Tag Archives: blogging

Guest Post

Why Writers Should Blog on the Side (Guest Post)

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As writers, most of us have heard the advice that blogging is a great way to help build our author platform, but today’s guest blogger, Debra Johnson, offers some other good reasons why writers should blog.

Why Writers Should Blog On the Side

Whether you are writing the next big novel or writing a column for work, all writers should have a personal blog that they write for on a weekly basis.It sounds like a lot of work to be writing more but there are many benefits to writing a blog on the side:

  1. Practice makes perfect: The more you write the better your professional writing gets. Just like the old age saying ‘practice makes perfect’ still rings true through your adulthood and creative career. When you write a blog, your readers and their comments are a wonderful way to gauge your writing process. Not only do positive comments propel you to continue down the correct writing path but negative comments are beneficial. Don’t allow negative comments get you down;they are wonderful constructive criticism for you to edit and mold your work into something better. Personal blogging can help you learn from your mistakes and grow from them, as well as find the good in your writing and further improve it.
  2. Helps with future ideas and creativity: Keeping a personal blog is a key to your future writing career. So many ideas, phrases and themes from your personal blog can be used in your professional work. When we write personal blogs the pressure is off and the creativity is on. There are no boundaries and rules when writing a personal blog; therefor your ideas are unhindered and inhibited. When you are working on your professional piece, look back through your blog posts and archives to gather ideas.
  3. Stress relief and writers block: Being a writer you know that you have your off days and your on days. It seems that more often than enough, you tend have to several off days more than your on days. Writing on a personal level can help you get through your professional and paid project. Keeping those creative juices flowing by writing on the side will help decrease that worry and frustration that come with writers block. Writers block hits us when we least expect it and the only way around it is to charge it full on with blog writing.

Writing a personal blog is healthy for your creativity in your personal and professional writing career. It’s a win-win for all, first you help your writing, entertain others and your career is heightened. So head to your nearest online blog spot and start blogging today! Happy blogging!

About the Author:

 This guest post is contributed by Debra Johnson, blogger and editor of nanny payroll.

She welcomes your comments at her email Id: – jdebra84 @ gmail.com.

Helpful sites, Writing skills and techniques

Helpful Writing Sites and Blog Posts November and December 2011

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I missed posting last month’s helpful writing links post in the craziness of NaNoWriMo, so this month you get the best writing sites and blog posts I’ve come across in the last two months.

Writing

Write Like Jane Austen

I was going to put this website under ‘Just for Fun’, but it is actually quite a helpful writing tool for anyone writing historical/period pieces. Just type in a modern word and it will tell you the equivalent word Jane Austen would have used.

Need a Jump? Four Ways to Fix a Stalled Story

This isn’t about writer’s block. This is for when you know where you want your story to go and you have your plan, but the story just won’t write. The scene you’re writing feels boring and lifeless. Something just isn’t working. This post can help you pinpoint why your story has stalled and how to fix it so you can get momentum going again.

Writing Fantasy Genre Stereotypes Part One: Your Heroine is Too Beautiful and Part Two: Writing the Opposite Gender

This two-part series looks at gender stereotypes in fantasy writing and how to avoid them. In particular, it looks at how in fantasy female characters are often stereotyped as either a sex object or a man in women’s clothing (or often both combined). Part one deals with visual stereotyping in the fantasy genre and part two deals with women who act like men and men who act like women (particularly aimed at women writing male characters or men writing female characters).

10 Ways to Create a Plot Twist

Plot twists are a great way to keep your story exciting, but it’s all about finding the right moment and right scenario to introduce the twist. This post provides ten ways for adding a plot twist into your story.

25 Reasons Readers Will Quit Reading Your Story

As writers we want our readers to keep reading until they turn the very last page. If we don’t want readers to close our book half way through, or, even worse, after the first page, this list provides tips on what to avoid in your novel to ensure your readers will keep turning pages. A great checklist for revision.

Revising

Polishing Till it Shines

A great checklist of things to look out for when revising to make your manuscript as good as it can possibly be before submitting.

Self Publishing

11 Self Publishing Strategies for Success

A lot of authors now look to self publishing as an alternative to traditional publishing, but it is by no means an easy road. This post offers some strategies to help ensure your self publishing journey is a success.

So You’re Thinking About Self Publishing

A round up of helpful sites for those thinking about self publishing.

Social Media

8 Incredibly Simple Ways to Get More People to Read Your Content

Not getting many reads on your blog? This post offers some simple solutions to help get your blog posts noticed (and shared).

How to Write a Popular Writing Blog

Tips for what makes a blog popular (a post for writers who blog).

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I hope you all have a happy and safe New Year!

Helpful sites, Picture Books, Writing skills and techniques

Helpful Writing Sites and Blog Posts June 2011

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It’s time for my monthly round up of helpful writing sites and blog posts. All links will be added to the masterlist (link at top of blog).

Writing

Tips for Writing Picture Books

5 great tips for writers of picture books.

3 Signs You’re Writing a Condemned Novel

How to recognise problems in your manuscript and how to decide whether they are fixable or whether the novel needs to be put aside.

Have You Ever Heard the One About “Was”?

I’ll admit to being wary of using the word ‘was’ in my writing, though I’ve now come to be a little more accepting of it. Author Emma Darwin makes some good points about why ‘was’ isn’t as bad as a lot of writers are led to believe. She tells how often it isn’t the word ‘was’ that’s the problem and goes on to outline the underlying problems that are often blamed on ‘was’.

The Courage Not to Publish

While it takes courage for a writer to put his/her work out there to get published, this article talks about having the courage to realise your work may not be publishable and to hold back from publishing. It specifically targets writers who either think their writing doesn’t need fixing because they think an editor will sort it out, or those who want to self-publish after being rejected by traditional publishers.

Commonly Confused Words

You know those tricky words, like ‘lie’ and ‘lay’? This post clears up some of the confusion with commonly misused words.

The Truth About Passive Protagonists

This post outlines when it’s ok to have a passive protagonist and when it’s not.

The Single Most Powerful Writing Tool You’ll Ever See That Fits on One Page

A listing of everything you need to know about your story before you can successfully finish it. Written in the form of questions, the list covers the four parts of the story structure.

Social Media

5 Simple Ways to Make Your Blog More Visually Appealing to Readers

Tips for creating a blog with an appealing look and feel and how to avoid a poorly designed blog.

THE Facebook Cheat Sheet: 21 Sneaky Tactics to Generate a Buzz on Facebook

21 Tactics for getting people to ‘like’ your Facebook page.

The 6 P’s of YA Social Media

6 points YA writers should keep in mind to use Social Media effectively.

Just for Fun

The Seven Stages of Receiving Critique on a Manuscript

A funny (and true) evaluation of the stages a writer goes through after receiving a manuscript critique.

The Periodic Table of Storytelling

Based on the periodic table of elements, this table covers different aspects of storytelling, such as character archetypes and plot devices. A couple of my favourites: NEO (The Chosen One) and LOL (Evil laugh).