Summer Vacation

In case you haven't noticed, Cassandra and I have been sort of conspicuously absent these last two weeks. Cassandra and her family took a trip to settle her college-graduate daughter into a year-long job in Mexico City and I've been traveling a lot for work.

Add to all this travel, the fact that both our jobs have gotten a lot busier in recent months and you have a recipe for "not much crafting time."  My garden looks a mess and I haven't picked up knitting needles in ages. I have a million sewing projects (okay, maybe not a whole million) that are screaming to be done. But, when I get home at night, I just want to veg out with TV or a book. 

I need to retire. 

Truthfully, I'm going to be the best retired person in the world because I'll finally get to do all the projects I'm dying to do now. 

So...what does all this grousing mean? Cassandra and I have decided to have a summer vacation from the blog. We've been at this consistently, at least twice a week, for four full years and we just need a little break.

For the next couple of months, we'll do some re-prints of classic Mighty Distractible posts for your reading enjoyment and we'll get back to new, fresh content after our summer is over.

Thanks for being consistent and loyal readers. We hope you'll stick with us during (or come back after) our vacation. :)

- Alex

Blogging 101

The blogging community is huge, isn't it? And more than a little intimidating. It's easy to feel like your blog is this remote island waiting to be discovered by curious travelers. Preferably travelers that are into the same stuff you are. Don't get discouraged...we have some tips on how to make this happen.

In the world of Mighty Distractible, there are 2 kinds of folks: "our people" and "not really our people". It's our super-simplified way of using marketing strategies (courtesy of our day job at Company X) to be able to identify the demographic groups that will be most likely to enjoy our content. For instance, knitters are "our people" but deep-sea divers...maybe not. That's not to say that the deep-sea divers wouldn't find us charming and fun but, let's face it, we talk a lot about crafting so, really, they might get bored.

Once you understand who you should be talking to - your most likely demographic - the trick is getting the attention of those people. One of the best ways is to share your content with other websites with similar content so that you're exposed to a larger audience. This can take the form of guest blogging or cross-posting sharable content such as patterns or recipes.

Luckily for us crafters, there are many web sites devoted to coordinating and publishing good content from multiple sources. We have gained lots of readers by submitting free patterns or tutorials to sites such as these.

Here are a few places that Mighty Distractible can be seen online:

Our Fluffy Puffs Hat at All Free Knitting

Easy Log Cabin Quilt Block Tutorial at FaveQuilts

Embroidery School Lesson 3 at Craft Gossip

Free content on a subject-specific site gets "your people" over to your blog. If they like what they see, they will poke around for a while...and if they really like what they see, they will come back again and again. Now, please be aware, this is just one way we are getting the attention of online crafty readers. We also try to keep active in the greater crafting community including doing pattern submissions for books as well as some upcoming guest blogging. Oh yes people, building a blog audience takes work!

Alex and I are so fortunate to be crafty bloggers. The online crafting community may be large, but the people who make up that community are so generous. It is really true. The volume of free tutorials and patterns online is staggering. This is a group who loves to share ideas and give encouragement to all who want to have a try at creating something all their own. "Our people" are pretty awesome!

–Cassandra