Your Blog. What to do, what to do? Guest Post by Jason

The answer? Anything you want, it’s your blog. If you want to teach people to cook, how to be a mom, how much you enjoy being a teacher, or just to do movie reviews, it’s all up to you. A lot of us would love to be able to write for a living (I sure would) but just get in & pour your heart out even if you never get any money out of it. I have had my blog for just a little over a year now & it has been the most enjoyable thing that I have done since getting online many years ago. I’m no expert, but wanted to give you all some ideas that I have learned along the way to maybe help you out if you are just getting in on this wild & crazy world of blogging. First of all, if you want to maybe get more exposure (like here on WordPress the Freshly Pressed highlight), you may want to keep your writing clean. They will not put you on there if all of your posts are full of bad words. I know…I would love to write how I talk, but I keep my posts clean hoping that one day I will get that elusive Freshly Pressed gig so I can pick up more readers. The more readers you get, the better your chances are at growing & possibly picking up advertisers & making some money. If your not looking for that & just want to spill it all out…go for it. Like I said, it’s your blog.

I also try to reply to everybody that leaves a comment on my posts. They took the time to read your stuff & make a comment..now you take the time to respond to them. It really makes you feel so good when somebody says something about what you have written. You can also pick up & make alot of great new blog buddies (friends) from this.

Try to pick a theme that you can customize so your blog will stand out as you & people will get to know you by. The one I use let me add my own picture as the header. I took this picture, added type to it with Paint Shop Pro & now it is my one-of-a-kind header. It’s kinda fun trying new thems from time to time, but once I found & put my own touch to the one that I have, kinda want to stick to it so everybody will remember it. I went through 3 different ones before settling on this one.

Make sure you get the word out on it…set-up the Twitter thing so everytime you make a new post, it tells all of your followers. There are other sites that you can list your blog on also that helps with exposure. Bloggers.com has alot of spammers, but you can get some good people out of it…that is where I met Melissa here that I am guest posting for, so you can meet great people & wonderful writers.

The other thing that I try to do is keep my word count under say 600-700 words. I may gone over that here, but I am always scared that it might get boring if I ramble on too long. Like I said, I’m no pro, but wanted to throw down some ideas that you may not have thought of to help any of you out that I can. I may have left some out here too. Come join the blogging world with us & hope to read your posts someday. Thanks so much for this little challenge Melissa. Looking forward to having you on mine.

Jason (The Mindslam)

Check out Jason’s blog here.

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The Power of Speech: Guest Post by Panda

Before we get into the guest post, I just wanted to remind everyone that if you have a guest post you want to share here on this blog, please e-mail it to me at thestoryinme@gmail.com. Keep in mind that the posts should be either writing or literature related. Check my previous post on more guest post guidelines.   This guest post is kicking off my NaNoWriMo preparation posts for all of you. The other day I decided to participate again this year (hopefully I’ll be more successful than last year..) so keep checking back for those posts. Now, onto Panda’s guest post (btw, she’s one of my NaNoWriMo writing buddies lol)

The Power of Speech

This year I’m participating in NaNoWriMo. I’d heard of it many times in the past before, but was always under the impression that writing a novel just wasn’t my gig – I always found myself much more drawn towards poetry (I was rather successful on allpoetry.com in years gone by!)

However, as I’ve grown up (probably not actually, just in terms of years) I’ve found myself wanting to… well… get my ideas out there. I want to get into the open the thoughts and opinions that float around my mind on a daily basis. This is virtually impossible through poetry, there’s so much restrictions and rules, and I’m not one for “writing my thoughts in a poetic manner” – there’s just too much floating about in there to put into poetic terms.

So that’s how I ended up here, guest posting on a blog, writing about NaNoWriMo 2011 and why I’m participating.

But that’s not what I actually want to talk to you about. No, what I want to talk about is the power of speech within a novel.

I mentioned above that poetry has a lot of restrictions. If you think about it, so do novels. There’s definitely a “way” to put across a narrative to someone. A narrative can’t possibly be your own exact words, thoughts and opinions, because there’s no personification. No, where your ideas come into it is through the art of speech.

Speech, in a novel, is key to subliminally getting across to the reader what you, the author, are thinking about whilst writing the novel. You can personalize speech to make it fit your character, who could, in turn, be based on you, and thus compelling the reader to indulge in YOUR thoughts and ideas, and not that of the character alone.

For example, when it comes to narrative, you generally have to write using proper English. This is standard across the board really, after all, it needs to be easily understood. However, with speech, you can bring in accents, dialect, made up words, “in-joke” words, whatever you want really.

As a narrative, “She held on to the street light for dear life as the tank rolled through the quiet town” sounds quite, well, boring really, doesn’t it?

However, if you transfer that to speech, you can put it across whichever way you fancy. Whichever way suits you, as well as the character.

“Well I was walkin’ ‘cross the street an’ this bloody massive tank was thunderin’ towards me! So I held ont’ the street light and, lordy lordy, I could feel the ground ‘neath my feet shakin’!”

It just makes it more… personal, more interesting to read. Some would say that the former is better because you can add imagery to it. Flickering street lights and quivering pavements are fantastic, but when I personally read the two together, the first-person spoken description is much more visually pleasing when you imagine the scene in your mind.

NEVER underestimate the power of speech in your novel. A novel with too much speech is destined for disaster, this is true. But likewise, a novel with far too much narrative will bore your reader into a mid-afternoon nap if you’re not careful.

Finding the right balance is key to creating an enthralling novel. But try not to convey all of your imagery through narrative. Speech can be one of the most powerful visualising tools available to an author, so use it wisely!

If you’d like to read my blog, you can do so here -> http://procrastinauthor.blogspot.com/ J

And if you’re doing NaNoWriMo, best of luck!

Panda

xxx

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Wanted: New Guest Posts

I know I already posted today but there’s something that I wanted to mention real quick.  I’ve had quite a few guest bloggers in the past, so I’m opening my blog back up to anyone who wants to do a guest post on here. The rules are fairly simple:

• Posts must be about either writing, writing advice, or maybe a book that inspired you. You are also allowed to do a book review if you wish.
• If you have a book that just came out, you can blog about it here. I’ll allow that haha
• Please keep your content PG (or PG 13).

Basically, you can talk about anything writing or literature related. This is a blog for writers so that’s how I like to keep things. It can be funny or serious. That’s up to you.  If you’re interested, please e-mail me at thestoryinme@gmail.com and we’ll set up a date!  Oh, and I’ll return the favor and write up a guest post for your blog if you want. I love doing guest posts. 🙂

Doing guest posts here is a great way to meet new bloggers and promote your own work and blog. I’m willing to work with anyone if scheduling is a conflict.

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Don’t Listen To The Doubts

Some of you may know that this past year, I went through major writer’s block. Due to some person family emergencies, I found myself seriously affected and couldn’t write. Several months would go by and I couldn’t write. I couldn’t even get myself to even think about writing.

So what happened? I started listening to the doubts. You know, those little thoughts that get inside your head and make you doubt everything you do? Yeah, those pesky things. What do they “say” exactly? Here’s a few examples:

“You’ll never make it as a writer anyways.”
“Why even bother? You’re not good enough”
“You’ll never be successful.”
“This story sucks.”
“You aren’t a writer. You’ll never be a writer.”

Let’s just say, those doubts can be pretty mean sometimes. In the past, when those doubts came into my mind, I was able to just shrug them off and keep writing. But, this past year, certain situations left me emotionally vulnerable and exhausted. I couldn’t fight them off. I felt like I couldn’t at that time.

A couple of months ago was the time where I realized that it was time for me to get back into it. I had to dust myself off and tell my characters stories. They needed me for that. Their story couldn’t continue without me. My dream of being a published author couldn’t be shattered just because some nasty doubts crept into my head.

Lately, I’ve been doing really well. I’ve been averaging about 2,000 words a day and I do write every day now. Yesterday, I made it to 4,000 words which was a great accomplishment for me. Just a few short months ago, I wasn’t writing any, so to go from that to around 4k is pretty amazing.

If you find yourself  yourself in a situation where the doubts are taking over, take a step back and collect yourself.  Think of why you wanted to be a writer in the first place.  Think about the story you are writing and why you wanted to write it in the first place.  Don’t let those doubts take over.  Think positive and keep moving.  Anyone can make it if they try hard enough.

I am opening up my blog to anyone interested in writing a guest post here.  It can be anything writing or reading related, so if you’re up for it, either comment on this post or send me an e-mail at thestoryinme@gmail.com

Also, my “Interview With The Character” blog fest is next Friday and we need more participants! All you have to do is conduct an interview with a character in a story you are working on (or planning on working on). Ask them questions and then answer them as that character. It really is a lot of fun and helps you get to know your characters. Post that interview on your blog with a link to this one. On that day, stop by this blog and check out the post I’ll make with the links of everyone who is participating (and read my character interview, of course…). You can sign up by commenting below or send me an e-mail at thestoryinme@gmail.com with your name and blog link. 🙂

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Guest Post by Barbara G. Tarn

Where does your muse come from?

by Barbara G.Tarn

Mine from all over the place, outer space included. As a child, I told myself stories with my Barbie doll or paper dolls. I even made cards of the original Silvery Earth to play with. Then I started writing them down.

In high school it was all “what if” and dreams and wishful thinking. I never had a boyfriend in reality, dozens in my stories. I was almost always a character in any story I wrote: present, past or future setting didn’t matter.

I also re-elaborated books, movies, heck, even music videos (I wrote a whole sci-fi saga from the video of Wild Boys by Duran Duran!). I inserted scenes from real life, used dreams (yeah, those things that come at night and make no sense in the morning – it’s the same with those stories), pictures, whatever. My muse was everywhere.

I soon stopped using friends and family to “see” my characters with celebrities faces, either movie or music stars. Hence my long virtual casts that made sense only to me and lost all my reader friends (add unusual names and you can really get lost in one of those stories). So learned to cut the cast. I still have multi-protagonist novels, but try to keep the number under seven main characters (I used to have 10-20 – yeah, they also “looked” all the same).

Having a virtual cast means I don’t describe much (I call it reader’s freedom – and as a reader I tend to skip descriptions to get my own picture) and I certainly don’t get physical details wrong (like having a blue-eyed character on p.15 turning brown-eyed on p.30). Having real people, I can hear them talk in my head and playing scenes out. I can see them act (even if the model isn’t an actor) and only have to write down what happens to them. Oh, and I forget the other four senses of course. You rarely get smells or sounds in my prose… bad, bad writer, I know!

So my muse is everywhere, in anyone. Stories come from the simple “what if” question or my interpretation of a fact. My wild imagination never rests.

Where does your muse come from?

You can check out Barb’s blog here.

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Guest Post by Julie Engelhardt

Over the years I’ve worked in a number of different fields, trying to find something that I truly enjoy doing. My background is in communications and I worked for more than a decade in broadcast television in Southern California, as an editor, producer, writer, and part-time reporter. When that ended, I decided to work in public relations and as a freelance writer, both jobs that I could do from my home. I always walked away with a heady feeling whenever I landed an interview for a client, or when I received a call from an editor who wanted me to write an article.  But I was working for other people. I needed to find a way to work for myself, and to make it something I really enjoyed doing.

In the summer of 2010 I came up with an idea for a new business, something that would allow me to make some money, but it would be something that would be fun.  As a stay-at-home mom, and part-time substitute teacher, I always enjoyed reading to my kids, and to other children in my sons’ classes. It amazed me, at times, at how children would sit quietly listening to books, soaking in the words, and marveling at the illustrations. My idea was to bring story time programs to children.

I began my program at a local coffee house in our small town. The first story time program was about pirates, which many kids love, and I dressed as a pirate and encouraged the children to do the same. Ads appeared in the paper and local magazines. I was so fearful that no one would show up. But they did. More than 70 people came to my first story time program. I continued to do more, and more, coming up with crazy costumes that would fit each theme. I dressed as a scarecrow for the fall and Halloween, and as Mrs. Claus for the holiday season. I e-mailed and called schools, YMCA programs, the Girl Scouts, malls… and my date book began to fill up. I wore my scarecrow costume to our local county fair and to a neighboring city’s pumpkin festival. In December I dressed as Mrs. Claus and read stories for private parties and for an abused women’s shelter and a group home for children.

As the word spread, I began doing more appearances. The supply of ideas is endless.. thanks to books. I did a Chinese New Year program, a program that told the kids that bullying is not nice, and one on recycling. A local mall hired me last year to do Mrs. Claus, then I received an email from them earlier this year wanting to book me to do different programs for the rest of the year. In April, I appeared as “Miss Bunny,” wearing white face make up and an Easter ‘bunnet’ that sports bunny ears sticking out from the top and read spring and Easter stories.

I’m thrilled that my venture has received such positive feedback. My husband thinks I’m crazy, my sons look at me like I’m off my rocker, but not only am I having fun, at 48, but I’m also spreading the word that reading can be fun, too. I want kids to know the importance of reading.

Thank you for letting me share my fabulous adventure with you!

You can check out Julie’s website here: www.storytimeadventures.wetpaint.com

If you want to have a guest post here, contact me at thestoryinme@gmail.com. I’m also willing to do a guest post on your blog/website if you want. 🙂  – Melissa

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Guest Post by Patty Lynne

I feel tapped, sucked dry, drained. The stories I’m working on are limping along. I know what I’d like to say but the words won’t come. Right now the words are flowing, they always seem to flow for a blog post but the instant I open one of my stories, the words grind to a halt. Somewhere along the line, the words flowing from my brain to my fingertips hit a block. Does this make sense?

Maybe my problem is I’m a panster. I don’t plot. Ever. I get a half formed idea – a beginning of a story – and start writing. I write until I hit the end of my idea. Waaaaaay before the end is anywhere near a conclusion. Plotting just isn’t appealing to me. I can’t sit down and figure out a story from start to finish. My mind refuses to work that way.

Is it a flaw? Probably. It’s not ideal for a writer to falter halfway through every story. The in denial excuse would be I need to grow as a writer. One day in the future I’ll stop struggling with half formed ideas. Writing is an acquired skill I’m told. No one can sit down and crank out a flawless novel on the first try. Nope, even the most famous authors slog through a crappy first draft on the road to novelization. One could say it’s evolution.

I’ll keep trudging along. This journey requires one step at a time. I’m not about to stop, not giving into my fears or insecurities. I keep walking along, growing with each step I take. When I reach the end, hopefully I’ll be able to look back and smile at how far my writing has grow

You can check out Patty’s blog here: http://plbjourney.blogspot.com/

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Guest Post by Vivek Nag

Alas, Guest-blogging. This is my first ever guest-blog post so I am pretty excited but also, have the fear that I might screw it all up. So, to prevent myself from thinking so much, I shall just go about this post with the same amount of normalcy I put into those of my own blog. Or so I shall try…

I am basically a digital painter and a story-writer; or rather that is what I aspire to be. You see, I am still a student; and for a mind which has just made an exit from his teens and is living in one of the most populated cities in the world, sources for inspiration are plenty. Or rather, there is an excess. The great city of Mumbai stimulates my creativity and helps me to put down whatever is visually present, and whatever is not.

So let me guess, the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the name ‘Mumbai’ is Danny Boyle’s Oscar winning movie, ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ Pfft. A rather sorry image has been created of us Mumbaikaars, I would say. Mumbai is said to be the equivalent of New York; in Indian standards that is. With almost 12.5 million people residing in this city, you can’t help but feel like a speckle in the heap of sand; you can’t help but realize how insignificant your existence is in a crowd of infinity; you can’t help but think, ‘Am I simply just another guy?’ This city chooses what to make of you; whether to let you fly through those clouds or chain you to the underground. It decides the start and the end, irrespective of how you have led yourself through the journey. It’s harsh, even in its kindness.  And through all of this, you might think, ‘How exactly do you find inspiration from all this?’

But, ladies and gentlemen, think a little deeper and you will find the answer. It’s the rush, it’s the fire, it’s the zeal, it’s the goal, it’s the will. Every single person out there is not just going about their daily lives, even though it might seem so. No. They are out to make a name for themselves; they are out there sweating blood to be, not just anybody, but somebody. And I run with the same motive. It is all about the determination and my efforts depict the spirit that this city has imbued me with; it depicts the hardships this city has strengthened me with; it depicts the unparallel joy this city can give; it depicts what this city has made me and it portrays the backing hand which says, ‘Don’t give up no matter how weak you might think you are. Don’t give up.’

You can check out Vivek’s blog here: http://paganflow.wordpress.com

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Taking a Mini Hiatus

Hey everyone. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted in several days and there is a reason for that. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I had it under control until a few months ago when it came back full force. If you have ever had a panic attack, you may be able to understand. I suffer from severe panic attacks that can hit for no reason at all. I am going to the doctor on Monday to get a referral for medication (again) and then I’m going back to therapy for another evaluation in a couple of weeks.

This causes a lack of interest and exhaustion which leads to no productivity. I haven’t been able to write since last week and I apologize for that. I’m going to have to take a mini hiatus until I can get this under control. Hopefully on Monday, they will give me something that takes the edge off of the anxiety and then I might able to get back to what I do best haha.

I do have a few guest bloggers coming on to this site, so there will be a few posts from them. So this blog won’t be completely quiet.  My posts are just going to have to take a break for week.  I’ve also decided to move Serial Story Tuesdays to Fridays because it’s just easier for me to post on that day.

Thanks for being so understanding, but right now I need to take care of myself and figure things out. This hiatus won’t last long, I promise. I give it about a week. 🙂  If you have any questions or you want to guest post on this blog (to help me out haha), please e-mail me at thestoryinme@gmail.com.

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Guest Post Over At Dr. B’s Blog

I forgot to mention this in my last post, but I just wanted to let you all know that I was given the opportunity to do a guest post over at Dr. Tom Bibey’s blog. My post is now up, so I hope you all will go visit and say hello over there. 🙂

Click here to get to Dr. B’s blog. Let me know what you think!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I have to get back to finishing up some writing.

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