A Work in Progress

So, there's this thing called SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. This is basically an internet tool for those who sell or advertise product. They want an optimal search for their product at any given time. Even as writers, we want people to read our stuff. How do we do this? We "tag" our posts, or whatever we are "selling," with special search words, so that if by chance someone types in those words -- in my case, maybe my name, or book, or blog, etc, -- my listing, my book, my name or article, will come up. Here's what I don't get. This last summer, I blogged for thirty days. All of those posts got decent exposure. Awesome. Great. Super fantastic. But why-oh-why, did one post get more hits than the others? Check this out. Really hard to see, but most of my hits are you know, twelve, fourteen, twenty two hits. But for the fourth day, the day that began with D, it's over two thousand five hundred hits! Why? Somewhere, my tags were picked u

I wanted to write about quesadillas. They're one of my favorite foods of all time. But, I won't. I'll save the food for a foodie. I've mentioned this fabulous site before. But, I'm going to do it again, since I didn't just want to talk about those querulous queries. Have a book you want to query? Children's book, romance or sci-fi? Find an agent -- and hundreds more--for each genre at AgentQuery. It's a database of information that any writer has to bookmark. Too valuable to ignore. There are also helpful articles and interviews to go along side the lists of agents, and updates on agents --if they're open to queries or not-- every day. The site is extremely simple to navigate, easy to use, and with the click of the mouse, you've got ten or more agents to send your quite marvelous manuscript to. Your quest has begun ... or rather, it is continuing. Go to AgentQuery today and find that agent for you!

We all have to start somewhere, right? This year, actually, exactly two months ago, I self-published my middle grade book, The Puzzle Master , through Amazon and Amazon kindle. (only .99 cents! get it here .) Great experience, great learning curve, and wow, do I feel like a newbie. I feel like a nothing and an everything at the same time. I am one of millions, vying for readers attention, and yet I have the ability to have full control of editing, marketing, writing, etc. This is both good and bad. Good because I'm learning a lot, and again have full control of my work, and at the same time, bad because I don't know what the heck I'm doing. Here's an exception, a guy who has made a huge success of himself and is also willing to help us newbies: his name is Joe Konrath. He's a great writer, who has put in decades of writing to finally get to where he is today. His blog has tons of info on how to be a self-published author and do it well, and argues that his s

I don't know if you've read those cool mystery novels by Sue Grafton, where she uses a letter of the alphabet for every title (and subject) for her books. I have. I've read a few. And her writing is fantastic. I believe that's where the inspiration came for the blog challenge that I'm in right now. It's called Blogging from A to Z Challenge and I'm supposed to write a blog everyday based on one letter of the alphabet. And that one word I choose, that starts with that letter, is my subject matter. Okay, super random moment: Did you know that right now that there is a huge mega millions lottery that's worth a half a billion dollars if someone wins? Wow. By the time this posts, someone could have a heck of a lot of money. Here's my angle: If you were to win a half a billion dollars , would you have the aspiration to do anything else, ever again? I mean, if I won that money, would I feel the need to write? Would I feel the need to make money? Def

Warning! Warning! I will be blogging for all of April! Totally shocking, I know. Especially coming from someone who maybe blogs once a week. So, what has gotten into me? And why would I do something so drastic as to blog everyday for a month? I'm doing this awesome "blog challenge" if you will. It's kind of like NaNoWriMo , which was about writing a novel in thirty days. But this, this A to Z challenge, is about blogging on the topic of an alphabet letter-- a different one-- everyday for the next thirty days, minus a few sundays off. It's called Blogging from A to Z challenge April 2012. I thought about writing about The Hunger Games, because that is super trendy-- and because it would capture most peoples' interest.  It wouldn't be hard to do, especially because the difficult letter K is already filled for lead character Katniss. However, I'm sure a gazillion bloggers are going to do this. Oh, and it doesn't help that I haven't read the

I've been down-for-the-count with a cold I caught from my youngest son. The irony of this all is that I assumed I would get even more writing done now that he's in school, having just begun all day kindergarden. While I do have uninteruppted time, being sick is not condusive to writing, especially when all I want to do is lie down. So, yes, it's an excuse. But hey, it's legitimate. Now, something for you: Have you heard about Hallmark's card contest? They have one or two contests every month devoted to great pictures -- and most importantly, well placed and perfect writing to go with it -- by people like us, and NOT their in-house writers. Here is an example, as I won one of their contests last year. If you're like me, you have a ton of pictures on the computer that are going to waste. And if you're a writer,  then this is the perfect contest for you. Go to Hallmark today and find out the latest contest. Enter it and you never know ... the whole world may s

Though I've briefly written about this before, in a previous blog post When Not to Write , I wanted to go into further detail about the notion of creativity in writing and movie-viewing. Though I don't recommend writing after watching a movie (as the writing can be horrific, like a knock-off Gucci bag to the real thing) there is something to be said for finding a way to rejuvenate the ideas and inspiration we once had for a story, or novel when watching something both amazing, and inspirational. For example, last week, I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2. While JK Rowling's writing is pretty much INCREDIBLE (that lady is a master of storytelling), what really lights my writing fire is knowing that her ideas, her brain activity and education, actually went somewhere ... as in phenomenal, once-in-a-lifetime, everyone-loves-you, let's-make-a-movie-out-of-all-your-books type of success. And sitting in the ice-cold theater, with the AC set at 65 degre

So, I was on vacation for forever! Well, maybe 11 days. But, if sure felt like forever, and it also felt like about 10 minutes, all at the same time. Here is some of what I was up to: And, I actually not only answered a few emails, but wrote down some book ideas as well. I'd say it was a vacation well spent. I had a relaxing time, and didn't feel guilty about not writing either. Do I want to get back into the writing "saddle"? Not really, but I am going to do it anyway. I've got nothing to lose... even if all I want to do now is be on the beach. Happy writing!

Okay, so we all know the well-worn cliche of "no pain, no gain." This goes for weight loss (yes, less food equals less weight) and exercise (must do the treadmill, if I want to see the muscles through the fat) and even beauty (yes, a shower is necessary, even though no one but you is around to smell you.) Perhaps it's a summer problem, or just a phase I'm going through, but this overwhelming desire to do absolutely nothing -- instead of something -- ripples through my veins (and flabby calf muscles) in the middle of our summer. Just writing a blog post is like pulling a boulder into the chair with me. How do I work with this? It's in the way. It (boulder and writing) is too heavy. Really, this is just me being lazy. So what I've been writing for years without much gain. I love writing anyway! I should be glad I have hands and fingers and get to be creative. That's amazing. Just because I feel like not writing, doesn't mean I should -- or shouldn&#

Buy it at Amazon There is something so perfect about a devotion. Maybe it is because a verse is singled out, and focused on, which in turn gives insight into something so simple, but profound. Or maybe it's because the writing is short, but always incredibly sweet. Maybe it is because there is usually a personal application through the whole thing that makes it easy to relate to. Whichever the reason, or all three, I'm honored to be in this devotional book that just came out a few weeks ago, called Faith and Family: A Devotional Pathway for Families.   Here is a picture I took of it yesterday when I got it in the mail. Christian Devotions compiled this work. They are a fanstatic website that delivers a daily devotion, and keeps archives of them for one to peruse any time they want. They also have a radio program, many books, and several of the founders speak regularly at conferences, meetings and gatherings year-round. They are devoted to devotions! Their slogan is:

So, I was talking to a writer friend of mine this week, and she mentioned that she was having a problem getting everything done that she needed to do. This included work, home, marriage and kids; everything she wanted to do, and everything everyone else wanted her to do. I sympathized with her because I, like most people, find myself in this situation frequently. But for once, I felt like I could actually give her some sound advice. Just that week, I had turned down two rather important offers-- one dealing with my kids' school, and another with more editing-- and I actually felt fine about it. There are times to say yes, and moments when we have to do more in 24 hours than should be legally allowed. But because writing is important to me, I've learned to say no in order to focus on just that. I understand we are here to love, give and serve. I get that. But, we’re also to do what’s in front of us to the best of our abilities. If we’re overburdened, how then does this rea

Sometimes, just saying this question outloud -- "What would Jessica Fletcher do?" --can be the absolute best way to work through a scene, or maybe in the extreme case, your entire novel. I know, it totally sounds hokey ... at best. But, it's true! If you've never watched an episode of Murder She Wrote, or really an episode of almost any crime/drama, then you need to. It can help to focus in on what it is you're trying to explain, reveal, hide or introduce in your story. In reality, detectives -- or in her case, unofficial detectives -- rarely solve a murder case within the time frame that these shows take place in. However, that's because the show is limited to an hour or two. If it isn't short and quick, our attention wanes, we get up for a snack, or we will change the channel. In our writings, even if things don't move quite this quickly, we too need to move the plot along. Otherwise, no one will want to read our words either! Watching J. B.

I'll admit it ... the title of this post sounds suspiciously a lot like a travel article, or a top ten to see while you're in Aruba. But this post is more about being writer/reader productive -- without actually feeling like you are working -- while on vacation (or holiday, if you're on the other side of the pond). Even when I'm on vacation, I still have this infinitesimal -- and sometimes grand -- urge to write. Something. Anything, especially when a postcard doesn't quite cut it as literary work. If this sounds like you, yet you don't want to write too much because heck, you are on vacation, keep a tiny notebook with you. Jot down story ideas, characters flaws for your hero, write a poem as you watch the ocean, or end that novel with the final two hundred words you were trying so hard to write back at home. While vacation is just that, vacation, it doesn't mean you have to abandon all creative writing. That's sort of like cutting out your oxygen

Right about the time when I think things will stay the same, they change. Which is a good notion, I suppose. Without change, where's the progress? This was essentially Walt Disney's Motto "... keep moving forward ...," and look at the empire he created? Sometimes, in order for great things to happen, change is necessary. But we have to keep looking ahead, and actually  implement change, if we expect an empire of our own (figuratively speaking, of course). So here's the deal: I'm changing the name of my blog to the title I should've had months ago, Writer's Manna. I woke up to this title, one moring, after having written something with those words, and am being forced by my one-tracked and often stubborn mind to make it my blog's name. And I hope, this is a better change. There you go. A new title, for a new day. And I'm hoping to keep this one for a good, long time. Is there a lesson in it for all of us? Embrace change -- good change --