Tag Archives: blogging

Why do I Blog?

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Last week I didn’t publish a blog post. I know I have a lot of subscribers, but I really have no idea if anyone pays attention to my publishing schedule or waits in breathless anticipation for a new post every Wednesday. (If you do, then I thank you for your attentiveness and interest, and I apologize for leaving you hanging for a week).

I’m sure I was far more upset than anyone else at missing a week for the first time in nearly three years of blogging. The sad part is, I have no good excuse – I simply forgot. So that got me thinking: why did I start this blog? And why have I been so committed to keeping it up for so long?

After a bit of self-analysis, here are some things I came up with. In no particular order, the reasons I blog are:

I like writing. Blogging gives me a chance to write a little bit every week. It took some nerve, at first, to put my words out there for the whole world to read, but the positive feedback and comments I get are definitely encouraging.

Blogging has helped me with discipline. Writing of any kind takes discipline. Even if you’re writing just for yourself and just for fun, it takes a degree of disciplined action to write regularly and to finish anything. The discipline of committing to a weekly post – even if I’m the only one who notices or cares about the regular schedule – has helped me to start learning the art of writing even if I don’t feel like it or feel inspired. (Except for last week, obviously, but let’s not talk about that anymore).

Blogging helps with SEO. Now we get to the technical side of things. I’ve known for years that an author needs a strong social media presence if they expect to ever be noticed or read by anyone. And there are so many tips out there about getting a web presence launched before your first book is published, so that you already have a following when you’re ready to start promoting a book. Since I love social media and I love writing, starting a blog seemed like an easy and logical thing to do.

My blog is my home base on the internet. Blogging regularly helps keep the following that I have, and increases my chances of gaining new followers. My blog also serves as my main author website. Since I have no books for sale yet, I don’t need a fancy website with multiple pages or a calendar with my book signing schedule. (Yet. Here’s hoping I’ll need all of that soon). Anyway, my blog is where you can find me online. I have it linked to all of my social media profiles, so if you want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest (or all three), my blog is the easy one-stop-shop to find everything.

So there are my main reasons for continuing this blog for so long. I hope that you are enjoying it, even if you don’t read every post or care what day of the week I publish. I love blogging, and I intend to keep it up for many more years to come!

The Nitty-Gritty of Writing: Capitalization

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Some days it seems like basic capitalization is becoming a thing of the past. With texting, auto-correct, and even intuitive typing in word processing programs, it’s easy to just not bother with a silly little thing like capitalization. I’ve been guilty of rushing through a text and not bothering to check and see if my phone automatically changed the i to I or not.

Typos and all lowercase in texts to your friends is one thing, but when it comes to actual writing (as in a blog post, story, query letter, resume, school paper, etc.) capitalization matters. I’m going to highlight just the basics here. Refer to your style manual of choice (Chicago, AP, etc.) for the finer points of capitalization for things like acronyms, honorary titles for individuals or groups, headings and subheadings in articles, and so forth.

The first word of a sentence

This should be a no-brainer. The first letter of the first word of every sentence should be capitalized, even if the word is “the,” like in this sentence.

Proper names

Proper names include:

People’s names – Joe, Sue Smith, or yours truly Grace Robinson

Place names – America, New York City, Grand Canyon

Other proper names (brands, stores, organizations, etc.) – the White House, the Blue Angels, Saks Fifth Avenue

In English, the only pronoun that gets regularly capitalized is “I.” This makes English unusual, because in most languages, the first person singular personal pronoun is no different from “he,” “they,” or “you.”

Book, movie, and song titles

Examples:

The Notebook – as in the Nicholas Sparks novel, or the movie based on his novel. If you’re writing about just a random notebook, it would not be capitalized – unless it’s the first word of the sentence, of course.

“Let it Go” – a perfectly normal phrase, but if you’re referring to the song from Frozen (see, more capitalization), then it now goes in caps.

Other Really Important Words

This is sort of a joke, and sort of not – it mostly depends on context. Unconventional capitalization can be used for humorous effect in a blog post, like this Really Important Post about Capitalization that you’re currently reading. Capitalizing ordinarily non-proper nouns is common in genre fiction like fantasy, such as the One Ring in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. “One” and “ring” are common, unimportant words, but in the context of that story, the capitalization lets the reader know that this particular Ring is anything but common.

One important thing to note, though, about capitalizing ordinary words for emphasis: it’s basically universally agreed that texting or posting on social media IN ALL CAPS is the equivalent of shouting, and should be used sparingly. And by sparingly, I mean putting ONE word in all caps for emphasis, NOT THE ENTIRE BLASTED POST. (That’s my opinion – and widely-agreed-upon internet etiquette).

So there you have it – a few small basic rules of capitalization. As I mentioned, please refer to an actual style guide if you get bogged down with capitalization details. But in the meantime, sticking to these basic rules for school papers and internet posts can help add a little professional polish to your work.

2014 – A Blog in Review

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Now that we’re almost half way into January, I finally got around to reviewing my blog stats for last year. I had over 5,000 visitors from literally all over the world. So, thank you to all my readers! Whether you subscribe to my blog (and if you don’t, just sign up in the little box on the right side bar) or you just stumbled across a post by accident, I appreciate you! Sometimes I wonder if I’m writing to the great emptiness of cyberspace, but my stats show me otherwise.

In fact, one of my posts got shared on a Tumblr post featuring links to various blogs and websites for creating fantasy creatures. I’m not actually sure where my post was originally shared, because from there, it’s been shared and re-shared and linked to again and again. I’m so pleased that one of my posts has such wide appeal!

And so for you, dear readers of my blog, I thought I’d share my top three most popular posts from 2014 (according to the WordPress stat monkeys).

Creating Fantasy Creatures and Alien Species

This was my most-read post, one of the ones that’s gotten re-blogged all around Tumblr and other interwebs. Here I analyze what I believe to be some of the core elements in creating believable non-human races for fantasy and sci-fi stories.

Creating Fantasy Creatures and Alien Species – Real Animals as Magical Races

This is a companion post that was almost as popular as the original one, in which I discuss the concept of using real animals as sentient beings in fantasy.

Music Review: Dobbelis, Máddji

This post came in at the number three most popular post of 2014 – and it had the spot of the number one most-read post in 2013. Apparently there are a lot of people out there who like Sami music – or at least who like the Norwegian Sami singer Máddji.

So there’s my year in review. Again, thank you to everyone who’s read my blog – whether it’s been one post or many! If you’re a regular reader, do you have a favorite post from 2014?

Why I’m not Doing NaNoWriMo

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If you hang around the creative writing world at all, then you know that October is NaNoWriMo prep month – that is, the time to prepare for November, which is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

I’ve done NaNo before (let’s not talk about my pathetic word count). Earlier this year I was looking forward to doing NaNo again and at least bettering my word count for the month, if not actually “winning” (that is, writing 50,000 words in a month). But as the fall approached, I realized that perhaps I’d be better off not doing it.

My writing load has greatly increased over the last few months. Here’s a brief rundown of what I’m currently working on:

     Editing/rewriting novel #1 of a trilogy

     Writing first draft of novel #2 of same trilogy

     Writing weekly posts for my blog

     Writing 10-15 posts a month for my job

     Working on three short stories that I hope to have published by the end of the year

I’m not saying all this to brag about my writing endeavors (though I am excited about and thankful for the paid writing opportunities that have come my way recently).

I’m also aware that this laundry list of activities could sound like nothing more than excuses. Hey, we’re all busy: jobs, families, holidays, general life. Nobody has extra time lying around in November to devote to NaNoWriMo. If you want to do it, you have to make the time to do it.

I could make the time to do NaNo. I even have a story idea that just needs a little thought and outlining, and it would be ready to go for November. Even though I have a busy schedule, (and two other jobs besides the job I write for), I know I could make the time. I’m just not sure my brain could handle it.

My focus is spread thinner than I’d like right now. I’ve developed a weekly writing schedule for myself, so that I don’t try to write for everything every day. Switching between so many different subjects and styles of writing on a regular basis can easily sap my creativity and mental energy. I’m sure there are plenty of writers out there who manage the constant switching just fine, but since this is all rather new to me, I don’t want to put any unnecessary stress on my poor amateur brain.

I look forward to participating next year. I don’t know what my personal and professional writing life will be like in a year, but I want to be able to fit NaNoWriMo into my schedule and my mind by then. In the meantime, I will enjoy the writing that I’m currently doing, and will use this experience to become more disciplined with my mind and my schedule.

I love NaNoWriMo and everything it represents: getting people excited about writing, creating a sense of community for an otherwise solitary activity, a great platform for setting and tracking goals. Whether you’re a published author or you’ve never written a thing since your last essay in high school, I think participating in NaNoWriMo is a fun and inspiring thing to do.

So to all you WriMos for 2014 – go write!

So you Want to be a Social Media Expert?

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I wrote this post for the blog at Helps2, the social media company that I work for. You can view the original post here.

Social media manager. Content creator. Platform consultant. Growth hacker. Yes, this is a thing now.

Ten years ago, social media as we know it today didn’t exist at all. So is there such a thing as an “expert” in a field that is not only brand new, but is changing on a daily basis? And if you’re not Mark Zuckerberg or a Google employee, can you actually become one of these people?

Yes, you can. While I may not be considered an “expert,” as compared to the real pros, I have learned a thing or two about the social media world and how to stand above the crowd. I’m still learning, growing, practicing, and adjusting, but I will share a few tips that can help you move out of the “newbie” realm and on towards “expert.”

It’s okay to try all the platforms till you find your niche. If you’re just starting out with social media, especially if you’re wanting to use it to represent and promote your career, business, organization, or other pursuit, just experiment. There are the big social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc – but there are dozens (no – probably hundreds) of others, too. Some platforms suit a specific niche or industry – like Flickr for photography, for example. Don’t be shy about trying a lot of social media sites for a little while so that you can narrow down your list of favorites where you want to focus your efforts. This not only lets you find the sites that you enjoy and where you can reach your audience, but it gives you experience with many different platforms. Knowledge and experience are part of becoming an expert.

Interaction is key. Social media is all about being social. If you don’t interact with your fans/followers/clients, they will be less inclined to follow you or to seek you out when they need your product, service, or advice. The ways of connecting with other users differs from platform to platform, but again, this is where experimentation can help you. Making the effort to learn how to communicate effectively on social media – whether it’s comment strings on Facebook or retweets on Twitter – helps you to stand out.

Study the pros. The old adage is true – find someone who has what you want in life, and learn what they did to achieve it. Most social media professionals share much of their knowledge freely through blogs, podcasts, and the like. Read articles about social media tips. Find people who you respect who are doing it right (whether they are social media professionals, or just using social media effectively). Interact with them, ask questions, read blogs. Also know that no matter how much you might learn about social media, because of its very nature, there’s always something new to learn. You don’t have to keep up with every single trend, but develop a passion for constant study.

Be consistent! Consistency is the glue that holds this all together, and in my opinion is one of the main ingredients in the making of an “expert.” No one wants an “on again, off again” professional in any field. Be consistent with your learning – social media changes every day, both from a technological side and in the way people are using it. Be consistent with your own social media, whether you have just a personal Facebook page or you’re managing a website and a presence on five other platforms. Be consistent with your updates and with your interactions. If you want to be on the road to “expert” status, then people need to see that you have both the knowledge and the discipline to keep going over the long haul.

So there you have it. These tips are things that I myself have done (and continue to do. Consistency, remember?) Whether I’m truly an expert or not isn’t important, really. I’m learning, applying what I learn, enjoying what I do, and becoming more effective every day. And you can do it, too!