The Art of Writing for Blogs

Today’s guest blogger, Sara Dawkins, is an active nanny as well as an active freelance writer. She is a frequent contributor of http://www.nannypro.com/ and I thought a lot of writers could benefit from her experience writing blogs.

As someone who was used to writing for school and technical papers, let me tell you that writing for blogs was a bit of a shock. Oh, sure I’d written a piece or two of fiction in my time and through that had some grasp on writing conversational English, but to write an entire article in that language? Never had it crossed my mind.

Let’s just say you wouldn’t want to go back and read my first blog posts. Not only were they boring to the max, but they were also so stilted that it feels more like reading a college essay then a blog post. It was only after reading other blogger’s work and finally loosening up that I got to the point where I could write conversational English. For those of you just starting out in the blogging world, or if you want to loosen up your writing style for other reasons, here are a few tips for you:

1.      Don’t sweat the small stuff – I know that things like sentence structure and proper formatting were drilled into you from a young age, but at this point you need to throw it out the window. You know how great chefs never use recipes? The same idea applies here. You know what you are doing, now let creativity flow.

2.      Write like you talk – A good rule of thumb is to write like you speak. If you use a lot of big words and complex sentences, then fine. Great. But if you tend to talk more like your average Joe go with that. Use short sentences. Use run on sentences. Use slang and conjunctions. Be human.

3.      Have fun with it – Blogging is supposed to be fun! If you are not having fun writing it then your readers won’t have fun reading it. Laugh, make jokes, be silly.

4.      Don’t plan too much – This is not a research paper. You do not have to outline your topic, come up with a thesis, or hit key points. Yes, you want to communicate effectively, but if you over plan you end up sounding like a robot. Have a general idea of what you want to say and then go with it.

5.      Keep it short – This is important. Blogging is all about brevity. Keeping your blog posts short is the best way to keep readers interested. Do not have huge chunks of text. If you can a list post is great, but if you can’t small paragraphs work well too. Remember that we are all busy people, so help us to make the most of our time and be succinct.

These are just a few little tips on helping you to become a writer who is fun to read. You want to really connect with your readers, in fiction and in bogging and everywhere in between. As always, enjoy what you write or don’t bother writing it.

Holiday Festival Fun

With eight novels in print with a small press and a number of major conference appearances under my belt I just spent three days at a craft fair, and I thought it might be fun to talk about why.

When I started as a self-published author I did a lot of this kind of event.  Then I established a strong relationship with Borders Books and enjoyed sitting in one of their stores almost every weekend.  Sadly, Borders is no more, so I decided to backtrack a bit.

So I spent the weekend at the Northern Virginia Christmas Market along with 300 other vendors.  It’s a bit more work than signing in a bookstore.  I had to buy copies of my books.  I had to bring plenty of change (and I got one of those gizmos that attaches to your phone so you can swipe credit cards.)  I had to haul tables, chairs, books, tablecloths, banners, bookmarks, book stands in with me.  I was on my feet most of the time.

On the other hand, I got to talk to a lot of readers, and people with friends who like to read.  In this way I was a big help to some folks with hard-to-buy-for people on their gift list.  I also chatted with a librarian who needs writers to speak at her library, and a couple of book club members who would love to have an author come to their meetings.  I put my postcards, bookmarks and business cards into a lot of hands, and had several people say they’d download me onto their Kindle when they got home.  And I signed 80 or so books that would not have been bought otherwise.

Aside from that, I had a good time chatting with other vendors, and I really do enjoy being face-to-face with readers.  Plus it was a chance to get most of my Christmas shopping done without having to sneak around.

Was it worth it?  Let me put it this way: I’ll be standing at a table doing the same thing in Virginia Beach at another Christmas Market on Thanksgiving weekend, where I expect to sign even more books!

C3 Conference – And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

There is no “how to give a literary conference” kit.  So I’m building one.

When I've attended crime fiction conferences I couldn't help but notice how publishers, large and small, make their presence known.  Those publishers may buy space for posters on tripods, contribute gifts for the attendees or put their name on parts of the conference.  It makes sense – whatever sponsors contribute allows the organizers to lower the cost to attendees.

That’s good for the fans who attend the conference, but what does it really do for the publisher who becomes a sponsor?  It’s all about building their brand.  Sponsoring a conference is a way for a publisher to establish itself as legitimate and professional in the eyes of a room full of readers and authors.  That can lead to increased prestige and increased sales in the future.

We are offering a number of ways publishers can sponsor the Creatures, Crimes andCreativity conference.  For example, they could finance the wine service at one of the dinners.  We’d promote that on the C3 web site, announce the sponsorship at the meal, and invite the sponsor to say a few words.

A company could supply the goodie bags we’ll hand out at registration (with their name and logo on them of course.)  Or they could buy ad space in the conference program.

We’re also looking for someone to supply flash drives for all the attendees.  They could load them up with ebooks, or we can.  And any publisher could supply books to give away to attendees, either published or their Advance Reader Copies (ARCs.).  We’ll put those books in the registration goodie bags, or use them as center pieces at a meal.

To make a big impression, a press could sponsor a meal.  That would earn them one full admission to the conference, a banner on our web site declaring them a conference sponsor with a link to their website, a designated table for their party at that meal, an announcement of their sponsorship at that meal and an invitation for their representative to introduce themselves and make a brief presentation at that meal.  Plus we will post any signage they supply at the conference.

Acorn Book Services is sponsoring Sunday breakfast at the C3 conference, including omelets made to order.  They also came up with a creative sponsorship idea of their own.  Acorn will publish an anthology exclusively for the C3 conference, and supply a copy for every attendee.  Aside from including (and thus promoting) work from Acorn’s authors, all writers who register for the conference are invited to contribute a story.  Check out the submission guidelines on the conference web site.

We hope having publishers help sponsor the conference will pay off for them, and for all the fans and writers who attend. 

Get a Free suspense novel TODAY!

I don't often promote specific authors' work here, but Jessie B. Tyson is a dear pal from the British Isles and since her new novel, White Heaven Women is free to download today and tomorrow, I thought I'd beat the drum a little.

Many people believe that we have all been here on earth before, with a different name, different life. Some live their current lives believing they’ll be reincarnated after death. This past life theme is prevalent in movies, television ad novels, including the new supernatural suspense White Heaven Women by British author Jessie B. Tyson.

White Heaven Women is a gripping tale set in Whitehaven, Cumbria, UK. Flashing between 1899/ early 1900s to 2000, readers are introduced to two sisters, Beth and Sarah, and the fate that awaits them.

***

Why the author wrote White Heaven Women

Where to begin and most importantly, to keep it short. The starting post is usually a good place. When I lived in north England, I was a Home/ Community Support worker for a woman who suffered from Palsy who asked me to write her life story. All went well for a few weeks until...bingo...one morning my imaginative muse took over like a control freak- it wouldn’t let me write the truth about her anymore! The only thing in my story that is true now is the existence of blue ghosts.

 

Listen to the audio on YouTube to see why the author made the ghosts in “White Heaven Women” Blue – a true audio story!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGnp9nX7HyU 

 

 

Now, go get your free copy of White Heaven Women at:

Amazon US:- http://www.amazon.com/White-Heaven-Women-ebook/dp/B008SDDGV6

Amazon UK:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/White-Heaven-Women-ebook/dp/B008SDDGV6

CreateSpace/Paperback:https://www.createspace.com/3966486

 

The charming Ms Tyson would love to hear from you. Contact her at

http://www.facebook.com/jessie.b.tyson

http://twitter.com/JessieBTyson

http://jessiebtyson.blogspot.com/

Proofreading tips and technique

Today's guest blogger, Brian Carey, wants you to take one more look at your writing.

 

After an essay or other written work has been done and completed, checking to ensure it’s in the best condition follows. Proofreading work saves a lot of time and ensures that your work doesn’t go in vein. Proofing software is not efficient. This leaves your open option as the manual way. Here are some tips for you:

1.      Concentration

You need to concentrate on your work if you intend to catch the small mistakes. And to do this, you need to rid yourself of all distractions in the room where you are working. This will promote your ability to see the small errors.

2.      Get someone else do the proofing

This is quite straight forward. Professional editors are in the best position to see ambiguity and mistakes in work. Get some help with the proofreading before hitting send or submitting.

3.      Put it on paper

Sometimes it’s hard to proof soft copy.  This is because of how the eyes are naturally made not to tell the accuracy of typed work. Hard copy proofing is the best approach. Print the work out and proof it.

4.      Homonyms

These ate words that share same spellings and pronunciation, yet have different meanings. For most people, words like complement and compliment are distractive. They could spell disaster in an essay or exam test.

5.      Contractions and the apostrophes

Contractions are difficult. Yet, many people make mistakes that include them in their writing. Words like their and they’re can hurt the credibility of your writing if they are not checked. Also check out for instances where you have used apostrophes in plurals. They are never used there and you need to correct that.

6.      Checking for punctuations

A huge part of proofreading work is to check punctuations. This means looking out for words that are capitalized wrongly, missing or extra commas, periods that have been used wrongly and other typos.

7.      Read work backwards

It’s essential for you to start the habit of reading words backwards. This is because, the brains makes and corrects its own mistakes. Whereas this could be amazing in the ideal world, the corrections are wrong. You need to read each word, back to back to determine which one doesn’t make sense.

8.      Check the numbers

 

 Numbers are often confusing in text. However, humans are mad about numbers.  You never  know what their implications are when they turn out wrong. The best you can do is double checking your number sources. Make sure the numbers you use in the essay or writing is accurate.

Now what kind of proof reader are YOU?  Did you spot any errors in this post, which I put up exactly as I received it?

Writing Creatively after a Career in Academia

Today's guest blogger, Melanie Foster, is a freelance writer , aspiring novelist and business owner. She enjoys writing about her past career in academia, as well as her current ventures in entrepreneurship. Today she has some tips on how to get down to the writing after you've secured that MFA or other writing degree.

 

Say you're like me, and you spent some time in a graduate program. Part of the reason you enrolled in said graduate program is because you enjoyed writing. Soon enough, however, you realize that academic writing is an entirely different animal from creative or even straightforward, journalistic, non-fiction writing. You leave academia to practice the sort of writing you were passionate about in the first place, but you realize that you've become stuck on the arcane, stilted style of academia. What to do? First of all, it's important to know that your training in graduate school HAS helped you become a better writer because you can form very logical arguments about anything. You know how to exhaustively explore any topic, and this is absolutely essential for any creative writer. You've also become a very close and careful reader. But you have to get rid of some academic writing habits. Here's how:

1.      Start reading the kind of writing you aspire to.

After years and years of reading critical theory, dissertations, and research, your writing style will be doubtlessly influenced by the academic style. The best way to reverse this influence is to simply immerse yourself in whatever form of writing you'd like to write. For example, if you want to write literary fiction, read a bunch of classic and well-regarded contemporary novels. If you'd like to write crime novels, read as many crime novels as you can get your hands on. Of course, read outside your chosen genre, too, to lend some diversity to your style. But always be aware that you'll subconsciously be influenced by the material you read.

2.      Check your work for overly long sentences.

This is the bane of the academic-cum-creative writer's existence. You learned to write very long sentences in school, simply because you had to explain very complicated ideas. Plus, all academics write in a long-winded manner. When you are writing creatively, you'll have to be particularly wary of long or convoluted sentences. The best way to do this is to read your work out loud. If you start running out of breath, and you can hear that your work sounds more like research than like a conversation, you know you're doing something wrong.

3.      Share your work with intelligent, non-academic friends.

All writers are shy about sharing their work with others, especially before they're finished. But for ex-academics, it's especially important to share your work to check if it makes sense. When you were in graduate school, you likely hung out exclusively with fellow academics, and you all talked about the same things and in the same way. Whatever you wrote, you wrote for this specific audience of academics. Showing your work to a non-academic who reads lots of creative writing is best. Make sure also that these friends are brutally honest. If they say your writing is confusing, it probably is. Of course, don't accept all criticism, but take the advice of someone you trust and ask how you can change it to make it more readable.

A lifetime in academia doesn't sentence you to a lifetime of academic prose. It just takes some practice to become aware of academic habits and some work to get rid of them. Good luck!

Melanie welcomes your comments and question.  Comment here, or write to her at melanie.foster00@gmail.com

Real Life vs Fictional Detectives

Today's guest blogger, Jack Meyer is a freelance writer and regular contributor at www.nannybackgroundcheck.com/.  While he has a passion for various subjects like education, career and technology, Parenting etc., he also has real-life experience as a police detective.  Today he offers us crime fiction writers some notes contrasting his experiences with the lives of the detectives we make up.

Detective-style television shows or novels can be quite entertaining for those who are in to that genre of entertainment. Although these shows and books are intriguing to watch and read, the role of a detective in real life is much different. The purpose of the fictional detective is to entertain and enthrall you. What differences are there between the men and women of justice, and the actors that portray them?

1. Evidential Time Lapse - Evidence collection is an important part of any investigation. As opposed to the quick response television DNA evidence is processed, it could take several days or longer to process in reality.

2. The Law - Writers can modify techniques and laws to suit the story. Real life detectives have to obey the laws themselves and know how to conduct an investigation. For instance, breaking into a location to possibly acquire evidence could have that evidence thrown out in a court of law.

3. Blasting Away - It is common place to see a war zone break out in the middle of town in an exciting detective movie. However, real detectives would have to account for every bullet fired and mark each one as evidence. That P90 in the trunk would require massive amounts of paperwork.

4. Permissions - Real life detectives don't have the ability to walk onto a location and start an investigation. Without good probable cause or permission from the location's owner, the detective would need to prove that a warrant is necessary. Otherwise, any evidence collected is not admissible in court and would prove fruitless.

5. Timing is Crucial - Fictional detectives have a knack of solving cases within a time frame that watchers and readers are comfortable with to keep his or her attention. Real detectives can spend more than a year trying to solve a mystery, which could become tedious and monotonous to those who relish excitement.

6. Relationships - Many fictional detectives suffer the negative aspects of relationship difficulties as real detectives do. Although this plays into the drama of the story, in real life it is usually a circumstance of a high-stress environment that couples have a hard time getting through.

While some are drawn to becoming detectives in real life, others only want to be entertained. Some may think that the glamor of the detective in entertainment venues is as dramatic and exciting as the real thing. Although it could be an exciting career for some, it could be disappointing for others. Detectives have a purpose when they choose the career, and it's not entertainment.

Jack Meyer welcomes your feedback or questions about true detectives.  You can contact him at jackmeyers08@gmail.com.