My Vision for Success and How I’m Going To Move Foreward To Make It A reality

I have dissatisfaction. I have a new vision for the future. Now, I have developed the first steps toward my successful blog, books, and website.


Dissatisfaction: There is a feeling of unease when I think about my blog or my website. I talk about it. I reflect on it. I tell others about it and what I’d like to do. I dream about it. I don’t do anything about it. And, then I felt ill when I think about what I have wanted to do and did not do. I write. I write most days, but not every day for at least 500 words on something, anything. Sometimes it is just morning pages and others it is about a topic. But, I do not hit the blue, oval publish button on my blog. I do not publish it. Fear creeps onto the page and uncertainty about what I have written overrides the excitement of my writing. I second guess everything!
It has been 16 years now since I first had an inkling that I wanted to create a sewing and needlework website and a blog. I started the site. I created an HTML one. I did not work on it consistently. After a year or two, I was persuaded to write a Joomla website which is a template driven site. There came a point in time where many health crises hit different members of our family; I began to work elsewhere and little was done on the website. Apparently a Trojan was injected into the site by ‘whomever’ and it was going to cost an astronomical figure to fix it. I abandoned the project. The site problems were cleaned at that time, and some time later the site was removed from the server. I did not know that MacAfee had blacklisted the website name. That site is sewmuchmoreinfo (dot) com. Currently, I restarted a new WordPress website of the same name at the same time that I started this personal and needlework blog. I was not able to add that site name to my Facebook page. That is how I discovered that particular problem. I have five thousand exquisite linen bookmarks for that website from my previous site, so I need to remove that name from the blacklist. That is a challenge as I’ve contacted MacAfee by their form and to date, there is no positive result. That is frustrating. I have had a significant learning curve to create this WordPress site. At 66, I am slow to learn these new technologies.

I love to create needle-art, and I believe it is soul satisfying. I want to encourage and preserve the needle arts and to share what I know and educate. I have been making quilts and hand-piecing. It is a soothing project. I have spoken with many, many needleworkers who tell me how satisfying and soothing it is for them as well. I want to share this with other people. I want to write a book about the healing benefits of the needle arts, how meditative it is and how it has helped others. I have yet to do this. I talk about it, and then I feel sad because I do not do what I wish to do.

I have many friends and family who tell me that I should share what I know, write my blog and e-books and create my quilting patterns. Sell them. Just go and do it!
Mostly, I am dissatisfied because I have goals. I have a goal to write and to share that writing either on the website, this blog or by writing my books. I love to travel both locally and distantly. I am interested in alternative health care and such remedies that do not involve chemical drugs as most of them I cannot take. I love to garden organically. I have so much to write. I have so much to share. These are some of my dissatisfactions. I become older every year, and I do not want to come to that point in life where I don’t have the energy or desire and just have a list of should have done this and should have done that. I want to change that bucket list.

Get it done!

Vision:

I have a vision!

I can see myself with a successful blog with followers who interact. They are asking questions and coming back with answers for others. I am enjoying answering the questions on some of the forums I interact on and the ensuing friendships that result. I can see this on my blog. I feel satisfaction and enjoy the actual process of writing about what I am passionate. My heart beats quickly, and I have a light feeling as I am writing this. I am looking forward to the process of writing about what I am passionate. I love my family, the needle arts, gardening, travel and alternative health and wellness.

I envision completed books. I can see how thrilled I’ll feel and the satisfaction that comes with the successful completion of writing my book(s). I can just picture linking through to them for sale on Amazon. I want the excitement of a job well done and completed to the best of my ability. I will feel triumphal, full of excitement and pride having written a successful book. I can hear others  tell me they have had great enjoyment reading what I’ve written. It was inspiring! I want to educate and solve problems. I want to encourage others to try needlework and find the warm satisfaction that I have from the art that I do. It is soul satisfying. It is soothing when I do my needlework. It is calming. I want to share this! I feel that the anthology of stories I write in ‘Needlework for the Soul’ will help others try some of the needle arts to soothe their soul. I love to teach and encourage anyone who shows any interest in the needle-arts. I aim to preserve the old skills and feel like I am passing on some old traditions and arts.

When I was struggling mentally and emotionally myself with how to handle some difficult medical issues that affected our family, I was told to hand sew. It is soothing. For others, it is knitting or some other needle art. I want to hear how these skills have benefitted others as well. I am going to write a book about the healing aspects of the needle arts and how these old skills have made a positive impact on the health of others. I can feel the excitement knowing that what I have written has resonated with someone else.

I envision a successful website, aside from the blog with dictionaries for quilters, knitters, crochetiers, and sewers. I can see a page of what’s new on the internet regarding the needle arts. It will be exciting to create patterns for the quilts that I make. I am excited to see a gallery of works in progress with explanations of the process. There is an exciting time ahead.

First Steps:

I will commit to the website and the blog. I will create a block of time when I will spend at least 45 minutes 6 days per week on at least one of the five types of writing that I will do. I like to keep Sunday free.

  1. My weekly blog post
  2. Books/e-books/tutorials
  3. Patterns for quilters and sewers
  4. Website content
  5. Morning pages

I will work quietly with my phone off, not checking email or Facebook. And, importantly for me, I will post on my blog, write content on my website and feel confident with my ability to communicate in writing. I know that in this digital age if there is an error it can be corrected.

For my website: I will find a way to rectify the blacklisting of the sewing web name. sewmuchmoreinfo (dot) com. I know that it is a hangover from the old website, but it still needs to be corrected to be able to send readers there. I will also spend 15 minutes per day on the dictionaries until they are complete.

Needlework: I spend hours on that already and will continue.

“At the end of this 15-day blogging challenge, I want to be able to write a blog post at least once a week and be confident about the material that I have written. The blog post needs to be edited and posted complete with related photos. I will hit the publish button on the dashboard.” That will be a huge victory.

Author: Karen Monteith

Karen is a writer, needle artist, nature lover and gardener who loves to share such information and to encourage the needle arts.

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