All posts by NewEngland_Muse

I'm a traditionally and self published author. I write in the genre of children and YA at the moment but working my way up to adults. I'm a sports loving, photo taking gal who loves to sing/dance to my own enjoyment. I love to laugh even at myself. I am also owned by 8 birds and 2 hamsters, and yes they know it. :)
A blog about the topics of writing, Writing tips and ideas

Branding yourself as an author

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Years ago, I was reading an issue of Writer’s Digest and came across this topic. The writer left her Twitter handle at the end of the article. I decided to follow her in hopes of learning more. Since then, I have expanded my brand through Facebook, Twitter, Goggle+, Linkedin, and a website.

It takes time to cultivate a brand, but it is, in my opinion, vital to each author out there. Once you type the end and the revisions and edits are complete, what then? No matter how you publish, how will you shout to the world about your book? Besides friends and family, how else can you tell people about it?

I started on my brand when I finished the first draft of my book, “Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rainforest Adventure.” I started sending query letters, and the publishers wanted to know where I was online. Thankfully I was able to provide that information.

As I mentioned, it will take some time but start somewhere, anywhere, and grow from there. Trying to be all over the place will exhaust you. The sites that work for you will suffer by you trying to do it all. That was how I learned my lesson, trying to be everywhere. I was not giving each site enough love and attention it needed.

New platforms are popping up regularly. It is up to us to learn about them and if those will work for us. Just remember, not everything will work for you. And while not all will work for you, there could be a time that your platform needs a go-over. What worked for you may have stalled and stopped working. 

Go over your platform. See if the links are working, the pages created are viewable, and your contact information is active. It is good practice to make the hub of your brand functional. It takes little time for a person to visit a site, see it is having issues and move on quickly to another website in under a couple of minutes, if not less.

Your platform is to make you and your brand sparkle.

In due time it will get easier to update the sites to go and make a post or send out a relevant tweet to your followers. But start somewhere, no matter how small, start. You want your book to shine. It deserves to shine.

 

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing thoughts

When did you start your journey on becoming a writer?

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I am a late bloomer. Friends, who were writers, asked me how long I had been writing in 2012. I told them since the end of 2009, and I received back wonderment and amazement, for they had been working on their books for longer.

Let me give you a brief background on how it started. My husband told a dear and close friend that he felt I wrote well in the summer of 2009.

She told me which is a great way to tell your wife. I soon had two surgeries within six weeks of each other in the fall of 2009.

Since she told me this news, I thought about a story. I was recovering for a few weeks when I started working on my first novel, which is now known as “Jasper, Amazon Parrot: A Rain forest Adventure.”

I wrote some poetry growing up, and I still have the notebooks. But as far as writing novels and such, that was not something I thought of doing. Once you start writing, the writing bug digs inside of you. I would never consider not writing.

I try to do some aspect of writing daily, regardless of what level. It could be posting and branding myself on social media, writing a blog post, research, and more. If I was not actively writing, I could not call myself a writer, was my thinking.

People who are not writers have asked me if I am still writing over the years. It is refreshing, however, when a fellow writer and author comes to me and says, “Sharon, what are you working on right now?”

I love it when they see me. That part of our conversations includes that.

The bug is alive and well in me, which suits me fine. For me, not writing is no longer an option.

A blog about the topics of writing, Working on your writing craft

It is easy to write a book: I been told

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I have heard over the years how easy it is to write. It is not that simple or easy. That would be great if it so. So I pulled up some notes on things that authors need to remember and include from a character development class I took.

Do you have your setting correct? It tells you where and when a storyline is occurring. It has to be believable, for it allows you to deliver a backdrop for your book. For example, if you are in the tundra or jungle, odds are the book is an adventure. If the dust bowl in the Midwest is the location, the character might experience tough times in the storyline.

One can’t forget that the mood and setting can change throughout the book. Location and weather also hint at where the reader will find themselves. One’s settings give us physical boundaries and develop the plot and characters. If we can’t wrap our minds around this, we will lose the readers.

You can’t forget the good guy. They are the central figure that readers can identify with. But, they must go through changes throughout the book, or they will fall flat and be one dimension. You want your characters to be well-rounded. They should have positive features and still be flawed. It makes them dynamic as they change with the experiences they encounter. We develop characters directly or indirectly. We state what the character looks like, what they say, do, or feel. Indirectly we let the readers conclude by the words written.

But let’s not forget about the plot, which is an arrangement of the consequence of the story, including conflict and obstacles. And even then, there is still more to think about and perfect.

If you have conflict in your book, you include the resolution regardless if your readers like it.

And still, that is not the end.

There is so much more that goes on in writing a book and making it published ready. To tell someone writing is easy has never picked up a pen and tried.

I will wait.