I call them zero-second blog clickers, the follows your blog picks up in a “I’ll-follow-you-if-you-follow-me” trade or at a follower traffic exchange. I love them. I hate them. Sure, as a new blogger writing at least three posts a week, I’m in the market for readers who will follow my work. The more the better. In some cases, […]
For Readers
Final, Final Read-Through. Again
I’ve just finished the final, final read through of my novel, Between Now and Forever. Again. But at least this read through only took seven hours, a record, since the last one took ten, spread out over two visits to Starbucks instead of one. Final Read Through And now I’m done. Really. When I tell my critique partners this, […]
Dash Off A Memory / Create A Memoir
Are you trying to decide if the writing life is for you? Today, my friend and critique partner Dorothy Ann Skarles introduces her book, Learning to Write the Easy Way for Fun, Posterity and Money, in which she helps you discover your hidden writing talent. As she says in her introduction, “Connecting with your own past in a […]
Identifying a Niche Specific Audience / Cultural Creatives
I’ve heard that writers need to find a niche and then directly address a niche-specific audience. But in order to do so, the writer must first figure out who that audience is. Each of us, of course, hopes our work will enjoy universal appeal, when more than likely it will attract one segment of the population over others. With this in mind, […]
Finding My Voice : The Elusive Key
It’s almost laughable, isn’t it, that we writers struggle to find our own voice? Our voices come out loud and clear during our every waking moment, while we’re talking to family and friends. And then when we sit down to write. IT’S GONE! It’s like another personality takes over, the one that was always trying to impress the teachers […]
Light Master Teachers
In an article titled A sprig of verbena and the gifts of a great teacher, Kathleen Parker of the Washington Posts Writers Group wrote about light master teachers who “hit the light switch and change one’s life.” For Kathleen it was James Gasque, an 11th grade English teacher, who stood up for her in class when her […]
