Writer's Block - a frustrating writing issue! Today I was thinking about this issue that keeps writers from writing consistently. It's easy for one to say, "Write every day," "Write what you know," "Write what is happening in your life," etc., etc. Sometimes, though, what is claimed to be writer's block is just plain too-many-irons-in-the-fire syndrome or too-busy-working-on-day-jobs issue. I can relate to these last two as well as the writer's block. If all the time I have is fifteen minutes in one day, then that still counts as writing. Right now that's about the way it is. I love to blog and have more than one blog to keep up. Interruptions in life happen, though. So I write every chance I get. This Write It Down Therapy is the place I'm writing between interruptions this week. Eventually, the blog posts will add up and might even make a little sense in life. I'm all about inspiring and being inspired. If this inspires you, that makes me happy.
Today I asked a friend how his wife is doing. She had breast cancer, thought all cancer was gone. Now she's learned that cancer has spread to her stomach. My mother died with cancer in the lungs and stomach. She never smoked but had lung cancer. Doesn't make sense. The stomach cancer subject bothers me. I've thought about that since Mother died in 2008. Is it because of the unhealthy food we eat? Stress? Not enough exercise? If we did all of those faithfully, eat right, never allow stress to overwhelm us, exercise the right amount every week, would that solve the problem of stomach cancer? I don't know. Maybe no one really knows. I told my friend I've been thinking about his wife and praying for her. He said it's not a death sentence; it's just a roadblock. I showed him a sentence I wrote in the Epilogue of my book, Phantom Seven. In the Epilogue I wrote about my publication process, how that I met with roadblocks along the way. When you have a roadblock, usually you have a detour. The detour leads you to the same destination, just not the way you planned.
Writer's block is a roadblock. It's okay to detour. As long as you have a map, a plan, you'll arrive even if it takes you a little longer than you hoped. Keep writing. Eventually you'll reach your writing goal, the plan you started out with when you began to write.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Jackie Kennedy O.
I saw Jackie Kennedy O. She was older. Her hair looked like it had just grown back in, short, fine, and curly. She wore a white top with dark pants. Jackie walked quickly in a line of many people toward a plane headed for Europe. My mother always admired Mrs. Kennedy and her manner of fashion. Mother was adept at sewing and could look at an outfit in a window and go home and make it. She learned to sew when barely in her teens. Her mother would sometimes call her "Miss Astor" because she was fashion conscious and never went anywhere unless she was dressed up and her hair was fixed. Thus, it was no wonder that she admired Mrs. Kennedy so. How excited was I for a chance to be so close to see the line of people including Jackie Kennedy O. walking right by me. It didn't matter that it happened in my dream before waking this morning.
Friday, July 8, 2011
7 Tips for Publishing a Book
What does it take to publish a book? Here are seven simple tips I've learned from the publication of Phantom Seven:
What subject do you want to write about? Find a niche within that subject. Then narrow that niche down to another niche. For instance, say you want to write about animals. That's a broad subject. Narrow it down to dogs, and you've found a niche. Narrow it down further to a smaller niche like how to train a dog. Now you've chosen a niche within a niche that you can write about.
A publishing company
A book must be published somewhere, either a large or a small publishing company. There are traditional publishers and self-publishers, large and small. Research the pros and cons about the different ways to publish. If you choose a traditional publisher, this may take awhile. You may receive rejection letters or even a nice little note. Either you will continue searching in that direction until your book is accepted, or you may choose the self-publishing route. However, self-publishing can also be lengthy. Either way, prepare for delays.
Determination
You must be determined when publishing a book because, like mentioned previously, you'll need to prepare for delays. Those delays usually come unexpectedly, perhaps causing you frustration because you have a particular date you had planned to have your book ready. If you have determination to see the book published, however, you will be patient.
Patience
Now you know why you must have patience for publishing a book. The publisher of your choice should warn you before you sign the dotted line that you should prepare for delays. Why the delays? Because though you thought you had sent all the material to be published, you may find later on when the publisher emails you a copy to be reviewed that somehow a section was left out. So you fix it, send it back. Then you may realize while adding your index that another section was mysteriously left out. You add it, send it back, review it again...and again. Yes, patience - you will need it.
Money
A book cannot be published without money being involved. You can decide to spend more or less money, depending on how professional you want your book to look. If you just want to publish a small paperback yourself, then you can use print on demand and only publish a few copies and have a low-cost book perhaps. If you need money to publish a book, seek investors. Athenia Dean with WinePress Publishing has written an excellent book, Your Book in Print, that includes a section on how to work with investors on publishing a book.
Time
Time goes along with patience. Patience is needed because of the extra time it takes to publish a book. What I thought would take me one year or less to publish has taken almost two years. You can publish a book in shorten time if you want to pay more. If money is not a problem and you want to rush it, go ahead and pay more to have your book in print in a shorter amount of time. Personally, though I had investors, I chose to take more time and save some money.
Writing
Last but certainly not least, writing is the most important thing about publishing a book. If you want to publish a book, you will have to write. Some days you don't feel like writing. Either force yourself to at least write 100 words that day or double up another day and write twice the amount of words you normally write. Whatever you do, write consistently, and NEVER GIVE UP!
Happy Publishing!
I'm joining these blog parties:
- A subject to write about
- A publishing company
- Determination
- Patience
- Money
- Time
- Writing
What subject do you want to write about? Find a niche within that subject. Then narrow that niche down to another niche. For instance, say you want to write about animals. That's a broad subject. Narrow it down to dogs, and you've found a niche. Narrow it down further to a smaller niche like how to train a dog. Now you've chosen a niche within a niche that you can write about.
A publishing company
A book must be published somewhere, either a large or a small publishing company. There are traditional publishers and self-publishers, large and small. Research the pros and cons about the different ways to publish. If you choose a traditional publisher, this may take awhile. You may receive rejection letters or even a nice little note. Either you will continue searching in that direction until your book is accepted, or you may choose the self-publishing route. However, self-publishing can also be lengthy. Either way, prepare for delays.
Determination
You must be determined when publishing a book because, like mentioned previously, you'll need to prepare for delays. Those delays usually come unexpectedly, perhaps causing you frustration because you have a particular date you had planned to have your book ready. If you have determination to see the book published, however, you will be patient.
Patience
Now you know why you must have patience for publishing a book. The publisher of your choice should warn you before you sign the dotted line that you should prepare for delays. Why the delays? Because though you thought you had sent all the material to be published, you may find later on when the publisher emails you a copy to be reviewed that somehow a section was left out. So you fix it, send it back. Then you may realize while adding your index that another section was mysteriously left out. You add it, send it back, review it again...and again. Yes, patience - you will need it.
Money
A book cannot be published without money being involved. You can decide to spend more or less money, depending on how professional you want your book to look. If you just want to publish a small paperback yourself, then you can use print on demand and only publish a few copies and have a low-cost book perhaps. If you need money to publish a book, seek investors. Athenia Dean with WinePress Publishing has written an excellent book, Your Book in Print, that includes a section on how to work with investors on publishing a book.
Time
Time goes along with patience. Patience is needed because of the extra time it takes to publish a book. What I thought would take me one year or less to publish has taken almost two years. You can publish a book in shorten time if you want to pay more. If money is not a problem and you want to rush it, go ahead and pay more to have your book in print in a shorter amount of time. Personally, though I had investors, I chose to take more time and save some money.
Writing
Last but certainly not least, writing is the most important thing about publishing a book. If you want to publish a book, you will have to write. Some days you don't feel like writing. Either force yourself to at least write 100 words that day or double up another day and write twice the amount of words you normally write. Whatever you do, write consistently, and NEVER GIVE UP!
Happy Publishing!
 |
| Phantom Seven |
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
4 Blog Networking Tips
How do you find people to read your blog? How do you direct traffic to your blog?
The answer to these two questions may seem simple to seasoned bloggers but not to the beginning blogger. If you are an empty nester with lots of free time, retiree, a person that lives alone or just plain bored, you can easily direct traffic to your blog by the following steps. It takes time, and that's one thing you have if you fit in one of the previously described categories. If you're like me, you work a day job, drive an hour one way to that day job, buy groceries on the weekend, do home chores on the weekend, and do everything else requiring your time in the evenings and on the weekends. Blogging this way, it will take you longer to direct traffic to your blog. It can still be done, though. You have to prioritize and manage your time wisely.
Before you begin these networking tips to bring people to your blog, check your content. Include how-to information, tutorials, and other interesting content in your posts. Offer something people need and want. Oh, and remember to use photos and/or videos. Look up the subject of your content online to find out what people are looking for.
Now with your content in place, look up blog linking parties on Blogspot or other blog websites. Link up to the blog parties. Usually, you can find parties for every day of the week. Join them. Visit the other blogs linked to the parties you join.When you visit the other blogs linked to the blog parties, follow those with similar interests. Comment on their blogs, letting them know you have become a new follower of their blogs. Gradually, other bloggers joining the same blog parties as you will follow your blog, too. This is a great way to begin building your list of followers and to drive traffic to your blog. As a courtesy, visit your followers daily, weekly, or at least monthly. Once your blog grows to a large number, you won't be able to visit each blog as often. However, you can choose to list posts of blogs that you follow. You can tell when they have posted on their blog daily. Check the post titles, and visit those of interest to you.
Happy Blogging!
The answer to these two questions may seem simple to seasoned bloggers but not to the beginning blogger. If you are an empty nester with lots of free time, retiree, a person that lives alone or just plain bored, you can easily direct traffic to your blog by the following steps. It takes time, and that's one thing you have if you fit in one of the previously described categories. If you're like me, you work a day job, drive an hour one way to that day job, buy groceries on the weekend, do home chores on the weekend, and do everything else requiring your time in the evenings and on the weekends. Blogging this way, it will take you longer to direct traffic to your blog. It can still be done, though. You have to prioritize and manage your time wisely.
Before you begin these networking tips to bring people to your blog, check your content. Include how-to information, tutorials, and other interesting content in your posts. Offer something people need and want. Oh, and remember to use photos and/or videos. Look up the subject of your content online to find out what people are looking for.
Now with your content in place, look up blog linking parties on Blogspot or other blog websites. Link up to the blog parties. Usually, you can find parties for every day of the week. Join them. Visit the other blogs linked to the parties you join.When you visit the other blogs linked to the blog parties, follow those with similar interests. Comment on their blogs, letting them know you have become a new follower of their blogs. Gradually, other bloggers joining the same blog parties as you will follow your blog, too. This is a great way to begin building your list of followers and to drive traffic to your blog. As a courtesy, visit your followers daily, weekly, or at least monthly. Once your blog grows to a large number, you won't be able to visit each blog as often. However, you can choose to list posts of blogs that you follow. You can tell when they have posted on their blog daily. Check the post titles, and visit those of interest to you.
- Visit blog linking parties weekly.
- Follow other blogs.
- Build your list of followers.
- Visit your followers periodically.
Happy Blogging!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Write Often
How do you write a blog or a book?
Write often.
Does it matter that another blogger is more successful than you? Do you have to do and say everything that the majority of other bloggers or authors say? Do you have to take pictures of every subject you blog about for someone else to read?
The answers are no, no, and no. If you have writer's block and you feel that your writing and blogging are inferior to others with more experience, then you need to just sit down and write. Blog. Write a page, a chapter, a sentence. Just write. The world would be a boring place if every writer wrote the same thing, showed the same photos, gave the exact how-to-blog-directions or how-to-write-a-book directions. So write how you write. Write down the things that interest you. Take photos of what inspires you. Share those things you write and take photos of on your blog. Photos do help others see what you're writing or blogging about, but the bottom line is to write and keep writing.
Often, we allow hindrances to keep us from our goals and desires. I have learned that if I write down goals and desires, I will begin to believe that those things will happen. The more I write about them, the more I believe in them. The more that I write toward those goals and desires, doors begin to open. When I talk about those desires and goals, people learn of my interests. Then when they hear of opportunities that I might not hear about in my own environment, they inform me. That is social networking.
Writing is therapeutic. We write to inspire. We write to be inspired. When my mother died, I planted a garden. I didn't know much about how to. I just did it. Not everything I planted grew, but some things did. My yellow summer squash grew. That was the most important thing I planted. It was a comfort food for me because Mother always grew squash in her garden. She would cook it and freeze most of it. When she knew I would be coming home for a visit, she took some squash out just for me. I wrote about that squash and my memories of Mother and cried a lot of tears in that garden while sitting on a little white bench beside a Joshua tree. Writing about the wonder of nature all around me became a solace. I had never made cactus pear jelly until then. There was a cactus plant just outside my little garden. I had fun learning how to take the pears off of the plant and making the jelly. It was fun, the jelly was good, and it was therapeutic for that grieving time of my life.
Write often.
Does it matter that another blogger is more successful than you? Do you have to do and say everything that the majority of other bloggers or authors say? Do you have to take pictures of every subject you blog about for someone else to read?
The answers are no, no, and no. If you have writer's block and you feel that your writing and blogging are inferior to others with more experience, then you need to just sit down and write. Blog. Write a page, a chapter, a sentence. Just write. The world would be a boring place if every writer wrote the same thing, showed the same photos, gave the exact how-to-blog-directions or how-to-write-a-book directions. So write how you write. Write down the things that interest you. Take photos of what inspires you. Share those things you write and take photos of on your blog. Photos do help others see what you're writing or blogging about, but the bottom line is to write and keep writing.
Often, we allow hindrances to keep us from our goals and desires. I have learned that if I write down goals and desires, I will begin to believe that those things will happen. The more I write about them, the more I believe in them. The more that I write toward those goals and desires, doors begin to open. When I talk about those desires and goals, people learn of my interests. Then when they hear of opportunities that I might not hear about in my own environment, they inform me. That is social networking.
Writing is therapeutic. We write to inspire. We write to be inspired. When my mother died, I planted a garden. I didn't know much about how to. I just did it. Not everything I planted grew, but some things did. My yellow summer squash grew. That was the most important thing I planted. It was a comfort food for me because Mother always grew squash in her garden. She would cook it and freeze most of it. When she knew I would be coming home for a visit, she took some squash out just for me. I wrote about that squash and my memories of Mother and cried a lot of tears in that garden while sitting on a little white bench beside a Joshua tree. Writing about the wonder of nature all around me became a solace. I had never made cactus pear jelly until then. There was a cactus plant just outside my little garden. I had fun learning how to take the pears off of the plant and making the jelly. It was fun, the jelly was good, and it was therapeutic for that grieving time of my life.
 |
| My little comfort garden area |
 |
| Cacti near my garden |
Thursday, April 7, 2011
How to Choose a Blog Hosting Service
How do you choose a blog hosting service? By research and word of mouth. I have tried TypePad, WordPress.com, and Blogger.com. I think the determining factors are whether or not you intend to use a free hosting service or pay a fee. I think Blogger.com is very easy to work with, and it is free. However, not everyone is satisfied with Blogger.com. It is good to research the positive and negative aspects of various hosting services. Here are a few places to begin:
Until next time,
Angi
- http://www.searchenginejournal.com/reasons-to-not-blog-using-blogger-or-blogspot/7100/
- http://www.problogger.net/archives/2005/04/07/typepad-and-blogger-compared/
- http://bloggingonthefreeweb.blogspot.com/2005/03/bloggertypepad-comparison.html
- http://www.typepad.com/features/the-right-choice/
Until next time,
Angi
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
10 Simple Steps to Become a Successful Blogger
How do you begin a blog? How does one become successful as a blogger?
Here are ten simple steps to becoming a successful blogger:
Begin with making a list of topics you are interested in. List them in three columns: A, B, and C. List the topics you are most interested in under Column A. List those of secondary importance to you in Column B. List the third topic categories in Column C. Most likely, you'll begin with one of the Column A topics.
You'll want to research the topics in Column A. Look at blogs about your choices, and find out what others are saying. Pay attention to problems and needs that people discuss about the topics you research. A thorough research on your topics will give you a better idea of which topic from Column A you should choose first. After you become more familiar with blogging, you may want to begin a second blog about one of the other topics.
Now go start your columns of topics, and do your research. Then come back for the next step to becoming a successful blogger.
Here are ten simple steps to becoming a successful blogger:
- Determine the topic you want to write about.
- Begin a blog through Blogger, Wordpress, TypePad or whichever blogging service you choose.
- Write often.
- Visit blog linking parties weekly.
- Follow other blogs.
- Build your list of followers.
- Visit your followers periodically.
- Post photos, preferably ones taken by you.
- Utilize videos, UTube, etc.
- Never give up!
Begin with making a list of topics you are interested in. List them in three columns: A, B, and C. List the topics you are most interested in under Column A. List those of secondary importance to you in Column B. List the third topic categories in Column C. Most likely, you'll begin with one of the Column A topics.
You'll want to research the topics in Column A. Look at blogs about your choices, and find out what others are saying. Pay attention to problems and needs that people discuss about the topics you research. A thorough research on your topics will give you a better idea of which topic from Column A you should choose first. After you become more familiar with blogging, you may want to begin a second blog about one of the other topics.
Now go start your columns of topics, and do your research. Then come back for the next step to becoming a successful blogger.
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