Answer to your question and HIGH Part 7

Happy Wednesday,

I have to tell you, I live a GREAT life. I am blessed to live my dream as a writer and I'm getting such wonderfully sweet emails from some of you. I don't have words to tell you how much they mean to me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I had an interesting question from Primeprojects in the comment section of yesterday's blog. He asked me how often to blog.

Well primeprojects, and the rest of you, I can only tell you what many successful bloggers have told me. If you're not updating about 3+ times a week you're not going to get traffic. I started this blog doing Mondays-Thursdays but then decided to do all weekdays. The reason was I noticed many people coming to my blog on Fridays. That meant there were people popping over searching for content.

I also started my blog by doing the exact same thing every monday, every tuesday...Have I mentioned recently that I'm type A, laugh.

My husband had a great point about doing that. He told me that if I ALWAYS post in interview on Thursdays that people who don't like interviews won't come on Thursday. Okay, then I wasn't posting Friday-Sunday...and Monday is a bad day for my blog in general [everyone is back to work] so then my readers were really only getting content a couple of days a week and they might miss something that would really help them.

That is why you see now I just post what I've learned. And I post Monday-Friday. Every once in a while I'll bop over on a weekend if I ran across something great at another blog that I want you to see. I go in to a great deal of detail in my new Writing Career Coach Course that I'm creating. The whole thing is building a platform and I spend PAGES talking about blogs and the internet. So leading up to that release I'll be talking about much more over here on the blog to help all of you out.

Oh, and Primeprojects had a GREAT post today when I bopped over to his blog. Here is the link. Check it out and tell him hi while you're there.

http://footholds.blogspot.com/2008/01/do-you-have-smart-goals.html

Now, H.I.G.H. Part 7

Yesterday I told you that I had found this great Writer's Guild. It must have been what Columbus felt like when he saw land at the end of a long voyage. That moment when suddenly you go from despair to hope again.

Wow, it was amazing.

I would look at that page every day. Remember, by this point my successful network marketing business was falling apart around me and I was sick with "morning sickness" that went all day long.

I don't remember where we found that first bit of money to sign up for the course [at that time you could pay $250 for each of 4 sections. As soon as you paid, the next section came. They have since changed that.] The first section came in the mail in mid-late October. It was all about articles. I, like most novelists, scoffed at trudging through article writing when I was really destined to be a novelist. Why waste my time??? [Now I teach an entire class on why novelists should waste their time with articles, but that is for a different day]. I introduced myself to my new mentor in the Guild and tore in to the lessons.

OHHH I felt so alive. Here it told me how to find out where the paying markets were and gave me ways to practice my craft. It was so incredibly exciting I don't even have WORDS to tell you what it felt like. Suddenly ideas were gushing out of me all the time. I carried a tape recorder to write them down. And within 2 weeks - YES I said 2 weeks- I had my first article accepted at a local paper. It was an amazing feeling to hear that editor say "This is a great story. We'd love to publish it in our December issue. Can you send us a photo to go with it?"

There I had it, a by-line, and so quickly. I kept plugging away at my lessons through December eager to place my next article. At Christmas everyone in my family got a copy of my first published article in addition to their Christmas gift.

Then came January. It started out just fine. We found a great deal on a van [which we now needed since we were expecting our 3 and all 3 would be in car seats.] and I was six months pregnant and I'd hit a lull in my morning sickness. But my 2nd daughter, who at the time was 20 months old, was having horrible temper tantrums. She would scream and throw herself around. She'd had lots of ear infections, but this time had no fever. So I took her to the doctor but, as always happens, she was a fine, happy, child. They agreed with me that it was likely the terrible 2's starting up but, on a hunch, Dr. Scooby [that's not her real name, but that's what kids call her. I'll use it here to protect her anonymity] ordered an ultrasound and emergency X-ray. Both came back in under an hour, both fine.

She sent us home and said if she threw a fit again like that to call and I would take her to the ER. We went home a little frustrated from losing a day driving all over town, but glad it was nothing.

Two days later I'd be sitting with my husband at her bedside in the PICU [Pediatric Intensive Care Unit]

See you tomorrow.

Update your blogs! and H.I.G.H. Part 6

Hello everyone,

It is with a heavy heart that I faced a new day. Yes, my precious Ohio State University Buckeyes lost...again. After an amazing season with only one loss they entered the bowl game number one. LSU was ranked number two. Ohio came out strong with a 10-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game...and then, welll.

Okay, now on to marketing and helping YOU build a strong internet business. Yes, that is what I said because while you are a fiction writer, a non-fiction writer, a blogger, or something else you are running an internet business and you must look at it that way to build a strong marketing platform.

So what must you do to build this platform? Reach your customer base.

Today we're going to talk about how blogging can help you do that but we're also going to talk about how it can hurt your business. I don't think we will get it all covered today but we can pick up what we miss tomorrow.

As I'm sure you expect I will tell you that one key is to update your blog.

I am as guilty as anyone else of neglecting my poor blog. I started blogging a year ago this month and for the first...um...nine months I did almost nothing with it. I was frustrated by the lack of traffic and by the amount of time I had to spend doing it. Eventually it became a dead site with only some random posts from people essentially saying "Tiff, where are you?"

So my first piece of advice to building your platform, your internet business, or anything else is to update your blog. I actually am in the process of creating a new product [I'm super excited about it. It will help SO many people and since I found a place to make it very inexpensively I can offer it for less than the price of a book. But more on that later] that will talk about blogs and other things and how you can use them to explode your business like I did mine.

The simplest thing I can tell you to do though is this: update your blog. But you can't just post up any old thing. You need to have content people will actually want to read. That is what you need to learn to do. Once you have figured out what people want to know about, be consistent and provide it.

That is the best advice I can give any of you right now.

Oh, and remember if you have questions or comments about my blog...blog about them [hey, there is content for you :-) ]. Then post a comment in my comment section with a link to the post. I will come over to your blog. That way I can help your readers get the answer to the question and all of my readers can come over and see the answer to a question I may not have thought to post on my own blog.

I am looking forward to your questions.

Oh, and I found a super cool blog today. I told the woman I was going to tell all of you to check it out. Here is the link. http://jennybjones.blogspot.com/2008/01/youtube-and-al-gore.html

Now, H.I.G.H. part 6

There used to be a spot on the morning news "Everyone has a story" where a guy threw a dart at a map and went to that town. Then he'd pick a name at random in the phone book and go to see that person. We learned lots of neat things. I loved that segment.

Well, I guess this is my version of "Everyone has a story". I told you yesterday that things in my life were about to get shaken up. That is an understatement if ever one was spoken. I could give the long, agonizing version of it but I won't. The point here is to help you learn from my mistakes and develop your own writing business.

So the first lesson I hope you've learned is: Be confident in your gift/call.

I, unfortunately, was not. See, I was terrified of failing. {Yep, Type-A all the way, Baby!} So in April I knew it was time to return to my first love, writing, but that meant closing my business. [Because at the same moment I felt my call back to writing I also felt it was time to leave my network marketing buisness.]

I didn't do it and by July my business had gone from highly successful to hemorrhaging money. I would rack up over $2,000 in debt before finally relenting in January of the following year and closing my doors.

And my two little girls who were 3 1/2 and 11 months? By July I learned I was pregnant with my 3rd [That was my dh's anniversary gift for me that year.] My little girl is a huge blessing but it meant I was SICK! SICK! SICK! Yes, I'm one of those blessed souls who got all day sickness that lasted the first 4 months and then came back for the last 3. :-)

And what of my writing? I discovered a full page ad in a Current events magazine [I think it was called World but now I've forgotten] for the Jerry Jenkins Christian Writer's Guild. They said "What is your story?"

OHHHHH I was so excited. Here was what I needed to get going. But we had no money. We had just bought our new house and my husband was working 4 [yes I said FOUR] jobs to pay the bills. We both wanted me to be a SAHM and so Chris worked on the road as a Paramedic, then worked 20 hours a week in the ER at a local hospital [because his full time job had horrible insurance], then he worked a couple of days a month at two different Fire Departments to fill in holes in their schedule.

I couldn't ask him to sacrifice for a childhood dream.

As it turned out, I didn't have to. Things were about to start moving and I could never have dreamed of what would happen over the next five months-neither in my greatest dreams, or my worst nightmares.

Oh, and if you battle fear [or are type A like me] you should check out this blog posting I put up a couple months ago. It is my most read blog currently. I think you'll like it.

http://writingcareercoach.blogspot.com/2007/10/is-fear-blocking-you.html

See you tomorrow.

Marketing in your proposal and H.I.G.H. 5

Great comments from Friday.

I'm late putting this up tonight but I'm committed. I am updating this blog while watching the OSU-LSU Championship game. Currently LSU is up 24-10. I am a diehard Buckeye so I'm waiting for a rally.

Well, I love the chatting we've been having. I have been thinking about marketing and research when you're writing a proposal. How much do you research your market before you dig in to writing a proposal. I have to confess, many times I have a book written and I have to wonder "What other book is out there like this?" Then I dig around and find a few, check them out, and write up my marketing section.

I know it's not the best but honestly, I try to avoid any books that at all resemble mine when I'm working on an MS so that I can be sure I don't accidentally copy someone else's plot point, character, or setting.

The only difference is when I'm working on articles. When I'm working on an article I read four or five articles from a few different issues of the magazine so I get a feel for the magazine's voice. I met an author once who wrote genre romance and she said she'd read three books back to back in the line then pick up and start writing her own. I can see some merit to that as well.

Finally, I read book reviews. Although it makes me hungry to read more books than I could in a lifetime it gives me a bit of a sense of what the market is doing and if there is something of note [strong characterization or dialog] mentioned in the review then I'm sure to grab the book to improve my own craft.

I guess I'm not sold on which way is best to feel out the market. I'm curious what you think out there.

H.I.G.H. part 5

So here I was with a prompting to begin to write again. I told you I made my first of many mistakes at this point. See, life was good. I didn't want to shake things up. I had always wanted to write but I was successful where I was. I was comfortable. I had a 1 year old and a 3 1/2 year old. I was busy. There was no time.

But I didn't ignore the prompting entirely. I did start to write down some of my ideas on that 10 year old manuscript. I still knew the plot line and I knew I wanted to be published. So I found a bunch of novels in the house and I started looking at the names of the publishers. I googled those publishers and then went to their websites.

Have any of you done that? What was the first thing you saw?

"No unsolicited manuscripts"

Surely that didn't mean ME?? Well, I decided that probably wasn't the right publishing house for me. So I looked at another book...and another...All said the same thing. Rejection again, and just when I'd started. I tried to google things like publish your book or write a novel but what I found wasn't what I needed. I needed someone to show me how to do it. How to get from my dream to a printed book.

I was stuck.

So, once again I tucked that dream of mine away. That was April 2002. Business was good. Life was good. Great husband, two healthy girls, owned our own house. Writing was bad. No one was going to ever see my writing.

Within 3 months everything had turned upside down. My life started to change in ways I could have never imagined faster than I could have ever dreamed.

See you tomorrow.

An interesting point and How I got here: part 4

Hello and TGIF

Actually it is almost Saturday as I write this. 11pm right now on the East Coast. I've had the second kid this week come down with a stomach bug so my days have been spent on things other than blogging.

I wanted to speak to something Wayne said in yesterday's comment about people being overly encouraging when they're coaching writers [I hope I'm not misrepresenting you Wayne].

You sound like my husband. Don't sugarcoat it, just tell him like it is.

I agree that people need to be honest but I don't think that means they can't be encouraging. There is enough rejection in writing land. Don't just reject me...tell me WHY I was rejected. As a content editor I know sometimes the only answer is "it's just not quite there" but other times you can say "I'm not feeling this scene."

Writing needs to engage the senses. My favorite quote about writing is something Stephen King said in his book "On Writing" He said "Writing is Telepathy".

I agree some people can be over encouraging and they set up unrealistic expectations but then others can be unnecessarily critical. I wonder what some of the rest of you think? Feel free to comment on this on your own blogs then leave the link in the comment section. I'll stop by and see what you have to say. You can also leave comments for me on my blog like usual.

So we're now going to get to part 4 of How I got here. I'm not sure how many parts this actually will be so I'm going to start to abbreviate this as HIGH. It's actually kind of cool how that turned out. I hadn't planned it that way at all.

Okay, HIGH part 4

As I said, I was so crushed that my teacher completely hated my writing that I stopped all together. In retrospect that was really silly. I wrote suspense/thriller kind of stuff [even then] and loved the plot twists of Alfred Hitchcock and Twilight Zone. My teacher [the one who hated my writing] counted Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson among her favorite writer and poet.

But, just the same I allowed that one rejection to stop my writing. Life didn't stop during those next 10 years. I studied in France as an exchange student, went to college and earned my BA, got married, had my first and then my second child, and started a successful networking Marketing business. I was a very busy lady and felt life was where it should be. Then in April 2002 I was sitting in my chair reading a book and suddenly it dropped in my spirit "I should start writing again." My very next thought was "I need to close my business and write." I hadn't thought about my stories [although I moved them with me from one apartment to the next, one house to the next during that whole time]. I can still tell you where exactly I was sitting, what color the chair was and that leaves were starting on the trees. I could tell you it was a weekday [although which one I don't remember] and it was around 2pm.

I remember all these details because it was my fear of rejection that delayed my execution of that prompting inside me. That was the first mistake of many that I'd make in my new writing career.

But then that is a topic for Monday.

How I got here: Part 3

Hello everyone

This post may be a bit shorter than usual. That is because I have two articles due tomorrow and one of them isn't even started yet. I am NOT good at pressure. In college I always had all my homework done at least 2 weeks early. In fact, in my final semester I was done with my assignments a full one month before exams. This worked out great because I found out I that semester that my husband and I were expecting our first child.

Ah, but I'm starting to ramble. I wanted to tell you that I read a great blog today. You can check it out at Rachelle Gardner's blog:

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/

You'll see I left a comment there.

Oh, and if you have a question you'd like to ask blog about it. Then post the link in my comments section. I'll come over to answer the question that way not only will you have your question answered but your readers will as well.

If you're one of the dozens of new people to hit this site today, welcome. We're on day three of how I got to where I am as a writer. You can read the two previous posts to get caught up.

Now, here's part 3

I told you yesterday that I had two different teachers at two different schools encourage me in my writing. Then at the end of my Freshman year I moved to a wealthy suburban school district.

I didn't fit in at all.

The black nail polish and biker jacket that I'd wore at my previous high school now made me the subject of ridicule. I felt more an more isolated in this new world. I was excited to learn there was a gymnastics team [I varsitied two years]. However, my stories still ate at me. Whenever I felt lonely or scared I'd sit and write. Some were the "poetic" musings of a 15 year old heartsick girl while others were the opening scenes to stories.

I kept writing, and reading, and dreaming of "being famous one day".

Then late in the first semester at the new school a ray of hope!! A writing assignment.

For the third time I went to my Literature teacher and asked if I could rework this project and turn it in if I could prove I had added the required number of pages. My teacher was very happy to encourage a budding writer and thus I went home and dug in to the story some more. The story now approached 40 pages and was getting even more detailed. Sandy [the heroine] and her husband [Todd] were comforting to me. Now it was like I was back in my home town. A safe place...far from this rich school who had rejected me.

I completed the assignment and turned it in and waited.

A week later I got the paper and tore to the final page: D-

I couldn't believe this was my grade. I began to look through the story. There was blood on every page. Red ink slashed through word after word and phrases like "what is this?" and "what does this mean?" filled the margins. Even my Alfred Hitchcock twist at the end was met with the phrase "So did this happen or not?"

I slid the paper in my folder. Clearly those inner-city teachers had only tried to boost the confidence of a poor girl. I'd never had any talent.

It would be ten years before I wrote another story. And when I did I had no way of knowing what was about to start.

I'll see you tomorrow.

A Pleasant surprise and How I got here Part 2

Can you believe it is Wednesday already?

This week has just zipped past me. I had something really exciting happen to me today. I was at the grocery walking through the meat section and scouting out deals when my husband called. It seems James Brausch [yes, the one I spoke of yesterday] somehow picked up on my blog post and told his subscribers to come check it out. I was so excited I actually forgot a few things on my shopping list. Now, I didn't get the extensive write up that Randy Ingermanson got on his recent series of posts "Writing 300 pages in 30 days" but it was a huge honor just the same. [Many of you know that I adore and respect Randy I. for not only his willingness to teach and mentor writers but also the quality of the products he sells].

What a huge honor to be pointed out like that. So if you are one of the over 100 people who bopped over to visit because of James' post, welcome. And if you're one of the MANY who decided to subscribe after visiting. Thanks! You really made my day.

So let's get on to part 2 of how I got here.

As I told you yesterday my first launch in to "Full-length Fiction" was a 22 page project for my 8th grade English class. Dr. Lloyd had assigned the project to the class. Since that was, a-hem, years ago I don't remember every detail but I DO remember that Dr. Lloyd started reading the stories to the class, at least a few of the best. I remember because I got the flu and missed a day of school. When I returned to class I had a number of classmates come to me and tell me how much they were enjoying my story and how they couldn't wait to hear the next part. That day in class Dr. Lloyd read part two of my story. I remember my heart pounding in my chest as he read line after line. The voices echoing in my head. After he had turned a few pages I looked around to find the entire class staring at him, eyes unblinking.

They were caught up in MY story!

The bell rang for the end of class before he finished and he promised to share the final installment the next day. As we left the room people started coming up asking me what would happen next. I couldn't believe this was happening to ME. I had gone from invisible to popular in just a few days. I told my mom when I got home, then called my dad and told him. They were both happy for me. I felt so alive!

The next day the story ended and they told me it was great. I don't remember much about it until the next fall. It was Freshman year and I had Lit, honors Lit. The teacher was James Meister.

Mr. Meister had a way of commanding respect while at the same time putting his students 100% at ease. I was intimidated by him at first. I could feel he was a man who wouldn't let me skate. I was a good student but Freshman year at home marked a number of difficult changes and I wanted to forget about School.

Then Mr. Meister assigned a creative writing assignment. I remember the thudding in my chest. I was going to pull my old assignment out! When class was over I went straight up to his desk and asked if I could add to a previous story I'd written. He said I could as long as I added enough pages to meet the assignment.

Thus I entered phase two of the writer's life. Editing.

I went back to that story and added dialog, scenes, subplots, and characters. Once again the story poured out of me as fast and my pencil could scribble. [Yes, this was before computers were everywhere.] I turned it in, once again with a knot in my stomach. This was more than an assignment, this was my passion. This was my story!

I don't remember exact words but I remember he LOVED it. A high school Literature teacher, whose life was devoted to BOOKS said I was good!! It was beyond words. I cannot imagine my first book contract could be any sweeter. In 8th grade I had the approval of my peers. Now in 9th grade I had the approval of the "experts".

But Jim Meister's impact on writing history wasn't over. When my birthday rolled around that February 2nd He gave me a gift. I tore open the wrapping paper eager to see what was inside. The cover of the book was blue and hard. "The Writer's Handbook: A guide to the Essentials of Good Writing. Second Edition."

This was a book for writers, real writers. And a Lit teacher had given it to ME. An innercity girl with second-hand clothes. Could someone like that REALLY be a writer?

Inside he'd written a note "To Tiffany, Become famous someday! J. Meister Feb. 1991" Those notes quickly scribbled to a now 15 year old girl would end up being the driving force behind who I am today. Mr. Meister told me to become famous and I was going to do it. One way or another I would!

That word would be something I'd hold on to because that summer I'd move 3 hours away from that inner-city to a completely different world.

It would also see me enter phase 3 of writing. Rejection.

See you tomorrow!

Lesson Learned and How I got here

Hello all.

Let me start with an apology. My internet has been almost completely down for the last three weeks. I haven't been able to go online unless I paid by the hour for dial-up [which is my back up internet]. I've been bursting to share with you some of the great nuggets I learned about writing, marketing your writing, and life in general. I'm going to start by sharing a little lesson I learned on December 26th about taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.

Then I am going to start sharing my story with you. I always enjoy learning from people who are further down the path than I am. Sometimes knowing someone else has faced rejection and setbacks makes me feel like less of a failure. Other times, I've learned from the things others did [both good and bad].

I'm not sure how long my story will take to tell because I will post it along with regular content [to help you with your business] but I hope you'll enjoy it. And, if not, it will be easy to skim past.

So first, Lesson learned.

I read every blog posting from internet businessman James Brausch. I think he has great nuggets and have learned a huge amount from him. Those of you who read my blog regularly know that I've listed some of his posts as recent "Blogs of note".

He gave a gift for Christmas to his subscribers. It was $2,000 worth of products to help with each person's internet business. What he did is had people who wanted it sign up. Then he sent out a postcard to each person who signed up and said to come watch for an email from him on Christmas day. On Christmas day the email arrived with the link to a webpage where we learned what we were being given.

As I mentioned previously, I've had a huge number of internet problems recently and so I signed on, opened the email and clicked through. Then I posted the links to a Word document, clicked print and signed off.

The next morning my husband asked about the gift [he helps me with my marketing]. I looked everywhere for the printed page. It was not on my printer, not in my office, nowhere. Not to worry, I'd saved the email. When I opened the email and clicked the link there was one line:

"Christmas is over"

I was angry, so angry, at myself. I got off the phone with my husband and walked out of the office to cool off. I was angry that I'd squandered an opportunity to use something that cost far more than any product I'd ever bought. And it was a GIFT. For a moment I was mad at James Brausch, but truthfully only for a moment. I actually stopped and said to myself "You are not OWED anything, Tiff. If you don't take advantage of opportunities when they appear than shame on you."

I went about my morning tasks which included a large number of writing and editing projects. I was excited to have so much work on my desk to be done. I printed out a few pages of a rough draft I was working on. I'm applying to teach at a conference and I was working on how I wanted to do the worksheets. When I clicked on the printer it started to print. And there...were the links to the $2,000 gift.

A few hours later I got an email that James had posted another blog. It seemed many people had missed the opportunity to download their free gift. Many of them were going on their own blogs and bad-mouthing James for putting an expiration date on his gift. For me, he gave an even greater gift than the $2,000 one many people were expecting.

In life, opportunities will pass by us all the time. Each day we have a chance to change our life. Are we going to take advantage of these opportunites, or watch them go by?

On that thought I'll start to share a bit about how I got here.

This actually ties in nicely to what I just shared. I had always dreamed of being a writer. When I was six I wrote my first story. When I was eight I began telling everyone I'd be a writer. By the time I was in 7th grade I was reading Writer's Digest Magazine. Every issue, cover to cover, I'd pour over lessons and interviews in my pursuit of writing.

I had two great teachers along the way who encouraged me in my dream: Dr. Thomas Lloyd and Jim Meister. Every person needs a starting point, and mine was there. Dr. Lloyd assigned a story of a minimum of 7 typed pages. I still remember the story pouring out of me. As fast as I could write, my mom would type it on our little "word processor" typewriter. These people were as real to me as anyone else. I could hear them talk; I could feel their emotions. I was engrossed with the story. I don't know how long I wrote but I remember it was after dark when I stopped for the night. The next morning it was with trembling hands that I turned in my 22 page story. I had hoped that I would get an A.

What I got instead set me on a path I could never have expected.

I'll see all of you tomorrow for Part 2 of my story.