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

Support for being a writer: Do you get any?

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What kind of support do you get from those around you and in your circle about your writing?

When I started on this path, my first encounter was with a new group out of a local library. There were seven of us, six being librarians. I even kid if I needed to be a librarian to be in the group.

But from that group came so much information, support, and help in a way I didn’t have before and didn’t know I needed until I met the ladies. It was eye-opening and amazing at the same time.

How many of us have such support? Do we get it from our friends who aren’t writers? Do we get it from our family members?

If we get any support apart from other writers, that is huge and just welcoming. Some of us get most of our support, if not all, from other authors.

But when our relatives and friends purchase our books and support us in any way, our mental and writing state is lifted.

There are so many ways to support a writer that you know apart from purchasing their books. You can share their website and their social platform. One can mention your books if a conversation arises that the topic is fitting. You can share when they are giving a speech or if they have a table at a conference.

Every bit helps to propel the writer you know or writers you enjoy reading. It might take a village, or it might just take five minutes out of your day.

As I have said repeatedly on this site, writing is a solitary profession. One has to have discipline and motivation, to name a few, to write when it is up to you to get it done. So, when one has support, regardless of where it comes from, that helps. In ways, you and the author might never know.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing thoughts

Librarian, toes and zombies oh my: A story

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The leader of my writing group has been in the hospital for about three months. Unfortunately, she had a toe amputated.

Deciding to keep her spirits up, she challenged us to write a story about how she lost her toe. Whoever won would get a $20 gift card to Panera.

Thinking about how to proceed, the only thing that entered my mind was zombies. Yup, that was the only idea that would come. My son shot down the idea.

But I proceeded and had such a good time with it. It was received very well, and there were loads of laughter. It was a comedy overall.

I didn’t win, but after receiving edits from one of the members, I worked on getting it in better shape.

The more I work on it, the better I felt I could do more. It may sound conceited, but there are certain sections of the piece that makes me laugh out loud. The same areas that made the group laugh out loud.

What started as a short piece now has over 2000 words. It won’t be a book. I have too many WIP. I have a notebook with book ideas that will never come to pass.

But it felt good to write something light and different than what I used to work on.

It came to mind that perhaps I could enter this into a writing contest. I have not fully embraced entering stories in this format.

I have kept telling myself to enter more writing competitions. It is on my to-do list. I have just ignored doing that.

You have such a variety of competition, from those that are free to those that are not. You have cash prizes as well.

Will I win anything I don’t know. However, this is a fun project to work on if nothing else. It is freeing.

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, Google+, 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 family and friends, 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.