Why am I having trouble paying attention through my transitions [Show Report: Heathermoor]? Because they have never mattered before. Dressage is all about transitions. I have never been all about dressage. Hunter flat classes are judged on the quality of the horse’s gaits, not on the getting from one to the other.
Mostly, when I showed, I jumped.
A jumping trip has no relevant transitions. Be it hunter, jumper, or cross-country, the goal is to get a canter and keep it. At the start, you are given a long run-in to set up for the first fence. At the end, you are done. It does you no harm to collapse into a heap.
Sure, I’ve done thousands of transitions over the years, perhaps hundreds of thousands. Has each one been the best possible transition I could make at the time? No. Maybe you ride as precisely at home as you do in shows. Not I.
Last week, I had a lesson on transitions. Upward is all about the preceding gait. Downward is about reminding the horse to stay balanced. Bump, sit, release (or take-and-give in dressage terms). The horse downshifts on the release. It works. This is the virtue of a well-schooled lesson horse. When I did it right, Sam rewarded me by doing it right.
1. Are you taking yourself and your blog seriously? Not the hype, the story you have to tell. I vary on this: some days, bulletproof; some days, sniveling wreckage.
2. Are you consistent? I hit this one out of the park. Posts go live every day at 12:01 am. Closing in on 1,300 posts.
3. Have you over-committed? In the past. Took a while to arrive at the current, workable level. [Where Do We Go From Here]
4. Are you writing to your ideal reader? Writing to everyone is writing to no one. I dealt with this a while back, about 10 months after the above. It’s an ongoing process, “I was still trying to anticipate an audience. That way lies madness. One cannot write for the Internet as a whole … You write the story you have to tell, then you look for an audience.” [Attitude Check ]
5. Have you found your tribe? We ought to organize equine blogger meet-ups at the big shows.
6. Do you have a mastermind group? Back in my professional writing days, I had one. It was awesome (All hail the Listgoddess). We have since wandered off to other tasks and to other social media outlets. For the Off Topic blog, I have a beta reader (Thank you). For Rodney’s Saga, I have a handful of people I whine at (Also thank you). Emails to these folks often get reworked as blog posts. If I feel strongly enough to whinge, there’s usually enough there for a post.
7. If you work with commercial brands, do you value what you bring to the table? Staying out of the sponsorship fray, for the nonce.
8. Do you have an up-to-date, one-page press kit? See above.
9. Is your elevator pitch ready? I need this. Even if I don’t want to sell ad space or my services. What is your blog about? … um … Who is Rodney? … er …
10. Ever heard of an epistolary blog? cross counter exchange is “a mother-daughter team obsessed with exploring, creating and enjoying food.” Feverishly figuring how to steal incorporate this idea.
Upside: the scarf made me noticeable. Downside: everyone thought I have a knitting blog.
Update. Origin of scarf as blog icon: Doctor Whooves. The scarf is from the TV show Doctor Who. One of those items that if you recognize it, you love it; if you don’t, you wonder WTF.
No immediate plans for an intensive Instagram campaign. A person I want to stay in touch with (waves hi) is on, so I joined. We shall see where Instagram and the spirit take me.
Today I will be gathering with other area bloggers at a local library, to “launch your blog or take your blog to the next level.” [ibid]
I have already scored helpful advice from the pre-conference mixer. My name is now on the flyers that I hand out in lieu of business cards. People wanted to know who I was, not just the title of the blog. Really? I’m not used to my name being a significant feature, “When I write an article with training tips from a Big Name Rider … the only name the readers want to hear is that of the subject.” [Identity: Content].
Plus, I came away from the mixer with two post ideas. 1) Since it is Rodney‘s Saga, they wanted to hear what Rodney had to say [From The Horse’s Mouth]. 2) Live blogging my attempts at being sociable [Blog Mixer Tweets].
Can’t wait to see what the conference proper has to offer.
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