Fruitful Hours of Blog Trolling

Do you have trouble checking out all the links, email post announcements and Twitter suggestions which you get in a day or a week?

I certainly do.

And just now, I’m having more trouble than usual what with all the posts I’m creating for my book launch, the reading of proofs for The Loyalist’s Wife, and a zillion other must-do items which are all converging in my brain. That being said I have some great links for my readers today.

Lorrie Porter’s blog post, which I finally got around to reading (having been on a 3-day holiday), is a trove of writing-related blog addresses and blog awards which she has received. She chose to answer them all together to the benefit of all of us who enjoy seeing other writers’ links.

Note: When you start clicking on the links you’ll lose Lorrie’s site as she has forgotten to have each one open in a new page. Not to worry. Just use the back button on your browser to go back to Lorrie’s list.

Lorrie mentioned my blog here and invited all of us whom she mentioned to pick an award or all of them and participate.

Here, then, are my responses to the Very Inspirational Blogger Award, the name of which sets pretty well in my brain and I’ll refer to it over and over, particularly on those days when I myself need inspiration.

Favourite colour: Blue. Royal blue to be specific.

Favourite animal: The human animal who married me

Favourite number: The ones with dollar signs in front of them on cheques. Just kidding.

Favourite non-alcoholic drink: My own version of hot chocolate: 1/2 tsp. Quik in a mug of steaming skim milk.

Favourite alcoholic drink: Crown Royal, Diet Coke and 2 slices of lime

Facebook or Twitter: LinkedIn writing groups although I do think there are a lot of amazing writing gurus on Twitter. That’s where I found a lot of wonderful web wizards.

My passions: My family, my writing, my jewelry making

Giving or receiving gifts: Giving, although receiving is pretty intoxicating at times, too

Favourite city: Quebec City dans la belle province au Canada

Favourite TV shows: West Wing, anything which is historical and well done, such as Downton Abbey.

Here are some blogs which I follow at the moment:

The Maiden’s Court

Peeking Between the Pages

Let Them Read Books

Passages to the Past

Live Write Thrive

Oh, for the Hook of a Book!

This Craft Called Writing

Market Your Book by Jan Bear

I do tend to change sites I follow based upon what I need to learn about the book business at any given moment.

Consider leaving a comment with favorite sites you’ve found. I do love the sharing aspects of the web, don’t you?

Download your free copy of 10 Ways to Improve Your Writing from the link in the side column!

Coming Soon!

The Loyalist’s Wife by Elaine Cougler

 

5 Sites or Posts I’ve Found to Help Authors

A shot of green amid the March snow.

It’s March, past the middle, and snow should be gone.

It’s not.

So I put in this lovely picture from a butterfly conservatory visit to help me think of spring. And now on to the news of the day.

I don’t know about you but I’m always having to figure out how to do something else on my writing journey. It might be formatting my draft mss to the specifications needed by publishers. Or finding just how to make that movie thingee that gets people interested in buying my book. Just now my questions are more about publishing and marketing as I stumble along that overgrown path.

Fortunately, the Internet is the home of generous and helpful professionals who usually have the answers to my questions.

Here are five sites or posts I’ve found which have helped me on my quest.

1. Market Your Book, Jan Bear’s site is jam-packed with helpful tips, so many that I haven’t even had time to read through all the tabs. I have, however, added her to my file of useful articles I find on the web. I keep updating this file and currently have 199 items gleaned from the web about writing and all its linked subjects.
2. Steal This List is Janis Hubschman’s grabbing title for a ten-point article of pure gold for writers. She also names some of favorite 10-point lists for writers. And don’t you love that she invites us to steal her list? Gotta love it.
3. Jonathan Gunson’s article about something the CEO of Goodreads said caught my eye. Most of us writers would much rather write than market so this simple idea is like shrimp and lobster on the salad bar to me. And it’s so simple. Sorry, I’m not going to spoil it. Click on the link to read the article.
4. Brinda Berry, a frequent commenter on this blog, did a guest post on Gloria Richard’s site. I love both these ladies so this is like chocolate and raspberries all done up in a truffle. But I digress. Check out Brinda’s discovery of a unique give-away for contests to promote her books. This is fantastic and she gives all the details on how to get one in your own hot little hands.
5. Susanne Lakin has a series on Live, Write, Thrive where self-published authors guest on Susanne’s blog about 5 things they’ve learned about self-publishing. If you are thinking of going in this direction, these authors can give you a huge helping hand.

Consider leaving a comment about your greatest Internet find for writers. Or just say hello. It’s all good.

Download your free copy of 10 Ways to Improve Your Writing from the link in the side column!

 

What Do Writers Read?

Do you ever wonder what book you should pick up and read next?

Does your to-be-read pile threaten to topple the lamp on your night table?

Or do  you think that if you only read what your favorite author reads you’ll be as successful as she is?

This morning my email included a post from a writer to whose posts I