4\">a novel<\/a> as e-books.<\/li>\n<li>I made more <a title=\"All Writing Looks the Same.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/09\/20\/all-writing-looks-the-same\/\">videos<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I <a title=\"A juggling video.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OTIQkpJ6pbk&amp;list=UUqehui331PTUXJu0o4M9ixQ&amp;index=2&amp;feature=plcp\">juggled more<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>I took a <a title=\"Feelings about the 101-day social media break.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/11\/23\/101-days-without-social-media\/\">101-day social media break<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So not a bad year at all!<\/p>\n<p>And of the entries I wrote for <em>The Juggling Writer<\/em>, here are my favorites&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>My Faves<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>January:<\/strong> <a title=\"Be Quiet.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/01\/31\/monday-motivation-be-quiet\/\">Be Quiet<\/a>. I don&#8217;t reveal much about things I&#8217;m working on because I think talking about writing spoils it for readers. There&#8217;s a lot to be said for the adage, &#8220;Actions speak louder than words.&#8221; There&#8217;s a lot to be said for being quiet and plopping a manuscript down in somebody&#8217;s lap instead of telling them all about a story that&#8217;s not even written.<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"In Praise of Slacking Off.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/01\/24\/monday-motivation-in-praise-of-slacking-off\/\">In Praise of Slacking Off<\/a>.  It can be so easy to fixate on writing &#8212; spending most waking hours thinking about it and piling up pages. This entry was written after a weekend of no writing. Surprisingly, there was no guilt; in fact, it was a great weekend that led to better writing. Sometimes it&#8217;s a good idea to just slack off!<\/p>\n<p><em>One More for the Hell of It:<\/em> The entry that comes up the most in Google searches bring people to this site: <a title=\"How to Know if You're a Good Writer.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/01\/21\/how-to-know-youre-a-good-writer\/\">How to Know if You&#8217;re a Good Writer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>February: <\/strong><a title=\"Snow Juggling.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/02\/04\/snow-juggling\/\">Snow Juggling<\/a>. Since I cheated and shared three entries for January, here&#8217;s just one for February to even it all out. Not writing related, but I am in the snow, while wearing a kilt&#8230;and juggling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>March:<\/strong> <a title=\"Dyslexic Readers Unite.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/03\/30\/dyslexic-writers-unite\/\">Dyslexic Writers Unite<\/a>. In 7th and 8th grade, I was put in learning disability classes for dyslexia. I never let it get in the way of my love of reading and writing. In many ways, I owe my love of reading and writing to dyslexia. Here&#8217;s why&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"Moving Forward.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/03\/28\/monday-motivation-moving-forward-with-writing\/\">Moving Forward<\/a>. I have yet to meet a writer who doesn&#8217;t think they could do more. Whether it&#8217;s promoting their writing more or producing more, we&#8217;re often our own worst enemies. Here&#8217;s what you can do about that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>April:<\/strong> <a title=\"12 Tips to Prepare for a Writing Weekend.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/04\/06\/10-tips-to-prepare-for-a-writing-weekend\/\">12 Tips to Prepare for a Writing Weekend<\/a>. Give yourself at least one long weekend in 2012 to just hole up and write. Follow these 12 tips, and you&#8217;ll get a lot done.<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"Where is the Big Literary E-Book Self Publisher?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/04\/08\/where-is-the-big-literary-e-book-self-publisher\/\">Where is the Big Literary E-Book Self Publisher?<\/a> 2011 was quite a year for e-book self publishers. We saw strong mid-list writers walk away from half-million-dollar contracts and do it on their own. We saw no-name writers become millionaires through self publishing their work on Amazon.com. But we still haven&#8217;t seen the big literary self publishing success story. I wonder if we&#8217;ll see it in 2012?<\/p>\n<p><strong>May:<\/strong> <a title=\"A Writer's Politics: Does it Matter?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/05\/03\/a-writers-politics-does-it-matter\/\">A Writer&#8217;s Politics: Does it Matter?<\/a> Written in response to seeing a reader mention on Twitter that he was going to stop reading the writing of Bill Willingham because of Bill&#8217;s politics. It made me wonder: does a writer&#8217;s politics matter?<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em><a title=\"Bernard DeVoto's The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto review.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/05\/21\/the-book-pile-bernard-devotos-the-hour-a-cocktail-manifesto\/\"> Book Review: Bernard DeVoto&#8217;s The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto<\/a>. One of my favorite entries of the year was a book review. While DeVoto was a curmudgeon and outright wrong about more than a few things in this book, one can&#8217;t but love his writing. And the last chapter of this book is simply beautiful!<\/p>\n<p><strong>June:<\/strong> <a title=\"Exciting Writing.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/06\/27\/monday-motivation-exciting-writing\/\">Exciting Writing<\/a>. Write what excites you&#8230;or consider not writing at all!<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"Writing about Writing.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/06\/15\/writing-about-writing\/\">Writing about Writing<\/a>. I work on <em>The Juggling Writer<\/em> because I want to&#8230;not because I feel I have to. By not trying to make money with this blog, I don&#8217;t write just for the sake of writing in the hope of advertising impressions or clicks &#8212; I write because I genuinely enjoy what I do and because I like sharing things and seeing what people feel about the things that matter to me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>July:<\/strong> <a title=\"Google Plus for Writers.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/07\/19\/google-plus-for-writers\/\">Google Plus for Writers<\/a>. Another social network to pull at a writer&#8217;s time. But&#8230;I like G+ &#8212; so much so that I wrote a little tutorial about how writers might use it.<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"Initial Thoughts about Google Plus.\" href=\" http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/07\/18\/initial-thoughts-about-google\/\">Initial thoughts about Google Plus<\/a>. From the beginning, Google Plus seemed like a place that could be cool for writers. I love that the writers I follow on G+ are able to really chat with people in ways they can&#8217;t on Twitter and even Facebook.<\/p>\n<p><strong>August:<\/strong> <a title=\"The 50-Day Social Media Break.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/08\/15\/the-50-day-social-media-break\/\">The 50-Day Social Media Break<\/a>. August found me logging off social media sites for 50 days. I liked the break so much, I went 101-days. Read why I decided to take a break.<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"Shameless Plug.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/08\/26\/shameless-plug\/\">Shameless Plug<\/a>. I&#8217;m fortunate to know some very cool people. This entry was a shout out to some of my creative friends.<\/p>\n<p><em>Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors:<\/em> <a title=\"A review of Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/08\/05\/hell-comes-with-wood-paneled-doors-review\/\">The first review<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>September:<\/strong> <a title=\"Speak Out with Your Geek Out.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/09\/12\/speak-out-with-your-geek-out\/\">Speak Out with Your Geek Out<\/a>. <a title=\"Monica Valentinelli's website.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mlvwrites.com\">Monica Valentinelli<\/a> was the inspiration for taking a 101-day social media break. She also came up with <a title=\"Speak Out With Your Geek Out.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.speakoutwithyourgeekout.com\/\">Speak Out With Your Geek Out<\/a>, a movement to celebrate one&#8217;s geekier side. This is my entry, a love letter to juggling and <a title=\"Cynthia Griffith's webpage.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cfgriffith.com\">my wife<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"20-Sided Ideas.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/09\/15\/20-sided-ideas\/\">20-Sided Ideas<\/a>. Another Speak Out with your Geek Out entry &#8212; this one about Dungeons and Dragons and how it affected storytelling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>October:<\/strong> <a title=\"Evernote for Writers.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/evernote-for-writers\/\">Evernote for Writers<\/a>. An entry so cool, it deserved its own page! A video and tutorial showing writers how to use Evernote to keep all their research together. You know you want to read it &#8212; it has a zombie alien in it!<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"Judging a Book by Its Cover.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/10\/21\/judging-a-book-by-its-cover\/\">Judging a Book by Its Cover<\/a>. Why book covers matter!<\/p>\n<p><em>An Interview:<\/em> Oh! October was the month that Shawn Kupfer <a title=\"Interview about Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/10\/25\/interview-about-hell-comes-with-wood-paneled-doors\/\">interviewed me<\/a> about <em>Hell Comes with Wood Paneled Doors<\/em> over on <a title=\"The Existential Minotaur vs the Juggling Writer.\" href=\"http:\/\/47echo.wordpress.com\/2011\/10\/25\/the-existentialist-minotaur-vs-the-juggling-writer\/\">his blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>November: <\/strong><a title=\"101 Days without Social Media.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/11\/23\/101-days-without-social-media\/\">101 Days without Social Media<\/a>. The results of going 101 days without social media. (I must admit, I liked the break so much that I&#8217;ve toyed with the idea of making 2012 an entire year without social media.)<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention:<\/em> <a title=\"Writing Terroir.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/11\/28\/monday-motivation-writing-terroir\/\">Writing Terroir<\/a>. What does your writing taste like? This is one of my favorite <em>Juggling Writer<\/em> entries<em> ever!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A Glimpse at a Work in Progress:<\/em> When I made a change with the novel I&#8217;m currently working on, I decided to <a title=\"Another Change in Writing Plans.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/11\/17\/another-change-in-writing-plans\/\">share a little bit, here<\/a>. Thanks to all those who have let me know they liked it &#8212; that means a lot to me!<\/p>\n<p><strong>December:<\/strong> <a title=\"What Do Italian Fig Cookies have to do with Writing?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/12\/12\/what-do-italian-fig-cookies-have-to-do-with-writing\/\">What Do Italian Fig Cookies have to do with Writing<\/a>? When people find out I can only make 4-5 of these cookies an hour, they think it&#8217;s all kind of futile. At the same time, everybody who sees these cookies is impressed. What does that have to do with writing? Sometimes, the best things take time&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>Honorable Mention<\/em>: <a title=\"The Things Not Said.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/12\/15\/the-things-not-said\/\">The Things Not Said<\/a>. Often, it&#8217;s the things not said that speak the loudest. Just like in the clips in the entry by comedian, Louis C.K., good writing relies not on hammering points home, but a degree of subtlety that stops a reader mid-sentence and makes them think.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2012<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>So that&#8217;s a glimpse of some of my favorite entries from 2011. I hope everybody has a great and productive new year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2011 wasn&#8217;t as busy a year for The Juggling Writer as last year. I&#8217;m sure, in part, that starting a new job was partially to blame for only 93 entries for the year &#8212; not the 150 entries of the year before. But it was still a good year. I wrote almost 95 entries this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3608"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}