This Is My Confessional... ~ Drew's Little Life Blog

I have no idea how to go about this. Starting anything when it comes to writing is always a struggle for me - that whole "transition" crap gets in the way. Anyways, here we go.

This whole "blog" thing started when I was still a somewhat delusional teenager and teachers often said I should look into a writing career, but I hated sitting still long enough to care about writing. However, over a few years and a Myspace account I started in 2005 (it's still out there, good luck finding it), the more expressive attributes of this potential hobby came into the picture. Back then I would write when I was angry or trying to clandestinely make a point to someone else, while keeping my personal life at a distance.

Facebook rolled around for me in 2007 and I continued to write similar ideas as "Notes", which increased in frequency and clarity until last year when a few friends convinced me to put my thoughts into a blog. This year, 2013, I launched drewcoustic.com with the intentions of making a life blog: telling little snippets about my day, car projects, and guitar-related topics, but soon after, my base of subject matter began to change and with that, so did the amount of people reading on a daily basis. When my concentration shifted to the social and literal issues my generation is dealing with and the seemingly downward spiral we are not only heading in, but teaching our own children, people began paying more attention to me; specifically Google.

Within a short period of time, while writing on a regular schedule, I was brought into a partnership to help my blog grow and keep everything on track, which brought on an actual adviser I can talk to on a daily basis. My readers and subscribers were growing unrealistically fast at this point, and the door that was opened through my partnership made things take off even farther. About two months ago, I caught the attention of a writer for Elite Daily through my Twitter account and on a Saturday morning, he re-tweeted something I had said, which was also "favorited" by another writer/editor. That morning, I watched the hits on my blog go through the roof, not only in the number of viewers, but subscribers as well. I will not list his name on here, but in case you happen to read this, I really cannot thank you enough for doing something so simple that made such a huge impact.

Speaking of names, I have caught some crap here and there for posting stories relating to people I know, but I plan them out very carefully and I will NEVER use a person's name in my blog without their consent. The people who are mentioned in those few, random instances of my text have never sent me anything negative, nor has anyone connected to them; I only catch hell from people who have nothing to do with the story. Weird? Yes, people on the internet are very, very weird.

Hey, speaking of personal things, let me clear the air about that one too. Sometimes I post about events I have gone through during my own life in fairly strong detail, and express certain occasions in my life I have never spoken about before, but this is done by design. I set boundaries with this blog that I will not compromise:

1). I mention no names of anyone I tell stories about.

2). I keep drama out of the picture.

3). No dirty laundry ends up on here, because that is trashy.

4). Any current or potential romance I am involved with stays off my blog. Period.

(I did use a previous relationship as an example in a blog, but not in a disrespectful way.)

Putting those four things aside, I quickly realized that for some reason, people enjoy relating to me. When I post more personal topics and issues that have come to be in my own life, people show up in droves and want to talk about it. Sometimes they are people I actually know and can talk to one-on-one and sometimes they are in other cities, states, or continents. I really do not feel as if I am anything all that special or different, but just a simple person who writes about my own ideas or what I happen to have gone through at some point in time. But people relate, people listen, and people send me emails, constantly - I love that.

Hey, speaking of emails, that is one thing my adviser told me to do, but I have refused to. I was told that I would get more traffic if I took my email address off the valediction at the end of all of my blog posts. The reason being: If a reader cannot find an email link easily, they will leave a comment - comments show up in Google searches - more comments means more traffic. I will not remove my email address because if someone wants to talk to me without the world seeing it, they should have that ability. I get emails all the time and I answer every single one. These come from everywhere and sometimes the language barrier gets in the way, but I try to understand them and always write back.

Hey (I'll stop), on top of the insane amount of domestic readers and subscribers, I also have regular readers in ten different countries now and a few subscribers in each of those. Crazy, right? Never would I ever dream of something such as that happening, but it is such a blessing.

What I am going to tell you now is not known by many people, but I owe the information to those who have made it possible for me to do so. Starting the first week of September, the publishing process begins for me.

Publishing what?

Well, as of about a week ago, I am being backed in compiling my generational-related blogs into one, solid, non-fiction book. Yes, you read that properly; book.

The book will be released as both an eBook and a paperback, depending on how my deadline holds out with the publisher/backer. Currently, I am starting my compiling and editing in September and should have everything ready to send off by the first week in December of this year.

This is huge for me and something I never would have seen as an opportunity even a month ago. Something happened though and for some reason I cannot explain, you all have been regularly reading my blogs, sending me emails, and all sorts of encouragement on a daily basis. For this I cannot thank you enough.

Because of you and anyone else who has ever read even one of my blogs, I am writing a book at the age of twenty-seven years old.

Thank you.

This means I will be tackling a full-time job, staying on my schedule of three new blogs per week, and writing/putting the book together all at the same time. My life may be crazy for a little while, but I would not have it any other way.

So once again: Thank You.

Every single reader has caused huge changes in my life.

Always dream big, but never slack in your efforts.

Real commitment and support can truly change your life.

Mine has undoubtedly been changed.
I owe that to you.

Grace and Peace,

-Drew

-Add me. Stalk me. Tweet me. I really don't mind.-

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/drew.silvers

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/drewcoustic

Email: drewcoustic@gmail.com

Twitter: @JDrewSilvers