I love reducing clutter. It feels so good to finally clear out that closet that holds a rack of twenty-year-old winter coats that either no longer fit or are so outdated that even a ninety-year-old great-grandma wouldn't wear them. I'm not big on clutter. Once you reach a certain age, no one knows what to buy you for Christmas or your birthday anymore, so you end up with a houseful of knick knacks, most of which you don't even like, but you feel obligated to display.
I've been brutal in recent years about getting rid of things. And that's how I'm feeling about my internet pursuits. I've mentioned before that I possess six websites and/or blogs. About half of them serve a purpose. This blog does, absolutely; at least a purpose for me (not necessarily for anyone else). I also have my author website and our band's website. Those aren't going anywhere, profitable or not. And my music blog I've had since 2007. That's an awful lot of writing that I refuse to let disappear.
But I also purchased a domain and created a site for my one-off book of essays that I published under a different pen name. Dumb, useless idea. I don't even visit it, and it's mine. It's delusional to think that an author with one book needs a dedicated site. What for? "Well, everybody does it" is not a cogent reason. I'm never going to publish another book under that pen name, so it serves no purpose.
Then there's the idea that sparked me one day to create a digital music magazine. The concept originated with my spouse who proposed that each of us write essays about our individual genres of music. Great idea. Except I was the only one of us who bothered doing it. When I established the site, I assumed it would fill up with content fast, until I realized I would be the only one creating any. The "fun" idea turned into just another site I was tasked with maintaining. The combination of lack of interest (mine) and the fact that I was scavenging from my music blog just to fill it up seems silly. Add to that the reality that no one's even reading it. I'm going to let those two domains expire.
Which, naturally, brings me to my online author presence. I'm stuck with BookSprout for another month, unfortunately, because I wasn't Johnny-on-the-spot in canceling, plus for some reason I set my book campaign to expire on the 15th of this month. But one more month and done. Then there's Voracious Readers Only, which has become the bane of my existence. Can I count the number of ARC readers I've landed as "sales"? Because, man, my book would be a best seller! Today I have another big batch of new subscribers to add to my mailing list, and it's a dreadful chore. Another "cool" benefit of VRO is that not one of those hundreds of free book grabbers has bothered leaving a review. I haven't pulled the trigger on canceling yet because it requires a direct email to the site owner, and it would so much less painful if the place simply had a "cancel" button. But, I know, I'm going to have to do it.
Places like Goodreads and Instagram? Never go there. I could hypothetically have a new Goodreads review or two, but so what?
Why I signed up for a LibraryThing giveaway is head-scratching. I checked my number of entries once and have no interest in looking again. All of this stuff is just clutter.
Ideally, what I would like is to have three websites (the necessary ones) and this blog; and that's it. No extraneous stuff to maintain or check.
I'll get there. It'll take a bit ~ maybe another month. But it's long past time to pare down.
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