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. :)
Photos, Resources, Social Platforms

Social Platform Pictures

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Finding a free picture for one’s social platform can be tricky. The ones I do want tend to have a copyright attached to it or there are things you need to do if you want to use it if you can at all. A good way to work around that is just take your own pictures. That is what I have been doing lately. It is easier and there are no strings attached.

But it hit me after I posted a few pictures of my birds and some scenery that people could easily be taking my pictures for what ever reason. While that is not a big deal to me, some pictures I do want to protect. Asking my editor how she © her photos, I tried what she suggested. No such luck. She uses Windows while my OS of choice is Linux. To talk about why I switched quite a number of years ago would be another post all on its own.

But a wonderful thing called Google gave me some videos on how to protect my special pictures. It is quite easy, takes just a few minutes and voilà I am in business. Granted I won’t be © every photo I take, just the ones I share that are special to me and the family.

I have been a budding photographer for a while now, my husband and I both are. But I have stepped it up a notch especially since my new freelance writing and photography job came about. This is such a fun hobby. My husband will take pictures of people, while I am more a scenery kind of girl. That is until I noticed there is a contest in town where they are asking for people in the community photos. I did snag a few this weekend and have submitted them already. If nothing else, I got outside in the fresh air for a couple of hours at a local park that had a hiking path and got some exercise. And even more wonderful, I believe I have found a new writing spot for me to get motivated at. Win.

 

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Author, Resources, Social Platform

Social Platform: Quality vs Quanity

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FairA

I started a newsletter in January of this year. I have a nice small following. This is a small challenge monthly to come up with things to say, especially if there is hardly any news, if any at all. I break it up into four to five parts. The first part is just a hello to the gang. From there I go to what is new since I last sent an issue to what writing projecting I am working on. The last two sections are pretty simple. I place a picture of my book with links to where it can be purchased. The last part is dedicated to Jasper. Without him this journey would not have been started. A picture or video of his royal greeness fills this spot.

I mentioned the small following. It made me thing that all things come with a bit of time. When I started this blog, I had roughly ten members who wanted to read what I had to say. It has grown over the last few years steadily. My blog that is strictly for book reviews is picking up steam one member at a time.

The same can be said for my Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, G+ and my Pinterest sites. I think of this due to the many offers there are out there to help you increase membership across the social medium platforms available to us. Yes it would be really awesome if my followers would be through the roof. But there is a lot to say for going at it slowly but surely as the numbers go up. These are the members that might stay with you a bit longer than any mad dash membership drive we might want to sign up for.

The saying quality over quantity comes to mind. I appreciate the people here who come to read my post and those on my other platforms. For with you all, I am building a connection with people, you are not just a name on a list of people. I prefer it this way. Staying power has a lot to do with connections and how well they work for the two involved.

So while I will continually get the email saying how to increase followers, I will pass. One has to do what feels right for them and the way I am doing it works for me.

 

Authors, Reading, Writing

Defending my authors

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I read a lot of books and will collect them from authors I adore. The list includes James Patterson, Stephen King, Bentley Little and Agatha Christie. I am always on the lookout for a “new” author to discover and enjoy. At the moment it is Jason Pinter. My bookcases are pretty tight. I have six bookcases, four in my office, one in the sun room and one in the garage that I have to make room for. I won’t even bring up how many my husband has.

And while I love the authors above, it goes beyond that. I will defend them against people who belittle them. They and I have a loving relationship as I refer to them as James, Stephen, Bentley and Ms. Agatha. As many as I own, some the entire collection, I feel I have earned it.

Not everyone agrees with the choices of books I treasure. That is okay, everyone has different taste. However there are a few writers in my writing groups that have sneered at Patterson and King. My friends know, even if they agree with the sneers, to not bring this up with me. I will stop mid-step and look at them. They know I am gearing up for an argument.

The remarks have been that they are relics and they are not great writers. This last reference was to James. I explained that his style was more along the lines of story telling which is not an easy thing to do successfully. But my words have always fallen by the waste side.

I tried a different approach now. With them being writers who are trying to make it big, I say this instead, “When you become as successful as King and Patterson, then we will talk. When you can command the contracts they have, I will sit down with you and we can compare notes. But until then, I don’t want, no that isn’t right, I won’t hear of it.”

That tends to slow people down. I try my best to not belittle authors that are out there. Whether I like their writings or not is really a moot point. They are doing what they love and being a success at it. Who am I to toss darts? They are doing what I am trying to do. For me, I say more power to them. Congratulations. Hopefully I will get there where we can have a round table discussion on the writing. Until then to the writers who belittle the ones doing it well, I say back off. And only come back when you are in a position to talk.