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. :)
Art, Drawing Class, Happiness, Life

Drawing Class Part 2

Leave a comment

In May I signed up for a drawing class called “Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain” at my local community college. I blogged about it a few times to talk about the ups and downs I had with it. To put it bluntly in a group of seven students I was the only one who had never had a drawing class in her life. Fortunately the instructor was worth her weight in gold and she made the experience simply amazing.

Last week I signed up for the intermediate class and I started this past Wednesday. Looking at the description in the course catalog I wondered if I was getting in over my head. I probably am. But I am not letting this stop me. Fortunately due to the last class I have all the necessary supplies needed.

What I remembered was the commoderie of the other students. Those who were well advance then me but who still gave me encouragement. It was three hours once a week to forget all the stuff that was going on in life and concentrate on the art of drawing.  No matter if I was stressed, not feeling well, worried about this that or another once I entered classroom 139 it all got left behind as the door would shut behind me. There were times I felt so out of my element. There were the times I would show my husband and son what I had drawn and one could see they were trying hard to not hurt my feelings when they tried to figure out what I had attempted to draw. That was tough.

But if I looked from day one to the last there was a vast different in my drawing skills. The very last assignment was for us to draw ourselves while looking at our faces in the mirror. That took every lesson we had learned to get this done. When Nancy came by my spot she looked at my piece and then at me. She told the class when they had a chance to come see my eyes for I had nailed it. That was something that well I can’t even begin to express how that made me feel.

This was one of the best class I had ever taken at this school. But it gave me something much more. Since the class I have sketched. Sometimes it has been to fight off boredom. But most times it had been to unstress from life. The drawings don’t always come out where you know what the heck it is but practice does help. This has been a new tool for me to use and it is something I am truly grateful for.

So yes round two started. I am sure it will be six weeks of woohoo and also good gosh girl why the hell did you take this class? It will be one where I will feel inapt compared to the other students versus when Nancy stops by and tells me in her soft voice, “Yeah there you got it.”

But it will give me new ammunition to my budding drawing skills. I have had people laugh at my sketches and also make fun of me taking the class. But that is okay it really is. For it is now more than just a class I take one day a week. It gives me a piece of mind when I need it. So I got one class down.  Even though it has been months since I have stepped in this room I feel right at home. I am loving it.

Uncategorized

Tweet Tweet Goes the Twitter

7 Comments

In keeping in theme with my online platform series today’s topic will be on Twitter. If done right any author can make this social media work for them. As mentioned in my post on online presence it was discussed how I started on Twitter. One little @ in a Writer’s Digest issue was all it took

One can either use their real name, pen name or something that describes themselves. For me it is @NewEngland_Muse. As long a I have been online my handle if it is not taken has been Muse.

The bio in Twitter does not give you much space to tell the world who you are. However it is a good lesson in learning how to be concise, to the point without unnecessary words. Something we will have to do when we write our synopsis for our books or our tag line.

My bio on Twitter is:

A writer who is tuning her 2nd/3rd book. A sports loving, photo taking gal who loves to sing/dance to her own enjoyment. She love to laugh even at herself.

Now that you have an account with a name that says you with a bio what next?

Tips I have learned along the way.

Hashtags are a good way to help yourself out. The symbol is # with the key word after it. This is used to mark words or topics when using Twitter. For example when I started to use Twitter where my book was concern I would use #JasperAmazonParrot or different variations of that. If I am looking for help from other writers I sometimes use #writers #authors #advice and again other variations are incorporated.

Try to not use to many hashtags per tweet, use the ones that are pertinent to what you are writing about. Two great programs Hoot Suite and Tweet Deck are programs where you can follow multiple hash tags at one time.

Users who place the # with the keyword in the search engine of this media will get hits from people who are using similar topics. It is a good way to meet people with similar interest. By doing so I have come across publishers, authors, bloggers and editors to name just a few.

When writing someone in Twitter using their DM , Twitter’s form of email, again you are restricted to a character count. It’s another good way for us as writers to write what we want to say in as few words as possible but getting our points across.

What is considered a nice following? According to people in this media anywhere from 2000-3000 is a good start. But that is really up to you. At the moment I have 3812 followers. But from that number I can say 90 percent are from people who are in the writing industry in one form or another. So to me that is a nice following.

How did I get to this number? Most users I have found will follow back, especially if they have similar interest to you. Using hash tags is one way or doing searches on the topics you are interested in is another. It took some time to get to where my number is at, and for me that works just fine.

From your followers you can place them in different groups. For example I have a group of people I know, writers from NC, publishers and editors and so on.  How often I tweet varies. If I am helping a user out by helping promoting them then my count goes a little higher. I try not to flood my users with too much information that might turn them off. Remember you are trying to build a platform that looks positive on you.  Twitter is a great social media that can be one of your best friends as a writer if you let it. It is never to soon to start getting yourself out there.

 

What I have covered is the very basic format of Twitter. If you have any questions just holler.

Author, Book, Dream Big, Emotions, Jasper, Publication

Dream Big

4 Comments

 

This is a chorus from the song “ Dream Big”

And when you dream, dream big
As big as the ocean blue
‘Cause when you dream it might come true
When you dream, dream big

This is a phrase we hear a lot. When I first heard the song by Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband I immediately fell in love with it. So seeing this plaque while I was shopping with my mom I knew it was coming home with me.

My mom on seeing the plaque said to me, “Sharon, do you dream big?”  Looking at her I nodded and replied I did.

As we continued our way around the store what she had asked me still was in my head. Do I dream big? I have been a dreamer for most of my life. My imagination has always been without borders as I wondered, plotted and tried to figure out how to accomplish what was going on between my two ears.

My first dream big was to go to a four year school of higher learning. I would be the first in my family and I was determined to not fail. Even when I changed my major in my Junior year I still graduated on time at the top of my department, Chemistry and Physics.

But when that day came what was left? Finding work and getting married seemed to be what we did at least in the time frame I was at. When my future mother law had said ,” Sharon don’t make me a grandmother before a mother in law,” I told her my only goal at that moment was to graduate.

Getting married and having a child was another dream, one that came and went pretty quickly.  My life started to have a routine about it. There is nothing wrong with routine. It keeps me stable and focused. Yet when my mom asked me that questioned I wondered when was the last time I dreamt big and the first answer that came to my mind was my writing.

I started writing Jasper:Amazon Parrot in the Fall of 2009. I completed it in a few months and have done so many revisions and edits if one saw the first draft to where it is at now you would recognize the name Jasper and that is about it.  Prior to that time I had never thought of myself as a writer in any form. A good friend Debbie told me that my husband had told her he felt I wrote well. When she told me that the wheels started to turn in my head. That summer is when the thoughts and words came of how to start this book. I am not sure what was the umph that made me get started but I did and have not turned back.

This is my dream big project and it has been with me for a few years now. I don’t think of the business as being hard, which we know it is. I don’t think of the many people who have told me this can’t be done. I don’t think of all the negatives that can come in one’s way when one tries to get a book published.

My sole thought is why the hell not? Seriously what do I have to lose? My back up thought had always been if worse come to worse I can make it into a book and read it to my grandchildren the series that I have in mind of writing. So with that I am pushing forward with this book and others that have been written since the late months of 2009. This is my dream big. It has been a rocky ride but I am up to the task. I don’t have a back up dream big plan at the moment, I am too busy trying to make this one a reality. ‘Cause when you dream it might just come true.