Finding Your Pack Of Wolves

Here's the thing about being a writer - we're kind of weird.

That may or may not come as a surprise to you.

A lot of us grew up either completely on the outside of society, or - like me - kind of in it but known as being... just a bit off. When I was younger I tried to massage my off-ness away, tried to be normal, tried to fit in. Thank God I failed.

I'm old enough now that I just don't care, and ironically now that I've won the "Published Author" ribbon, it's considered perfectly acceptable for me to just be a bit different. It never ceases to amuse me that people who have read my books but never met me in real life are amazed at how normal and well-adjusted I am (ahem - or just seem to be) when they meet me, whereas the people that know me casually in real life read my books and... are a little stunned. I can't tell you how often I've heard the phrase, "But you seem so normal."

That's because I've been practicing.

My true friends - a very small circle of people that know me very, very well - aren't shocked at all. They kind of expect it.

Things To Do In 2015 - Don't Make January A Starting Point

It's that time of year when the exercise equipment goes on sale and everyone buys cookbooks with pictures of vegetables on the front. I'm skeptical of New Year's Resolutions, not because I think self-improvement is deluding, but because there's no reason why anyone should wait until January 1st to start doing it.

Yes, it's a convenient reference point. Yes, making goals is the first step. But New Year's Resolutions are their own kind of joke; everyone knows you're not going to stick to it. It's the equivalent of taking your vows at the altar and then making an aside joke about adultery.

Why is January special? Why can't you remake yourself in the middle of June?

I've always been mystified about this. We like to make large, sweeping statements at the beginning of the year, but most of us don't break those down into the little goals necessary for the day, the week, and the month that will add up to that big year-end goal.

I can say I want to write a novel in 2015 (and I do), but if I don't establish a word count for the day or week, that big goal seems insurmountable by the time July rolls around and I haven't approached that monolith of an achievement I set for myself seven months earlier.

I definitely have things I want to accomplish this year - actually doing them is the trick.

Blogging For Writers

We all know by now that the days of an author writing novels in an ivory tower are long gone. Sure, we can still do that - my ivory tower is a bed with a broken footboard (long story) - but we're also creating content that we disseminate through the ever-growing cloud. Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter, G+ *, and any other number of social media sites that have yet to really explode are patiently waiting for writers to figure out how to maximize their potential. 

Hey - remember blogging?

Yeah, it was that thing where we wrote words that people read. 

Some time ago I questioned whether or not blogging was still a valid outlet for authors in a world with an ever-shortening attention span. People want 140 character snippets. People want pictures. People want an easily digestible glimpse of you.

But here's the thing - I'm a writer. And I'd like to think that most of my audience is comprised of readers. So I blog. I do all the others things too (boy, do I ever), but blogging remains my focus. I've questioned that. I've asked myself if I'm wasting my time creating blocks of text when people really want one sentence and a picture of my cat. 

And then I was contacted by Robin Houghton, who was writing a book for Writer's Digest called Blogging For Writers: How Authors & Writers Build Successful Blogs. She wanted to talk to me about my blog and social media outreach. It was kind of amazing to get that kind of recognition, and I was even more flattered when she sent me a copy, which I devoured.

Yes, the fulfillment was totally awesome and then... I got sucked in by the book. It reaffirmed to me that blogging is still a useful and valuable tool for writers to reach our audience. In some ways, I'd argue that it's the best tool for us to use. Any personality can use the other social media outlets, and use them effectively. 

But can they write?

I've been blogging for years, and this book still taught me a thing or two. Even better, it walks the uninitiated through starting a blog from scratch on either Blogger or Wordpress, and explains the pros and cons of each. Worried about content? This books walks you through how to create engaging posts, and make them visually attractive as well. It even has a breakdown of how to use various social media outlets to get your blog noticed, and drive traffic. (Ahem, look for some screen caps of me in there).

So... I thought maybe you might want to check it out. Yes, the giveaway I've got marked below has a TON of entries, but there's a reason for that. It should give you a little tour of what's out there in social media, and how to use it. I'm pretty much everywhere, so you can go take a glance at me and see what I'm doing in all those places, then decide if it's the kind of thing that you might want to do to  up your exposure as well.

And if you're not sure, I bet this book will help you figure it out :)