Craft

For our last post before we start in to Feb. I want to talk a bit about craft.

I am a huge advocate of "Writing the Breakout Novel" as a workbook but we're going to be even more general than that today.

What is craft? How do you develop it?

Craft is something that you have to work at. You may have natural talent [some of you may have incredible talent] but without craft you'll never reach your full potential.

One key to maturing as a writer is to recognize how much you don't know. When I wrote my first manuscript I thought it was the most brilliant set of words to ever land on paper. Truly, I was enamored with my genius. It was inconceivable that anyone could write something more riveting than that story.

When I placed in the top 20 of a writing contest...well, I knew I was already the champ. The story was destined for greatness. I stopped learning. I had arrived. Books would be written about my rise to fame. People would flock to learn from me.

That manuscript never went any further. I'm embarrassed that anyone ever saw it associated with my name!!

That is because I've grown in my craft.

As I begin to meet writers at higher and higher levels of success my belief in the greatness in humility is reinforced.

Humility is not self-depreciation. It is recognition of ones limitations and then the willingness to do what is necessary to push past them and grow as a writer. It is stepping outside your comfort zone and seeing yourself for who you really are.

It is like the scene in the movie "The Never-Ending Story" where the warrior realizes he's the boy in the attic [and vice versa]. Once he had that realization he was able to go further than he ever thought possible. He was able to do great things. Recognizing his limitations allowed him to exceed them.

That is what our craft can do. If we recognize that we are not good at writing dialog then we can recognize that limitation-and push past it. That is how we go up a notch.

Get together with a critique partner. Hire an editor to read the first 30 pages of your manuscript. Do something to find your weaknesses in craft.

Then, armed with that knowledge, get the tools to turn those weaknesses in to strengths.

Sunday starts the first day of the rest of our month. Get ready to break down barriers and push past limitations. Forget everything leading up to this moment.

Let's get going!

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Reaching your goals, multiple websites

Why would you need to have multiple websites?

This is a reasonable question. There are so many websites out there, how are you going to attract people to your particular website? And wouldn't that split your traffic to send them to a bunch of different websites?

Well, yes and no. By having a website targeted to each of your markets you can reach each of them and then point all of them to a central website.

That is why it is so important to secure domains you might need to do this-and secure them BEFORE you need them.

How will I keep the content relevant?

This will require some consistent effort on your part but you can consider simple things link integrating twitter in to your website and posting as you find articles of interest to your target market.

You can interview people whose opinion would interest your readers.

You can also write articles based on your experience and research.

Content should be the easiest part....we are, after all, writers.

How can I build traffic?

Build your readership by offering something they want to see. Write your blog and point people to articles and content on your website. Then on your website point to your newsletter. Your newsletter can provide short articles monthly and point to archived posts on your blog. You don't want to make everything a duplicate [in case you have people who check out all three]. Make sure each place has something the other two things don't provide, but it is okay to use content from each in the other.

I am personally using mailchimp and I love it. Here is a link to check them out.

MailChimp

I am not a computer person, so at first some of the work with the templates confused me. However, once I looked at the quick tutorials [most lasting no more than a minute or two] it gave me AWESOME looking newsletters. [so be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter]

What I really like is that I can either go monthly [starting at $15/month] or I can pay $15 to get 500 mails. This is great while I'm building my lists. It also allows me to work in this system for clients without relying on them for sign ups etc.

They have a free trial offer with 500 free emails so go to the link and play around with it. See what you think. If you get a newsletter, email me through my website with a description of the newsletter and we'll tell others.

Of course there are other programs but I have told you that I only tell you about what I've directly seen results from. This doesn't mean there aren't other great programs out there; this is what I'm using and I'm thrilled with their product.

Reread Tuesday's post and today's post and start to think bigger about your marketing efforts. And if you'd like help my monthly coaching program is $30/month. We can delve in to specifics for your particular writing goals and put something together

But keep moving forward. We're going to get you to your dreams.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Reaching your goals, establish a web presence

Last Thursday I taught a webinar on Writing for Small Business Owners. One thing I emphasized is the importance of establishing and maintaining a web presence. That is important for writers. Since we work with words this should be easier for us to create something that will keep people coming back...but how do we do that?

Creating blogs are always the first step. They are free and easy to update. Make sure you have a clear focus and provide consistent content that will interest people and keep them coming back.

The next thing you need to do is secure a domain. I personally use doteasy.com because I've found them very affordable and very easy to work with. They run specials from time to time but to simply buy a domain is about $25 for a year. Click this link below and check them out.

Doteasy.com

"But I don't want to start a website yet!!"

I didn't say start a website, I said purchase a domain.

I'm sure as you grow as an author you'll encounter many people who find their domain gone when the time comes to build their website. Purchase the domain so you have it in a year or two when you need it.

If you have domains that relate to the topic of your kind of writing, secure that too. "RegencywithRayann" or "SuspensewithSam"

You get the idea. I own about 4-5 domains that are not currently developed because I know that I will need them soon-and I don't want to miss out.

So, we will talk about actual websites on Friday, but for now go to that link and find out the availability of domains [it's free to check availability], secure a domain [or topic, like I'm writingcareercoach.com ], and start to think of ways to plan for success.

Don't wait until you think you'll need it, start planning ahead.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.