You've undoubtedly noticed these black-and-white boxes on products ranging from the weekly coupon insert in the Sunday newspaper to TV advertisements to the back of books.
What is it?
Say hello to the QR (quick response) code, a two-dimensional or matrix barcode. Each QR code is comprised of data - binary, alphanumeric or Kanji (Japanese writing systems) - that form the black pockets. The square code sits on a white background.
But what does this have to do with writing?
Consider the QR code another way to promote you and your product, whether it's a book or a link to an article or your own website.
A new study by Forrester Research shows that people are using the unique data code at a higher rate than a year ago. The study shows that five percent of adults use the codes to find additional information. That's a four percent increase from just one year ago.
Think about how many smartphone users exist in the world. Their rates of use have increased 15 percent, with Android phone owners using the codes most often. To access information, you simply scan the code with any camera smartphone and suddenly, you're experiencing printed material in a new way, whether through multimedia, text files, or websites.
Writers should be taking advantage of QR codes to land new readers. It's an easy self-promotion method.
How do you generate the codes? Free programs, like
Kaywa, can help. And potential readers can find free applications for their smartphones. Kaywa also offers a free QR reader.
While the QR code may seem like the latest craze, in today's 3D and multimedia-based world, the QR code offers one more way to connect with an audience.
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of her work at her website.
Twitter. Facebook. Linked In.
If you're a writer, you should be using social media platforms to promote your work.
The same is true for journalists and non-fiction authors. These social media outlets allow writers from all genres and platforms to promote articles and publications, connect with readers, and find sources.
But journalists may want to reconsider simply retweeting a message.
Early this month, The Associated Press issued revised social media guidelines for journalists employed by the wire service. Included is a new section covering retweeting messages without context.
After reading the new guidelines, I started thinking about what types of tweets I retweet and how it could affect my freelance career. I primarily write for a regional newspaper (sometimes my articles go out on the wire service but I am NOT an AP employee), a regional sports website, and WOW! Women on Writing.
Is it possible that something I retweet could push away a potential employer? Is there a chance that a retweet could be taken as an endorsement, especially if I don't clarify my view by simply hitting the retweet icon?
Using the first two publications I generally write for as examples, I thought of several times when a tweet - or even a retweet - did or could potentially cause problems.
In September, I covered a meeting about a controversial pipeline project slated to cut through the Nebraska Sandhills that has stirred an international debate. During the meeting, I sent several tweets highlighting key points from each speaker. I also prefaced the first tweet by saying I was reporting live from the event. About half-way through the two-hour meeting, I began receiving replies from supporters of the project, complaining that I should not be tweeting from the meeting.
Why not? I wasn't offering my opinion. I was relaying information directly from the presenters, the same information that would appear in my newspaper article.
I also write for a regional sports website and am Twitter friends with several of the athletes of the team we cover. Occasionally, I'll retweet an athlete's messages. Why? Because it contains pertinent information or because it's from the athlete's point of view and the typical fan-in-the-stands may not understand the complexity of the sport and its competitions.
Could a retweet cause repercussions? It's possible.
It's an interesting dynamic for those of us who write for the daily presses and online publications, and it's not limited to reporters hired by the AP.
Their rules of social media engagement are practical for any writer, whether a novice stringer trying to break into a publication or the seasoned writer who has built a brand around a book series or newspaper career.
Since the guidelines came out three weeks ago, I have paid more attention to my own Twitter messages and Facebook posts, as well as to what I choose to retweet.
While a fine line exists between personal and professional posts, all writers should take all precautions to keep their writing reputation - in addition to the outlets they write for - safe from unexpected backlash.
And you can retweet me as saying that.
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work, including her weekly newspaper column, at her website.
Today, I recived the local Chamber of Commerce's monthly newsletter and perused the calendar. It's only November, but this month alone, four meals, three meetings, two coffees, and one open house are scheduled.
Wonder how jam-packed the December calendar will be?
But as I perused these offerings to get together with business leaders, chamber personnel, and the public, it made me pause and consider how much networking can be accomplished at events like these.
If your holiday season is fastly filling up, consider using some of these tips to make the most of the thankful and merry season.
- Be prepared. Business cards, a writing utensil and a notebook are staples in my purse. Use them!
- Prepare your elevator pitch. Describe what services you offer in a few sentences.
- Determine your goals for the event. Do you want to cover the event for an article? Simply interested in learning new information? Hope you meet a certain individual or group of people?
- Be the hostess, even if you are a guest. Introduce others and help them feel at ease.
- Follow up with people you meet and any contacts they may introduce.
- Thank new sources and keep them updated about your work.
- Don't overindulge. A plate in one hand and a drink in the other makes it difficult to greet others.
- Have fun!
Networking builds business, and if writing is YOUR business, use these opportunities to expand your potential customer base and deck the seasonal halls with your writing savvy.
by LuAnn SchindlerRead more of LuAnn's work at her website.
Meet Philip Murray-Lawson, author of "
The Little Red Riding Hood Complex," today's featured flash fiction contest winner.
Born in Scotland, Philip has spent most of his adult life in France. That doesn't mean he's forgotten his Scottish roots. He still likes stormy weather, dankness and spooky stories.
Philip's background includes earning an Honours Degree in History from Aberdeen and teaching English. Currently, he runs
Evolution-abc, a Paris-based language consulting company. His first publications discussed language training and appeared in
Prism, a Learning Journal.
Philip's first literary endeavors were translations of two stories by French writer Marcel Schwob. In 2000, Philip's collection of medieval horror stories, Heresies, was published.
For the past several years, Philip has been attending a creative writing workshop in Shakespeare & Co, which has led him to an interesting discovery: writing humorous horror stories.
If you haven't had the opportunity to read
Philip's story, take a few moments to read this gem and then come back in join in our discussion for lots of great writing tips.
WOW: Philip, welcome to The Muffin. Congratulations on earning runner-up honors in the Spring contest. What an interesting story you've written, my dear. (grinning) Why did you select Sigmund Freud to question Mrs. Piroska?Philip: Piroska, incidentally, is the Hungarian name for Little Red Riding Hood. I've always loved fairy tales. They serve some of the same purposes for children as horror stories do for adults. Except that fairy tales manage to find a happy ending while the best horror stories never do. Both deal with disturbing taboo subjects in an accessible way - which is what I was aiming for. I'm not sure where the idea came from originally. I was probably influenced by writers like Angela Carter and Roald Dahl. I read and really enjoyed Bruno Bettelheim's
Psychoanalysis of Fairy Tales some years ago, so the idea of Freud must have come from there.
WOW: I never thought about a correlation between fairy tales and horror stories. Fascinating! I'd like to take time to talk about the importance of character. How difficult is it to create an original character in a thriller?Philip: In my entry, I was more concerned with creating a Gothic atmosphere. I'm glad that I managed to find a dark twist at the end which I suppose made the story something of a thriller, but there's not much in the way of characterization. Is there such a thing as an original character? Most authors try to create real rather than original characters. Even Dickens, who had a real talent for characterization, only has one or two really original characters. What is original is the situation in which the characters find themselves.
WOW: I once had a college literature professor who taught that all stories use the type of conflict, but the resolution of the conflict is what either makes or breaks a story, so it's interesting that your characterization theory follows
Watch this video: "A Magazine is an iPad That Does Not Work."
Cute baby, right?
The video has been receiving a lot of press over the last few days, and judging by the comments and number of hits it's received, it's also generating a lot of controversy.
Is print dead? Do publications need to adapt to a world that will eventually be full of digital natives? What does this premise mean for book authors and publishers?
What's your opinion: Is print going to be obsolete or is the video a bunch of hype?
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at her website.
A strange thing happened this afternoon.
As I leaned back against the kitchen sink, my eyes drifted from our grandson's red-crayon drawing held by a magnet on the refrigerator to the top of the appliance. I spied my wooden recipe box, won in a Newman's Own contest years ago.
I hadn't opened it since I moved to the farm four years ago.
Those of you who know me well know I enjoy cooking and experimenting with new recipes and ingredients. In fact, one entire bookshelf in my living room is dedicated to cookbooks and notebooks filled with culinary treasures. Call it an obsession, call it a collection, but there's something nostalgic and inviting about old cookbooks and recipe boxes.
I retrieved the box from its dusty perch, wondering what recipes were inside. Had I committed these to memory? Or, had I simply forgotten about it?
Inside, I found handwritten recipes from my mother, youngest daughter, a former student, and my grandmother. While I read through the lists of ingredients and detailed instructions, I thought about the hidden treasure I'd found.
This is about more than a recipe for baked steak or our family's favorite Swedish tea ring.
These recipes have a story, a history, a reason why they're important.
On sheets of unruled writing paper, I read through my grandmother's recipe for baked steak and creamed onions. She doesn't list the ingredients or precise measurements. Instead, she speaks from experience, writing that placing "a thin layer of gravy in the bottom of the baking dish adds moisture to the cut of meat and prevents it from sticking" or "to use multiplier onions because they have the best flavor."
It makes me wonder when she first prepared this recipe. Was she a young bride, waiting for my grandfather to come home from work, table set and dinner ready to serve? Had she learned these secrets from my great grandmother, a German immigrant who raised a family and worked on the family farm alongside her husband?
I'd eaten this dish many times when our family visited Grandma's house, but I'd never connected the dots between the recipe and her experiences.
What about the recipe cards given to me by a former student? One is for "Sarah's Chocolate Goody Bars," a treat she made for me on a depressing, chilly winter day nearly eight years ago. My husband had passed away a few short months before and some days, school took more energy than I had.
But Sarah made these treats and shared them with me. As she sat next to my desk, she described kitchen tricks she'd discovered while making this recipe and others, like taking advantage of shortcuts by spicing up a boxed mix. I learned more about this student listening to her talk about her adventures in cooking and why cooking and food mattered than I did watching her diagram sentences or write a five-paragraph essay.
I also located four pages handwritten by my youngest daughter, Courtney. When she was a freshman in high school, she went on a holiday cooking spree. Now, I have her recipes, written on college-ruled notebook paper, crib notes in the margins listing improvements.
The history behind these gems? Her step-father's death the month before and our first Christmas spent alone. Neither of us felt like celebrating, but in order to maintain some semblance of normalcy, we found comfort creating in the kitchen.
If you think about food as simply that - a consumable product - you may not have much of a story. But once you consider the background of the recipe and the history of the cook, you find a delicious blend th
Today on The Muffin, we feature Spring 2011 Flash Fiction runner-up recipient Susan DuMond. Her story, "
Lucille's Shoes", will touch your hearts. Once you've read it, come back and enjoy getting to know Susan.
A brief introduction of today's author: Susan DuMond grew up in a children's home in upstate New York. Susan captures her rough and tumble experiences in her memoir,
Present Tense. Currently, Susan and her memoir are searching for a literary agent. When Susan was the first "Home kid" to graduate high school, she received an award and ventured to Bennington College. When she arrived via Greyhound Bus, she had only a blue plastic suitcase. Susan received a B.A. in Theater from Bennington and continued her education at Columbia University, where she studied Creative Writing. Susan also has a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Management from the University of Oregon. She is a published poet and actor. Susan also owned her own technical writing and information design firm. Susan lives in Oregon with her husband and two cats: Emmy and Chester.
WOW: Welcome to The Muffin, Susan, and congratulations on earning runner up honors. I'm curious. What inspires you to write?
Susan: I'm inspired by situations and experiences that touch my heart. Sometimes these are funny; sometimes they're like bruises that need attention to heal. I write in the hope of gaining some level of understanding about the experience that create ripples in our lives - growing up, aging, losing a baby, you name it. Although my writing is often triggered by an event, the piece that develops may become fiction and take on a life of its own.
WOW: I like your approach, especially using a trigger from real life. "Lucille's Shoes" reminded me of my mom (and my grandmother) and their battles with arthritis. It's often neglected. What's your experience with arthritis or with someone who suffers from it?
Susan: Like your Mom and millions of others, I too have arthritis. You're right, it rarely makes the headlines, but it's pretty demanding. Staying mobile and flexible takes a lot of effort, which is where the arthritis aquatics work comes in. I've been a "Poolette" (my fun name for our group) for some years now. The Arthritis Foundation trains aquatics instructors in special exercises and movements that are designed to help people with arthritis. I highly recommend finding such a program and getting in the warm water and moving around!
WOW: That's great advice! Hopefully, our readers will take advantage of this type of program. While I'm reading your piece, the symbolism intrigues me. Water washes away troubles, but some pains are too strong to bear. How did you develop the setting, which drives home the water symbol?
Susan: The setting was important to me because I both experienced and witnessed the healing effect of exercising
As writers, we understand loss. We fill jump drives or external hard drives with precious data or we backup our files on the cloud in case we need access from anywhere.
But are we prepared for a true disaster? Are we ready if a fire strikes our office (or wherever we write), if a tornado demolishes our home, or if a hurricane forces flood waters into our lives?
As Hurricane Irene raced up the eastern seaboard, the
library in
Upper Jay, New York braced itself. But the community, situated in the
AuSable River in the Adirondacks could not have imagined the devastation to the community's library.
The basement of the Wells Memorial Library filled with water. On the main floor, about two feet of mucky water wiped out the entire children's collection. Those books were on the lower shelves, where small hands could easily reach and select a picture book for reading pleasure.
In an interview yesterday, Library Board of Trustees President Marie-Ann Azar Ward said nothing was on the floor of the library's basement because it has had water in it previously.
"But the main building has never experienced flooding in 105 years and this is a flood-prone river valley."
The children's collection wasn't the only genre of books that were damaged. The Adirondack collection and archives were "severely curtailed," and the lower two shelves, filled with fiction, biographies, reference books, DVDs and large print were ruined.
Ward estimates that 50 percent, approximately 5000 items, have been removed from the library.
Since the flood, over 20 people, from age 4 to 80, have spent dayss salvaging undamaged items and discarding mud-caked and water-logged books, furniture and supplies.
New York Governor Cuomo tagged the library a
Labor for Your Neighbor site. On September 3, 15 volunteers from other New York communities worked to clear heating ducts and dry wall from the building's basement and fix the handicap ramp.
Ward said the library serves a population of about 2000 across four villages. The library operates on a yearly budget of $30,000. She said the library raises 70 percent of the funds during a yearly book sale.
Unfortunately, those items were in the basement.
Since word of the devastation leaked into social media outlets, the group has received offers of books, as well as monetary donations. Author Kate Messner shared photos of the flood's impact on her
blog.
NPR's Melissa Block discussed the flood damage with Azar Ward on September 1 and Ward said the library will face tough decisions.
We writers may prepare for personal loss of data, but libraries - which are limited by public tax dollars and annual book sales - may not be financially ready for a drain on resources.
My mom is a librarian and I grew up at school and in the library. I cannot imagine this kind of loss. More importantly, I can't imagine the impact of not having a library readily available.
Is your local library prepared for the unthinkable?
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at her website.
Are you one of those people? You're in a book store, randomly grabbing hard covers and paperbacks off a shelf, based on the book cover, and then you either flip to the back cover or crack open the back of the book to sneak a peek at the author's photo?
Truth is, if you answered yes, you're probably not alone.
In today's publishing world, the author photo can be one of the most important pieces of the marketing equation. A 2009
NPR report claims a distinct relationship exists between an author and an author's photograph.
Whether you plan to use a photo on your book's cover, with a freelance piece, or as promotional material, writers have plenty to consider:
- Dress for success: Think about the type of material you write. If you're reading a book about investing in today's market, would you trust a photo of a woman in business attire or will the blue-jeans-and-T-shirt gal draw your attention. A photo tells a story in one frame. What story are you attempting to tell?
- Black and white vs. Color: Which is most effective? I pulled books off one bookshelf, and came to a split decision. Thirty books showed black and white photos; the other thirty displayed author's in full color.
- Professional photo session: More than likely, an author will end of covering the cost of author photos. Do you need a professional photo session? Can a friend or significant other point and shoot your digital camera? Most computers come with digital photo editing
software, which makes creating, cropping, and perfecting an author photo a click!
Let's dissect an author photo, pointing out the good - and bad - elements. Meet LuAnn. (That's me.)
Two positive elements of this photo exist. I chose to stand next to a noiseless background. It's an accentuating color and offers minimal distraction. Also, I selected to wear a solid color, which again, keeps the photo's noise level to a minimum.
Any negatives? If I could reselect a shirt, I'd choose something besides cream, especially since I'm fair-skinned and blonde. I'd also double check the room's lighting to make sure the shadow doesn't cause problems with the photo.
This was not a professional shoot. A friend snapped the picture with my digital camera and I sent the file to my editor, who worked her magic!
Once you've had your photos taken, ask for digital files in both low-res (72 DPI) and high-res (300 DPI). Low-res works best for online; high-res is used in printed formats.
Also think about updating your photo every few years. It will cut down on those awkward moments Crispin described. This photo is four years old and I've changed - just a bit - since then.
Do you use an author's photo? What tips can you offer?
by LuAnn Schindler
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Usually your daily dose of The Muffin arrives in the morning, or at the latest, early afternoon. But today, I'm on vacation. (OK, actually I drove 700 miles - half way to Phoenix - to deliver my youngest daughter and two grandsons to their husband/father, respectively, because said daughter had emergency appendectomy surgery while visiting here last week and cannot fly for six weeks.) So, for today, you're receiving it at midnight (if you're an East Coast resident) and earlier in other time zones.
For those of you interested in travel writing, I'd like to offer a few hints that can turn a long (and perhaps tedious) road trip into a writing sale.
On our journey to Colorado, we stopped at several spots along our Nebraska route. Nebraska's Department of Travel and Tourism has a fun program called the Nebraska Passport. Various sites around the state are highlighted, and once you've obtained your "passport," you visit the sites and receive a stamp. Some of the sites in the program are natural tourist draws. Who wouldn't enjoy spending a day on a white, sandy beach or visit a top modern art museum?
Places like these may be obvious candidates for a story pitch to a travel or regional magazine. And, this sometime presents a problem since they ARE so obvious.
But some of the sites are so unique and offbeat - in a good way - that they are prime story material. For instance, who would think a petrified wood gallery would be interesting? Like my husband said, "Once you've seen a piece of wood, you've seen 'em all."
Then we ventured into Ogallala, Nebraska's Petrified Wood Gallery and discovered not all chunks of wood are created equally. Niche and unique travel spots make the best stories and fillers. I've already decided which markets I'm pitching this priceless gem!
Before we left on this whirlwind trip that would lead us to Trinidad, Colorado, I plotted a route and checked travel websites to discover what places we may want to visit. I use Nebraska's tourism website regularly, so it was easy to navigate. A few suggestions from the website triggered stops that I may have otherwise not considered. (Same process for Colorado stops!)
Don't forget about checking with CVBs (convention and visitor's bureaus) to see what events are happening. You may discover a conference, exhibit or show that would lead to a story.
Whenever we travel, I use Yelp to get ideas for restaurants, hotels and shopping. Plus, I make sure I post a review when I return from a trip. I've discovered it's a good exercise in writing a concise, honest review - a skill any writer can use for any type of work!
The next time you head out on a road trip, consider your route and check with local, regional and state tourism groups. You may be surprised at what type of article sales you'll find!
by LuAnn Schindler
Grandma and Grandpa Schindler with the two writing "distractions" who are visiting this week.
Writer mamas: I salute you!
Seems like I've always been a writer. When my kids were young, I'd write after they went to bed or were down for a nap. It wasn't ideal, but it worked.
As we all grew older, the writing schedule changed. Now, while they stayed up till all hours completing history projects or geometry homework, I'd be right there with them, composing like crazy or editing short stories.
And then, they were all gone. I quit full-time teaching and began freelancing full-time. And I could set my own office hours and work whenever inspiration - or deadlines - hit.
But this week, my 23-year-old baby is home from Arizona with Jorden and Walker, our 15- and
5-month old grandsons, respectively.
Whew! (I imagine mom says that more than grandma!)
I don't mind the distractions. Really, I don't. But it seems in a week filled with newspaper deadlines and blog posts, this grandma needs more naps than the babies!
Squeezing in writing time presents challenges, too. Write then those three take a nap? Tried that yesterday and I wrote 2 sentences. Erased. Rewrote. Edited. Erased. New sentence. Erased.
You get the point.
Write while Jorden stands by my chair blowing kisses and saying "Gamma..."? Just can't do it.
Write after they go to bed? I tried last night and decided I'd wake up early this morning and work for a few hours while the boys slept in.
Right.
It's tough being a writing mom - or grandma! You learn to prioritize and juggle babies and bottles and diaper changes while you write a lead paragraph in your mind, hoping you remember it when you actually get to the computer.
But, I also wouldn't want this week to be any other way. I'm blessed to have a supportive family who understands my crazy writing schedule. And, I'm grateful that I get to spend a week with these little boys who will be little men before I blink.
So deadlines and blog posts: beware.
You will get completed and written.
And you may even get a handful of blown kisses from Jorden or a coo from Walker.
But I'll get to you when I find time in my precious schedule.
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at http://luannschindler.com.
I started the summer with good intentions. But somewhere along the hectic schedule, I got off kilter. My daily word count dropped. My creativity level plummeted. I could blame it on the heat wave. Or I could face reality and admit that I needed a spark to get my writing back on track.
That spark came when I saw a news blurb about a weekend writing conference sponsored by the Nebraska Writers Guild and since the location was only 90 miles down the highway, I decided to attend. It offered a handful of morning sessions and time to write. (Plus, it was free!)
Now that I've returned home with a bounty of fresh information and business cards, what do I do with this information? Store the cards for later perusal? Put away my notebook with pages of notes and ideas?
Nope. After the writing conference, it's important to make use of the information immediately. I've already typed the notes I scribbled. It's a good practice because it reinforces the main ideas and helpful hints offered by the presenters. When it's fresh in your mind, you'll put the information into practice. That should translate into more sales.
I'm also in the process of sending notes (yes, handwritten) to the writers and publishers I met and traded writing stories with. Such a varied group of writing interests! This personalized detail to attention will help networking efforts. Perhaps a collaboration or publishing contract will result from these introductions.
And most importantly, now that I'm home, it's time to plant rear end in chair and write. It's time to put inspiration into action.
The spark has reignited!
by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at http://luannschindler.com/. Graphic design by LuAnn Schindler
I'll be the first to admit that the TV in our house is tuned in close to 15 hours a day, either to The Weather Channel (my husband farms and weather dictates his daily routine) or a news network.
The majority of the time, neither of us watches.
But, I listen. Intently.
In fact, the idea for this blog post title came from a commercial for a new fall sit-com that uses the word 'tap' to make a point.
That commercial got me thinking. Television supplies myriad ideas for writing, both fiction and non-fiction. A lot of times, I'll watch segments of
Today and wonder how the latest news item applies to the region where I live. I also investigate Natalie's "Trending Topics" and try to find a correlation. Then, I send a query to a magazine or newspaper where the story is a good fit. And usually, I land an assignment.
If you get wrapped up in
The Doctors or
Dr. Oz, you may just find a topic for an article. Or maybe a disease that the antagonist suffers from in your latest fiction.
Need help with character development? Watch a sitcom or drama and you'll undoubtedly come up with mannerisms, speech patterns, or quirks that can easily take your character from dull to daring.
I'm not advocating you sit in front of the tube all day. But, I do believe the TV should be viewed as another idea source, offering a wealth of information on a wide range of topics.
So, go ahead, grab the remote, and tap into an overflowing resource of ideas.
by LuAnn Schindler. Original graphic by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at her website.
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Gorgeous photo! Until you said "frigid January evening" I thought the picture looked warm because of all the orange and red hues in the sunset. Upon closer inspection, I see the trees are barren and scraggly.
Great points! But I have a question... The other night I started working on a personal essay about my cat who recently passed away, and I don't think I mentioned where all the events take place. In fact, I intentionally left some of it out because I thought it would veer off course from the topic or be too much information. The story was about her experiences with different veterinarians over the years, but during that time we moved to several cities, and I figured the information about where we lived would detract from the story. Do you think it's absolutely necessary to include those details every time?
I guess a sense of place could be just the vet offices we went to. I vividly grounded the essay in one place in particular for the second half of it, and I plan on giving the essay to veterinarian who helped Noodle the most over the years.
Anyway, I'm rambling, but nice post, Annie! :)