Life in progress

Category Archives: Blogging


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The Future of Publishing Crap, Part Two

I came across an article today which drives home the importance of editing and putting out one’s absolute best work when self-publishing. I would have re-blogged, but that wasn’t an option.

This: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/01/28/follow-up-on-self-publishing-readers-are-not-good-gatekeepers/ is the article, by Chuck Wendig. In it, he explains how self-publishing is becoming a decent and viable option to traditional means, and how that could change if self-published authors present sub-par efforts to the reading public. It’s an excellent article. You should read it, even if you’re not an author.

If you’re wondering about the “Part Two” in the title, and you’re new around here, you can find my original post on this subject here: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/the-future-of-publishing-crap/


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JusJoJan 17 – One Lovely Blog Award

one-lovely-blog-award2

I am so very very far behind in accepting the awards I have been nominated for. Busyness and laziness are my excuses, though not necessarily in that order.

I feel I must accept the ‘One Lovely Blog Award,’ however, without delay, as it was presented to me by the lovely Ursula at An Upturned Soul in a post dedicated to me alone, as she has decided to have a separate post for each of her nominees. Ursula is a talented, wonderfully expressive writer, a courageous Narcissist Slayer, and an amazing artist and photographer, not to mention a kind, and generous person. I urge everyone not only to check out and follow her blog, but to see all she has to offer on Tumblr, DeviantArt and Pinterest.

Thank you so much, Ursula, for this wonderful award. I am truly honoured.

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Nominate 15 bloggers.

4. Notify the nominees.

5. Put the logo of the award on your blog.

Seven things about myself that I may not have mentioned. Hmmm…

1. I love listening to music on vinyl. I have many of the albums I bought as a teenager, and a twenty-four year old turntable to play them on. The last album I bought before I started purchasing CD’s was “Love at First Bite” by the Scorpions. The first rock album I ever owned was “Frampton Comes Alive.”

2. I’m scared of Macs – I have owned five HP computers and a dread the day my Autistic son, Christopher, says to me that his MacBook is broken.

3. I have daddy longlegs living in my basement and I don’t kill them because they eat spiders – and I hate spiders more than daddy longlegs.

4. I love looking at the work of talented photographers almost as much as I love listening to a great guitar riff.

5. Speaking of great guitar riffs, Brian May is my hero.

6. I’m dying to go back to Japan. (I might have mentioned that at some point.)

7. Apart from going to Japan, my idea of an ideal vacation is sitting on a beach under a palm tree, reading a book.

Okay! That wasn’t all that difficult.

Now on to my nominees. Now THIS is going to be hard. There are so many lovely blogs out there!

In no particular order, here are the lovely blogs:

1. Sue at It Goes On

2. Pamela at Poetry by Pamela

3. Myas at Myas – A Tragic Lady But No TB

4. Belinda at Idiot Writing

5. Joey at Joeyfully Stated

6. Aussa at HACKER.NINJA.HOOKER.SPY

7. Cindy at Dreams In Alaska

8. Samokan at Maniniyot

9. Willow at Willowdot21

10. Paul at Paul Davis // My Creations, Life and Musings

11. Bruce at A Story A Day

12. Ian at ianstarttoday

13. Kevin at idiot.with.camera

14. Paolo M. at The Pirate Horizon (an adults only site)

15. Opinionated Man at A Good Blog is Hard To Find

Congratulations to all the nominees. I understand that some of you may not accept – more than anything I want to highlight your sites and encourage everyone to visit. These are some amazing blogs!!!

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Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!


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JusJoJan 15 1/2 – Words

On this, the fifteen and a halfth day (yes, I made that up because I want there to be a middle) of Just Jot it January, I’d like to refresh things by getting as many people involved as possible – with a prompt!

My dear friend Myas, last week reminded me of a post that went up on The Community Storyboard – again, a prompt – where we were challenged to find new meanings for ten words. Here is Myas’ post: http://preziosofrye.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/jusjojan-11th-word-geekery/

It was so much fun for me that I’d like to see what you can come up with. Yes, YOU! Find ten words of your own and redefine them. Post them on your site and then link your post back here in the comments so we can all see them. As an added incentive, I will re-blog the first three people who link back their post.

The following was my contribution from last July:

1. Barrage – how old you are when you can legally drink
2. Brandy – comes after brand C
3. Mystical – a foggy giggle
4. Ineffability – the spontaneous and continuous use of the eff word
5. Donut – a person enamoured with the expletives of Homer Simpson
6. Aftermath – period of time when one must go to history class
7. Morbid – before the end of the auction
8. Philosophize – speculate about something hardening (tell me if you get it)
9. Summarily – …and some miserably
10. Distract – the opposite of dat tract

Get yours in early!

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Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!


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JusJoJan 13 – What Blogging has Taught Me About Subtracting

From this:

With the door closed it was very quiet in the room apart from the sound of birds cooing. Herman went to the window in search of the source. A line of tall, thick trees at the perimeter of a vast lawn surrounded the house. Daffodils and tulips poked up through the soil as close to the house as she could see without putting her forehead against the glass. Beyond the garden a cobblestone walkway, wide enough for two people to stroll side by side wound it’s way past a patio sat off to the left. To the right was a small brick building with six or eight sides, she couldn’t really tell from her vantage point. It was made of the same colour brick as the house and had many small windows near the top. It looked to be about two stories high. A shed, or a coop perhaps. She turned her back to the window see if the room appeared as domestically normal as the garden. The walls were paneled with dark wood and the furniture was antique, upholstered with red velvet. Along one wall, to her right, either side of the door hung pictures of landscapes rather than family portraits. The wall opposite the door was covered in fragrantly old books. A computer with a the large flat screen perched upon a heavy ancient-looking desk was the only evidence that she hadn’t stepped back in time.

To this:

The sound of birds cooing beckoned Herman to the window in search of the source. A protective line of tall, thick pines stood like sentries around at the perimeter of a vast lawn, and daffodils and tulips poked their heads up through the soil as close to the house as she could see. Beyond the flower garden a cobblestone walkway, wide enough for two people to stroll side by side wound it’s way past a patio off to the left. To the right stood a small red brick building with six or eight sides and a dozen small windows near the top that reflected the gloomy April sky. A shed, or a coop perhaps. She turned her back on the peaceful scenery outside, to see if the room appeared as domestically serene as the garden. The dark paneled walls were adorned either with painted landscapes or covered in bookshelves containing fragrantly old books, lending the student in her warm comfort. A computer with a the large flat screen perched upon a heavy ancient-looking desk was the only evidence that she hadn’t stepped back in time.

Above is first the original NaNo 2011 version of the beginning of Chapter 5 of my manuscript, and second is what I edited it down to this morning. What do you think?

I see this as the result of two years writing experience and endless blog posts which have forced me to write to be publicly read. I see this as the result of two very wonderful people who have critiqued my work and told me in no uncertain terms that I have to put the character in my descriptions. (Thank you so much, Janice and Connie. Honest critique is the most valuable thing a writer can receive.)

In all, I see the second version as something that a publisher might actually look at. But that was one paragraph out of 524 pages.

Back to work!

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Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!


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JusJoJan 10 – Lazy Blogging

When I started this blog, I did so with the intention of writing well thought out, succinct, and grammatically perfect articles. They would all be of a decent length as well as entertaining, informative, and interesting. I would write to impress potential employers who would be so wowed by my writing skills that, after reading any given post, they would be standing in line waiting to throw money at me.

Apart from the fact that I haven’t actually applied for a job anywhere yet, I seem to have failed. I’ve become lazy. My posts are getting shorter and shorter, and surely having a goal of “jotting” something down every day doesn’t help me on my quest to achieve greatness with every article.

I’ve fallen into the trap of writing what gets read most often on WordPress – 500 or less words. “Less is more” has become my mantra, and conciseness my overlord. So while I might be getting better at stating my thoughts in short, sharp, crispy little pieces, my personal goal has gone by the wayside.

It’s not that I don’t put a fair bit of thought into my blog posts: most of them anyway. Yes, I’m guilty of just posting what I’m thinking at times, like last night while I was staring, drooling over a picture of a white sandy beach. But for the rest of them, I try to come up with something my followers will want to read.

But this concise writing is habit forming. I find that if I do try to write more, it ends up rambling. Then I edit it to make it sound good and, well, it ends up shorter every time.

It’s ironic in a way, that behind the scenes I’m trying to cut an originally 214K word manuscript down to a more reasonable 140K, and here on my blog I’m whining about not being able to write enough in one article, isn’t it? Perhaps that’s my problem. I’m getting into the habit everywhere.  Maybe I should post the clumps of text on my blog that I scoop out of my novel!

Wow, is this article ever going downhill fast.

To conclude, I’ve decided I need to do something about this. I’m going to try to write a more professional-sounding article once a week that’s between 600-800 words in length. I’m hesitant to commit to a certain day of the week, though maybe having a deadline will help. If I’m ever going to write professionally, it’s a habit I need to get into.

That way maybe I won’t feel as guilty about writing the occasional one-liner with a picture of a beach.

 

 
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Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!

 


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A Thank You and a Reminder

I wanted to post a thank you to each and every one who followed my fiction blog after last night’s post. A plate of your favourite cookies will arrive via Santa’s hungover reindeer within the week.

Also, I wanted to say thank you to everyone participating in Just Jot it January – I didn’t think it would be this popular! Don’t forget to link back to the rules post here: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/jusjojan-1-the-rules-are-easy/ for a guaranteed view from me and likely from everyone else participating. And don’t forget, it’s never too late to join. It’s a guaranteed follow from me if you do. Of course the best part of all is that it encourages us all to write! And that’s what we’re here for, right?

I love you guys!


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This is not JusJoJan 2

This is: http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/jusjojan-2-all-in-a-nights-work/

I find it rather frustrating that I collect so many fewer views and followers on my fiction blog than I get on my main blog. I have been told by several people that fiction and poetry isn’t as interesting to most people as real life, so if that is indeed true, then it is to be expected. I sometimes wonder, however, if it’s a WordPress thing, in that unless you’re looking for it, you just don’t notice it.

After all, if I comment on your blog post for instance, and you get an email notification, it will include only the most viewed posts on this blog – it won’t mention my fiction blog at all.

I’m wondering if everyone finds this to be the case with their secondary blogs, or if it’s a fiction/poetry thing or if, it’s the unthinkable and my fiction simply sucks?

(Please feel free to follow my fiction blog.) <— (I put that in brackets to make it feel like a subliminal suggestion.) (Did it work?)


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EDDD 31 – 2013, It Was Good To Know Ye

2013 has been a year like no other for me. It’s been a year of beginnings, and a year of finalities. From friendships to my figure, from anonymity to zealous writing, I’ve seen it all.

I’ve stayed in a house where I was haunted by my own characters, I’ve grown – not only by the twenty or so pounds I gained since Hallowe’en – but as a writer. I’ve finished two novels and have two blogs of my own, as well as having been included in two of the best sites on WordPress – The Community Storyboard, which will be up and running again in the new year, and by my dear dear friend, THE Opinionated Man on HarsH ReaLiTy as a guest.

But most of all I’ve had my dream come true. I’ve gone from a woman isolated from society by her life’s circumstances, to a blogger with connections worldwide, with people I have more in common with than I could have dreamed, and a few true friends as well.

2013 has blessed me with the discovery of community, and the privilege of having spent yet another year with the most loving three children a mother could wish for.

Every year I make resolutions which I never keep. This time around I realize their importance and will do my utmost to uphold them – not to mention this is the first time I’ve ever declared them in public. I have face to save!

To lose above mentioned twenty pounds is just the start. My intention is for this to be the year I come into my own as a writer and to get something published, whether it by my epic novel (my first choice) or an article for which I am paid. And finally, I wish to bring calm and love to those I hold dear – the one thing I strive for always.

A happy, healthy, wealthy, and peaceful 2014 to everyone!

Linda
xxx

Blog post of December 31st, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Please join in next year!


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EDDD 29 – It’s Just Me – JusJoJan?

My weekend has only one hour left, meaning the kids will be home at 6:30. I’ve spent much of it relaxing, eating far too much yesterday and making up for it today by behaving myself, reading my manuscript – I’m almost two-thirds of the way to the end – and becoming reacquainted with the music to which I wrote my novel in the first place. In all, it’s been lovely. But far too short. Then, half the weekend I spent sleeping.

I wanted to write another, longer post today, but I feel like I need to jam as much “me” time into the weekend as I can, so my other post will wait for tomorrow.

There’s no real point to this post, other than to say I wrote it, and kept up my promise to blog every damn day in December. We’ll have to have something like “Just Jot it January.” What do you think? Doable? Perhaps a post of no more than a hundred words, every day in January?

Let me know if you think it’s a good idea. I might just do it anyway.

Okay, now I’m happy. I found a point to my post.

Cheers, all!

Blog post of December 29th, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out!


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So the Like Button isn’t working, WordPress!

I’ve had 15 likes on my previous post, but only one is showing up. I only know this because I have notifications in my email that people have ‘liked’ it.

Also, I have been the ‘first to like’ every post I’ve clicked the button on all day.

So if you don’t have email notifications, don’t worry. People really do like your posts. It’s a WordPress glitch.