A is for apples ... and other things

Oh wow. Did I really sign up for this? I think I'm getting dangerously close to that very annoying line: biting off more than I can chew.

Well, anywho, onwards and upwards, and to the business of the day: the letter A. Or, more specifically, something that starts with A that will be fun to write about (and hopefully read about). Do you know how hard it is to think of a word that starts with a specific letter when you absolutely have to? Hard! I mean, I came up with a few ideas: apples (crunchy are best, nuff said), Argentina (I don't really know anything about it, but I would like to), aphrodisiac (...).

I settled on ... audience. The people you write for (other than yourself). I could have talked about the audience you write stories for, and was going to, but instead I decided to focus on blogging audience, since we've just started a month long blogging bonanza.

Who do you write for? This is a question I've struggled with a few times, over the life of my blog, and I think it's shown from time to time. Am I writing this blog for myself? Other writers? Readers? What is my goal? Do I want to impart knowledge (I don't have a whole lot of this, so perhaps not the best strategy)? Commiserate? Share amazing finds (book related of course)? Build my platform for the one day dream of getting published?

There are so many directions this blog could go in, and all I really know is that I want it to be about the things I am passionate about: reading, writing and books. I think I'm going to use this month to figure out the future of the blog, try and solidify a goal, and then keep trucking.

Do you know who your blogging audience is? Is it who you intended, or have you gone off track? What are your thoughts on this?


PS. I also toyed with adamantium as my letter A, but then realised I had nothing to say about it and would only have chosen the topic because I wanted to include a picture of Hugh Jackman in all his Wolverine glory, which I'm going to do anyway.

What's in a name?

So, some of you may have noticed that I completely overhauled my blog layout and changed the name not so very long ago. At the time I was very over the existing layout and name, and just wanted a change! The problem was, I was in a hurry to do it and now I'm not so happy with the changes. I still think they're better than what I had before, but I think I can do better.

Part of the problem is that I made the blog layout myself and, while it was fun to do, it does look a little amateurish.

So, I'm going to overhaul again, but this time I'm going to take my time and make sure I get it right. I want something I can live with for a long time.

In the meantime I could really use YOUR help. Pretty please?

I have a list of names I'm toying with, and I'd love to get your opinions on them in the poll below (and in the comments). As you can see, they're all based around a *ahem* healthy obsession with books.

Also, if you had your blog designed by someone who you think did an amazing job, I'd love to hear about them!

Can't wait to hear what you all think, and thank you in advance.

Sari

Feb blogfests and comps I heart

Hey there writer friends!

This is just a quick post to let you know about some fun and exciting blogfests and comps I've come across and am participating, and I thought you might like to know about them too! (I've come across these from a few different sources, but one I've just discovered is Sharon's blog The Blue Word. She does a monthly post on blogfests and comps in the writing realm.)

There's the Valentines Blog Event being hosted by Brodie at Eleusinian Mysteries and Lisa from Read Me Bookmark Me Love Me. It's a month long event with all sorts of fun games and AMAZING book prizes. Seriously. Check them out.

Operation Awesome is hosting their monthly Mystery Agent contest. I don't think I'm going to enter this one because I'm not quite ready, but hey, there's always next month!

The I'm Hearing Voices blogfest, hosted by Angela at Live to Write and Cassie at Reading, Writing and Loving It, is a great character study done in three parts. A very good way to get to know your characters a little better (especially the elusive ones that don't like to talk to you) and there are also some great prizes on offer.

And of course there's the Get Fired Up blogfest, which I've already talked about here. Don't forget, if you're a new blogger in need of a little guidance, I (and all the others who have signed up for this blogfest) are always happy to help.

Have you found any awesome comps or blogfests this month? I'd love to hear about them. Will you be participating in any of these?

Paying it forward blogger love

One thing I love about the writing community is that we're always willing to help each other out. I've had this proven to me multiple times when I haven't been able to figure something out with my writing, or my blog, or just life in general, and my writing friends have always come to the rescue. I hope that I've been able to repay the favour on occasion.

Melissa, over at Fiction Toolbox, has come up with a great idea for paying it forward in the writers-who-blog world. We were all new here once upon a time, right? And how much easier did the writing community make things when you weren't really sure what you were doing? Or did you go it alone at first and wish you had someone to mentor you through those first few weeks or months of your blog?

In the Get Fired Up blogfest established bloggers lend a hand to newby bloggers. It can be in any way shape or form, so if you feel inclined to share some hard earned wisdom go check it out.

If you're a new blogger and need any tips or direction on anything blogging related, please let me know in the comments. I'm here to help and I'm sure so are a lot of my blog readers.


In other news, you may have noticed things look a little different around here! I thought it was past time for a new look. What do ya think?

Hello, my name's Sari and I've been a Tweeter for ten months...

...with no sign of giving it up any time soon.

And anyway, why would I want to? Since I've been on Twitter, I have:

• made new writing friends
• found new agents, publishers, editors and authors to stalk (not creepy, I promise)
• gotten new traffic to the blog
• been directed to a number of amazing and helpful articles on writing that I never would have found by myself
• been able to chat in live time with real agents, and get their advice
• participated in Tweet chats on the craft of writing (my favourite is #YAlitchat)
• been directed to jobs and internships to apply for.

Before I signed up for Twitter I thought it was just another way for 14-year-old girls to write in 140 characters or less what they had for lunch that day, and to stalk Justin Bieber. When I signed up, I was sceptical at best about what I would get out of Twitter. But I thought I may as well check out what all the fuss was about. As you can see, I'm glad I did.

 

I thought I'd share some of the things I've learned about using Twitter from the perspective of an aspiring writer building her platform. A guide from a non-expert, you might call it.

 

~ If you haven't signed up yet, go do it! You're missing out on a world of new contacts, information and advice. Make sure your Twitter account isn't private. The whole idea of Twitter is connecting with people, and putting up this major roadblock won't help.

~ Once you're the owner of a shiny new account, before you do anything else, write your bio and upload a picture. (If you have a Twitter account already and haven't done this step, I recommend doing this now).

If I get an email saying I have a new Twitter follower, and that person has no bio and no picture, usually I just delete without following them back. Why? Because they haven't made the effort, so why should I? There are gazillions of worthy people to follow on Twitter, so make it easy for people to want to follow you. Here are some tips from social media expert Marian Schembari on writing your Twitter bio.

~ Sign up for TweetDeck or similar program. Trust me, if you use the Twitter website for tweeting, you'll never discover how awesome Twitter can be.

~ Before you start following people, send a few tweets. Post a link to a helpful blog post you've found. Search the #amwriting or #writing hashtags and send some encouragement to someone who's hit a writing milestone. Say something about your own writing for the day. Why do you do this before following people? The second thing I do after checking the bio to decide if I will follow someone is to check their Tweetstreem. If there's nothing there it's hard to tell if this is the sort of person I want to follow or not.
 
~ Follow! Search Twitter for writers, agents, publishers and whoever else you want to follow. Visit your favourite blogs and see if there is a link to the blogger's Twitter page. Check out the 'following' lists of the people you follow and follow some of the same people. Don't go overboard to start off with. You don't want a 'following' to 'follower' ratio of 1000 to 10.

~ Learn about hashtags and how to use them. Here's a list of hashtags for writers.

~ Participate in Twitter chats for writers. You learn heaps and meet heaps of cool people.

~ Keep your tweets balanced. Talk to people, post interesting articles, post links to your own blog posts, post updates in general. Try not to focus on any one of these.

The last thing I look at when deciding if I will follow is what a person is tweeting about. If their feed is full of self-promotion and links to their own blog, I don't follow. If their feed is full of updates to the world, but no actual interaction with other people, I don't follow. If their feed is full of links and RTs (retweets of other's posts), I don't follow.

This might sound a bit strict, but again there are so many people to choose from in Twitterland, and I'm there to meet and interact with people, not to be tweeted at or bombarded with links. It's like writing a good character: the reader needs to connect with you before they care what you have to say.

~ Have fun!

Also, here's a post from Marian Schembari on why you might be struggling to get followers, this Twitter Guide for Writers by @inkyelbows is a great resource, and Kristen Lamb has a regular Twitter Tuesday post with lots of good info.

Have you signed up for Twitter? What's the best thing that's happened to you since you started using it? Are you just starting? Is there anything you find confusing?

One secret, one lie, one quirk, one habit, one trait, and one love

Cute now, but what happens when you merge them?

The first Crusade Challenge...

· one secret: I love to read, but I don't love to read what many consider the classics. The way some of the characters bloviate tends to make me put many an old book down before getting into the story.

· one quirk: When someone says, does or writes something over and over again which irritates me I actually get a physical sensation of discomfort in the pit of my stomach. Examples are, a too frequently used word (I read a book once where all the characters referred to other males as 'boyo', but it only started halfway through the book) or a blade scraping on a blackboard.

· one annoying habit: I have a fuliguline laugh. People jump in fright when I find something funny because it sounds like a cross between a donkey and a duck.

· one of your best character traits: I was born in the year of the rabbit, which must be a good thing because rabbits are fluffy and cute with button noses.

· one of your favourite things: I only get to choose one? Well in that case I choose my boyfriend, Ollie. Because of him I get to go back to university to do my graduate diploma in editing & publishing, and spend long hours writing. Otherwise I'd probably still be working in a bank.

Can you guess which is the lie?

In which I start a Sekrit Projekt, and Welcome!

First off, I wanted to say hello and welcome to all my new followers. It's so good to have you here. I know many of you have popped over from the crusade or from the dojo and I'm looking forward to crusading and kicking writing butt with you all.

In other news, I have started writing a Sekrit Projekt. In the past I've been a one project at a time kinda girl, but lately I've been trying out all sorts of new techniques to see how they work for me, and this is one of them. It's a YA paranormal (yes with vamps, the non sparkly kind) and so far I'm loving writing it.

As you know, I'm working on developing a writing habit, and since my other WIP is now in the revision stages I wanted something else to get daily words on. So far so good.

For those of you joining me with building a writing habit, how's it going? What goals and triggers did you set for yourself, and are you managing to stick to them?

PS. I made a little 'Writing Habit' button for the blog. If you're doing it with me, feel free to grab it.

Now I'm a ninja and a crusader

I mentioned a few days ago that I am participating in NNWM (which is going great by the way).

I've now decided to sign up for the Second Annual Writers' Platform-Building Crusade hosted by Rachael Harrie (say that five times fast). I'm not entirely sure what this involves, as I wasn't arround for the last one, but if it means I get to meet more cool fellow writers then I'm in!

Care to join us?

Why I love your blog

I've seen a few posts on why people 'unfollow' blogs lately, but what makes us like them in the first place?

Some blogs are love at first sight. Others we're not so sure about but we give them the benefit of the doubt and over time we grow to love them. Some blogs we love to begin with, but then we have a disagreement and have to go our separate ways (the dreaded 'unfollow' button).

This is why I love the blogs I follow:

   1.  It's pretty. Shallow right? But then most relationships are based on appearances first and develop into something else later. A beautiful, eye-catching blog design will make me want to stick around to find out what this blogger has to say. A cool colour scheme, pretty header, and just the right amount of accessories (yes, do include the 'follow me' option, no don't include every button you've ever picked up from every site you've ever visited).

The blogger obviously takes pride in their work, so maybe they will pay equal attention to the content of their posts. Sometimes a blog is all looks and no content. You know the type, too busy looking in the mirror to worry about anything else. But that's a post for another day.

   2.  Easy to read. This sort of relates to the previous one. I will love you if you go easy on my eyes. Dark, easy to read font on a light background is the go. This is not the place to get fancy, because no matter how wonderful your layout and how awe-inspiring your content, if reading it makes me cross-eyed and headachey I'm not going to hit that follow button.

   3.  Interesting. Once you've gotten past checking that guy (err.. blog) out, you wanna know if he/it has any substance. If you're blogging not just for yourself, but to get a following, you'll be blogging about the things you're passionate about. And by doing so, you'll be trying to spread the word by giving back to the people who are passionate about the same things as you.

Umm.. does that make sense? Try again. If all he talks about on your first date is himself, you're unlikely to see him again. But I do still want to know something about you. Blank 'about me's' make me sad.

   4.  Reliable. This one's easy. Blog regularly. It doesn't have to be every day, just frequent enough that people don't forget you exist, and not so often you clog up your faithful followers feed readers (alliteration completely unintentional). Trying to blog on the same days each week helps too. People are creatures of habit, we love reliability (but that's not to say that we don't love a bit of spontaneity too). I know I need to take my own advice on this one. I'm working on it.

   5.  That little something extra. This is where love at first sight comes in. Some people/blogs have that special spark, panache, charisma. The blogger injects their personal charm into their blog posts, bringing them to life. I guess you'd call it the blogger's voice. I'm forever admiring and jealous of the people who have this. Some people just shine. My brother's one of those. All the good genes were used up on him first.

So there you have it. Five simple steps for making me fall in love with your blog (not that you would really want me stalking your blog).

What makes you fall in love with a blog? Do you only follow blogs that talk about certain topics, or do you have broad blog reading tastes? Do you think your blog needs some zhoozhing or have you managed to get that balance?

My favourite things I learnt last week from the writing bloggerverse... aka weekly mashup

I have a list saved to My Favourites in my browser called the Daily Clicks. As the name suggests, every day I go through the daily clicks and see what's new. Most people would use a feed reader to do this, but I prefer to actually go to the blog or web page and see all the pretty shiny things that the creator has put there.

So I thought I'd do a post on my favourite things learnt this week in my exploration of the writing webs.


1.  Janet Reid and Writer Beware both posted on the dangers of competition clauses, and one competition in particular. Long story short, if you are considering entering any sort of writing comp, read the fine print in full. And if you see anything like this:

By submitting an entry, all entrants grant Sponsor the absolute and unconditional right and authority to copy, edit, publish, promote, broadcast, or otherwise use, in whole or in part, their entries, in perpetuity, in any manner without further permission, notice or compensation.

Run. Run away fast and far. And don't part with your hard earned dollars to enter a competition that basically means you've granted the competition holder the right to use your work in any way without notifying or compensating you. Not. Good.


2.   Shallee McArthur came up with the idea to do a What's Your Writing Process Blogfest. In her words:

...blog about ANY part of your writing process-- how you create characters, how you plot your novel, how you organize your rewrites, your whole writing process from start to finish, anything.

The blogfest is scheduled for Tuesday the 18th, which for me is now, but for most of the participants is tomorrow, so I thought I'd compromise by posting tonight.

So what are you waiting for? Go sign up. Share your process so we can learn from you.

Aplogies to the guys,
couldn't help myself.



3.   The discovery of Kristen Lamb's blog. She's a writer and social media guru, and blogs about both. I only came across her blog a couple of days ago (via Twitter) and I've already discovered so much good information. My favourite so far is how to take on the Procrastination Pixie. Excellent advice. I've been practicing using the word 'No' every time my mouse wanders toward the facebook/twitter/gratuitous pictures of Ben Barnes button when writing, and so far with good results.

If you're a blogger she also has this awesome series of posts on getting started and staying in the game. More great advice and worth checking out. And yes I'm trying to take that advice. I will blog more regularly. Promise.


4.   Ok, this one's on a more serious note. I've been meaning to blog about this all week, so now's as good a time as any. Author Saundra Mitchell tackles the topic of illegal ebook downloads in her post '"Free" Books Aren't Free'. A quick quote:

I’ve told you before that I made a $15,000 advance on SHADOWED SUMMER. In two years, I’ve managed to earn back $12,000 of that.

It’s going out of print in hardcover because demand for it has dwindled to 10 or so copies a month. This means I will never get a royalty check for this book. By all appearances, nobody wants it anymore.

But those appearances are deceiving. According to one download site’s stats, people are downloading SHADOWED SUMMER at a rate of 800 copies a week. When the book first came out, it topped out at 3000+ downloads a week.

If even HALF of those people who downloaded my book that week had bought it, I would have hit the New York Times Bestseller list.

If the 800+ downloads a week of my book were only HALF converted into sales, I would earn out in one more month. But I’m never going to earn out.

I would recommend reading the whole thing. It really.. sucks (for want of a better word) reading stuff like this. I know no one reading this post would download an ebook, because we're all writers, but we can all help to educate. There are plenty of people out there who don't realise the damage they're doing by downloading an ebook, and they could be our friends or family. So let them know. I'm sure they'll be want to spend a few dollars on books in future.


5.   Not really blogging, but favourite Twitter hashtags this week: #YALitChat, #AskAgent and #AmWriting. Great places for advice, encouragement, and finding like-minded people. Twitter is an invaluable resource for writers, so if you're not there, go to it.


And that's that. My list of favourite (and not so favourite in some cases) things learned and heard this week.

What have you learnt this week? What gems have made a difference to your writing day? Or just your day in general?

Am I a Twit Now?

Something I've managed to avoid for a long time is Twitter. Until now. Suddenly having excessive amounts of spare time on my hands has driven me to find new ways to fill it (wait.. shouldn't I be writing? I hate you procrastination..).

So I finally bit the bullet and signed up. Is it just me or is Twitter unnecessarily complicated? I mean.. it's just supposed to be max 140 character updates right? So what's all these hashtags and @'s and TweetDecks and everything else that goes with it? I'll figure it out, but until then - confused!

I was inspired to sign up because, even though I'm a long (long, long, long, looong) way away from being published, if ever, one of the things that all the industry blogs agree on is that authors need a platform, and they should start early. This advice is generally aimed at non-fiction writers, but it can't hurt for fiction writers, right?

Rachelle Gardner has a great blog post about how she manages her various social media outlets, and this blog has tips on Twitter for bloggers.

Have you signed up for Twitter? What's your favourite thing about it? Least liked aspect?