Canister X – A.P. FuchsWriter, Artist, Creator
Content related to blogging. Thoughts and musings.
Status report for 100919 – Busy week thus far, including–but not limited to–notes on marketing ideas for books, comics, social media, and the blog; Inktober; SEO work; book order facilitation; contracted publishing work; daily blogging; idea formulation.
A fresh notebook stands at the ready.
The magic of blogging . . .
Once more I’ll state my belief that blogging is not dead, just misplaced. In a world of quick social media posts and soundbites, it’s easy to forget the Web is loaded with websites chock full of information, entertainment, and news. Many folks are dissatisfied with the way social media has gone and how it affects their mental health and overall well being, so I encourage you this coming week to spend time web surfing to see what you’ll find. Check out articles you’ve been meaning to read, creator websites you’ve been meaning to go to, topics you’ve been meaning to investigate.
As an invitation from me, please take a moment and explore this blog. There is a lot here by way of free entertainment and free information. A decent portion of my creative output is spent giving readers things for free and I want you to take advantage of it so you can get to know me as a creator. On this site alone you have access to numerous articles, artwork, movie and book reviews, links to other creators, and more. This blog–the magic of blogging–is my way of getting information and entertainment to you in a way social media doesn’t let me. This blog is my house and you’re welcome to stay here and put your feet up for a while.
On a personal note, I’m enjoying blogging five days a week. It’s an opportunity to share ideas and information with the world on a platform that is my own. I’ve always believed writing is about honesty and that any creator needs to live and express themselves honestly without fear of what other people think. There are enough clones in this world and part of the role of the arts–when handled without pretension–is to speak to the human condition and portray things as they are uncut and uncensored. This role also falls on the creator and not just their work. The idea of art being about self-expression (that is, the work created) but not the artist themselves being self-expressive is a contradiction. I’m not saying an artist needs to put their whole selves on the display for the world to see, but I am saying that–and I’ve seen this countless times over–it’s a disservice to the reader or viewer for the artist to put across one message with their work but then muddle that honesty by playing to the public and telling the public what they want to hear instead of being truthful in whatever is being expressed.
The magic of blogging is that a blog is one way for a person to express themselves honestly. Sure, some folks might not like what they read. Others will be all over it. The point is that the expression was made and, frankly, these expressions will be all that’s left of us after we leave this world. I’d rather leave bits of my true self behind than an illusion for the public.
This is my approach and arguments can be made against it being the right one. What I do know is that my blogging and what I blog about works for me both professionally and personally. And that’s really the trick, isn’t it? Finding out what works for you? The only way to do that is to experiment and play around and find your groove. Only then will you, too, discover the magic of blogging.
Get to it.
This entry is an open call to my readers to comment below or send in an email (apfuchs at gmail dot com) or PM me via one of my social channels regarding what blogging topics and/or interests they’d like to see here on the blog. While I usually march to my own drummer, this open call is intended to invite you, dear reader, to have a voice and let me know what you’d like me to cover. Any topic is fine, more or less. (Few restrictions, namely politics and/or comments on the climate thereof.) Likewise, if you have a question for me in general, I’ll add it a Q & A document so I can answer it and post it here.
Please also feel free to share what you’d like to see here at Canister X in general (i.e. more photos, certain articles, etc).
I look forward to hearing your ideas.
– APF
Ps. A new video was added to Axiom-man TV today on YouTube. You can view it by going here.
My name is A.P. Fuchs and I’m a novelist, cartoonist, and freelancer in all things publishing. You are reading my blog, Canister X, my official web presence. I’ve been in this business as a creative professional for sixteen years, been creating for longer than that.
While this is my main home on the Web, I also have a longstanding presence on social media:
Ello
MeWe
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest
Tumblr
LinkedIn
My new Patreon page can be found here, where I post serial novels, essays on the creative and publishing industries, behind-the-scenes secrets, and more.
Join me.
This is just my usual blog entry that lets everyone know I will be off the social feeds for the fall and winter. The bots will be doing my dirty work and broadcasting daily while I attend to creative projects behind the scenes.
More announcements to come as items fall into place so keep checking back here to stay current.
To contact me, please use email via the contact page on this site.
Have a great fall and winter.
Work is being done behind-the-scenes here at Axiom-man Central to get ready for the fall/winter season. After my hiatus, I’ve been trying to get my writing and art machine back up and running so, come winter, I can just work and have a bunch of stuff automated for me instead of having to worry about it. The plan is to go into full Broadcast Mode during this time. The other night I also made a lengthy list of all new things A.P. Fuchs and those will be revealed as time goes on.
Keep watching this space.
Here’s a transparent entry for you: These blog posts are just me yapping. Sure, some are intentionally informative articles, but in general? It’s just me creating content with the hopes that you’ll glean at least one thing from the post no matter how long the entry. I’ve learned over the years that not every entry needs to be this big important life revelation, but instead little tidbits of the here and there. My hope is some of these make you smile, some educate, some make you think. That’s all. No more, no less.
This writer’s life is too short to sweat and toil over blog posts when book writing can be done.
Thank you for tuning in. See you next post.
It’s that time of year again where I withdraw from having an active social media presence and switch over to broadcast mode. This begins today and will carry on throughout the winter, which in Manitoba means at least five or six months.
My plan for the winter season is to release all the manuscripts I’m sitting on–some of which were created last winter broadcast season–and get them into your hands as quickly as possible. The plan also calls for creating new work, whether writing or drawing.
The best way to keep up with me is to watch this blog and sign up for my weekly newsletter, The Canister X Transmission.
To contact me, please use email via the contact page on this site.
I hope everyone has a great winter. Try and stay warm, and to you creators out there, get stuff done. I know I will.
The Meaning Behind Canister X
The Meaning Behind Canister X
“Canister X” is an unusual name for a blog. There’s a story behind why that name was chosen. It’s not a terribly exciting story, but perhaps one that’s slightly amusing.
As is required of authors, a website is needed. Most writers use their name as their domain name. I did that, too, once upon a time. But one year–I can’t remember which–I forgot to renew the apfuchs.com domain and then I lost it. I tried to re-register it only to find out someone had snatched it up. The site was in German. I had no idea who this person was and didn’t know how to go about reaching them to see if I could have my domain back, so I had to come up with something else. If memory serves me correctly, I decided to rename the site with something unique. I can’t remember the options I went through but “Canister X” came to mind and I assigned meaning to that name. The “Canister” part is after Ninja Turtles, you know, the container that had the mutagen in it. The “X” part was about the site being about anything and not locking me into a particular idea or theme, and as you can see from the content on this site, it’s fairly varied. Sort of a “you never know what you’re gonna get.”
Later, “Canister X” also became part of the title of my minicomics: Canister X Comix.
I hope to one day get my A.P. Fuchs domain back and then use it to point to here or vice versa, but until then, Canister X is the name of this thing so we’re running with it.
This is your blog history lesson for the day.
We’re now up and running on Tumblr.
How will the Tumblr blog vary from this one? The short answer is it will have a combination of some content from here and some from Instagram, and possibly some Tumblr-exclusive items. I’ll be experimenting because Tumblr is a new platform for me.
If you’re already on Tumblr, please stop by and show the page some love.
