How to "find your voice" in your blog or zine

When it comes to "finding your voice" in your writing, there isn't a much better metaphor than the voice of Morgan James.  And she's in her underwear, as an angel, pretty good visual, too.

If you've been writing for any length of time, you've probably heard someone telling you to "find your voice."  What does that mean?  Also, in blogging and social media marketing, people are told to "be authentic," which is a similar idea.  Simply put, both of these mean to be yourself.  But how do you become yourself in writing?  

Write a bunch of shit.  That's a good way to start.  Don't publish the shit, just write it.  In her epic book The Artist's Way, which is a 12 step program for creative people, Julia Cameron tells every creative person to write three pages, of whatever, every morning, first thing.  She calls these "morning pages."  That's a great idea, I did it for five years straight after reading and working through The Artist's Way in 1996.  Every freakin' morning.  I would be bouncing along in a moving truck to go move furntiure, writing in my notebook.  But you can also write in a journal.  You can write on your tablet or phone into a document, or Google Docs or Word on your laptop.  But Julia recommends, and I agree, writing by hand, with pencil or pen, on paper, is better.  There's something about physically writing which seems to help the process.

Don't try to write your story idea.  Don't try to write that blog post.  Don't try to write that novel.  Just write about whatever is on your mind at the moment.  "Man, my girlfriend freaked when I left the toilet seat up yesterday, and then she fell in it when she went to pee.  Why the hell don't women look to see if the seat's down?"   Obviously a guy's point of view. "My mom called up yesterday to see if I found a boyfriend yet, went into the whole spiel about needing grandchildren ASAP to make her feel better since she fucked up by having me.  Still not sure how to tell her I'm a lesbian..."  You get the idea.  

Write about the shit that bugs you and pisses you off.  Write about that really cool thing that happened yesterday.  Write about how good potato chips are in mac and cheese.  Write about that mole with the one hair sticking out that really bugs you.  Write about whatever pops in your head, whatever you're dealing with. Just start writing it.  Get it out. It's like mental diarrhea.  Clean the shit out of your system.

Something weird begins to happen.  Every once in a while, you'll go off on a tangent, and a little piece of that story you have had in your mind comes out..  Or that problem with the character in your novel finds a solution.  More than anything, you begin to learn to flow with your writing.  Thoughts (wherever they come from) to pen to paper.  No filter.  Nothing is right (write) or wrong.  Just left the garbage drain out through your pen.  You can edit it later.  Or throw it away.  Or burn  the paper.

Then put it away for a day or two, and read over it.  You'll be like, "Damn, this is shit... Hey, I like that line, wait, that whole paragraph is good, I could make a blog post out of that."  Things like that begin to happen.  

Most people sit down to write a masterpiece.  And then stare at a blank piece of paper.  Yeah, like that's gonna happen.  

Here's a big secret to writing, are you ready?  You can write complete shit for days... weeks even, AND NOT PUBLISH IT.  

No one has to see this crap.  But most people need to write it, just write for a while, to break down the filters of "This needs to be brilliant!"  No it doesn't.  Brilliant usually comes in little bits and pieces.  So just start writing the shit.  Don't edit in your head.  Write down whatever comes.  Good, bad, silly, funny, mean, devious, sexy, fucked up, whatever.  Write A LOT of whatever.  Get your mind used to just writing.  Then pick through it, and find the cool thoughts, and work on those.  Don't publish all the crap.  

In time, you begin to write better off the top of your head, your writing gets better overall, and you truly begin to write what's important to you, what YOU have to say to the world.  That's your voice.  

"She... she's figured out, all her doubts were someone else's point of view."  

-"She", Green Day

Addicted to blogs

There isn't a really cool blog song that I know of, but Harvey's Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" is cool, and mentions zines, where I got my self-publishing start.  Close enough.  

"I want to publish zines, and rage against machines..."

-Harvey Danger, 1998, When zines were resurging, and when blogs were just being invented.

I started my first blog about taxi driving in 2007, while living in my taxi in Huntington Beach.  I would go to the H.B. library and rent a computer for $5 an hour, since I didn't own one, and write about funny license plate rings or bumper stickers I saw while driving my taxi.  I think I wrote about 30 posts, and had maybe 50 page views in a year, which seemed to mostly be from my mom and the cops.  Not the greatest start to blogging, but you have to start somewhere. 

In November of 2008 I landed at my parents' tiny apartment in Kernersville, NC, after a year living on the streets in Orange County, CA.  That homeless year followed about 4 1/2 years of 7 days a week taxi driving, living in my taxi for about 4 of those years.  I lived in an indie art gallery for 6-7 months, and drove a taxi on the weekends the other part of that time.  When I got to NC, I was 325 pounds, in horrible health, 42 years old, broke, and lost everything I owned in that move.  I lost everything from my 20+ years of BMX riding, except a key chain.  I went from depressed to really depressed.  

But I had my parents computer in my room. I had never really spent any time online up until that point, I was a total Luddite, thinking "Fuck that goofy internet shit."  I knew almost nothing about the virtual world.  Within two weeks, I started a blog called FREESTYLIN' Mag Tales, about my 5 month stint working at BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines in 1986.  I've been blogging pretty consistently ever since.  I've learned a few things about blogging in the 12 1/2 years since.  Here are the main blogs I've done...

FREESTYLIN' Mag Tales..... about 212 posts..... over 25,000 page views.... 2008-2009

Freestyle BMX Tales..... over 500 posts..... over 125,000 page views..... 2009-2012

Make Money Panhandling (picked stupidest title I could think of to practice search engine optimization (SEO)..... 100 posts?.....  about 65,000 page views, 2010-2012

A month or so after my dad died in August of 2012, I got seriously depressed, and deleted all my blogs (I had tried about 20 or 30 blog ideas, trying to figure out how to make money with a blog).  I immediately regretted deleting my blogs after I did it.  Lesson, DON'T delete your blogs.

Freestyle BMX Tales..... (version 2, on wordpress.com)..... can't remember how many posts..... 40-50 posts?  10-20,000 page views?  Not sure.  

Freestyle BMX Tales 43 (Version 3).....89 posts..... 40, 124 page views.... 2015-2017

Bum to Bankroll..... 51 posts..... 1,403 page views..... 2015-2016 

Become Your Own Hero (line from a poem I wrote)..... 49 posts..... 1,402 page views..... 2015-2016

Cash Poor Story Rich..... 6 posts..... 1,111 page views..... 2016

Check out downtown Kernersville (North Carolina)..... 6 posts..... 963 page views..... 2016

Create Your Own Dang Job..... 17 posts..... 1,041 page views..... 2017  (If you look up nothing else here, check out the first post on this one, my playlist for Trump's inauguration day)

Freaks, Geeks, Dorks, and Weirdos..... 42 posts..... 877 page views..... 2016

Get Weird Make Money..... 38 posts..... 839 page views..... 2017

 How to Make Your Lame City Better- Part 1..... 22 posts..... 1,808 page views..... 2016

How to Make Your Lame City Better- Part 2..... 57 posts..... 330 page views..... 2016

New Ideas for Old American Buildings..... 24 posts..... 538 page views..... 2017

Steve Emig Art..... 86 posts..... 12,364 page views.....  2017 

The White Bear's Stuff..... 35 posts..... 2,053 page views..... 2017-2018

Steve Emig: The White Bear.... 700 posts..... 124,513 page views.....2017-2020

Block Bikes Blog (for Block Bikes Shop/website)..... 96 posts..... 21,839 page views..... April-June 2019

The Phoenix Great Depression..... 47 posts..... 985 page views..... June 2020-October 2020

Small Business Blaster..... 17 posts..... 953 page views..... 2020

Welcome to Dystopia: The Future is Now- Book 1.....this is a book published as a blog..... 20 chapters/posts, all built December 2019..... 1962 page views..... December 2019- April 2020

Steve Emig Adventuring..... 67 posts..... 2,462 page views..... 2020-2021

 WPOS Kreative Ideas..... 89 posts..... 5,541..... April 2019-May 2021

Current blogs (revised October 8, 2021):

The Big Freakin' Transition

Crazy California 43..... 35 posts..... 765 page views..... April-May 2021

Full Circle- My new blog about writing and the writing life.

And a new fiction blog...

Stench: Homeless Superhero

 So...  Over 12 1/2 years, 25 blogs,  2,405 blog posts, 438,932 page views.  

I just found dozens of blog posts, actually a few hundred, that I totally forgot I wrote.  I've tried at least 30 more blog ideas, and stopped after a few posts.  But a lot of my same themes, like creative scenes, re-building our world, starting a small business, Sharpie Scribble Style art, and of course, BMX freestyle.  Lesson for today?  Don't be afraid to try new ideas on a blog.  When you get one that feels right, roll with it.  If you burn out on that idea for a while (or forever), leave the blog up online, and go try something else for a while.  

So... who wants to go down my rabbit hole?  Click one of those links.  I just blew my own mind.

Blogging as a tool to build an audience for artists and writers

My Sharpie Scribble Style drawing of David Bowie with a Bowie knife.  He was on the cutting edge of music for decades. I drew this for Facebook a friend while living in Richmond, Virginia, and then left at a bus stop by accident because I'm an idiot.  I started trying to sell my Sharpie art in late 2015, and I wasn't known as an artist at all then.  I've sold around 90 originals and 150 prints over the five years since, using my blog and Facebook as my main promotion.  

If you make some kind of art or write, and want to sell or promote it, I think you should have a blog.  Now I'm a longtime, hardcore blogger (12 years, 40+ blog ideas tried, about 6 serious ones, 380,000+ total page views), so of course I think you should have a blog.  It's kind of like asking an insurance salesman if you need insurance, the answer's always, "Absolutely."  But do you think you need a blog?  That's the real question.  Here's why I think blogs are good for artists and writers. 

As most all of you know, a blog is a kind of website that you post on time after time, on a regular basis.  It's on the internet, as opposed to on a social media platform, like Snapchat, Facebook, etc., which means people can do a Google/Bing search for your blog.  When you blog your thoughts, ideas, frustrations, photos, videos, or whatever, it's available for most of the world to read.  If you actually want to sell your art or writing, getting your name out there is how you begin to do that.  

Another good reason for a blog is that, because blogs are constantly being updated (2 or 3 times a week is a good goal for most people), search engines love blogs.  Blogs rank high in search results more so than a website that was built once, say in 2014, and has been sitting there untouched ever since.  New content on your blog tells search engines "Hey, there fresh stuff here, check it out."  

Another good thing about blogs, unless we hit the Mad Max days or something, the internet's going to be around for quite a while.  Social media platforms, as big as they are these days, come and go.  When's the last time you checked your MySpace page?  How 'bout Friendster or Squidoo?  Sure, everyone's on Instagram... right now.  But it will fade in popularity at some point, and all your content will fade in popularity as well, or maybe diasappear.  Blogs tend to be around a long time, and they actually gain readership over time, as people find and share different posts.  

Another good thing about blogs is that you can write primarily, like I do, or you can embed videos of yourself or others, you can add links to podcasts, you can link every post to your social media, your Etsy or Shopify site, or anywhere else.  That makes a lot more places in the online/social media world where people can find your photos, art, songs, writing, or whatever creative work you do.  Blogs aren't a substitute for social media, but a good addition to social and other forms of promotion.  

You can also use you blog to promote your fav hashtag.  Take a second and search mine:  #sharpiescribblestyle .  Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram.  I'm not on Snapchat, so you can skip that one.  I don't rock on all of those, but when I meet someone who wants to check out my artwork, I tell them to search my hashtag... anywhere.   Social media usually leads them to one of my blogs at some point.  I'm a fucking homeless guy (no booze, no drugs, just for the record), but I have a better online/social media presence than most small to mid-sized businesses. 

The internet and social media platforms are sort of like free land where you can build a big billboard that says, "Check my stuff out!"  When someone does see your stuff, and thinks it's cool, they can easily share it with other people. That word of mouth (and word of mouse,text, and share) promotion gets your name, and what you do, out where lots of people can see it.   If you blog steadily, and spend some time promoting your stuff, you begin to build a following, or build a bigger, and more important, more solid, devoted following.  

I was able to start selling mediocre art quickly in 2015 because I already had a solid following for my Old School BMX freestyle blogs.  As I got more orders, my art game improved a lot, since I was drawing every day.  I also got more orders, and became known as a Sharpie artist with a totally unique style.  I don't make real living off my artwork, but I've been able to scrape by as a working artist, for five years, and now I'm pivoting to do more writing, and a bit less artwork.  What I've learned from promoting my blogs and artwork can help a lot of other people, like yourself, promote whatever it is that you do, whether it's art, writing, music, small business, whatever.

So that's my basic thoughts on why artists and writers in particular should have blogs, in my opinion.  Hit me up with any thoughts or questions on Facebook (Steve Emig- North Hollywood) or Twitter (@steveemig43).  Now get back to creating something worth promoting.

 

 

I've been blogging since blogs were called zines... 35 years of self-publishing

Tens of thousands zines have been published in the last 45 years or so, since early punkers discovered self-publishing.  But this is one of the only, and the best, documentary on zines there is.  There should be more.  $100 and a T-shirt.

Since 2007, I've tried probably 50 different blog ideas.  Most sucked.  But some didn't.  My most successful blogs, in terms of readership, have been about Old School BMX freestyle.  Guys (and a couple women), now in our late 40's and 50's, who got really into BMX trick riding in the 1980's, when it was a new sport.  It doesn't get much more niche than that.  

Yet, somehow, my best blogs together have clocked over 380,000 page views in 12 years.  For real.  My last main personal blog, Steve Emig; The White Bear (it's a BMX nickname, not anything racial), I retired about a year ago, when it hit 100,000 page views.  Without really touching it, that blog has attracted about 24,000 more page views in the last year... just sitting there.  It's about Old School BMX freestyle, a little Sharpie art, and my thoughts on economics and the future.  

That's the power of blogs.  If you put halfway decent thoughts in a blog, consistently, over a period of time, some people will check it out.  Sometimes, A LOT of people will check it out.  That blog is also the main one that's helped sell my Sharpie Scribble Style artwork across 12 or so states, maybe 10 countries, and on 6 of the 7 continents (still working on getting art to Antarctica and the International Space Station).  And I was homeless nearly the whole 3 1/2 years that blog was being written.  

Blogs (and zines) are a place to vent.  They are a place to throw a new, or reasonably revamped, idea out into the world and see what people think.  Blogs are a place to talk or write about those things that you are really into, and to find other people out there in the world who are also into those things.  Blogs are a place to build a solid following as a writer, artist, performer, comic, or other type of creative person.  Blogs are a place to write things off the top of your head, and ramble on about really niche topics.  Blogs are a way to show the world things you think are cool, interesting, and need a little more attention.  Blogs are a lot of things.  

Best of all, blogs are one form of Constitutionally protected free speech (with a few minor limits), which I found out the hard way isn't popular in all parts of the United States.  I've literally had a group of guys threaten me with baseball bats and clubs, because they didn't like my blog.  It wasn't a particular thing I said they didn't like.  They were mad (in a conservative Southern State that will remain nameless) because I was talking about a big recession I saw coming in the future, back in 2018.  Obviously, everyone knew back in 2018 that we would never, ever  have another recession, much less a major one.  They were also mad because when people Googled that city (of about 250,000 people), a blog written by a homeless Sharpie artist came up in the top of the rankings.  I told them, "It's not my fault you guys suck at blogging and social media, you have to EARN rankings on Google.  Get on You Tube, learn how to do it, and get to work."  That didn't go over well.  But they decided not to beat me to a bloody pulp that night (about May 16th, 2018).  Why?  Because if I lived, they knew I would blog about the beating.  Isn't it ironic, don'tcha think?  

Anyhow, I love blogging.  And blogging IS writing.  It's not all writing, it's a particular type of writing, if you choose to write posts.  You could shoot videos, talk at a camera, put them on YouTube, and also upload them to a blog, which is a good idea if you have a YouTube channel, BTW.  Blogs are kinda like zines, but e-zines that the whole world can see.  That's good in some ways, and bad in some ways.  I like both blogs and zines, each in their own way.  I began self-publishing as a zine guy in 1985, and blogging was pretty much inevitable, once I had time on my hands and a computer to use.  For me, that happened in late 2008, when I was forced out of California and to North Carolina, very much to my dismay.

I first heard of zines in a FREESTYLIN' magazine article in late 1984, I think.  I was a dorky high school senior in Boise, Idaho, and one of three serious BMX freestylers in that region.  Our goofy little sport was brand new, and for some reason, the idea of publishing a zine about it appealed to me after reading that article.  So I drew up some designs of what my zine would look like.  Then, in my typical fashion at the time, I did nothing else, except talk about maybe doing a zine.  

In late August of 1985, I finished my summer job at a little amusement park, called the Boise Fun Spot, and drove my 1971 Pontiac Bonneville land yacht to San Jose, California, where my family had moved in June.  I promptly got a job at a local Pizza Hut, and tried to think of a way to find and meet all the good freestylers in the San Francisco Bay area (in the pre-internet days, meeting people you didn't know was much harder).  I decided to publish a zine about BMX freestyle, and hand it out at local bike shops.  It worked, and a month later, I was riding at a jam session with the Skyway factory team, the Curb Dogs, and the other local riders of the Bay Area.  

Eleven issues of the zine landed me a job at FREESTYLIN' magazine (and BMX Action).  At 20 years old, I was an editorial assistant, and the proofreader of, two national magazines... because I self-published a zine for a year.  For real.  That happened.  

More than anything, my first zine, San Jose Stylin', taught me the power of following through on a creative idea, and finishing it.  I've been self-publishing, on a regular basis, ever since.  Much more on blogs, zines, and self-publishing coming in this blog.  Oh, and if I die at the hands of someone in authority in the near future, it will probably be because of something I wrote in a blog.  There are still a lot of people in this country to don't like the idea of free speech.  I do.  It's worth fighting for.  If we lose free speech, we lose all other rights soon after.  So go make a zine or write a blog.  Publish something.

 BMX freestyler, manager of the Boise Fun Spot, and a dork a couple months from becoming a zine publisher.  Me, summer of 1985, at the Fun Spot.  Photo by co-worker Vaughn Kidwell.