We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Kosior a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Amanda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I originally started my blog, North Dakota Nice, as a way to share weekly articles about people’s everyday kindnesses in North Dakota. One week, I decided to supplement those articles with a short story of my own (about wearing a winter snowsuit under a Halloween costume where I was dressed like a cheerleader). Later that day, I received a note from one of my regular readers that said, “I loved your story; it brightened my day.” So, the next week, I decided to write another one about something equally mundane. Once again, I got a note from a different reader telling me how joyful it made them.

I’ve been writing those weekly stories for about two years now – simple, lighthearted stories about something going on in my life – and every time I start to think, “Is this a waste of time?” I hear from someone about how they look forward to them all week, or that they kept them laughing during an illness, or that they give them something to talk about with their family at dinner. My blog definitely isn’t edgy or earth-shattering, but it is so meaningful to me that I can add a little happiness to people’s lives.

Amanda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Every Sunday throughout my childhood, my New Jersey grandma would call me, her North Dakota granddaughter, and together we would craft a story. When I was really little the stories weren’t much more than, “Once upon a time, Amanda went outside to blow bubbles. She blew a bubble up into a tree and caught a fairy. She named the fairy ‘Bubble’ and made her a house of of bubbles. The end.”

As I got older, the stories became more sophisticated and – in my opinion, deep; by the time I went off to college, I was convinced I was going to write the next Great American Novel. However, I got so bogged down in my own hubris that I couldn’t get more than two words out at a time. To get out of my writer’s block, I’d pen silly little stories like Bubble the Fairy admitting to her “fairapist” that she doesn’t like the smell of soap. Finally, I took a step back and realized maybe the Great American Novels were best left to their own authors, and my own writing path was more…bubbly.

Today, the vast majority of my stories are truth about my own life; those can be read at NorthDakotaNice.com (or by free email subscription on the same site) every Wednesday. I also have started working on a series of short, lighthearted ghost/fantasy-realism stories that take place in North Dakota.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am often asked for advice on starting a blog, and I tell everyone the same thing: START WRITING. It is so easy to get bogged down (blogged down) in worrying about your website graphics, or your social media presence, or your overall thematic approach…none of which matter if you don’t have the CONTENT. My “unlearned lesson” is that it has been easier for me to adjust my website graphics/social presence/etc. now that I know my own voice and have enough content and audience to back it up. My advice would be to write 7-8 stories before launching a website – develop a writing cadence and voice first.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I started my blog, I assumed social media would be my #1 marketing driver – it’s free, my readers are there, and I had a built-in audience of my own network. Over time, I have personally found that growing my social media followers has not had much of an impact on my readership (and advertising has had zero impact); however, for every one new email newsletter subscriber, the following week I’ll get five additional email subscribers – just because I put a call to action on the bottom of each of my posts (“Sign up to subscribe!”) and newsletters, and a sign-up on the main page of my site.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://northdakotanice.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nodaknice/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoDakNice/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrsamandagail