Blogging: How to Get Started

I promised an author friend I'd write something for those who want to blog or are just starting a blog. (In particular, I told her I'd give some concrete ideas about how to find topics about which to blog. So look for that tomorrow.)

Focus: Non-pro Blogger

The focus of this blog is for non-professional bloggers. By that, I mean this is for someone who is blogging for fun or to promote their career, writing, or published books, not for those who want to monetize and profit from a blog. However, I mention some pro-blogger techniques that will help the non-professional.

Building a Foundation

1. Decide on the platform you will use. There are many free blogging platforms now. I use Blogger for my personal blog as well as Live Journal and WordPress for other needs. But there are even more. Just plug "free blog software" into a search engine and you'll find them. Pick the one that will be user-friendly for you.

If you want to set up a domain name for the blog and use the pro blogger softwares available or you want one as part of your website, just let your website designer know. They'll be happy to bill you for add-ons.

2. Decide on the theme of your blog. Will it be about writing? If so, exactly what will you cover? Your journey from unpublished to published? The craft of writing? Writing promotion or marketing? If you mean the blog as a publicity vehicle then be aware that people will stay away in droves if all you ever talk about is your book and how wonderful it is and where to buy it.

Blog readers want something entertaining or informative - preferably both.
Will you blog about your personal life? Is your life really that exciting that people will read about it? Or will you do a combination of the two? With careful constraint, a bit of personal will let your readers get to know you better. Be careful not to fall into the tedious trap of the mundane. No one wants to hear about how you wrote 2 pages and then did 3 loads of laundry. Unless maybe you're Danielle Steele in which case no one will believe you did your own laundry.

3. Decide on an editorial calendar and stick to it. Set a quota. Be consistent. Will you blog every day or Monday through Friday or every other day? The more often you blog; the better it is from a business dynamic. If you want, post your blog schedule on your blog so readers will know when they can find new content.

4. If you don't meet your quota and have days between posts, don't apologize. That just calls attention to it. Some blogs are just series of apologies. Either do or do not. There is no try, as the great Yoda said.

If you go for weeks and finally get back to it, then perhaps an apology would be needed but only if you truly plan to get consistent. Make the apology entertaining at least.

5. Once you've decided on a theme then brainstorm ideas for at least two weeks' worth of blogs. Seriously, write a snappy title. Make notes so that you could actually sit down and write 7 to 14 short blogs.

6. Brand yourself. Create a blog name that's descriptive or entertaining. Set up a free email if you wish with that blog name as your addy. You can use Yahoo, GMail, Hotmail, or just about anything if the name is available.

7. Decide on a template and then decide how you want to personalize it. The instructions for doing this or with every blog software. Think branding again. Design, theme, content, headlines, title, art, colors. All should go together.

8. Register and go live. Get your blog up and running before you tell the world. Make sure it looks the way you want it to look before you expose it to the public.

9. Put your blog URL on your letterhead, business cards, and promotional material. Stick it in your signature line for email. Post it on your website. Put a Link on your website. Exchange blog links with others.

10. Just in case you want to monetize for instance through Google Ad Sense, sign up for that too. All the info is available to learn how to place the ads and how to make them match the content that will appear on your blog.

Tune In Tomorrow

Tomorrow, I'll cover some valuable tips about blogs. For now, get started writing those blogs so you'll have, to use an old print periodical expression, something in the bank.

THE LEGACY: A Review

THE LEGACY
by T. J. Bennett
Mass Market Paperback: 458 pages
Publisher: Medallion Press
Copyright: 2008
ISBN: 978-193383636-2

The Legacy, a historical romance, is a marriage of convenience story, but it is unlike the contemporary incarnation of this romance standard. T. J. Bennett has crafted a story that is reminiscent of the depth historical romances once had years ago. In recent years, that depth of character and story in many cases has taken a back seat to increased sexuality and eroticism. The extra spice, though pleasurable in and of itself, has come at the expense of big, bold stories.

Like many fans of the historical romance genre, I want it all - the sensuality AND the big story peopled with memorable characters who are multi-dimensional, conflict-ridden, and driven to sometimes desperate action.

In The Legacy you'll get that. In fact, the uniqueness of this story is evident from the first page when you see below the chapter heading: "Anno Domini 1525, Wittenberg, Electoral Saxony."

Yes, it's set in feudal Germany just after Martin Luther had begun publishing his reformation writings.

Baronesse Sabina von Ziegler, a former nun, is a ruined woman forced by her vengeful stepfather into an arranged marriage with a commoner, widower Wolfgang Behaim.

Each has been betrayed by Sabina's stepfather. Each has secret plans to bring to fruition. Neither plan to consummate the marriage. Yet, fate and desire have a way of interfering with the best laid plans, as we all know.

Set against the violent backdrop of a peasants' revolt and religious upheaval, T. J. Bennett has crafted an uncommon historical romance, and it is uncommonly good.

A Gift of Passion

Quote for The Week

Elizabeth Hardwick said: "The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind."

If you know how to read, and you have children, you possess a gift that can only be given when a child is young. Read to your child. Do it every day - at least every night. There's no mystery as to why the bedtime story ritual is so popular. One on one time between a parent and a child combined with a great story results in loving bonds and memories and creates a reading child who'll grow to be an adult reader.

Read to your kids and then have them read stories to you when they learn to read. Take them to libraries and book stores. Give them books at least as much as DVDs and video games. Create excitement for stories. It's an investment that pays dividends for all concerned.

Things Found In Books

When our recent flooring adventure ended, I, of course, was stuck with the job of returning everything to bookshelves, closets, and cupboards. I never do this without finding myself sitting, surrounded by mountains of "stuff" that needs putting away, and looking through the books and other milieu of a writer's life.

I have a box labeled: things found in books. I always think it's so interesting what people leave in books, obviously used as a bookmark.

I scanned this to share with you. It's a movie brochure from Army & Air Force Exchange Service. The 4-fold is shown in its entirety. Most of the movies are from 1977 and 78, so I guess this schedule was for April 1978. That was back when there were two Germany's in case you don't know.

Any story or book ideas pop into your head as a result? Enjoy.

Celebrating Freedom

Tonight, my family and I will be watching the fireworks light up the skies over Corpus Christi Bay.

I treasure Independence Day. My father was a D-Day veteran. He rarely talked about the war because it was a horrible, life-changing event for him. Still, it was a matter of honor and pride for him that he had served his country. His sacrifice wasn't in vain.

I never take freedom for granted. I've been in too many poverty-stricken, third-world countries and seen first-hand how life without freedom is lived. With all our problems, I can truthfully say my country is worthy of pride.

I honor my citizenship and the men and women who have served in our armed forces in the past and those who serve today.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Movies They Should Make

You see so much dreck spewed from Hollywood, meaning of course, movie makers. Nine times out of ten, the stories are of the following genres:

a. stupid
b. illogical
c. boring
d. who cares?

What's really wrong with the stories? Plot and characterization. The four categories above also illustrate what's wrong with plots. And that's the same thing wrong with the characterization: they're too dumb to live, they act and react in illogical ways under the set of circumstances put forth, they're innately of no interest, and/or they're completely unappealing, unsympathetic, and why would anyone want to spend more than a nano second around these morons?

So why do they make awful movies when there are worlds of captivating books out there with characters you'd love to spend a couple of hours with?

5 Movies I'd Like To See

1. Sheriff Dan Rhodes written by Bill Crider.

2. Stephanie Plum written by Janet Evanovich whose 14th book in the series debuts this week.

3. Any of the heroines created by the late Kathleen Woodiwiss who was a pioneer in the romance publishing world back in the 1970s when she wrote Shanna, A Rose in Winter, or Ashes in the Wind.

4. The intrepid Egyptologist Amelia Peabody written by Elizabeth Peters.

5. A QUALITY movie from any of Dean Koontz's books. I simply don't understand how they can take something like Watchers, a wonderful book that's about a lot more than genetic engineering and monsters, and make the horrible films they've produced. Thank God they've never taken Lightning and butchered it up for film.

Refresh Your Creativity

We're all acquainted with the Refresh button on your web browser. You hit Refresh in order for a web page to update, to show new information, or to reflect changes made.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a Refresh button to hit when our creative energy ebbed low? Sometimes, we really need something to recharge our careers or our life itself.

Sadly, there isn't a Refresh button or an Easy button like on the television commercial. So what can you do when you just don't feel motivated to tackle that book project or article contract or sprucing up your home or weeding your flower beds?

Since today begins July, the second half of 2008, this is a good day to address the doldrums that afflict some of us at the mid-year point. Maybe this will get you going again.

6 Strategies

1. Regardless of your mood, take action, the Just Do It principle.

You can't wait to be in a good mood in order to write a book, weed a garden, or paint the kitchen. Chances are you have a job in the outside world. You go to that job whether you're happy or sad. Often you go whether you're healthy or sick.

Goal achievement must command the same dedication. If your garden needs weeding, then take an action to achieve that no matter how small the action. Do it even if you're depressed. If you want to write a book, then write every day even if it's only 100 words, as a popular writing support group Club 100 espouses. Set a quota and meet it even if you're sick, depressed, homesick, or ecstatically happy.

2. Grow an attitude of belief in yourself.

If you find yourself constantly thinking negative, defeating thoughts then do some inner exploration to figure out why you like to beat yourself up. Lack of confidence in one's own abilities is a killer. Face your fears in order to get beyond them. Write out a script that changes your self-talk from sabotaging to empowering.

3. Hang around with people who are charged up with creativity, excitement, and optimism, preferably those trying to achieve the same things you want to gain. Let their enthusiasm expand rub off on you.

4. Stay away from people who are only too happy and quick to tell you why you can't get what you want. These black holes of the universe will suck the life, ambition, and motivation right out of you.

5. Be very specific about what you want. You can have anything you want, but you can't have everything so figure out what it is you really want. Is it to be a mystery novelist, a crime writer, a romance novelist, or a nonfiction writer? You have to know it in order to go after it.

6. Make a list of strategies to help you through the challenging times. Write down what you're going to do when you're sick and need to write, when you're depressed and you get another rejection, when you're overworked and underpaid and you can't get to first base even with agents on your D list.

Use these techniques or figure out some that work for you. Like the Marines say: Improvise, overcome, adapt.

Refresh.