Blogging 101

Our fabulous resident blog expert J.A. Bennett addressed our group last night at our monthly meeting. She gave a fantastic tutorial on how a personal blog can benefit you as a writer, and shared some tips on how to get started.

She began by discussing how having a strong internet presence helps others find you, including publishers. Agents want you to have a blog, as now the standard seems to be publishers will google your name as an agent is pitching them your book.

Having a strong following increases your internet presence, but how do you gain a following?

Jennie shared 3 tips to get you started.

1. Be consistent.
Blog at least once a week, if not more. If your blog runs dry, so will your readership. The more you blog the more search engines will start to pick you up. Expert tip: Don't make your blog posts too long!

2. Comment on other blogs.
Find other bloggers like yourself, who blog things you are interested in. Not only will you gain more followers for your own blog, but you'll create an entire network of support and find loads of helpful information. You'll be surprised what you can learn from other writers!

3. Participate in bloghops.
This is a good way to gain followers for your blog, and to discover blogs that interest you.
Twice a year blogger Rachael Harrie runs a writer's platform building campaign that helps connect bloggers and readers. Many blogs participate in bloghops so check them out!

Other tips to increase your internet presence and following are:
Using Twitter and hashtags. Good hashtags to get you started are #amwriting, #pubwrite, and #mywana. Check out Terron James' blog post, The Hidden Power of Twitter for more detailed Twitter information.

Using these hashtags connect your tweets with other people doing the same things you are. Your network will grow and grow!

Also check out inkpageant.com to find other writer's blogs. You can even submit to have your own blog included.

Thank you to Jennie for her knowledge and advice, and to League President Tim Keller for joining us this month!

As always thank you to Chapter President Terron James for hosting and leading our group!

Good luck and happy blogging!!!!

Jolly Fish Press-HELLO!

The holiday hiatus is over, and I'm happy that our group is back to its regular meeting schedule.

January's meeting was, in a word, SERIOUSLY AWESOME. Oh, was that two words? Shame on me!

We were very pleased to have Christopher Loke, the Executive Editor of Jolly Fish Press come to our group and speak to us.



Mr. Loke is experienced in the publishing industry, passionate about what he does, and pretty darn fun to listen to! We learned a lot, laughed a lot, and I think we all left with a renewed passion.

Having learned the ropes working for Penguin Publishing, (yeah, I know, drool right) he has branched out and started his own publishing house. We discussed the differences between self publishing and traditional publishing. Jolly Fish Press is a traditional publisher that strives not only to sell books but to nurture the career of authors.

They are looking for passionate writers who want to make a career out of writing! And don't we all dream of that? We learned about the extensive editorial process, marketing, and distribution. Mr. Loke knows the industry inside and out and it was very informative. He was also kind enough to hear pitches and offer feedback and advice.

Check out their website, www.jollyfishpress.com to see more. And the best news? They are accepting submissions! The guidelines can be found on their website as well.

Thank you Jolly Fish Press for your time. It was a great night!

Holiday Party 2011

If you missed our gathering last night, we missed YOU!

We had about eight couples attend and we had a great time visiting over some fantastic food! It was great to meet the spouses!



Okay, so that's NOT us and my stairway is not nearly so grand. But I failed to take any pictures I was too caught up in chatting! Just imagine us sitting around stuffing pasta and bread into our mouths and you get the idea!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TOOELE WRITERS!!!!

What's Your Problem?

At our October writer's meeting, we were plotting. Fill in the blanks as to what we were plotting, if you weren't there. Were we plotting how to toilet paper the members homes who didn't come? Hmmm. Time will tell!

Actually, we had a most amazing turnout last week! The room was packed! And no, we weren't plotting mischievous schemes. We were talking about plot creation, and brainstorming ideas on how to overcome obstacles when writing.

We all know there is a difference between a real plot and a series of events happening to your character, but it can often be difficult during the writing process to put everything together the right way.

Perhaps you start out with a great beginning, but struggle with the middle and the ending. Or things just don't feel like they mesh together well. How do the little details fit into the story? Sometimes our characters almost conflict with our desired plot. Or the dreaded, gulp, don't say it.....writer's block.

So what do you do? BRAINSTORM! And lots of it.

It's been said that the power of the brainstorm is underrated. I agree. Racking your brain can have all sorts of fantastic results, once you get through the hard work. As a writing group, we had our own version of a group brainstorm, on how to hone in on the plot development process. Each member of the group shared their techniques that help them the most.

Welcome to the blitzkrieg portion of this post! Read on to see what we came up with!

*Make comments in your manuscript as you go, and return for edits later. Don't stop writing when you've got a good flow.
*Interview your characters! Make it in depth, and you'll be surprised at what you discover.
*If you use plot outlines, make sure they are flexible.
*Remember what the problem is in your story. Ask why, what if questions.
*Talk it over with someone. Or for some, talking out loud to themselves works. Our fellow writers are great tools for having useful discussions about our work. (Please note, there was no comma or period after "writers are great tools, so they'll be no jokes about that.) ;)
*Debate it with someone. You don't need someone to always just tell you it's great. A devil's advocate is often the most helpful.
*Flip a coin when making a choice between two routes. If you are secretly hoping it lands on tails, then you get heads and feel bummed, then now you know to go with the tails option.
*Read something, or watch a movie that evokes the same type of emotion you are hoping to create in your writing.
*Get a change of scenery, take a walk, or trip.
*Listen to music! Choose music that inspires you, and has the same mood as the scenes you wish to write.
*Let it simmer. Or for some of us, let it"ferment."
*Talk to yourself in the mirror, or talk to the computer.
*Don't push it, take your time.
*Do some writing exercises. Pay attention to your dreams.

Jennie Bennett also shared a few websites for plot help. Thank you Jennie!

Main Character Survey
Ten Scene Plotting Tool
The Eight Sequence Plotting Tool

If you have other ideas that get you out of your writing jams, leave a comment, we'd love to hear it!

Next Month: November 17th is our Chapter Party!!! Hope to see you all there! Details to be coming soon!

About RSS Feeds

What is an RSS Feed?

An RSS feed is basically something that you can subscribe to and get updates from. Here is how it works. A person is surfing the web and finds a website or a blog that they really enjoy and want to keep up with. Instead of having to remember to go back to the website regularly to check for updates the person can subscribe to the RSS feed (assuming the site or blog has one). The person then sees instant updates from the site or blog in their favorite RSS feed reader (i.e. Google Reader). Giving your readers the option of subscribing to an RSS will help them stay more active in following your site or blog.

Also, providing an RSS feed broadens your audience of followers. Not everyone has the appropriate account to use the various following methods. And some do not like receiving updates through email.

How do I set up an RSS feed?

If you have a blog – chances are it is already an RSS feed. And there is probably a widget for adding a button to your blog. Here are instructions if you use blogger (new interface):

1. Open your blog and select ‘Layout’


2. Click one of the ‘Add Gadget’ links in the area you want the widget to appear.


3. Choose ‘Basics’ and scroll down the ‘Subscription Links’


4. Click the plus button, give it a title, and click ‘Save.’

I am sure that there are similar ways to add it to other blog platforms.

Adding an RSS feed to your website is a little more involved. First do a search for an ‘rss feed generator’ and pick one out you like. Once you have set up a feed for your site – you will need to have a link to that feed that allows the user to subscribe to it. I have never done this - but I am sure a google search would produce some excellent resources.

Other uses of RSS feeds

Another way to use RSS feeds on your blog or website is to embed a related RSS feed. My blog, for example is about writing. I could find another site that talks about writing – say for instance one that talks about what is going on in publishing. If I embed that RSS feed into my blog – then users could see the updates from those feeds when they visit my site. The benefit of using a feed is that it makes you site appear to be updated more often.

This is also simple for most blogging platforms. Just add a widget (the ‘Feed’ widget on Blogger) to your blog or site that pulls from the RSS feed. Again, I have never added an RSS feed to a website.

Other Tools

You can also use third party tools to find out how many people subscribe to your rss feed – such as http://feedburner.google.com”>Feedburner. This can help you see how many people you are reaching with your feed.

Posted by Krista Wayment Thank you Krista!!

Favicon How To: By Jennie Bennett

What in the world is a Favicon? I hear you asking. Well, see that little stack of books up my URL? That's a Favicon. I just wanted to take you all on a quick tutorial of how I created mine. I like Favicon's becasue it sets your blog apart from a sea of orange B's.

Just start with an image:

The image must be a .jpg (most images are). As you can see, this image is much too large to fit up in the teeny-tiny space up in the blog address bar. So the next step is to shrink it.

I used Shrink-pictures .com. All you have to do is add the image and select the smallest size setting (100 pixels in this case). It will then send you to a page where you must download the image, this will be sent to a temp file so make sure you save it to your hard drive.

This is what it looks like after.

Of course, it is still too big. Plus the favicon has to be square, and this image is not. The solution? Iconj.

Just insert your image in this nifty looking box -

and out comes the code link for your favicon. (You'll probably want to download the pic and save it too.)

Next, go to your design tab (or if you're using the new blogger layout the template button on the left sidebar) then click the link "edit HTML" button. Next use ctl+F to find this line - <title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title> (copy and paste this into the ctl+f search box)

Directly below this you will want to insert the link iconj gave you. This is what it will look like -

Then your image should appear by your URL!

You'll also see in the design tab (or the layout button on the new interface) a place for a favicon - this is just for when your blog appears in blog rolls on other sites. If you want this then just add the downloaded image from iconj to the spot directed.

I know this can be confusing, I had a hard time figuring it out myself. If you have any questions just ask me and hopefully I'll be able to help you make your blog beautiful!
................................................................................................
Thanks Jennie Bennett for another great post!!!

The League of Utah Writers Roundup

I had a great time at roundup and I (with a little from Christina) wanted to share the highlights from my time there.

To keep this post from going too long I am just going to talk about the classes I took and bullet point the highlights.

1. Problem the Core of the Story - Taught by John Brown

* When it comes to the plot if you ever get stuck think of the original problem and then you will have the answer. (i.e. in Jurassic Park the problem is the dinosaurs.)

* Problem is the engine. There are three types of problems that can push your story forward.

o Danger/Threat - Someone's going to die or something else is threatened.

o Mystery - It's a puzzle and you have to put all the pieces together.

o Hardship/Lack of opportunity - you're not rich enough or you have some sort of disability.

* You can combine the types of problems you use.

2. Voice and Style - Taught by Clint Johnson

* Your voice is who you are, but it is also something that can be refined.

* You can find your voice by opening yourself up to new experiences and genres. Ask "why?" about everything (why do you like to sleep in your bed?) Then dig as deep as you can. Meet new people and try and see everything from their point-of-view even if you don't agree with it.

* Style can be found by trying different POV's (writing from an object or just from someone who is the opposite of you.) Experiment with different kinds of writing (even practicing writing in someone else's style) and learning the rules then breaking them for effect.

* Read your writing out loud and consider how the phonetics sounds. Examples used - The Giver - The last Unicorn - Hunger Games (read these out loud and think about how the author sounds)

3. Pacing - writing at the speed of life - Taught by Alexander Gordon.

* When you're writing action you want everything to be fast paced.

* Use short sentences and try to cut words like he/she

* Think only about what the character is seeing and don't focus on anything that they wouldn't notice in the heat of battle.

* Write it step by step, and keep it concise.

4. Getting the joy back into your writing - Taught by Sarah Fitzgerald * Write 750 words (personal) every morning to vent your frustrations.

* Don't listen to internal 'backtalk" (i.e. I'll never be good enough, I'm going to disappoint my friends/parents/spouse)

* Don't write to be a bestseller, write because you love it!

* You will NOT die if no one likes what you write, if you give up because of rejection you shouldn't be writing.

Okay that sums it up. Hope that leaves you all informed!

Posted by Jennifer Bennett. Thank you!!!!!