Having Some Fun with WordPress

For those of you still finding your way around WordPress, like me, check out something quite fun.

If you click on ‘My Blogs’, then select the blog you want to find out about (if you write more than one).  Scroll across to ‘Stats’.  Not only does this page show you lots of cool info, including your total Page Views ever (not including your own views of your blog), and your Best Day ever, in terms of page views, but there is also a rather cool section called ‘Search Engine Terms’.

Click on ‘This Week‘ which is in blue on the right hand side of the ‘Search Engine Terms’ header, midway down the Stats Page.

Then, when the page changes to a page devoted to Search Engine Terms, click on the ‘All Time’ option – also in underlined blue.

I realise that all sounds a bit complicated, but hopefully what it’s brought up for you, is a rather cool list of all the terms people have entered into Search Engines, to then get to your site.  You’ll probably be rather amused by some of the more random ones –

For example, on my list of searches which led to The Elementary Circle , there are some common ones I might expect to end up at the site – ‘navigator of dreams’, ‘cosmopolitan ultimate woman of the year 2007’, ‘cc lester’, ‘charly lester blog’, and ‘dream navigator’, ‘the elementary circle word press‘ are all things several people have tried to Google.

However, here are some entries I wouldn’t necessarily expect to lead people to my blog!

(NB – All searches are as typed originally and word for word)

• superman name
• woman to ski
• loner writer (NICE!)
• penis (that one hit my site twice …. pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever mentioned that particular word on the blog!)
• bungee
• ‘i crossing my fingers you get a chance to’ …. (hoping this one means I get some luck!)
• mercury childs wagon (???? what is this? some kind of pushchair/stroller??? – for anyone reading who doesn’t know, the book I’m currently writing is called Mercury’s Child)
• similarly – mercury wagon child’s (what is this all about??)
• unspoken words of need of closure (does this make sense to anyone?)
• sex.girls.xxx.falling i if m singleton (seriously HOW did this bring up my blog???!!)
• work for free otherwise known as (Haha! kind of sums up my life at the mo!)
• how do i an 2 above a m (can anyone translate this??)
• am sikis (DITTO)
• fat back women maken usen ditto rate xxx (SIC …. what is with these searches.  Are they literally just entering random words?)
• some time i an read an i cannot
• weight loss diary (um??? wrong blog me thinks!)
• +post something anonymously on facebook
• would sending letters of recommendations help i an immigration case
• dream interpretation; cant hear me warning her (this one scares me a bit – sounds rather nightmarish!)
• http://www.thewriter’slife.com/earnaliving (haven’t personally worked that one out myself yet!)
• literary grandmother names
• my 18 tens
• cool names for shields
• female christian writers blogs – sorry, defo got the wrong blog here
• woman 40+ glam shots (I REALLY hope this didnt bring up my front page pic! I was 24 in that picture for frack’s sake!!!!)
• do not reply email address (why is someone even searching this in the first place?)
• how to write someone elses thoughts (pretty sure that’s a major part of fiction, and not necessarily something you’ll find cliff notes on!)
• what english writer used the pen name ella? (was someone at a pub quiz by any chance?!)
• bored written loads of times in different writing (not too impressed this brings up my blog, if I’m honest!)
• heels muddy or mud (um WTF?!)
• swearing screaming sex (coz obviously my blog is full of it! Though possibly slightly more accurate than the Christian writer search!)

There are also a couple of cool, but unexpected ones

• ЩИТ И МЕЧ ПЕРО И БУМАГА –  Which Babblefish handily tells me means ‘Sword and Shield, Pen and Paper’ in Russian!
• Flicker Lester (I like!)
• Felicity Firestone (um AWESOME!!!!! who Googled her?! Now I want to Google her and see what comes up!)
• Ellody Rose (is someone Google-stalking my heroines?!)
• my life in ten years (not sure what that person was looking for, probably not my novel ‘My Ten Future Lives’ but I guess you never  know, it might have helped him or her!)
• glorified slavery (this blatantly came up because it’s the phrase I use to describe unpaid work experience!)
• i’m the author of my life (um, BOSH!)
• facebook.com/cclester (eek, someone’s trying to stalk me!)
• lucy lester flicker (this one made me grin – like a combo of me and my agent all in one – i guess that sums up a year of my life!)
• elliwrites boyfriend – Liz of Elli Writes – SOMEONE FANCIES YOU!!!

Plus, it’s quite cool being able to tell my lovely agent Lucy Dundas, at PFD (and a couple of other friends who have commented on my blog!!) , just how many times her name has been googled in the past few months 😉

Ah the power of the Search Engine Terms!  Give it a go, and let me know if you come up with any particularly funny ones!!!

C-C xxx

A Change of Approach

Last week I hit a bit of a brick wall with the book I’m writing.  I’ve realised that,  rather ironically considering how much I enjoy travelling, I really don’t enjoy writing the ‘travel’ sections of stories – how characters A and B get to C. Something which you can in some circumstances simply skip altogether.  However, when the story is one about a series of interlinked worlds, it seems rather important to describe those links.  I just get rather impatient and can’t wait to get to the main story again … and that leads me to a bout of good old Writer’s Block.

However, I think I found a solution … or at least it did in my case!  Two week’s (of unemployment!) in, and I’ve now hit 30,000 words.  Obviously, their calibre is still to be decided, but they are words, on a page, and for that I’m proud/

In fact, it was actually words on a page which got me past the infamous Block, because I decided to change my approach to writing for a few days.

I write in  Word documents.  Each chapter is a simple Word document, and then sections are compiled as folders on my laptop.  I spent my life writing on a computer screen.  And so I mixed it up a bit.  I printed out my chapters.

For a start, actually being able to physically touch the pages of my work reminded me of what I had achieved.  30,000 words is about 76 pages of print.  That’s a pretty hefty weight in your palms … even more so if you print it out double-spaced (which is actually something I would recommend if you have a lot of editing to do!)

But also, seeing the writing in a different way – as printed pages, as opposed to a never-ending scrolling computer screen really helped me look at it in a fresh light.  I ended up editing everything I had written, and being inspired enough to go straight to writing another three chapters.

So if you’re struggling with a writing hurdle of some kind – whether it’s a travel section of your novel, or just simply a scene that you still can’t get to sound quite right – why don’t you try looking at it in a different way?  Print it out, type it up, or simply copy it out again … You never know what the results might be!

C-C xxx

Getting Over The Writing Hurdle

I’m constantly thinking up stories.  As in literally every day.  If I’m working on a book, then that story plays out in my head throughout my day.  It’s there in the background, so that whenever I have a solitary moment – working out at the gym, or walking for the bus – the story picks back up in my head, and I carry it on.

If I’m not working on a project at the time, I find my head filling with new ideas.  I’ll toy with an idea for an hour or two, a day maybe … and if it sticks, write it down … if not, I start again.

So the stories are always there … and yet that doesn’t mean they automatically translate onto my computer screen.  Because sometimes I take my stories too far …

This has been my writing hurdle with my current book ‘Mercury’s Child‘.

I spent too much time thinking about the story before I began to write.  And I got too far along the story!

You see, I write books in the same way I read them.  I want to know what happens next.  I invest in my characters, and want to know where they’re going … and so the problem with thinking up too much of a story before you get it down on paper, is that you don’t want to be writing the first part of the story.  You want to be writing the later parts!

With Mercury’s Child I laid all the groundwork in my head, and couldn’t bring myself to write it all down, because I was worried that my impatience to get to the newer parts of the story – they parts I didn’t know yet – would translate into my written word.

And so for months and months I dawdled.  At first I had excuses – it was the end of my ski season in Whistler, and I wanted to make the most of the skiing and socialising.  Then I returned home, and there was the obvious excuse of catching up with friends and family who I hadn’t seen for years.

But now I have no excuse.  I’ve been back home exactly 1 month, and I’m still yet to start work.  I’m spending weekday after weekday waiting for my grown-up friends with their grown-up adult jobs, to leave work and come and play with me, and I’m getting bored.  Now, if I’m really an author, I ought to be using all this spare time productively.  And there are only so many magazine writing competitions I can enter in one month!

So I finally got started.  I’m happy to admit that the first couple of days were a struggle – trying to make sure the start of my book remained as exciting and full of promise as the idea had when I first came up with it, despite my desire to fast-forward through the story until I got to a point where I felt like I was still being creative.

But the reason I’m writing is that I got over my hump!  I got over the writing hurdle, and I’m back in a zone where I feel like I’m using my imagination again.  And once I got the first three chapters of Mercury’s Child down, I could go back over them with fresh eyes, and actually add in new snippets.  New ideas, which made me feel like I was actually using my imagination, and that I was injecting those things that I had been worried would no longer be present in the first parts of my story – excitement and intrigue – properly into it.

Obviously whether I’ve been successful is a subjective judgment, but in just four days, I’ve managed to pen twelve thousand, five hundred words.  The first of my six chapters is on the blog – have a read, and let me know what you think.  And if you want to read more, let me know, and I’ll post another chapter 🙂

So I guess my message today is that everyone has their hurdles, and for every writer, the challenges present themselves in different ways.  But from my experience, the only way you get over a hurdle is by gritting your teeth, and hitting it face on.  At first it might be tough, but once you’ve got something on the page, you’ve created a framework that you can go back and tweak.  And trust me, the tweaking stage is far easier, and far more fun, than the initial ‘laying the framework’ phase – so just get that first part over and done with!

C-C xx

Feature on Elli Writes

Thanks to journalist, author, and fellow blogger Liz Carlton for this lovely feature on her blog ‘Elli Writes‘.

And wow! – only just saw the front page of her blog, and I’m everywhere … thank you so much Liz, I feel very honoured!!

C-C xx

I’m Bored!!!

Those of you who regularly read my blog will know that I recently returned home to England after two and a half years of travelling.  I’ve been back for almost four weeks now … and I have to admit to being rather bored.  Whilst that might sound silly, when I’m always talking about writing, I have to admit that one of the things that gives me writer’s block seems to be having lots of time on my hands!

I write best in certain circumstances.

1) When I’m physically travelling – on a train or a bus.  Probably because that means I can’t distract myself with the internet!

2) When I’m really really busy – because somehow then I’ll actually find time to write in my few spare hours!  Give me too many spare hours, and I’m the queen of procrastination!

The thing is, over the past few weeks, I’ve realised there is one type of writing that I’ve been able to commit to, and that’s short stories.  Lack of work has driven me to entering writing competitions with big cash prizes!  So far I’ve finished off a story written by a best-selling author … in a genre I would never normally write.  And then I was asked to use my imagination and write a story based on ‘a secret’ for woman&home magazine.  Because of the average age of the magazine’s subscriber’s, I decided to write a story from the perspective of a middle-aged mother – again a very different tale to the ones I normally write.  And both of the stories were short stories, a genre I haven’t experimented with since I did my GCSEs.

I promise to post both these competition entries up on the site, as soon as I know I’m allowed to.  (Both entries are contingent on the stories never having been published before).  However, I wondered if anyone fancies helping me relieve some boredom and exercise my ‘writing muscle’ …

I noticed a suggestion on another blog to write a story about a ‘strong female lead in a vampire situation.’  I’m not gonna lie, I’m rather over vampires and teen fiction, but could be persuaded to write a short story, or a scene.  And I recently really enjoyed Elli Writes’ competition to write an entry based on ‘Rebirth’.

So I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a short story.  Literally name your parameters – maybe you’ve got a couple of things you want to be included in it, or a paragraph you want me to carry on, or a situation you want me to write about …

Whatever it is, post your story prompt below, and I will endeavour to write a response to it!  And if you’d rather write a whole story than post a story idea, then take on some of these story ideas, and then when you’ve finished your story, post a link to it below, and everyone can read it!

If you need somewhere to start, we could all try our hand at Maria Kelly’s writing prompt –  ‘to write a strong character in a vampire situation’?

Make sure you let her know if you use her idea, and also add a link on this post so the blog readers can check it out too 🙂

So come on … get me out of my bored grump, and give me something to sink my writing teeth into … or give some of the other blog readers something to think about.  Let’s make the most of our big community of ‘nearly-there’ authors!

C-C xx

In the Spirit of Competition …

Ok, so I have a couple of excuses as to why I’ve been AWOL from the world of blogging for the past two weeks.  The first is that I’m finally back in England, after two and a half years travelling, so things are a little ‘abnormal’ to say the least.  The second is that, after two and a half years of dragging my poor old MacBook around the world, I figured it was time it got a bit of TLC, so my laptop has been in the Apple Store for the past fortnight.

But my main excuse is that my writing has been concentrated elsewhere.  Because I’m revelling in the phenomenon that is being a citizen of the country you are living in (quite a novelty for me) … and entering competitions!

Now, I know the world is for the most part computerised, however you’ll notice in the small print of most competitions, that even if they appear to be simply online, they normally require you to be a citizen or resident of the country where the competition originated.  This is especially prevalent in magazine competitions, where even if a magazine is global, like Marie Claire, the competitions are only local.

So now that I’m back HOME, I’ve been making the most of being British and entering a ton of writing competitions!!!

I’ve talked in the past about using writing exercises, particularly when you’re feeling a bit stuck.  I have to admit to having been brainstorming an idea for a new book for the past month, and feeling like not all the pieces have clicked in place yet.  So it’s great to have a diversion which exercises my good old ‘writing muscle’. 

My two favourites this past week have been the Grazia writing competition, called ‘The Deadline’, and a scheme by Marie Claire to pair young aspiring women up with successful role models in their chosen business.

The first competition centred around a pre-written paragraph, by the writer Kate Mosse, which you were required to transform into an entire first chapter.  The paragraph was very different to my normal style of writing, and required me to think out of the box I’ve become most comfortable in, which was a great challenge, and something which kept me scribbling for a good couple of days.

The second competition is of a different nature.  The Inspire & Mentor scheme could provide me with a best-selling author as a mentor, which is pretty damn exciting!  The scheme is an extension of the successful Prince’s Trust scheme which aims to help underprivileged women survive and succeed in life. However readers of the magazine Marie Claire can also benefit from the guidance of a professional mentor.

As a young woman still very much trying to find her feet in the world of writing and publishing, I think initiatives like this one are brilliant.

Right … I’m off to find some more fun competitions 😉 And speaking of competitions, if you haven’t already, check out yesterday’s post about Elli Write’s April Competition.

Cheers,

C-C xxx

The Ladder to the Top

Following on from my post about The Author Brand, I thought it might be an inspiration to others to collate some information about some of the world’s most famous authors, and their paths to success.   Today I’ve focussed on rejections by agents and publishers.

The ladder to the top can be a long and treacherous one, and it seems not even the most successful authors made it to the summit unscathed!

J.K. Rowling

‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ was rejected by twelve different publishers before Bloomsbury finally took it on, and only then on the advice of the CEO’s eight-year old daughter!

John Grisham

Grisham penned his first novel, the iconic ‘A Time to Kill’ whilst legally representing a 12 year-old rape victim.  After three years writing the famous tale, Grisham was rejected by over thirty publishing houses before Wynwood Press finally cut him a break.

Stephen King

Stephen King took the rejection of his first novel ‘The Long Walk’ so badly, even though he only submitted it to one publisher, that he gave up on the story all together.

Meg Cabot

The bestselling author of ‘The Princess Diaries’ faced rejection after rejection for three years before finding a publisher.   She admits to having kept every single rejection letter in a giant U.S. postal bag which is so heavy she can’t even lift it!   And editors didn’t hold back with their criticism… one particularly scathing review stated that ‘The Princess Diaries’ wasn’t suitable for children.  Try telling that to the millions of children who have since bought the books and watched the movies!

William Golding

‘Lord of The Flies’ was rejected twenty times before being published.  One editor actually described it as ‘an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull’!  Oops!

(The Diary of )Anne Frank

One publisher rejected the iconic journal because ‘The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift the book above the ‘curiosity’ level.’

Joseph Heller

Apparently Catch-22 was originally entitled ‘Catch-18’ but Heller increased the number with each rejection letter! One of the ‘best rejection’ it received said ‘Apparently the author intends it to be funny – possibly even satire – but it is really not funny on any intellectual level …’

George Orwell

Four publishers rejected the iconic ‘Animal Farm’, including famous poet T.S. Elliot.  Elliot criticised Orwell’s ‘Trotskyite politics’, whilst another editor simply stated ‘It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA’!

Harper Lee

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, one of my favourite novels, was rejected by J.B. Lippincott Company because it ‘had too many short stories strung together, and needed to be rewritten’.

On a similar note, a few years ago the director of the Jane Austen Festival decided to find out what sort of reception Jane herself might get, had she been an author in this day and age.  With only a few minor changes, David Lassman submitted the opening chapters and plot synopses to three of Austen’s most famous books – Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion – to publishers and agents. He submitted the books under early titles which Austen had once considered, and used the pen name ‘Alison Laydee’, a play on Austen’s nom de plume ‘ A Lady’.

Despite not even changing the opening line of Pride & Prejudice – one of the most famous lines in literature – only one editor noticed the plagiarism!  And EVERYONE else rejected ALL of Austen’s work.

I realise that possibly says more about the lack of education of those we’re pinning our hopes to at the moment, than anything else … but it also shows that even literary genius can go unnoticed in today’s harsh market!  So don’t get too disheartened by the rejection emails … we’ll get there in the end 😉

As another of my favourite childhood authors, C.S. Lewis, once said … ‘Failures are fingerposts on the road to achievement.’

C-C xx

The Author Brand

One of the lovely comments on my Rebirth, Rebranding, Re-invention post mentioned ‘establishing your writer’s brand’ and it got me thinking…  (Thanks Jess for the inspiration!)

No matter what stage of your career you’re currently at, being an author is a very different profession thanks to the age of the internet.

Authors used to bask in the shadow of anonymity.  Even without a pen-name, they were mere names … perhaps illustrated with a grainy black and white photo and an aloof bio on the back cover of their novels.  ‘C-C Lester lives with her cat Felix and her budgie Steve in Battersea, and enjoys strolls along the beach. ‘

(I don’t really… before you start Googling 😉 )

But the internet has changed all that.  It’s not only added real-life faces to the grand names … but  it’s also added real-life stories.  Find one person who when you mention J.K. Rowling doesn’t remark on her rags to riches success, and the ‘writing on napkins in coffee shops’ story!

People spend a lot of time with books.  They retreat to them, a private world they can slip in and out of, away from the hustle of a crowded train carriage, or the uncomfortable heat of a parental row.  The characters become treasured friends, and it’s easy to attach similar affection and proximity to the person responsible for creating those characters.  Readers want to know about their authors …

As a reader, I happily confess to reading author bios.  I love the short paragraphs tucked inside book covers.  I like to guess how much the writer has in common with her protagonist, muse over whether I’d like her in real life, and wonder if she’s using a pen name.  I like to know if she’s young or old, pretty or ugly, married or single. I want to be able to put the book in context, to frame the story in a world outside of its pages.

I fully admit it … I’m a nosy reader!

And then, as an aspiring writer, I wonder how hard her path to literary success was.  Did she find an agent as easily as I did?  Were her rejection letters from publishers more inspiring than mine?  How many rejections did she receive?  How old was she when she first got published?  How long did it all take?

Yes … I’m a nosy writer too!

The thing is, whilst some of the answers might be available in the book cover’s rigid biographical paragraph, the internet has provided an even better location to find answers to all those questions … and more!

Obviously there’s the Google-stalker factor, which is something I’ve discussed in previous posts –   see ‘Why Blogging is like Facebook …’ and ‘The Pen Name … a Shield to accompany the Literary Sword?’ .  One carefully worded Google search, and a reader can know an awful lot about his favourite author … provided she doesn’t use a pen name.

(A small aside – Bloggers with pen names BEWARE – I’ve noticed on a lot of comments that your REAL NAME comes up in the email address attached to your blog! )

But where authors are concerned, there’s a far easier way to find out the answers to all your nosey questions … and you’re staring right at it.

Authors blog!  We are creatures of habit, who love to write, and by definition, enjoy touching others with our words, whether fictional or not.  In the age of Twitter and blogging, what better way to reach others with our words, than with the immediacy of the internet?

By blogging, we are opening the fourth wall to our readers.  We are showing them the workings behind the novel – whether it’s just generally the way our minds work, or more specific details about our lives and inspirations.  Author blogs allow you to find the answers to all your nosey questions … how long DID it take her to find an agent?  How many times DID she get rejected?  What did those rejections REALLY say?

But the blogosphere isn’t a one-way street.  It’s interactive.  Not only is the author bearing (selective parts of) her soul to her readers, she’s also enabling them to challenge and question her.  Finally readers are being given the thing they have never had with their favourite authors – dialogue.  And an author’s willingness to partake in such a dialogue may well affect the way her readers see her.

This brings me back to Jess’s initial idea – a writer’s brand.

Think about the world we live in.  Not only is it a world of Twitter and blogging … it’s also a world of PR and Marketing.  And the savvy author needs to bear that in mind … particularly if she writes under a pen name.  Those of us not protected by that particular shield (or like me, who have very brazenly stepped aside from their shield and revealed their true name) can only control to some degree the information available about them on the internet.  But if you’ve created a person, you have full control of the data about that person on the internet.  And even if you haven’t created a person, and are writing as yourself, then it’s wise to think about the things attached to your ‘writer persona’.

By creating this website, I have unwittingly created an author brand.  If you type ‘C-C Lester, author’ into Google, the top four hits link to this blog, and the fifth to my Twitter (which is predominantly based on my blog).  This blog has become C-C Lester, the author.  And hopefully the brand I’ve unwittingly created is an honest and likable one!

I’ve said it before, in ‘Why Blogging is like Facebook …’ and I’ll say it again.  Think about what you write.  As far as we’re aware, the internet is here to stay, and the archives are endless.  So make sure that everything you personally attach to your ‘author brand’ properly represents you as a writer.  It’s also where posts like ‘Get It Write 😉‘ (about grammar and spell-checking) and ‘To Journal … or Not To Journal’ (on making your blog too personal) come in.  In ten years time, when you’re a famous author, do you really want the world to know how much you hate your ex-boyfriend?  Or that you don’t really know where apostrophes go, and have to rely on an editor to tweak such mundane things as grammar?!

Personally, I think it’s exciting!  I like the idea of being more than just an aloof name and a grainy picture on a bookshelf.  The role of authors is changing, and I just hope that my career will enable me to properly experience those changes first-hand.  I hope, in years to come, that my story will be a positive one, and one full of inspiration and interest to my readers.  And that somewhere down the line, I’ll look back at this post and smile at the legacy I began to establish back when I was a ‘nobody’ who simply enjoyed to write 🙂

C-C xxx

Why Blogging is like Facebook …

We all need friends!

Especially when we classify ourselves as writers!  Writing is a lonely ‘profession’ … and the blogosphere (I’m sorry guys, I still hate that word!) has offered us a unique world to interract with common minds around the globe … something which our predecessors could have never dreamed of …

In this way, there are a lot of ways the blogosphere resembles Facebook …

1 People expect you to pay attention

Friendship, whether ‘real’ or virtual, is a two-way street.  No one likes to give more than they take, and this rule applies to blogging, as much as it does to Facebook friendship.  Everyone notices which friends ‘like’ their statuses, and comment on their photos … Facebook has even been programmed to notice these interactions, and dub these people your real ‘Friends’, separating them from your general popularity count.

Blogging is also to some degree reciprocal.  As a blogger, every ‘like’ notification that pops up in your inbox is a minor success, and a comment is the icing on the cake.  But you can’t just sit back and lap up the attention.  You need to give some back!  Start with those who follow your blog, obviously, because it’s only fair.  But then diversify.  Check out other blogs, especially those similar to your own, because by commenting on other peoples’ blogs, you’re not only showing that you care, and that you’re interested in your readers, but you can also draw in readers who might be interested in the stuff you’re writing … because they are writing it too.

See also – Blog Etiquette

2. Friendships Can be Fleeting

It’s important to remember that one comment doesn’t make a guaranteed reader.  And that even a subscription can be revoked.  Facebook friendships can be fleeting … that random girl you shared a bunk with in that hostel in Sydney … that person whose name you thought you recognise, and yet even when you stare at his profile intently, you can’t remember ever meeting.  The ‘Defriend’ button is easy to hit.  And with thousands of blogs out there on every topic imaginable, it’s just as easy to lose your readers.

Just like a Facebook fan, posting status after inane status, it’s easy to lose a blog friend by boring him, or overloading him.  Make sure your posts are relevant to the theme or message of your blog.  For example, if you market your blog as a blog about writing, try to stick to that.  If one post about the logistics of writing a novel drew in the majority of your readers, don’t expect them to be equally effusive about a journal-like entry about your bus trip home.

Hold on to those who count, by staying true to your blog, and writing posts which you feel might interest your most loyal followers.

3. Both Media allow you to Showcase yourself

Facebook photos come with a ‘detag’ option.  If a picture isn’t flattering, you are able to remove all trace of a link back to yourself.  The program allows you to showcase yourself in whatever light you wish to …  And it’s worth applying this same logic to blogging.  Use your blog like a showcase.  Polish your work, think carefully about what you want to write about, and also think carefully about who you are trying to appeal to, and what you want to come of it.  Once you have clear answers to these questions, stick to them.

YOU are in control of your Blog Image.

See also Get it Write!

4. The internet world is smaller than you think …

We’ve all been warned about putting too much information about ourselves up on Facebook … from your full date of birth, to your mother’s maiden name … social networking sites provide the perfect forums for identity theft … if only the thief can find his or her way in.  Blogs are even more accessible … and with enough dedication, it is more than possible to trawl a blog and work out a significant amount of information about someone.  I recently read a comment on a blog post by a girl who worked out her ex-boyfriend was sleeping with her best-friend, simply from reading between the lines of her best friend’s blog.  Be careful, when you’re waxing lyrical, that free-flow writing doesn’t spill one too many secrets.

5.  Dirty Laundry can be easily aired

Continuing on from the last two posts … whilst Facebook DOES allow you to restrict what information comes out about yourself, and what pictures are linked to your profile … if you’re not diligent, the social networking site can be the perfect opportunity for a spot of laundry-flashing.

Remember that, unless written anonymously, your blog can be very easily linked back to you, and the past may come back to repeat itself.  Once you post something on the internet, even if you later delete it, it can still be found.  So again, apply a little caution to what you write. Could your sporadic late-night rant come back to haunt you in later years?

However, there is at least one major way in which Blogging is very much NOT like Facebook …

Facebook allows you to control who sees and comments your profile

As a recent post by one of my favourite ‘new read’s Mikaylee Byerman explains in her post ‘I spy with my little eye … A Blog Stalker?!‘ it can be very easy to get unwanted attention … and in reality, unless you have access to every possible IP address someone might use, it’s extremely difficult to prevent someone from reading and posting comments on a public blog.

At least Facebook allows you to choose your friends, and to firmly block anyone unsavory from even knowing you ‘exist’!

On that note … I hand you the floor … please be kind … else I might have to work out how to ‘de-friend’ you 😉

C-C xx

Some Cures for Writer’s Block

I recently asked for suggestions for blog topics, and one which resonated particularly with me was ‘writer’s block’.

It’s quite a dramatised area of writing.  The romantic image of the creatively-stifled author, tying himself in mentally draining knots, until along comes his muse and frees him from his own personal misery.

But from my experience at least, writer’s block doesn’t work like that.

I’ve never really been plagued by ‘the block’ … and I think there are some key reasons for that.

Firstly, I know and understand the way I write.

I have three different stages of writing.  The framework phrase, then the more specific ideas phase, and then finally the most precise phase.  Like cutting a piece of wood into chunks, then carving it, and then finally whittling away the finer details.

The first part is the brainstorm phrase.  Everything and anything is potentially of use.  And so I store it all.  I don’t worry about the finer points, or being neat about it. And it’s not a problem if I don’t use half of the stuff I come up with … I just … for want of a better word … spill!  And I carry on ‘spilling’ (such an awful phrase!) until I feel like I have enough material to work with.

During the second phase, I begin to shape those ideas into chapters and a more rigid framework.  As I explained in ‘Secrets to Finishing a Novel‘, I try to work my ideas into a useable framework, so that chapters begin to form, and I have specific parts of a book in which the initial ideas are then filed.  Because I’m still working on the book as a whole, and not individual chronological sections, it means that if there’s a particular section I’m interested in, or more inspired by, I can focus on my ideas for that part, and then go back to other trickier sections when I understand them more.

At this point I should probably interject with my second piece of advice for avoiding ‘writer’s block’.  I don’t set myself any strict deadlines.  Obviously I have a rough timescale in mind … but because I’m essentially writing for myself at this point, I am the one calling the shots on my time, and how I use it.  And with this relaxed approach, I find I never feel specifically ‘blocked’.  If I’m not feeling overly creative one evening, I’ll turn my attention elsewhere – doing more mundane, less creative tasks like numbering pages, or writing synopses of each chapter so that I can track character development etc.  That way, even in my less creative moments, I still feel like I’m doing something productive.

Going back to the phases of my writing, the third phase, where I fill out the frameworks of each chapter with the actual story, is obviously the phase where I’m most susceptible to blocks.  To get myself into the ‘writing mood’, I find it helps to start each session by reading the chapter beforehand.  This gets me into the right tone, and just reminds me of exactly where I am.  I also try to focus on the story outside of my writing time.  Over time I’ve worked out what works best for me, creatively.  Particularly with dialogue between characters, which is, I think, one of my strong points, I find the best way for me to work out the conversations, is to play them out in my head.  In order for that to happen, I need focussed solace.  And that’s where exercise comes in.  Whether I’m running, or hiking, or just working out in the gym, the focussed alone time is the perfect setting for dialogue to take shape.  And then I just need to make sure I can write down what I’ve come up with, as soon as possible.

When I was in Peru, I hiked the Inca Trail.  Whilst I was in a group, and it was quite sociable, there were also long stretches of tough hiking when no one talked.  And these were the times I found most productive as a writer.  At the end of each day, as we sat around waiting for dinnertime, I would madly scribble out page after page of notes.

Finally, I have one last tip for writer’s block … and that’s to read!

The best way to think like a writer, is to surround yourself with writing.  Now, I’m not suggesting plagiarism!  I just think the way to be most creative, is to get yourself into a creative frame of mind.  And that means immersing yourself in stories, because they will stretch your own imagination.  I find, if I want to think in the first person, I need to read stories written in the first person, so that my internal voice is playing out accordingly.  Likewise, I’m about to start writing a book for younger children than I normally write for, and so, I’ve been re-reading some of my favourite children’s books, so that I can achieve the best tone, and think from a children’s book perspective.

So those are my ‘cures’ for writer’s block –

1. Know and understand your writing style
2. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself
3. Find other productive things to do when you’re not feeling creative
4. Creativity doesn’t only have a place when you’re sitting down in front of your laptop
5. Surround yourself with creativity – particularly your current genre of writing

C-C xx