I’m back, and it looks like I’m going to change things up a little bit. Come talk to me for a minute.

You have the domain, you are the one in command. Whatever you want it to be, whatever you want to (re)present, do so.  I often have the same issues with my site.  My site has never been about “my music”, the name of my site is meant to represent what I listen to, what I do, my interests.  With yours, you’re celebrating your nerdery, and you can do so in whatever way you want. If people like how you write and how you present yourself, people will continue to show up.

I go back and forth on whether or not I should be more mainstream, but for me, I’d do that for the sake of getting hits. I don’t care about that. I wonder if I should include more “pop culture” stuff, because as you know, I can rattle off a lot of things on Twitter. But what good would that do me, when there are thousands of websites doing the same thing?

For me, if you want to stand out on your own, do it on your own terms. However you shift things around to benefit you and the website, do it.  At times i think “damn, I need to get with Ericka and start a show of some sort”, because you are serious business.  Can I tell you the benefit of Twitter and other social media? I now have people telling me they want to collab on projects. In the 17 years I’ve been online, I’ve been constantly rejected by people who I wanted to work with as a producer. “Nah, that shit is weak”. Tried to gain coverage as a writer, and have been fortunate in having some websites want to publish my work, but nothing “next level”.  I think I continuously work “within my limitations”, which for me is living 200 miles outside of Portland and Seattle, which means I can’t attend live shows, I can’t network with local/regional artists face to face.  But the benefits of being online for the last 17 years is knowing the true power of how to network. You have done this, I know you have.  So whatever you’re doing, do not give that up.

I’m not sure how you work exactly, but my goal is to get out from my “200 miles away” mode and be in the center of any interaction. Being online is great, but I need much more. I’m sure you can relate to that. You have been doing some great stuff with artists over the years, so if this is what you love doing (and I know it is), don’t ever give that up. There is a goal you want to reach, and even if it’s a rough mental sketch of just the word “goal”, keep going for it. I’ve been down and out so many times it’s not funny, and for the first time in a long time, this year has felt like I’m on the lip/edge of something much better.  You are too.  Now let’s hug like Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush and sing “don’t give up”.