Thursday, June 30, 2016

Are You A Writer?



How’s your writing going for you?

If it’s splendid tell me about it.

If you are frustrated tell me about that too.

If you are a published author. “Clap, clap, clap.”

If you have completed a manuscript or ten thousand unpublished ones, “Clap, clap, clap.”

Congratulations on writing whether you are published or not. You have a dream. You are going for it. And remember, you live life to experience it. You write about it to make sense of it.

That puts you ahead of the pack.

Our culture is so goal oriented that unless you win the gold you are discounted.

Not here. I know the road to success is incremental, and if we enjoy the process then we are winners already.

 I know this scenario too: You meet someone new and they ask the dreaded question: “What do you do?”

If you say, “I’m a writer,” then the next dreaded question is: “What have you published?”

Even #Anne Lamott, a best-selling author, dreaded that question.

“Tell me," said the person inquiring, “I read everything, what is the name of your book?’

“You’ve  probably never heard of it”

“No, tell me. I read everything.” She turns to her friend, “Don’t I read everything?”

“Yes, she reads everything.”

So reluctantly Anne tells her.

“Never heard of it,” says the inquirer and walks away.

Develop a touch skin.

Or feathers, remember how water rolls off a duck’s back?

Do that.

There is another aspect to sharing your dream before its time—I know we don’t want people to think we’re sitting around eating bon bons all the time—we’re creators. We were born to create. Sometimes, though, it is better to keep it to ourselves. Sharing before your dream is ripe is like pulling up your pumpkin seeds to see if they have sprouted.

If you write blogs and want to say so, Okay. They probably won't ask for its address, though. If you write books, your answer to their question might be, “It’s in the works,” or “It’s a work in process.” “Someone is considering it.”

“When will you know?”

“Oh, nine months or so—same as gestating a baby.”

Or you can use that opportunity to practice your selling skills so when your book comes out they will recognize it.

Do what feels right.

I’m thinking of a minister who as she walked down a beach in Hawaii someone asked her what she did. She didn’t want to go into it, so she said she dipped Hawaiian leaves in gold for jewelry.


If we say we are brain surgeons, we better come up with some astounding scientific terms.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Writer's Wisdom


“The more you celebrate life, the more you have to celebrate.”

A few comments from Literary Agent
 #Michael Larson.
These came from his workshop I attended in Central Point, Oregon:
  • “First Drafts Always Suck.”
  • “Content is King, but DISCOVERY is the key to the kingdom.”
  • “Expect conflicting advice.”
  •  “Don’t start with a weather report.”

 The six rules of writing supersede that rule. They are :

“Read, read, read, 

write, write, write.”

  •  “Compare your book with successful books or movies.”
  • Test Market: “Start to market your book three years before it comes out.”
Three years? Holy Cow!

click for more info




(I have more to say, stay tuned.)
Joyce

Thursday, June 2, 2016

What is RSS?



I learned  from blogger #Seth Godin that “Google doesn't want you to read blogs.”
“Google shut down their RSS reader and they're dumping many blog subscriptions into the gmail promo folder, where they languish unread.
"And Facebook doesn't want you to read blogs either. 

"They have cut back the organic sharing some blogs benefitted from so that those bloggers will pay to 'boost' their traffic to what it used to be.”
But, according to Godin, RSS still works. It's still free. It's still unfiltered, uncensored and spam-free.
And he recommends #Feedly.
Read blogs. He says he reads 50 a day. Blogs are free, provide service,  information or entertainment. It’s a way to connect with a degree of intimacy not often found in our friends or family. The bloggers I have found are honest, integral, have a desire to express themselves and have a genuine interest in people.  (I don’t want to meet the other kind.)
Problogger #Jan Morrow recommends #Feedblitz
So what is RSS?
I didn’t know. I had to look it up.
Technically it means “Really Simple Syndication.” In Oprah speak it means, “I’m “Ready for Some Stories.”
It’s a way to sign up for your favorite blog posts without having to bookmark them. It’s a way to receive new blog post alerts.
If you’d like your RSS list to be accessible from any computer or mobile device you may have like a PDA, laptop, or cell phone, some popular RSS readers include (and almost all are FREE):
MyYahoo
MyMSN

MyAOL 
MyGoogle
Bloglines
FeedDemon (this one costs money)
NewsGator (there is a cost for mobile accessibility)
NetVibes
PageFlakes
Shrook (For Mac users. Free trial and then there's a cost.)
Lektora
Attensa (more for enterprise, and there's a cost)

If you’re not into RSS you can have an email sign up.

For all you people who found me, Thanks for stopping by.