The Joy of Blogging #IWSG

The question of the month: How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?

I started blogging about fourteen years ago. Blogging in general was probably at its peak in popularity with a huge community taking part. When I started, I was so enthusiastic that I blogged every day.

My first blog was Christian based with devotional thoughts every day. Then I added a writing blog (this one). I quickly learned I couldn't maintain the output so I dropped the frequency of posts and then I eventually let go my Christian blog and turned it into a book instead: Cling to God: 365-Day Devotional

I've met so many wonderful people over the years through blogging. Some have disappeared completely. Many stopped blogging once they got agents and published, turning to other social media. But a whole lot are still here.

Today blogging is probably considered a dinosaur in the social media world. If not for the IWSG, I would've stopped blogging too, but the community is a treasure to keep and I do love the long form of blogging, which is very different to the blip media out there.

How about you? What's been your blogging journey? What is it about blogging that keeps you tapping away at the keys?

 

This post was written for the IWSG. Every first Wednesday of the month, members post on their blogs about their writing insecurities or offer some encouragement to others. If you are new to the IWSG or want to learn more, then please go HERE.

 

Best Writing Advice Part 2 #IWSG

There's something deeply encouraging about hearing great advice from peers who genuinely understand what it means to choose writing as a career path. In the last month I've been especially encouraged by all my wonderful bloggy friends who have left comments here and on the Insecure Writer's Support Group website. It's because of your readiness to share great advice and to support each other. I'm truly warmed and gratified to be a part of this community.

Consequently, I want to share just some of the advice given in the comments for my post, The Best Writing Advice Ever. It would be a shame for these tips to become lost in the comments. In my post, I wrote that the best advice I've ever been given is to keep writing and don't give up. I put out the question, what other advice have you been given that's been invaluable? Below are some of your answers:

Stephen Tremp, L Diane Wolfe and Kittie Howard mentioned how important it is to write about what you love: "Write what you're passionate about. If you don't, it will show."—L Diane Wolfe. 

Along similar lines, Patsy Collins said, "Write what you enjoy rather than what you think will sell".

"Often as beginners we spend too much time worrying about all the advice." A very true statement (and one I wish to expand on in a future post) from S P Bowers.

Jemi Fraser was the first to mention how important it is to read. Laura Pauling also emphasised this, along with Jay Noel and Nas. 

Madeline Mora-Summonte mentioned the importance of hard work and quoted Stephen King: "Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work."

Toinette Thomas said the best advice she was given was to get some beta readers.

Susan Gowley/Kelley said, "As soon as you finish one project, dig into the next or have more than one going at a time."

"Just keep writing everyday." --Pat Hatt

"Finish what you start." --Chris Andrews and Charlotte Brentwood. 

Nicole Singer shared what her crit group told her on her first day: "Don't take what we say personally, but take it to heart."

"Put a manuscript away and don't revise it immediately." Wise words from Medeia Sharif.

"'There's an audience for everything.' We shouldn't be discouraged if we feel like our writing isn't as epic as someone else's. It's the core emotions and feel that carry book, and there WILL be people who identify with your core." --Crystal Collier

Denise Covey shared advice she read in Donald Maas' writing tips: Dig deep to make the story worth reading.

And to finish off with a chuckle, Shallee McArthur shared what a teacher once told her: The two keys to a good book are to have a unique take on something, and not to suck.

From this great pool of advice, which have you recently found the most encouraging and helpful? Which do you find particularly difficult to follow through on? Is there any other advice you'd like to share?

This post was written for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. On the first Wednesday of every month, we post about our insecurities or share encouragement. To join the group or find out more info, click here.

Note: Alex J Cavanaugh, our resident Ninja Captain extraordinaire, would like everyone to know that his book, CassaFire, the second of a wonderful space opera series, is on sale for a short time at just 99c. If you haven't yet read this series, now is a brilliant time to start (the first book is CassaStar). If you aren't a scifi fan, then don't worry, this series appeals to non-scifi readers too.

Of Strawberry Pots and Breaks

 This is my strawberry pot.

These are my strawberries.

Go figure.

This is a great analogy for my writing life at the moment. I'm still producing strawberries, but not as I'd hoped or planned. If I leave those strawberries growing from a crack, they'll become stunted, miserable things, the fruit not as palatable as it could be.

I need to get those strawberries back in the pot.

Consequently I'll be taking some time off from blogging. I'll definitely be back in full force for the April A-Z Challenge, or I may come back sooner. Those strawberries are tricksy things, so it's hard to say for sure. I hope you'll all forgive my absence. I'll still be around Twitter and Facebook and I'll occasionally pop in to visit.

So tell me, how are your strawberries growing?

Blogging Break

I'll be taking a mini blogging break. I'll be back on 1st November.

In the meantime, please enjoy this picture I took of a dandilion, a little ray of sunshine:

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6 Benefits of Blogging

1. To make real connections. Suze at Analog Breakfast tagged me for the Versatile Blogger Award. I've been following Suze for quite some time now and I think of her as a friend. Her posts range from intriguingly philosophical, to wonderfully random and delightfully silly. Plus she feels comfortable enough to call me Lynnie, which is a win. Please visit her and find out for yourself what a great person she is. 

2. To support each other. Three cheers for Nancy S. Thompson who recently signed a book deal with Sapphire Star Publishing for her debut novel, The Mistaken, an adult psychological thriller. Please pop on over to her blog to congratulate her. 

3. To gain a web presence. I can think of a few bloggers who have gained a spectacular web presence. Alex J. Cavanaugh is a stand out. Arlee Bird, the founder of the A-Z Challenge is another. Are you taking the challenge? 

4. To hone the writing skills. Blogging may not be fiction writing, but I'm a firm believer that all writing benefits the writer. In just under two years I've written 250 posts on writing and social media. Those posts have helped to clarify my thoughts, improved my proofreading skills and pushed me to do better. Other great bloggers who offer fab posts related to writing are Carol Riggs at Artzicarol Ramblings, Rachna at Rachna's Scriptorium and Angela Ackerman at The Bookshelf Muse. 

5. To gain opportunities. All my critique partners have been found through blogging. The last two anthologies I successfully sent stories to were found through blogging also. I recently picked up the arc of A Spy Like Me by Laura Pauling because of blogging. I've just started reading it and it's great. I also won a copy of the Australian novel, Ellenvale Gold by Amanda Deed via Michelle Dennis Evans. Thank you so much. Plus there are many more opportunities that crop up through blogging.

6. To meet new friends & just relax. I don't know about you but I love visiting some sites which have nothing to do with writing. I might not have found them if I weren't blogging in the first place. They are fun, informative and often bring a smile to my face. A special blogger I want to mention here is Dezzy at Hollywood Spy whose site keeps me up to date on all the happenings in the film world. 

What benefits have you found through blogging?


NOTE: In preparation for the A-Z Challenge I will be taking next week off from blogging. I will return on April 1st when I will be posting six days a week.

  

Interview and Blogging Tips

Laura Barnes has given me the honour of including me into her Saturday Savvy Sensation interviews. For some blogging tips and to find out a little more about me, pop on over to her blog, Laura B Writer. I'd love to see you there.

4 Ways to Gain More Comments

We all want hits on our blog. We want people to read our words, we want to know we are doing something right and we want to feel like we are part of this great community. There are three ways we know someone has visited our site: a simple hit counter, the site stats, and comments.

Comments, of course, are the most obvious sign not only to ourselves, but to everyone else who visits. I especially love the long, thoughtful comments, the ones that make it clear someone read a post in full and thought about what I said. They don’t have to agree with me. I also love the amusing comments, insightful comments, even the brief, hi-I-was-here-and-appreciate-your-posts comments. Commenting encourages the writer – and writers need a lot of encouragement.

Lurkers are less obvious. They don’t throw themselves as much into the community, but they still appreciate our words. Writers are good with leaving comments because we love to write, however not everyone is a writer. As our blog grows we start to pick up a broader readership and so we will gain more lurkers. I love my lurkers. I wish there was a way of getting to know my lurkers a little better. The only thing I can do is encourage comments.

Ways to encourage comments:
1. Leave discussion questions at the end of each post.
2. Respond to the comments -- and always respond in encouraging ways even when the commenter doesn’t agree with you.
3. Be active, be seen and be helpful.
4. Leave comments on other blogs.

What kind of comments do you like? What kind of comments don’t you like? What is it that encourages you to comment?

Congrats: A huge congratulations to Amie Kaufman for signing with Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.

A Bit about Me

Since I don’t often share much about myself on this blog, I thought today, being Friday I’d go off topic and take part in a Tag that’s been going around. I blame Carol Riggs for the diversion since she is the one who tagged me. My duty is to answer the following questions:

Do you think you're hot?
No, I’m freezing to death as the Aussie winter sets in (ok, well, maybe not ‘to death’, but it’s mighty chilly).

Upload a picture or wallpaper you are using at the moment.

Cough. This is a screenshot from World of Warcraft. I’m showing my geeky side.

When was the last time you ate chicken meat?
Last night. I cooked up a wintery feast of chicken drumsticks with chickpeas, pearl cous cous, mushrooms, fennel, onion and a creamy leek and potato sauce. Oh, and lots of garlic. I love garlic.

The song(s) you listened to most recently?
Erm… I haven't listened to any music in a while. At the moment I have the opening music of the Game of Thrones stuck in my head. 

What were you thinking as you were doing this?
Will anyone mind me posting off topic? Will anyone find this interesting? Gee, it’s so much easier to post writing tips!

Do you have nicknames?
Yes. Scumbag (by my brother), Channy (a derivation of my maiden name), Lynny (by those super close to me), and Lync (long story)…oh, and Pinki…and… yeah, I had more than I realised. I won’t list them all here.

Tag 4 blogger friends (you are It!)
1. Carol
2. Dezzy
3. Suze
4. Charmaine

Who's listed as number 1?
Carol Riggs, yes I know you’ve already been tagged but I’m tagging you back, so ner! Carol is a fantastic writer who recently snagged an agent. We are critique partners and I value her amazing advice and support.

Leave a lovey dovey message for number 2.
Dezzy-baby-hun, you are a fantastic human being who bakes, translates and cogitates. Your blog on Hollywood goss is amazing and you are a wonderful support and friend.

How did you get to know number 3?
I think I met Suze during the A-Z Challenge in April. Her posts swing from great fun to deeply thoughtful. All brilliant.

How about number 4?
A fellow Aussie, I got to know Charmaine through the blogging world and we finally met at a workshop during the Sydney Writers’ Festival. That was seriously great!

YOUR TURN
What do you think of Blogging Tags and Awards? How's your writing coming along?

Note: Flu is now just a cold and almost gone. YAY! Thanks so much for all your well wishes.

Platform Building

What is a platform?
There has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth since the days when writers just wrote. We can no longer stay in our artistic dream dimensions to weave genius into our words. We have to step out from our creative cocoons and tell the world we have arrived. So, what is a platform? It’s all the relationships we form and all the things we do to announce our presence to the world.

Why do we need it?
We need a platform because the hard reality is we must prove to publishers our work will sell. We need to show them we have the know-how, the connections, and the motivation and drive to do what it takes to sell a book. And we need to do it before we start to query. The sooner the better because it takes time to develop relationships.

How do we build it?
There are many ways to build a platform. A popular, effective, and inexpensive way is to plunge into social media. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and forums are all free, fun, and informative. The writing community is a generous one, full of wonderful people willing to help each other out. The main thing we need to remember, though, is that social media is about the relationships. This means the benefits of the connections should run both ways. Give back. Be generous. Offer people help, advice, encouragement. If you promote other people’s work as much as you promote your own, then it will become a rewarding experience.

Another way of building relationships and finding connections is to get involved. Join your local writing group, attend writer’s conferences, offer to teach writing or take part in speaking engagements. I’ll be attending the Sydney Writer’s Festival in May. Send me an email if you’ll be in the area for it.

How have you built your platform? When did you start? How important do you think it is?


Note: This post is part of the A-Z Challenge. To learn more about the challenge click the image on my sidebar.

Reminder: Please vote for my blog here. I’ve entered it into the bonus People’s Choice Award as part of the Sydney Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blogs Award 2011. My blog is listed under W.I.P It: A Writer’s Journey -- Lynda Young.

What Brings You Back to a Blog?

We all love return visitors to our blogs. It tells us we are doing something right. So, what is it that encourages followers to return?

I will always return to blogs that are:

Easy to read: no strange fonts, no miniscule fonts, no glaring colours, no white text on black backgrounds.

Scannable: As much as I’d love everyone to dote on every word I write, I’m realistic enough to accept that not all of us have the time. If we create scannable posts, with points and bolded headings, it speeds up the reading process. Blogs with walls-o-text are less appealing.

Easy to comment: Posts that offer a question to readers to generate discussion.

Quick to comment: the blog is set up in a way that makes commenting quick and easy—so that means no word verifications.

Quick to load: blogs with many moving widgets and large file-sized pictures take a long time to load. Not everyone will wait.

Humorous: We all love a blog that brings a smile to our face. Humour has a way of making everyone comfortable.

Helpful: Interesting topics will always draw me back. I love to learn (now that I’m no longer in school).

Generous: I’m not talking about amazing competitions and prizes; I’m talking about generosity of time. I will always visit the blogs of those who have encouraged and supported me – as opposed to those who think blogging is only about promoting themselves and their product.

Regular: Blogs that offer a regular schedule – it doesn’t matter if it’s daily, three times a week, or once a week. I can trust a new post will appear at a certain time.

How about you? What brings you back to a blog?

Is Social Media Worth Your Time?

As writers we’ve all struggled to balance the time we spend on our writing, our reading, our blogs and Twitter and Facebook, our day jobs, and most especially our friends and families. Time is precious.

I could easily spend all day on social media in all its many forms. Obviously, I can’t do this. I have other goals, other priorities. I have to work out what balance works for me.

As much as I’d love to have 100+ comments for every post, I can’t because it would mean I’d have to read and comment on at least 120 other blogs each time I post in the hope those blog owners would come visit me in return. I’ve always been a slow reader and I’d like to offer intelligent comments. I can’t do that for such a high quantity of blogs.

Because my main priority is to finish my current novel, I’ve accepted I can’t reach the goal of 100+ comments. I’ve had to schedule my time and become selective with what I do. For example, in the case of blogging, I post only three times a week, I visit the blogs of my loyal followers, and anyone else who leaves a comment, plus I visit the blogs that truly interest me. That’s pretty much all I can manage with a few random blog visits thrown in for good measure.

So, is social media worth my time? Yes, absolutely. Without question. It’s an invaluable connection to the writing community. I’ve made many wonderful and special friendships. I’ve loved the support network and I’ve learnt so much. However, it’s not worth ALL my time.

How do you balance your time? How do you manage comments? What do you want out of social media?

The Give and Take of Social Media

Social media is an important tool in a writer’s utility belt. It’s not just about building a personal platform from which to launch ourselves and our careers. It’s also a great way of staying connected with the writing community. It will link us to a broad base of knowledge, invaluable tips and tricks, and the much needed encouragement all writers crave.

It’s not just about the number of followers we have. It’s also about the number of people we follow in turn.

It’s not just about the number of comments we get. It’s also about the number of comments we make.

It’s not just about what we can gain. It’s also about what we can give.

In other words, it’s about true interaction within a community. More often than not the amount we gain from social media is proportional to the amount we give. So how do we make sure the balance it there?

Be genuinely interested in others. If you have a choice to spend time with two people, which would you choose? The one who is thoughtful, kind and interested in you, or the one who only talks about themselves? Which one would you be more likely to help?

Offer interesting or helpful blog content. If your blog is only about the cuteness your children, or the greatness of your latest book, then people will stop coming back. Give them a reason to return by offering them something of interest.

Run competitions. People love blogfests and competitions. They are a great way to promote yourself without promoting yourself. Prizes don’t have to be huge, but people remember the generosity and the fun.

Promote other people’s work. I’ve had a few people show their support in small but generous ways. I remember these people and I want to offer them the same in return. I’ve had the most success in twitter when I retweet other people’s great blog posts or tweets. Plus it makes me feel good ;)

Ultimately social media is about the relationships we find and nurture. These relationships are precious and need to be treated as such. The rewards are countless.

Can you think of other ways to keep the balance of promotion and interaction in social media? What are your strong points? What are some things which might hold you back?

Protect Your Rep

For those of us who blog, twitter, or spend any time on any form of social media, we must always be mindful of the reputation we are building – and we build it whether we are purposefully attempting to promote ourselves or not. It is a precious thing. And it is fragile. In the words of Warren Buffett: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. Think about that, you’ll do things differently.

So, how do we safeguard our reputation?

Always be positive. Positivity is attractive. Who wants to hang out with a complainer all the time? You will gain respect and followers when you are positive.

Be helpful. We tend to remember those who make themselves available in a helpful and encouraging way. And we often want to respond in like.

Avoid controversies. Some might think that even bad press is good press, but this is a dangerous game to play. More often than not it will backfire in your face and you may never be able to recover.

Don’t do the burn. Remember what our mums used to say to us: If you can’t say anything nice about a person, don’t say anything at all. I recently read a blog post which listed a whole string of a successful author’s failed sentences. As amusing as some might find this, it opened up a world of trouble for the writer of the blog. Because she burned someone, the readers felt it was then okay to burn her. It wasn’t pretty.

Grow a thick skin. Sometimes no matter how careful you are or how respectful you try to be towards others, someone will find something negative to say about you. If this happens I think it is crucial not to react back in a similar way. There is no justification for being unkind and you’ll end up looking worse than your attacker.

What are some things you do to protect your reputation? Do you even feel it needs protecting?

Do’s and Don’ts of Blog Design

There are so many blogs out there that have such wonderful, interesting and helpful content, but the design of their site lets them down. Most people read more than one blog so they don’t have a lot of time to decipher what you may have written. You don’t want them to give up and move on to the next blog. So, below are some tips on how to improve your blog design.

DO use soothing colours such as pastels, neutrals, and anything toned down and complimentary for the overall look of your blog.

DO NOT use large blocks of strident colours like hot pink or vibrant green or fire engine red. If you must use these colours make sure they aren’t anywhere near your text. If you need sunglasses to look at your blog, then change the colours.

DO NOT use white text on a black background. Please. I beg you. It hurts my eyes. Most people are used to dark text on a light background. It is easy to read and doesn’t offend in any way. (You are exempt from this rule if your blog is designed to show off your art or photography).

DO NOT allow a pattern to intrude over any of your text. Fussy backgrounds are often the worst culprit for this. Flowers and swirls and patterns don’t belong over your post or even behind it. Even if it intrudes a small fraction, move it. It’s annoying for the reader otherwise.

DO be shy in the use of animated gifs. Often they cheapen the look of your blog and they only serve to distract your readers from your words.

DO use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial or similar variants. And make sure the font doesn’t get too small. The idea is to keep it easy to read.

DO keep the most important sidebar elements up high. Many readers won’t bother scrolling all the way down to the bottom to find what they are after.

DO NOT make your readers scroll down before they can start reading. Best way to do this is to keep your blog title small. Also, if you must have an introduction, put it in the sidebar.

DO keep it simple. Simplicity is key. The design is meant to attract the reader, not distract.

Can you think of some other design elements that will aid your readers in an enjoyable experience? What are the design elements that most turn you off from a blog?