Daniel Coats tells stories.

Brite Resolutions

Having done the obligatory New Years resolutions for myself already, I thought it was time I do the same for my recently-neglected pet project, Brite Writing.

At first, the goal of Brite Writing was content - a weekly short story - that would hopefully rapidly produce a readership. They would then pay for some monetized service along the way. But after countless different site “themes” and redesigns, I realised just what was missing. That was quality. 2011 is going to be all about bringing quality back to the domain, and a more aggressive online promotion. As the hour is late, I’ll keep these brief:

• Contribute 5 guest posts to writing blogs - This first one has essentially been taken straight from my personal resolutions, but it’s placement here is quite crucial to the future of Brite Writing. If I can produce a number (even 2 or 3) quality articles on the topic of creative writing, and achieve a wide readership by publishing these to other respected blogs, I will be potentially tapping in to a huge new readership. By placing a link to my blog from such articles, interested readers will have an opportunity to browse my work, thus complimenting some of the other goals as well.
• Achieve 200 unique monthly page views - To be honest, I just grabbed 1,000 out of the air, but I do hope to significantly increase my regular readership in the New Year, and this seems like an appropriate target. This will be measured by my recent implementation of Google Analytics, and achieved through some of the other goals outlined here.
• Publish at least one (high-quality) short story, poem and essay each month - This goal may seem scant in comparison with the 30 or so stories that I managed to publish in little over 30 weeks of online publishing in 2009/10, but this year the focus will be on greatly bolstering the quality of these stories. Even if this means reworking old material, I’ll feel far more confident promoting Brite Writing confident that the material is of my highest standards. In addition to this, I’m also keen to broaden the variety of work featured, to poetry, essays and debates, of a similarly high quality.
• Release material for sale - Whether this is done by a physical book, virtual book, new content or existing content, I’m confident that Brite Writing can bring in enough money through some kind of paid content to at least cover the costs of maintaining the website. This remains an idea, and is last on this list as it can only be properly achieved once some traction has been gained.

To a successful 2011, and a far brighter Brite Writing.

On human nature (and greed)

Humans - you and me  - resist positive change with an often candestine zeal. Human nature dictates that if comfortable with our living situation, we won’t make any dramatic sacrifices to improve that of others.

Granted, some of us our more giving than others, but the wealthy population is largely tarnished with greed. Blame beaurocracy if you wish, or the incompetence of our political leaders, but this is the true impediment that prevents our society from making the sort of collective progress that has never before been achieved.

I am what I ‘like’

Some question what value the ‘like’ button, now synonymous with more than just Facebook users, truly has on the web. Granted, our friends do appreciate a bit of encouragement, but surely this feature has little cause when placed elsewhere around the web, away from the social network itself. After all, it’s merely an opportunity to provide encouragement, to people we probably don’t know (and vice versa).

But people don’t go laying down their ‘like’ just to give a speck of encouragement to the author. They do so to be seen. To show they’ve been here, and that this is who they are. These days, even in the virtual world, there are trendy places to be, things to do. Gone are the days of an anonymous online identity. You are you, and you probably want people to know just who <i>you</i> are.

If you wish to continue this train of thought, I strongly suggest you see The Social Network in a cinema near you. More than just a recollection of fascinating events, it’s also a masterclass in entertainment and calculated dramatization. If this doesn’t quite interest you, then you’ve got to at least read the Time Magazine article chronocling the life of Mark Zukcerberg (2010 Time Person of the Year) and his absolute passion - Facebook.

Here we are again

In conversation with a friend on Facebook the other day, I was asked whether I’d had a good year in 2010. To this I replied “Every year is a good year if I’m excited about the next.” And the more I thought through this, the more I began to reflect; to consider whether I could say the same of 2010. I can say little but that this year has been the craziest of my 14 years alive. Time and time again, I’ve fallen from quite a height, and time and time again something has given me just enough to pick it all back up. I haven’t done anything extraordinary, but I’ve done a rather good job of not doing anything stupid. No year has presented as many new challenges as this. And many of these remain unchecked. But I’m now firmly on my feet.

In light of these more challenging moments, I’ve also had plentiful success - some of it quite unexpected - to make 2010 a year of truly no equal.

Now, in the midst of holidays and on the eve of the new year, I’m presented with the perfect opportunity to do two personal tasks. First of all, and inspired in part by Seth Godin’s similar list, is a collection of my prouder moments from 2010. Some are purely of my own interest, and may hold little value to anyone but myself, while others are quite general.

• Top under 14 runner in Canterbury - Cross Country, Road Race & 800m
• 5th Place - National Secondary Schools Road Race
• (Youngest) Speaker at the Ulearn Conference 2010
• 2nd FPS National Scenario Writing Competition
• Year 9 Boys General Excellence Award - North Division, Burnside High School
• Completed a personal collection of 25 Short Stories
• Brite Writing featured in Sunday Magazine

To be honest, it looks much better now that I can see it before me. But that’s the easy part, as far as this blog post is concerned. Below is a list of my (rather daunting) goals for the year 2011. I say daunting knowing that there are still more bullet points I wish to add. But what I do know is that I’m more excited than ever to knock every last one off the list. Note: this is an “abridged” list. The complete copy is for my eyes only.

• Contribute a guest post to 5 popular blogs
• Write a high-quality short story each month, and publish to Brite Writing.com
• Present at 3 conferences/events (a la Ulearn 2010)
• Read a dozen books
• Earn $1000 myself; give half of it away to deserving causes
• Sell 100 books (physical or digital) of my own writing

There are a few others, but, like I said, they are more personal, and as such don’t really have a necessary place in this post.

To conclude, to end another year of sporadic blogging, I’d like to leave one more goal out there, which should complement my quest to achieve next year’s goals. Each week, I’ll compose at least two blog posts to be published here, of varying length and content. These will continue to follow my successes, failures and revelations along that never-ending journey to wherever the damned place it is that we wish to be.

To 2011.