Tag Archives: Writers Resources

Guest posting on Voice 9

 

I was approached by Voice 9 to write an article for their site. The topic was “Authors in the shade of the pandemic situation.” The point was to talk about creative writing during this crisis. The article came out this past Monday. 

This is what I came up with.

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I’ve told myself often that there’s just not enough time to work on the aspects of writing.

To those who are in this field you know there is writing the book, editing, revising and recycle the process. After that you have to find a publisher or publish it yourself, market it and gosh just so much more.

Than the pandemic started. People in my state in the US were required to stay home. So, my family was home with me, all day and night.

Yay!

But now my meetings with writers, trips to the bookstore and other activities were restricted. I to this day just go to the grocery stores, the doctors and very few other places. My church is streaming so I don’t go to church in the literal sense.

This gave me time. Time that I never could count on before.

I been able to finish volume four to my Jasper, Amazon parrot series and finish round one of edits. I been able to reach out to ask bloggers to review my books, to interview me and to do guest post. Something I knew I had to do but time was not on my side.

What has come from that is a radio interview out of England, some lovely reviews, some lovely interviews and my first guest post on a blog. I been able to maintain the pace since I am home majority of the time just due to circumstances.

Yet, time has also given me insight into the world around me from what I see on the news, the radio and in articles. It’s motivated me to want to write about the conditions that I am seeing play out.

But write about what exactly? How do I choose just one topic over another? I’m not sure. The issues at hand are large in their own right. If I can use my ability to write and spread it through my platform could I make an impact? Would I just anger people? It seems my country has been angry this entire year. Frankly, I don’t blame those who are. I’m angry as well at what I’m seeing.

I would like to try and write on what I’m experiencing. This time in our lives needs to be recorded. Perhaps if it helps just one person it would be worth it. If nothing else, I have the time now to do it.

The article is here:

https://voice9eng.wordpress.com/2020/09/27/authors-in-the-shade-of-pandemic-situation/?fbclid=IwAR1ssMjw8Tu88jVZOUqEjm6qty9S9Fun4thwmHJfLMyPkUll0DINTy9ipHM

 

 

Cross promoting with other authors

 

As a writer do you try to hog the whole show? Are you unwilling to cross-post with another author? Are you unwilling to interview someone and place it on your website, unwilling to read another person’s book and review it or unwilling to give anyone else space on your page giving them the spotlight instead of you?

If you haven’t figure out by now writing is a solitary job. The only time it is a team effort as far as actually writing it is when you are collaborating with another writer to write a book together. Helping another writer out doesn’t diminish what you write or take away your spot as an author. By sharing with each other we learn plus who knows we may get more hits or more noticed by helping another writer out.

From the authors I know online I been blessed that it is a co-op situation with us helping each other. Sadly the people I know in real life are too busy pushing themselves out there that a/ it’s all about them and b/ even when they talk to you it is all about them with rarely a mention in asking how I am doing. True, some do ask but they are the exception.

I use to think this way not willing to give up space, thought or time. But that doesn’t get anyone much anywhere. And while this space on the web hasn’t shown it in a bit I use to do just that with the interviews, the cross-post and the reblog. I need to get back to doing that.

Do you have a writing tribe?

 

Who is in your writing tribe? Do you hang out with other writers? Do you talk shop, critique each others works or have a writing pow wow? Many of us have the support of family and friends Some sadly do not. Regardless of where you fall a tribe should be in place.

Trying to write a book by ourselves with no outside help is hard and even harder for your book if the only time anyone sees it is when the book is released.

We need a tribe for a few reasons such as:

critique: This is a good way for other writers to go over our chapters through their eyes to help find errors that we don’t see no matter how often we read our WIP. They help find loopholes, tell us what works or don’t work and a host of other things. We need critiques to help improve our manuscript and get it in the best possible shape.

editing: To some extend a tribe can help with our editing but don’t lean on them for them to do 100% of it. That is what an editor is for. Make sure you find a good editor. If you are fortunate to have one include them in your arsenal aka your tribe.

writing: Writing alone is not always fun. Hanging out with fellow writers to just write is very motivating. Especially when we toss out, “Does this make sense?” or “What word fits here?” or “Is this plausible?” or a host of other things that can come up. Heck my tribe has been naming my books since the beginning.

hanging out: Just hanging out with like-minded people does a whirl of good. It gets us out of the house and we don’t have to annoy friend and family as much when it comes to our writing.

These are just a few of the reasons to have a writing tribe. If yo don’t have one already think about forming one.