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Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie

Author Archives: Eowyn


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Seven Deadly Social Media Sins

Congratulations! You’ve taken the plunge and joined the wonderful world of  social media.  Now that you’ve set up your Facebook, Digg, Redditt, LinkedIn or Twitter accounts and have burnished your initial blog post to a fine sheen, you’re ready for the world to snap up your pearls of wisdom.  But wait. Although savvy sales folks and business gurus often push social media as the latest and greatest marketing miracle, it has its hazards.  Here are some common pitfalls to avoid:

  1. Feeding readers a steady stream of me-centered posts. Fascinating as you may find yourself, the truth is that unless you’re the POTUS, a Nobel Laureate or the Pope, you’re probably a “small fish in a big pond.”  One way to “enlarge” or enhance your presence is to get outside yourself and engage others.  Offer content targeted to a specific audience.   Carve out and cultivate your “niche” by offering readers something they can use: tips, tools, advice, links, feedback.  Leverage your experience and expertise into a shared resource.    Respond.  Reciprocate.  Retweet.  Ask questions.  Don’t forget to comment.
  2. Opening an account and using it once in a blue moon.  Your life need not revolve around your Twitter account or blog, nor do you need to develop a Facebook addiction that sends you into withdrawals if you’re not checking in every 20 minutes.  But you need to post on a reasonably regular basis if you want to retain your readers/followers.  Don’t forget to complete your profile and keep it updated!
  3. Posting ho-hum or redundant content. You’re not the only game in town.  If you’re not offering a new angle, fresh perspective, something original or breaking news, your followers will find someone who is.
  4. Using profanity. A big turn-off and a big no-no.
  5. Wordiness. You’ll lose readers if you dump the online equivalent of War and Peace on ‘em every time you post. Choose your content carefully, keeping in mind your focus, theme, and intended audience. Keep posts short, sweet, and to the point (2,000 words doesn’t qualify).  Offer value, not volume.
  6. Expecting to be an overnight heavyweight. Building a social media following takes time and effort.  Schedule in a bit of time each day to work your outlets.  Post quality content to a targeted audience.  Participate, contribute, and be patient.
  7. Taking your readers for granted. Social media is a community. Think dialogue, not monologue.  Focus on building relationships and networking.  That means joining a conversation, offering help, advice, or encouragement and highlighting those who contribute.

If your primary goal in using social media is to promote yourself or your product, you don’t get it.  Instead of selling or self-promotion, focus on building friendships and offering content with “take-away” value.  Be patient.  Stay focused.  Don’t forget your manners.  “Please” and “Thank you” go a long way in both real and virtual worlds.

Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be well on your way to increasing your social media traffic.  Bon voyage!

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Coming up:

Part 1 of a five-part series: Write Away...


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A “Writer” Is…

Public domain

Public domain

Long ago and far away, when I was young and foolish – like last week – I had this image of what A Writer was or is.   A “writer” is  someone who keeps weird hours, drinks bad coffee, roams their own reality,  swings from euphoria to depression at the drop of a hat, and smokes Maduros like a chimney.  A writer is reclusive, creative, eccentric. Elusive. Can stand almost anything except being interrupted when on the cusp of a brilliant stroke of genius. Every five minutes. Has a spouse who understands that when I’m looking at the window, I am ‘working.’

Guess I better work on that Maduro thing.

What does “writer” mean to you?


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What Makes You a Writer?

If you want to be a writer, write. Write and write and write. If you stop, start again. Save everything that you write. If you feel blocked, write through it until you feel your creative juices flowing again. Writing is what makes a writer, nothing more and nothing less.

– Anna Rice

WordsDo you feel better about yourself when you’re working on an unfinished writing project, making progress?  When you’ve bagged that elusive characterization?  Nailed down that clever dialogue or subtle pacing?  I do.

A Day Without…

Someone once said, “A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.”  I’ll go one further: “A day without writing is like a day without orange juice.”  And by “writing” I don’t mean 10,000 words every day (although if you can manage to whip that out on a regular basis, you may qualify for Guinness Book of World records status.)

 I mean have you:

– Jotted down a story idea or character?

– Outlined a new novel?

– Worked on your latest manuscript?

– Journaled?

– Blogged?

– Whipped a troublesome storyline into shape?

– Crashed through that writer’s block?

– Polished up a chapter?

– Re-worked some rickety dialogue?

What Doesn’t Count

Tweeting and updating your Facebook don’t count.  That’s not “writing,” – as in, expending mental energy and effort to create and communicate something unique, fresh, and relevant.  Tweets and Facebooking, although they have their place, are to writing what Cliff’s Notes are to Shakespeare.  There’s a difference.

If you need a friendly jump-start, check out:

34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer

Seven Writing Tips from Stephen King

Books Are a Writer’s Best Friend 

(more on this in an upcoming post.)

Skipping the Tiramisu Cover 3To reiterate Rice, “Writing is what makes a writer, nothing more and nothing less.”  To explore the concept more fully, grab a free copy of my ebook, Skipping the Tiramisu: Becoming the Writer You Were Born to Be.

How have you worked on your writing this week?

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Up next: How to Avoid Sneezing By Email and Books to Grow By.


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‘Like Coming Home’

I was born in a library.

Naw. Not really.  But I could’ve been.

Books prominently populate my earliest memories.  Lots and lots of books.  Enough to fill a library several times over.

I remember snuggling into Dad’s lap as he read aloud about a brown monkey and a man in a yellow hat.  I remember Mom reading and re-reading a perennial favorite, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.  Also stories about a runaway bunny. Ferdinand the bull.  Green eggs and ham.  A secret garden.  A spider weaving webbed words.  Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Aesop and Dorothy Gale.  So many others.

Age 1-1/2 years ... with a book, of course!

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One Hundred Years From Now…

Pen and bookAmerican economist James M. Buchanan won a Nobel Memorial Prize in 1986 for his work on pubic choice theory. Two questions he reportedly asked job candidates were:

“What are you writing that will be read 10 years from now? What about 100 years from now?”

Has anyone ever asked you that? How did you respond?

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Cards, Letters, and Lost Pennies

Now that some holiday dust has settled, let me ask you something: Did you send fewer Christmas cards this year than last?  Did you receive fewer?

Maybe it’s the writer in me, but I’m one of what appears to be a rare-and-vanishing-breed of old-fashioned souls who starts banging out a family Christmas letter each year just after Thanksgiving.  Sometimes before.  December without an annual family newsletter is like peanut butter without jelly, Aspen slopes without snow, Lucy without Ethel… Well.  You get the idea.

Do you write letters anymore, even around the holidays?  How many people read your letters?  While I’m clunking merrily away on the keyboard, I’m fully aware that my year-end wrap-up of family news, vacation photos, sports events and special occasions will most likely be speed-read by a select few and ignored by most.  How come?  Here are a few possibilities:

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A Proclamation and a Torch…

Don’t you love autumn?   Trees change clothes.  Sweater weather chases away shorts and sandals.  The season slows long enough to give us a chance to savor and appreciate what matters – family, faith, friends.  A time for thanks.  That’s one reason I’m once again offering my loyal readers a Thanksgiving gift, a free download of  Isabella’s Torch: A Thanksgiving Memoir.  It’s my way of saying thanks to you. (If you enjoy the short story,  a comment or a review would be appreciated. Thanks!)

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‘Thankful Threes’

Good Monday and Happy Veterans Day!

Fountain

“Okay,” you say, “‘Good’ and ‘Monday’ should never appear together in the same sentence.” Point taken. But hang on a minute. It gets better. Promise.

Writing about “good” on a gray, gloomy Monday isn’t an “oops.”  It may seem like an “Oops.” But it’s not. No. Really. It’s intentional. Let me explain.

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‘Desper-Doodles’ and Snake Oil Salesmen

“Never mistake motion for action” – Ernest Hemingway

If you’ve been at the writing trade for longer than twenty minutes or so, you’ve probably noticed the “desperate doodlers.”  These are the writer wannabees who are so desperate to break into print that they’ll pitch their work to anyone and everyone, even paying a third party to get “published.”  Those who continuously stoop to submitting anything, anywhere, with little to no regard to a publisher’s reputation, accessibility or integrity aren’t Real Writers so much as they are Desper-Doodles.  They’re dying to pad their scanty resumes with “publishing credits” from any Tom, Dick, or Harry that comes along and says “I’ll take that.”  (This can actually hurt you in the long run if you make it a habit.)

Heads Up

A word of clarity here: In the publishing world, “small” or “independent” doesn’t necessarily mean poor quality or ill repute.  Just because a publisher or literary outlet isn’t a household name doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a boiler-plate, fly-by-night outfit.  But it might.  So heads up: “Come one, come all” publishers who prey on inexperienced novice writers are a dime a dozen.  They’ll publish anything and everything, usually for a fee, regardless or quality or merit.  Some of these “publishers” make a living at predating on hapless souls who are willing to sell their firstborn for a chance to see their name in lights.

Look before you leap.  You may get your work “published” with some of these “snake oil” publishers, but good luck on finding anyone who’ll actually buy your book – let alone fall in as a loyal reader.

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Have you had an experience with a publishing “snake oil salesman?”

What did you learn?