What is a helpful blog?

Today I planned to tell you about a couple of blogs/websites I visit regularly and how they help me as the owner of a writing business. I will still do that but first, I'd like us to talk about what makes a blog worth visiting. Because that is the most important step of this process.

I'd have to say first is regular new content.

We live in a microwave culture. We crave new information. Why else would we check email 17 times a day at work then twice at red lights on our cell? We always want to be the first to know anything. I did an experiment on my shoutlife page. For a few weeks I had my hubby spend two hours a day greeting friends of mine. Then I spent a few weeks not visiting anyone's blog and simply posting new content 4 times a week.

I found that my numbers jumped when I added new content but barely creeped up when I spent hours visiting all my friends. So content is key.

Know your audience

If you don't have content geared to your target audience even the readers you do have won't last long. My target audience is people who are serious about writing. Whether that is the aspiring author, multi-pubbed author, or the reader. I want to have content for each group. So Monday and Tuesday I teach, Wednesday Caitie does her book reviews, Thursday I have industry interviews. My doing this I can keep the amount of time required to maintain my blog manageable while providing new content to my readers. It is working because more and more of you are coming and staying.

In fact, some of you have even joined to have my blogs delivered to your email box. A great idea because it saves you time and will alert you to the special Christmas gift I'll be giving to my subscribers soon. If you'd like to subscribe now look to the right on my blog for the subscription box.

Be credible

Credibility is something I take VERY seriously which is why many times I won't tell you about something until I've done it myself and seen that it works. When I put my name on the line you are trusting me to have integrity. I respect that and do all I can to maintain that trust.

Now, having said that I'd like to direct you to a few blogs that I trust.

www.chipmacgregor.com
For those of you who don't know Chip...you're missing out. He is a witty, funny guy who knows the industry inside and out. I subscribe to his blog and learn something with every post. Today he added an interview with Steve Laube. Go over there right now and check it out. It will be well worth your time.

www.AdvancedFictionWriter.com
What can I say. Read this entire website. There is so much to learn from Randy Ingermanson my brain explodes at his genius. He is also extremely kind and humble. I spent time talking with him at ACFW's conference this past September and was impressed by his sincere desire to help other writers. He gives away far more content then he ever sells in his courses. And his courses are so far under-priced I feel I should give him a percentage of my royalties. [But I won't Randy, so don't email]

So how about you? Do any of you visit these blogs? Are there others that you visit often? Tell us about them.

Reaching more people with your blog

Today's blog has information I am super excited about sharing. These are things that I've been testing to help increase traffic to my blog. Now that the results are in I'm ready to help you drive more traffic to your site too.

First, why do you have a blog? Do you use it to keep in touch with family and friends? That is the case with many people who have blogs on adoption. When we were in the process of adopting our daughter 3 years ago many people talked about their blogs. At the time I didn't really visit blogs [big mistake] but I did visit forums [very wise] and learned a great deal from them.

Now that blogs can be delivered to my in-box it's even better.

But why do YOU have a blog? This blog is to help writers, and people who'd like to write, learn how to build their platform for the release of that first book. This post is to help you build your blog traffic, to help you build your platform for the release of that first book.

The first thing is not only easy to do but it takes almost NO time once it's set up and reaps huge rewards. It is blog rush. Go subscribe to blogrush right now using the link below and then I'll tell you why it's so awesome. It's okay, go now. We'll wait:

http://www.blogrush.com/r93145805

Here is why this is so awesome!! In just the last two days my blog has been advertised 800 times on blogs that are in my SAME TOPIC. That means my target audience [aspiring authors] can see my blog topic and come visit me. This not only drives traffic to my site but it benefits the people I seek to help!! That is so wonderful.

Next, my readers benefit because on my blog there is a posting that tells of other blogs in the "aspiring authors" category. So my readers can go to other blogs that will help them with other aspects of THEIR writing. Since my goal here is to help authors, and to help authors learn from each other, this is a win-win.

Even if your blog isn't about writing you can get in a loop with other topics and network with like-minded people.

And the more people who join the more we can learn from each other. So it doesn't become about competition, it's about learning from each other. Isn't that the purpose of the blogosphere?


Second, Blog Carnivals. Maybe you've heard of them. If you have, tell us about your experiences in the comments. I just started to post on them via blogcarnival [www.blogcarnival.com]. I've had so much traffic that my marketing assistant [My super-handsome husband, Chris] goes in each week and submits posts to blog carnivals for me. This is a much more time consuming task but it will also drive traffic to your site and increase your readership.

So, share with us your experience with Blog Carnival and go sign up for the BlogRush right now.
Here is the link again: http://www.blogrush.com/r93145805 On Friday come back and post a comment telling me how many times you've been syndicated. I think you'll be SHOCKED at your exposure!

Caitie's Interview with Katy Pistole

Online Interview

What gave you the idea for the titles to your books?

I had a friend who desperately wanted a palomino horse. I helped her find one and that search caused me to think of The Palomino as a title for a book. Stolen Gold came during a brainstorming session with my editor. I wanted to call it The Golden Colt but my publisher thought it would be confusing. Flying High was named after I finished the manuscript and Morning Glory had its name from the moment I thought about Sunny’s filly and her name.

In the middle of writing did you stop and think about a time when you were a kid?

I thought about being a kid the whole time I wrote the books. I am Jenny or I was Jenny. I was a horse-sick girl until my parents bought my first horse. Then I was hooked. I still am horse crazy some 35 years later.

What gave you the idea for the main character's name?

Jenny is one of my favorite names. I had a horse-back friend when I was about 13 whose name was Jenny and her sister was Tessa. As an adult I had a student who was riding one of my school ponies. She trotted past me and her blond pony tail and the pony’s blond tail moved the same way. It was very cute and made a picture of a girl with a palomino pop into my head. It seemed natural to call her Jenny.

Why was the vet in Stolen Gold so mean?

The vet in Stolen Gold was motivated by greed and money. Greed can make people mean.

Why did Vanessa want to kill Sunny?

Vanessa wanted to kill Sunny because she couldn’t figure out any other way to control her. Control is very important to Vanessa, you’ll find out why later. Vanessa represents what can happen to anybody who tries to be in charge of their own lives. It is a sad, lonely place and it makes people do things they should not.

Caitie's Corner

Stollen Gold

By. Katy Pistole

First I want to apologize that I didn’t get this put up yesterday.

Now, to the story. This story continues from the Palomino but it’s a year later. When Kathy and Jenny were riding horses a girl name Vanessa [I can’t say her last name] comes up and says Sunny the horse is really a different horse that’s worth over a million dollars.

Jenny and her two friends are trying to get Sunny back. Once when Jenny finds Sunny in Vanessa’s barn she meets Danny, Vanessa’s nephew and they talk together for a little bit. But one day Danny calls Jenny and says that Vanessa is going to try to kill Sunny.

What is Jenny going to do?

Will she be able to save Sunny in time?

Or will Vanessa kill Sunny?

That’s all for now.

Bye, Caitie.

When do you give up on a project?

I was given a great piece of advice about four years ago by a multi-published author.

Know when to put a project away.

At the time I was writing articles fairly regularly. I had created a system to writing a list of magazines that published the kind of writing I was doing. Then I'd submit an article to one place, then the next, then the next, until I'd reached all five-and been rejected at all five.

But while I was submitting those articles, I was also working on a novel. It was a masterpiece. There was a perfect heroine who was dealt a great injustice but she overcame it without breaking a sweat.

So, in a word, it was annoying.

But I executed it fairly well because it made the top twenty of a national writing contest of full novel MSs.

So I kept polishing it, editing it, tweaking it. And after TWENTY rewrites [yes, I said twenty] I finally put it away. I knew I'd never be a great writer. I was stuck writing articles for eternity. And shouldn't that be enough? I'd invested nearly two years of my life to this one book, and all for nothing.

That was when my mentor told me "You have to know when to put something aside."

Of course, at the time I had no idea that most published authors aren't published until the third or fourth manuscript. [Yeah, I'm on number four now!! Any day I'll get that call :-) ]

So you have to know when to put a project aside. But when is that? For me, it is the moment I pitch it.

Yep, if you know me for any length of time you'll learn that about a month after a project, sometimes less, I'm on to the next one. While a partial, query, or requested full is sitting in a slush pile somewhere I'm pecking away at my next project.

There are a few reasons for this:
1. You have SO much more confidence in your writing when you can say "I have a project sitting on an agent's desk right now under review." [That is my usual answer when someone in the family asks "How is that writing thing going?"]
2. If I'm writing something else I don't stare at the in box or mailbox. I am focused on the next project, improving my craft, and living the writing life.
3. If someone DOES like what they see and they say "What else do you have?" I like to be able to say "I'm outlining book x and I'm 10k in to writing book y. Which would you like to see first?"
4. Honesty. See, honestly your first few MS are practice. In all likelihood they'll never see the light of day. Yep, those masterpieces of literary genius will sit on a shelf for eternity. This isn't always the case. Sometimes you'll pull them down and completely rework them-but in their current form they won't.

The best way to live as a writer, a productive writer, is to see it as a cycle. You write, edit, query/pitch, send off partials and fulls. But as project 'A' is off making the rounds you're working on project 'B' and researching project 'C'.

It's like spinning plates. And if you ask any successful author you'll learn that IS the writer's life.

I'd love to hear where you are in the journey.

Selling your project

So you've done it. You've completed your first project.

Now you need to sell it.

Whether a book, article, column, or concept-you need to know how to sell it.

Depending on your project the way to sell it will be different.

For articles you want to pick up a Market Writing Guide. For people in the CBA I have Sally Stuart's guide available to the right of my blog. It is a MUST HAVE resource for CBA writers.

Most places will want a query letter. You can find many resources for query letters or I will offer an evaluation service for $8 [email me at Tiffany@WritingCareerCoach.com with "query letter Eval" in the subject line for details.]

If you'd like to write Fiction proposals [for books] then don't submit until:
1. You have the novel completed and revised.
2. You have a current copy of the submission guidelines
3. You have done revisions and it is polished. [yes, I meant to say that twice]
4. You have your marketing plan, synopsis, biography, etc. ready and polishes
5. Make sure they publish in your genre.

For Non-fiction:
1. Again, know the requirements and what the publishing house does.
2. Have a detailed outline written out
3. Have the first few chapters written [expect to rewrite them later] so they can see the quality of your work.
4. Have a marketing plan, biography, etc.

By far, the easiest way to publish is through networking at conferences. This is almost to the point of necessity anymore. [although a close second is fiction writing contests. I had an agent request a full from a writing contest win]

If you'd like help with creating proposals I also offer these and content editing. Email me if you'd like details.

This writing business is about craft [writing] and marketing [business]. Once you are able to understand that, and excel at both, you are on your way to success you never imagined.

See you soon! Tiffany Colter

That Blasted First Draft by Sharlene MacLaren

I'd like to welcome author Shar MacLaren to our blog today. She is the author of three novels, the most recent is Sarah, My Beloved released by Whitaker House.

An author friend wrote to me nearly in tears, speaking of her utter frustration with writing/completing the first draft of her chick-lit novel. She was “stuck” and couldn’t seem to work her way out of the mire and muck of non-flowing ideas, pointless paragraphs that weren’t leading to a conclusion, and downright fear that perhaps she’d never finish it. At a recent writing class she’d attended, the well-meaning instructor had told her students they should write EVERY day, even if it meant sitting at their computers and keying in a line of question marks. At least they’ve written something and helped to keep the river flowing, she’d told them. My question to that is…WHAT?

Okay, here’s what I wrote in response to my dear friend’s plea for help.

Dear…..

I feel your pain, I honestly do. I don't know how many actual mss I've written, but I'm about to see my fifth pubbed book and sign a contract for another three-book series (all praise and honor to God, my Father, by the way!). I'm rewriting, reworking a couple of older mss trying to get them ready for publication, but the others may just sit in a "kettle" on a back burner and rot, never again to see the light of day, since they're not worthy of my even lifting the lid on them right now! But that’s okay. I wrote them in “the early days” and maybe I didn’t know quite as much then as I do now.

I'm probably in the minority here, and might get "the boot", but I no longer ascribe to the theory that a writer should just write for the sake of writing, even if it's a line of “????”. Huh? That keeps the flow going? What it does in my opinion, is make more work for me, the writer, when I have to go back and hit the delete key! Yes, I try as hard as I can to write something every day, but I try my darnedest to make it something relevant to my story. THAT might get deleted later, but not a bunch of blather that I knew right from the start was never going to fly because all I was doing was filling in space for the sake of saying I was writing.

Okay, when I get "stuck", the best thing for me to do is let my writing rest. I take a day or two or five. After that, I'm refreshed, my mind feels "alive" again, I've got new ideas flowing, I don't feel as frustrated, my brain is literally singing. Why? I've given it a chance to "reboot". Even computers need to be shut down once in a while (I think) just to clear their "heads" and start anew.

This third book in my series, "Courting Emma", was the first book I ever had to write under deadline. Granted, I had about 9 months to complete it b/c when I signed the contract, I'd already finished the first two--and those at my leisure. But even with nine months, believe me, I had moments of total panic! What if I couldn't do it? What if my mind dried up? What if my river of ideas stopped flowing? What if I couldn't come up with enough scenarios to keep the story interesting? TONS OF PRAYERS flew past my lips as some nights I lay trying to sleep--or perhaps while I sat in front of my computer and stared at that stupid sentence that hadn't changed in three days.
I learned a couple of things throughout this nine-month stop-and-go process of completing the third book in my series. I CAN finish something I start. (It just takes charging through thick walls.) Aren't you glad I shared that?

It's okay to take some time off when you feel blaahh and kind of dead inside. If you're a true writer (and YOU ARE or you wouldn’t be so frustrated), the energy and fire will rekindle itself. Don't beat yourself up over it.

If you've written something, say an entire paragraph, or even a couple of pages, and your first instinct tells you you're going in the wrong direction, make no doubt about it, you're going in the wrong direction. (That's God's still, small voice giving you fair warning.) If you don't delete it now, you will delete it later. Why wait?

I'm not saying you need to try to make everything perfect the first time around. All authors have to edit, edit, edit once they've completed the first draft, but try to make it as "right as possible" the first time, even if that means giving it a few days rest. It will come back to you, this burning desire to write, to grow your baby into an adult. You will bring it to completion. It's a process. It takes time and patience. If you don’t bring it to completion then maybe it’s one of those that will have to sit in a kettle on a back burner for a while. That’s okay. It’s not going anywhere.

And most important,If you're a true writer, GOD PLANTED THAT SEED OF PASSION! He will help you nurture it. It is by His might and power that you’re able to write--even on those days when it's not quite so fun or energizing.

Don't give up, because, whether you realize it every day of your life or not, GOD HAS PLANS FOR YOU! I didn’t start writing until I’d passed the mid-life point (age 52) and I’m experiencing more fulfillment today than ever before.

He is a good and faithful God, generous to a fault, forever and fanatically chasing us down! Slow down and let Him catch you. Listen to His words. Don’t fear, don’t panic.

Trust.

He will guide you in the “write” direction.