Jul 8, 2012 |
I’m a blogger. At least, I think I am. Blogger is typically defined as a person who maintains or publishes an online diary (web blog). But I’m not writing my private thoughts into the public media. Blogging, to me, is more than just spilling your emotions over a keyboard for all to see.
There are good blogs and bad blogs. Blogs that have one theme (Food or travel blogs, for example), and blogs that are all over the place (blogs written typically by high school girls, perhaps…) The majority of blogs are somewhere in between.
Take mine, for example. I started well over a year ago to document my forays into the social/dating world. But I found that to be too limiting for what I wanted to say. So I spread my wings. And I realized, thanks to my subscribers’ comments, that I have more to say on more subjects than just Who’s Who on Match.com. Thank goodness… have you checked some of those profiles lately? Seriously….
I’m a good writer. But I’m not always a good blogger. I threw myself in the deep end and am teaching myself how to swim. Sometimes I float, sometimes I sink. But I am always able to come up for air and reach the surface.
I don’t know logistics. I don’t know coding and formatting. I know writing. I know creativity and characters and descriptions and recipes. And typing. And a little bit of photography, but not much.
I’m still learning.
This is where you come in. I need help. I have so many questions. I just know that somewhere out there in the great Blogosphere are the answers. So far I’ve been self-sufficient enough to research and google and obtain basic information. But I know there’s a whole world of ways to make my blog better, and I’m just not sure where all that information is.
So here is my Plea: Tell me how to write a better blog.
- Do you have tips on photography?
- What topics do you like to read about?
- How do you attract (and maintain) a large following?
- What types of giveaways get your attention?
- How do you get your Blog to pay for itself (advertising, sponsors, etc.)?
- How do you get contributions for your giveaways?
- What can make Frankly, My Dear… a daily must-read email?
- How do you get people to comment on your blog, without using spam?
- Do you reply to every comment?
- How do you get your readers to interact with each other (reply to other comments)?
- What layouts appeal to you? What makes a blog too “visually busy”?
- When I add my blog hop links every “What’s the Word?” Wednesday, the code box is adjustable instead of formatted to fit under the photo link. How can I change this?
- Is there a way to make a Blog Hop start, without a stop date?
I truly welcome want need any advice or suggestions you may have. Feel free to comment or even link up posts if you have them.
Come by and visit. Get some tips. Share some tips. Don’t forget to place the link on your own posts! I know I’m not the only one on this teeter-totter. Together, we can write Better Blogs, dontcha think?
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Jun 7, 2012 |
I saw the news tonight. Ray Bradbury has died at the age of 91.
Bradbury was the author of many great books like Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and my personal favorite, Something Wicked This Way Comes.
His science fiction writings often predicted things and events such as the invention of ATM machines. He even prophesied live-action crime on television screens. The immensity of our consumerism. And he hinted often at other worlds, friend or foe.
He has inspired my dreams… and my nightmares. And my writing. I am not gifted in the sci-fi genre, but Bradbury’s books make it so readable, that as a writer I couldn’t help but pick up a beginner’s foray into the unknown.
His great style of combining the detailed color of environment with even more colorful characters has been a staple of school reading for decades. His plots and settings were so dramatic, yet simplistic. Around any normal corner could lurk the largest hero, or smallest shadows. And sometimes both.
The world is a bit lonelier tonight, but the stars are having a party. Their Master of Ceremonies is home.
What’s your favorite Ray Bradbury book?
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Mar 15, 2012
Before I was pregnant with Dot (yes, that’s quite a while ago!), I signed on with the Institute of Children’s Literature. But then I did get pregnant. And then I became a single mom. And I got a day job. And I took college courses. So the whole correspondence-study thing fell to the side.
Flash forward 17 years, give or take a month, and I contacted them again. Yes, I can renew my studies. Yes, they’ll send me new course materials.
So, yes, as Dot prepares for her high school graduation, I’m going back to school.
I’m going to learn how to write specifically for children. I’m going to study sentence structure, and intrigue, and action, and characters…
And I’m really excited about it.
I already have my first two assignments done. They were off-the-cuff rapid writings just to get my foot in the door, but they were still greeted with enthusiasm and fantastic feedback.
That’s what attracted me to ICL: the personal attention that I receive. If I have a problem, or a question, or need a due-date extension, one phone call is all it takes. They take care of everything so efficiently, so effortlessly.
And they inspire me. They ask the right questions. I didn’t realize my resume was already being formed until I started listing all the writings I’ve been successful at. I’ve been published in Highlights for Children, Cricket, Wee Wisdom. I won awards in college. A scholarship was created for me in college. I run a blog. I now run a writing/editing/publishing company. I’m writing.
So I guess I’m not as “new” to the writing thing as I think I am. It’s always been around me. It’s always been in me.
Thanks to ICL, I’m just recognizing it.
And that’s pretty exciting!
Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s something about a cow and a cup of coffee that I must go ponder…
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Feb 17, 2012
New Inklings Press is the name of my new company. My new company. My. Company.
wow.
I have a business license. A bank account. A binder to keep every bit of important paperwork. My website will be up and running within a few days. And today the local newspaper is running my Fictitious Business Name.
How. Awesome. Is. That?
I am now licensed to publish, edit, write; and get paid for it. Of course, these business steps didn’t enable me to be able to do so. I’ve been doing those things (minus the actual publishing) for quite some time now.
But it has given me a push.
A great direction.
A stinking huge neon sign that screams
YOU ASKED FOR IT. YOU GOT IT!!
Since I lost my job last July, I’ve been… well… let’s just say I don’t beautify myself like I used to. But all that changed when I filed for my business license.
Now I have a public purpose again. I have a reason to wear my red blouse and make-up. And it feels good getting Dolled up. It reminds me that I’m worth Dolling up for. Even if there wasn’t a company. Even if there wasn’t a Cookbook or Devotional Study or Poetry.
I’m worth the nail polish. I’m worth the coffee. I’m worth every ounce of effort that I pour into typing each day, reading each night, and observing every tiny detail I can.
A year ago I didn’t have a blog. Now I have a blog. A writing partner. A writing group. A company. A host of ideas. A website. A business.
I chose the name New Inklings Press to give homage to that great writer, C.S. Lewis. In the 1950s, he and J.R.R. Tolkien were part of a writing group called the Inklings. They used to meet in a booth in an old English pub. Since Megan and I do our best collaborating over a Denny’s lunch or Starbuck’s, I floated the idea of calling ourselves The New Inklings. She loved it!
It suits us. She loves Lord of the Rings the way I love Narnia. And we work well together. Their writings carry a Christian theme. So do ours.
Having the company gives me permission to keep doing what I love doing: Write.
And I have more on that subject, but you’ll have to wait til tomorrow. For now, I have a story to tell.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Feb 16, 2012
You remember that snowstorm I’ve been waiting for, for a few months? The one that was supposed to hit by Christmas? And again in January? But somehow managed to do nothing except spread lovely rumors of winter white?
Guess what…
We got snow!
There had been much talk about inclement weather for days now, but nobody really believed anything would happen. Several times this winter, any forecast of snow came and went without so much as two flakes. So knowing what the “experts” were calling for didn’t really make it, well, real.
I checked Weather.com, Weatherbug.com, accuweather.com, noaa.gov, and the local news channels. Every one had a different story. Snow in the mountains. Local rains. Lots of wind. Maybe snow. Maybe no rains. Lots of wind.
So when they said “snow”, I really envisioned . . . nothing different.
But, as it turned out, not only do we have snow, but it started about six hours earlier than anyone predicted. Yesterday morning the prediction was for a “dusting”. Last night, the snow level forecast dropped and the prediction became “up to an inch” [Hey, it’s the desert, okay?! An inch of snow is pretty nifty out here!!]. By this morning, one of the forecasts predicted an even lower snow level, and one to three inches possible. But it wasn’t supposed to start until this evening.
At noon, we saw the clouds blow in. And when I say blow, I mean blow.
Like Winnie The Pooh and the Blustery Day blow.
Even in winter, it’s unusual for our skies to turn dark. But darken they did, and quickly. The winds came up rapidly and I made plans to run my errands sooner rather than later. After five friends’ Facebook statuses (say that five times fast, I dare you!), made mention of snow within three minutes of each other, I knew it was time to head out.
I called my mom to let her know I would be out and about, would she like me to run errands for her too? (Awww, I know. I’m a good kid.) We talked about the impending storm and as soon as we hung up, I noticed the first white flake. I called her back. “I’m leaving now,” I decided. It took me less than five minutes to change into a warm sweatshirt and pull on some wooly socks and my shoes. As soon as I backed the car out of the garage, I took the picture you first see up above. From dry ground to this in five minutes. Now that’s a speed record!
I ran errands, picked up Dot from school (no driving lessons today, sorry!), and we made it home. It was like driving through a Muppet’s pillow fight. Thick, large, wet, whiteness dropping from the sky at an alarming speed. Visibility was down to 1/8 mile or less.
So here it is a mere five hours later than when I started out. The downfall has temporarily ceased, but every forecast now is saying we’ll get anywhere from four to eight inches of snow tonight! Eight!! Now that’s a snowstorm!!!
By the time you read this, I could be buried under an avalanche. Or, more preferably, drinking a chocolate martini by the fire while working on Chapter Two of the first book.
But in order to get to Chapter Two, I need to finish Chapter One. Which is what I’m off to do now. So if you’ll excuse me, I have some other writings to tend to.
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
