Category Archives: Resources

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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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.

 

Pitch, Resources, Writing conferences

Conference For Writers

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Saturday I went to a free writer’s conference. The authors were required to donate 40% of their profits for each book sold to the organization for children’s literacy. It’s a great cause. This year they were having authors, publishers, and literary agents.

The speakers were motivating, the workshops that I attended were educational. Granted there is only so much they can say in the time allotted. But I was fortunate enough to pick the workshops that gave me good gems of information. But again it was free. My philosophy still stands with if I learn just one nugget of information it’s worth the whole trip. And I did. In fact I learned quite a bit and I will have to decipher my notes into clear English soon.

I know a lot of people who won’t attend a free conference. Since it’s being free, how good can it possibly be? It can be amazingly good. The first one I attended a few years ago, gave me the information and contact to help me push forward and get my book picked up by a publisher. I mean, come on people. Seriously?

Knowing there would be literary agents I started working on my pitch. Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Googling and reading way to many articles on the topic I made time to scribble one that I’m happy with. This is what I came up with for volume two of my children’s series, “Jasper, Amazon Parrot: Rainforest Friends and Families.”

Set in the rainforest of South America, Jasper, an Amazon parrot, learns about life and family values. With his younger brother, Willie ,and their friend, Charlie, a spider monkey, the brothers encounter a Green Anaconda, food-throwing monkeys, and other challenges that help them grow along the way. This is volume two of a children’s chapter book aimed at grades 3 – 5.

I know it is not perfect and I’m sure I will be going back and forth over it. But I feel that I’m almost there. This conference helped me get started on another step of the ladder that I’m climbing in my journey as an author. There is so much to learn and everything is for the first time. That is not always fun. But my goal is to move forward, not backward with my work. Conferences. You can learn so much from them if you just have an open mind. It will make you do things you feel you are not able to do.

But if one never tries, the response will always be no.