Self Reviewing Like I Was Saying…
The other day a friend asked me to review his online presence for his moving business. So I checked his website and social media and wrote out a plan for him.
Now, I'm no online media guru, but I've you pick a thing or two by watching enough YouTube and working with marketers in the SAAS industry over the last few years.
Well, working through my old blog posts, I've noticed a couple of things, so I thought, hell, why not critique my websites and blog?
One of my favorite books is William Goldman's Which Lie Did I Tell (the book's title is the inspiration for this blog's title).
In the last part of Which Lie Did I Tell, Goldman wrote a spec screenplay and sent it off to other screenwriters for feedback. One of those screenwriters was Scott Frank (Logan, Out of Sight, The Queen's Gambit) and boy did Scott Frank let Goldman have it.
There's this great line in his critique, "I should warn you, if I sound a bit fuckerish, it's only because I'm overworked, underinspired, and in a foul mood."
I'm channeling my inner Scott Frank while critiquing my blog.
Don't say you weren't warned.
So here we go:
Boy, do your titles suck. I mean, some of your titles are just dates. So why are you doing this when dates already come with the post? Why don't you take a second to come up with a title?
Oh, now I see why you don't title your blog posts because the titles you do have are about as imaginative as a rock. Big Bird? Pencils? Fifteen Days?
The only one I like is Going Rouge. I see what you did there.
Yeah, your titles need work.
It would help if you wrote titles that are going to at least inspire someone to click Read More.
For Christ's sake, you're a damn salesman; what was your click rate?
You know, for wanting to be a writer or photographer, you've got some gaps in your posts.
How many posts do you have telling me you want to do this daily?
Yet you have gaps on this blog that you could drive a team of Semi's carrying a wide load through. So what have you been doing during those gaps.
You do have a few periods of consistency, but then you stop.
Why?
If this is what you want to do (still a little unclear about what you want to do, but I digress), then do it.
If I've got this straight, you got some pretty awesome camera equipment and at least an iPhone, but I only see a couple of videos. So again, this goes back to what the hell are you doing?
And on camera equipment, you got a Sony RX100 M7 back on January 12, 2020, which is a great little camera. I own one. And this is your body of work?
And the pictures here aren't blowing my socks off either. Yeah, you've got a couple of cool shots, but they're not telling me a story. It's like you are randomly shooting at stuff with no throughline. No story. No arch. I clicked on the links of the photographers you reference, and they tell a story. A good story, where's yours?
You need to go back and research telling a story. You need to look up documentary photography.
The big thing that's bothering me is the why.
Remember what Steven Pressfield said, "Nobody wants to read your shit."
I'm going to add to that and say nobody wants to see your photos as well.
So when you are writing or taking pictures, if you asking people to take a second to experience your art, they have to get some value from it.
Don't get me wrong, we create art for our own reasons, sure, but you're asking people to value or care about what you care about. If your going to do that, you've got to give 'em something worthy to look at.
Just saying, this is a good start, but I'd go work on both your craft of writing, photography, and making videos (if this is what you want to do.)
Anyways, I hope you're glad you asked.
Love,
Andrew