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by Karen Cioffi What exactly is a landing page?
According to
Hubspot.com, “A landing page is a web page that allows you to capture a visitor's information through a lead form.”
Copyblogger.com says, “A landing page is any page on a website where traffic is sent specifically to prompt a certain action or result.”
So, landing pages are designed for specific purposes, such as a selling page for a product or service or for an email opt-in. But, no matter what the purpose is, it must be focused.
The page itself can be a separate website or a page on an existing website. But, since you want it completely focused, without distractions, a separate website usually works better.
It’s this landing page focus that allows for better conversion.
An effective landing page is designed and focused on a target market. This means if your site pertains to a specific cancer or illness, your content, opt-in, and any products you’re selling should focus on people dealing with this particular health issue. That’s your target market. And, your keywords should also reflect the page’s purpose.
If your site is about baseball, the same holds true. The landing page design, content, and any products or services being offered must pertain to baseball.
The landing page is kind of like a path on which there’s no way to stray off or be distracted. It’s intended for visitors to read exactly what you want them to, guiding them to say YES to your offer. There are no other pages for them to click on and hopefully no sidebar to be distracted by.
While inbound marketing strategies will get the visitor to your landing page, it’s the copy or content that will motivate him to follow the path and be responsive to saying YES.
Your content needs to be conversational, effective, and provide the WIIFM (what’s in it for me). People are overwhelmed with the amount of information being bombarded at them and with all the offers for books, ebook, and products. You need to write copy that (1) quickly lets the reader know what you’re offering, (2) lets the reader know exactly what the benefits are, and (3) lets the reader know what you want her to do.
Landing pages are no place for guessing games. They need to be fine-tuned, to the point, and simple. The more hectic you make the page, the more anxiety it will cause the reader. Anxiety isn’t good for conversion. Simple always works best.
You should also create separate landing pages for different offers or purposes. In other words, you don’t want to explain why a visitor should opt into your mailing list on your book selling landing page. And, you shouldn’t sell books on your subscriber opt-in page. Focus is a key element to motivating or leading a visitor to go through the necessary steps to saying YES to whatever it is you’re offering.
Bringing traffic to landing pages is done through inbound marketing strategies, such as email campaigns, special offers, guesting posting, and press releases. Other inbound marketing techniques include pay-per-click, ad banners, social networks, and affiliates.
----- Do you want to extend your marketing reach as an author? Sign up now for Karen Cioffi's class,
Creating and Building Your Author Online Presence: Website Creation to Beyond Book Sales, which starts
Monday, January 7, 2013.
If you are reading this post, you are either a) procrastinating buying and/or wrapping gifts for Christmas b) recovering from a festive Hanukkah c) thinking about your writing goals for 2013 d) unsuccessfully trying to come up with something spectacular to do on New Year's Eve e) cursing those Mayans and their end of the world theories because you're still reading this post or f) all of the above. Whatever you're doing, thank you for taking some time out to learn the new stuff we have going on in the WOW! classroom for 2013.
First, we have a FREE class this January.
Did I mention it's free? We are trying out a teleseminar class through the website anymeeting.com. You
do have to pay long distance charges if they apply; but hopefully in today's telecommunication world you have a cell phone or unlimited long distance on your home phone, so this will still be "free." The topic is
show versus tell and overwriting in children's literature from picture books to YA novels. It takes place on January 8 at 6:00 CST time, and we are hoping to record it for anyone who wants to attend, but can't. There's a super short registration form for you to fill out if you want to attend the class, so we know whom to expect. That link is:
http://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=E950DB86834C3C . (We will contact you by e-mail to see what you thought after the class, but just once!)
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| Melanie Faith |
We have some new classes, too! Melanie Faith is teaching
MEMORY POWER! Crafting Fierce Flash Nonfiction, a class about writing brief (250 to 750 words) essays. The Muffin blogger and WOW! columnist Sue Bradford Edwards is now bringing her knowledge to the online classroom with her course WRITING NONFICTION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS. Lynne Garner is offering a class about how to turn your hobby into a writing project and get it published with her class, HOW TO WRITE A HOBBY BASED HOW TO BOOK. I'm offering two new classes this winter/spring: the first is WRITING WORKSHOP: WRITING A CHILDREN’S or YOUNG ADULT NOVEL , which is a class for anyone working on a novel for ages 7 to 18, and the second is Writing Children’s and Teen’s Short Fiction for Magazines and E-zines, which is a complementary class to Sue's about nonfiction. You can read the syllabi and sign up at this link: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/WOWclasses.html.
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| Annette Fix |
Besides the new classes, we have some old favorites, too, from memoir writing to finding an agent by former WOW! executive editor Annette Fix, building an online presence by Karen Cioffi, literary devices by Gila Green, finding your muse by Kelly L. Stone, journey through life's losses by Alice J. Wisler, novel writing by Diane O’Connell and Renate Reimann, PhD, and more! Don't forget we have some classes that are offered every week or every month--self-publishing by Deanna Riddle; writing screenplays, plays, or TV pilots by Christina Hamlett; and beginning freelance writing by Nicky LaMarco. We can answer questions about any class here in the comments OR by e-mailing classroom (at) wow-womenonwriting (dot) com. Have you signed up for our free newsletter yet? This is a good way to keep track of our new class offerings and when a new issue goes LIVE! You can sign up for FREE on our home page: http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com.  |
| Karlyn Thayer |
We want to send our deepest sympathies to the family, friends, students, and colleagues of former WOW! instructor Karyln Thayer who passed away earlier this month. We have heard such wonderful things from her former students about how much her classes helped them, and we are hoping her family can find some peace and comfort this holiday season.And to all of you, the holidays become such a busy time of year--no matter where you are or what you celebrate. Being a writer often seems to get lost in that shuffle. Don't be too hard on yourself and enjoy your time with family and friends, knowing that January 2, 2013, you are ready to tackle your writing goals. If taking a class from us (don't forget the FREE one) is something that will help you, then we'll "see" you in the classroom.Margo L. Dill is an editor and online instructor for WOW! Her first children's middle-grade historical fiction novel, Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength in Vicksburg, came out in October 2012. To find out more about Margo, you can visit her website and blog at http://www.margodill.com.
By Lynne GarnerA few months ago the lovely ladies at WOW sent me a link for
PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month). Children's author
Tara Lazar devised the concept. The basic idea is to come up with 30 ideas for picture books over a 30-day period. Thankfully, you're not expected to complete 30 manuscripts in 30 days. Simply come up with at least one new idea per day. This could be a title, a character, an idea based on something you saw or perhaps overheard.
I'll admit the idea was a little scary. I debated for a week or so before I took the plunge and signed up. I've seldom had a problem coming up with ideas but I definitely felt out of my comfort zone during this challenge. Some days I struggled to come up with anything. Other days I had two, sometimes even three, ideas. For example, whilst driving home on day 12 I had three ideas. First, I spotted a For Sale sign that had a large black hen on it. A few days earlier I'd read
The Little Red Hen. I now had a friend for her, a big black hen. The story will focus on how these two friends use their size difference to help one another. Secondly, seeing a queue at a bus stop reminded me of a joke where people joined a queue but didn't know what they were queuing for. So this story will focus on what each character hopes is at the front of the queue. Finally, I was stuck behind a very slow moving tractor. Thankfully I had plenty of time, but this made me think about how life seems to put slow things in your way when you are running late. So this story will focus on how my character deals with slow things when he needs to be fast.
Taking part in Picture Book Ideas Month has reinforced my belief that ideas can be hidden around every corner. It has also highlighted to me that in order to improve your writing you have to set yourself the odd challenge or two. This challenge could be anything. Perhaps writing in a story format you've never used, crafting a story in rhyme or telling a story with a limited number of words. It could be joining a local writing group or a national group such as
SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writes & Illustrators), writing a story to enter into a competition or, as I did, signing up for Picture Book Ideas Month.
So, go on, give your writing a boost and set yourself a challenge.
-----Would you like to try writing a picture book? Sign up now for Lynne Garner's class,
How to Write Children’s Picture Books and Get Published, which starts on January 5, 2013.
If you've taken a picture book course before then you can enroll in Lynne's advanced course,
5 Picture Books in 5 Weeks (Advanced Course), which also starts on the same day.
by Kelly L. StoneOne of the most powerful actions you can take to establish writing as a habit in your life is to carve out time to write every day for at least 30 days, and make a commitment to write every day for that entire 30 days. Even if it’s just 15 minutes a day, if you make the short-term commitment to do this, you will soon have a deep understanding of a very important concept: there is power in daily writing!
Daily writing leads to success, no ifs, ands, or buts. That’s because it forces you to focus like a laser on your work in progress and hone your writing skills whether you feel like writing or not. This in turn influences your subconscious mind to help you start thinking of yourself as a writer (or reinforces that belief) and that in turns affects your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward writing. Writing begets writing. Daily writing begets writing success.
Success is predicted by how you think, feel, and behave toward your writing goals. A person who has success-oriented thoughts and who feels confident in her abilities will naturally take daily actions that bring about her desired outcomes. She will feel enthusiastic, motivated, and dedicated to those outcomes because she thinks, feels, and acts her way toward reaching them, and she does the things every day necessary to achieve success.
This is the case with writing. An aspiring author who thinks positive thoughts and believes in herself will touch her craft daily, which will generate the enthusiasm and motivation to set goals. She will then cultivate the dedication required to take steps to reach those goals over a long period of time. She will write every day or take action every day toward her writing dream. She will act in methodical, self-disciplined ways that bring about desire outcomes. She will think, feel, and act in ways that stimulate enthusiasm, motivation, and dedication for achieving success as a writer as she defines it.
You can be that writer. Even if you have gotten off-track with your efforts to become a successful writer, it’s never too late to start again! Through daily writing, you can generate the enthusiasm, motivation, and dedication needed to work toward your long-term writing goals. You can create for yourself what is known in psychology as a positive self-fulfilling prophecy, which is a belief system that sets you up to succeed!
***
Kelly L. Stone (www.AuthorKellyLStone.com) is the author of a women’s fiction novel, GRAVE SECRET (Mundania Press, 2007) which Romantic Times Book Reviews called “powerful” and “well-written.” She is also the author of the TIME TO WRITE series for writers: TIME TO WRITE: No Excuses, No Distractions, No More Blank Pages (Adams Media, 2008), THINKING WRITE: The Secret to Freeing Your Creative Mind (Adams Media, 2009) and LIVING WRITE: The Secret to Bringing Your Craft Into Your Daily Life (Adams Media, 2010). She is a sought after keynote speaker and workshop presenter at writing conferences across the country and offers online classes, critiques, and coaching services to writers. Contact her at [email protected].Make your writing a priority and join Kelly in the WOW! Women On Writing Classroom!EmpowerYour Muse, Empower Your Writing Self starts
September 3, 2012.No MatterHow Busy You Are, You Can Find Time to Write! starts
October 8, 2012
by Lynne GarnerAs a writer, there are many ways you can tell your story. One method that is often used in traditional stories is known as "repetition." This is where actions and words are repeated to create your story. However, there is also a variation known as the "cumulative" story structure or a "chain story." It is where the character repeats the same actions and/or words but with each repeat a little extra information is added.
This type of story not only uses repetition of words but is sometimes written using rhyme. To demonstrate this let's look at
The House That Jack Built. The rhyme starts with:
The is the house that Jack builtFollowed by:
This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack builtFollowed by:
This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack builtAs you can see more detail is added to the previous sentence, creating a story kids love.
Another equally famous cumulative story is
There Was an Old Woman. The story starts with the old woman swallowing a fly. She then swallows a spider to rid herself of the fly. She then swallows a bird to rid herself of the fly. As the story progresses the animals the old woman swallows get bigger. They include a cat, dog, goat, cow and finally a house. Which brings the story to an abrupt end because "she died of course!"
I'm hoping you can see the possibilities this type of story offers a picture book writer. If so and you'd like to give it a go then why not read a few books written using this structure for inspiration. The following link provides a great list of books you may wish to start with:
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/cumulative-tales.
***
Lynne Garner has been a freelance writer and author since 1998. Since that time she has written for a large number of magazines both in the UK and the US. She has 21 books published; this includes three picture books, with a fourth to follow shortly. Her first title ‘The Best Jumper’ was recorded for the CBeeBies children’s radio channel (part of the BBC) whilst ‘A Book For Bramble’ has been translated into five languages including Korean and Indonesian.
***
Join one of Lynne's latest WOW! Women on Writing classes:
or
Both start on Saturday, August 4th. Classes are limited to 15 students.
I'll admit, when I first starting to write picture books I didn't approach it from the same angle as I did when writing my nonfiction books. That is to say, I didn't see my stories as a product that had to fit in a competitive market. However, when I finally experienced that light bulb moment I quickly placed my first picture book,
A Book For Bramble.
What changed?
I started to research the market. I visited the local library and spent hours looking at picture books. As I read, I took notes. I noted the names used, how sentences were constructed, what themes were covered, how humor was included, word count, etc. I then visited the local bookstore and repeated the exercise (slightly more discreetly) to discover if there were differences between what was being published and what had been published (the books in the library). Armed with these notes, I returned home and tried to discover if I could see patterns in subject matter, in the way subjects were covered, and in the way sentences were constructed.
I discovered:
- Humor appears to play an important part in many books.
- Tools such as repetition are used to help move the story along.
- The magic number three appears in many books (for example in The Gruffalo, you'll discover "'three" hidden all over the place).
I started to use the patterns I'd found in my own stories. Within months of changing the way I looked at my stories, I fulfilled one of my lifetime ambitions of becoming a published picture book author.
Today I still continue to research the market and read picture books as often as I can. The receptionists at my dentist, doctor, optician and vets are used to seeing me rummage in the stock of picture books they provide to keep kids entertained. The assistants in the library and bookstore now take no notice as I read their picture books. Family and friends watch in amusement as I encourage their children to show me the latest addition to their bookshelf. Without this research I'd not be able to keep up to date with a changing market. By keeping abreast of what the reading public wants, I'm able to write stories I can place with a publisher.
So if a new writer (of any genre) wants to become published, my advice is research, research, research.
***
Lynne Garner has been a freelance writer and author since 1998. Since that time she has written for a large number of magazines both in the UK and the US, having over 300 features printed. She has 21 books published; these include 10 craft-related how-to books, working with both publishers and packagers. Lynne designed, produced copy, and photographed many of the craft projects featured on The Craft Ark
.*****
Join Lynne's latest WOW! Women on Writing class:
0 Comments on Researching the Picture Book Market as of 1/1/1900
by Melanie FaithIt’s so easy to slap a subject down and jump ahead to the snazzier adjectives and dynamic verbs. Yet, point of view can make an enormous difference in a poem’s development and also impact the way readers approach your work. Let’s look at the three points of view—1st, 2nd, and 3rd—and how each pronoun choice molds your poem.
Of all the pronouns, I is most immediate. Since an author’s personal experiences often trigger the rush to the page, it is only natural that many poems have their genesis with an I speaker and continue in that vein. The Confessional School of poets in the 1950s and 1960s, a la Sylvia Plath and her one-time teacher, Robert Lowell, freed the way for ample use of I in lyric and narrative poetry. It is worth noting, however, that even poems with a first-person narrator may not 100% reflect the experiences of the writer, but may include as much fiction as a third-person point-of-view. An example of a first-person narrator removed from the poet’s experience would be a female poet crafting a poem from the perspective of a father. As a creative artist, it is within your skillset to assume a persona.
Advantages of Ist person: it is compelling and has the power of a strong personal or character voice.
Draw-backs: can sometimes become self-indulgent, and it is difficult to create enough distance from the material to pick which images, similes, or metaphors should or should not be included.
Second person, you, may be read several ways. A you subject may address the audience directly. Or it may be used like “one,” to note universal human experience. Also, the you might be an unnamed, absent character who receives the unstated questions and actions of the poem, such as when an employee addresses her boss, “you always made me work/ overtime,” or when a friend addresses another friend who has betrayed him.
Advantages of 2nd person: great for drawing readers into the poem’s action. A comfortable form for most writers, especially for comparing or contrasting two characters’ behaviors.
Draw-backs: with certain themes—political topics, religion—may alienate readers by having too accusatory a tone.
“The advantage of the third person is that it gives both the poet and the reader some personal space from the action of the poem....This can create breathing room to write things you might not otherwise feel comfortable expressing,” Sage Cohen notes in
Writing The Life Poetic. It is difficult, if not impossible, to write objectively about a painful or joyful personal experience. Third person narration encourages honesty as well as trimming unnecessary phrases and lines. The obvious
drawback, however, is that the third person may appear too dispassionate or dull. Try this exercise: swap one pronoun for another in a draft. How does that affect the poem’s tone or theme and your approach to it? Switching pronouns may inspire new ideas and make it easier to edit parts of the poem which are not as compelling.
***
Melanie Faith is a poet, essayist, and photographer who holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, NC. Her writing most recently was published in
WOW! Women on Writing’s very own Jodi Webb recently read her essay, “If You Don’t Do It, Who Will?” on public radio. We chatted with her briefly about her experience submitting and recording her piece.
Check out her essay and recording here, then get the inside scoop from Jodi about creating an essay that gets broadcast on the airwaves.
WOW: Jodi, congratulations for having your essay featured on public radio! What inspired you to submit a “This I Believe” essay?
Jodi: I had always been aware of the This I Believe segment because I'm a big fan of Edward R. Murrow. Murrow was the one who first started the program. You can submit essays for consideration online and over the years I've submitted an essay or two. After all, the title says it all "This I Believe". It's a natural writing prompt and brings so many ideas to mind. What do we believe in? I could think of a different answer every day of my life.
But I was always nervous about the recording aspect of This I Believe. So when I heard that they were looking for submissions for a This I Believe book I was very enthusiastic. No recording! So I pulled out all the stops and submitted an essay about my mom and volunteering.
WOW: What was the submission process like, and how long did it take to hear that your essay was accepted?
Jodi: It was one of those "dropping a pebble in a wishing well" submissions. I submitted it and, aside from the automated "We've received your submission" email, nothing--for months! I actually forgot about it when I got an email from John Gregory telling me it had been selected for the book. I was so excited. Of course then more waiting until the book was finally published and ended up in my mailbox. About a year from submission to actual book.
Of course then I learned that they intended to have everyone included in the book record their essays. What?! I was very nervous and actually tried to stall them for a while but John was persistent.
WOW: How did the recording take place? Did you practice your reading of the piece?
Jodi: Normally NPR schedules time for you to visit a local radio station that broadcasts NPR programs and record it in their studio. But the nearest NPR station was an hour from my house. I had to cancel once for snow but finally made it the station in Harrisburg, PA. It was a HUGE building. There was a great guy there named Joe who was my man on the spot. Then I had John from NPR on the phone giving me direction. So I had earphones on, a mike in front of me, Joe sitting across from me working the technical aspects(playing sections back for me, etc.) and both of them talking to me through the earphones in this tiny little room. It was so weird.
First, John asked me all these questions about my writing and my family. I suppose to get me accustomed to the microphone. Then I read the entire thing three times (the first time at super speed!), but I also read just sections and a few sentences what seemed like a million times. They can take a bit from here and a bit from there and splice it all together. Which was a relief because at least I didn't have to read the entire thing perfectly in one shot! John would say thin
by Bonnie Hearn HillVampires? Zombies? Steampunk werewolves? Trying to dream up a fresh plot for a young adult novel can take you to some crazy places. Yet until you have a strong protagonist, you have only a daydream, not a story. This is as true in young adult fiction as every other genre. There are no shortcuts. Not even the most dazzling over-the-top plot can conceal an undeveloped protagonist.
Your protagonists race your plot forward, swerve around obstacles, and yes, sometimes barrel over the antagonists in their paths.
Sometimes the antagonists barrel over them.
Is your protagonist a sleek, nitrous-injected Corvette, or is he a Gremlin so meek and sickly, that even you, the author, feels the need to get out and push?
Think about some of the traits of great protagonists. Are they intelligent? Warm? Giving? Clever? Brave? Those are perfectly good traits, but if they are all you have, you’re running the risk of a perfect character. Have you ever known a perfect person or someone who pretends to be? What happens when you encounter these people in real life? Do you like them? Can you relate to them? Can you stand to spend any time in their presence? Case closed.
If you want to touch hearts and sell books, your protagonist needs only two basic traits. Think for a moment. What two traits can allow you to trust your story with this character you’ve created? These two. Your protagonist must be proactive, and she must be sympathetic.
• Memorable protagonists are proactive.A strong protagonist
protags. That doesn’t mean that he rushes out the door like a modern day Don Quixote. Something happens—a change—that forces him to take action. Perhaps a loved one is in danger. Maybe he’s motivated by money, honor, even a threat. Regardless of how reluctant your protagonist, something compels him to move forward and refuse to give up, win or lose.
• Memorable protagonists are sympathetic.You want your reader to cheer for and relate to your protagonist. In order for that to happen, that character must be worthy of such attention. In short, your protagonist needs to be sympathetic or at least empathetic.
Sounds easy enough, right? It’s safe to say that an unfeeling tyrant who marches through the countryside searching for orphans to steal is not sympathetic. Yet, it’s rarely that simple. A protagonist who cares for nothing, who feels nothing, or who robotically floats through his life is just as unsympathetic.
Only by revealing the vulnerable parts of his character, the squishy underbelly that most people try to protect, can we allow the reader to feel for him. The protagonist must have a hole in his life, and you must reveal it.
Maybe Mary had to drop out of school to raise little sis. Unfulfilled dreams are an excellent hole. Or she could be in love with somebody who will never return her feelings, which might remind her of how her father always loved the other sister more. A hole in your life is some missing element that both drives and impedes you. You’d better believe that every person on earth has one.
What’s yours? Look around at your friends and family. What are the holes in their lives? What makes them vulnerable? Any person who claims to have it all together, to possess everything he ever wanted, is usually concealing the biggest gaping black hole that ever devoured a galaxy.
Remember, your goal is to reveal the deep emotions that we’re taught as children to hide. Shame. Longing. Envy. Guilt. Those feelings come without
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on 12/7/2011
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The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Writing Scenesby Diane O’ConnellHave you ever seen pictures of a Hollywood back lot? The buildings look amazingly real, but they’re really just false fronts. There’s no “there” there. Likewise, a scene in a novel may have all the elements that make it appear “real,” but can be as flat as a Hollywood edifice. Events happen, characters say and do things, but the scene doesn’t come alive. So what’s wrong? Likely, the writer has made one or more of these mistakes:
1. Not having a clear point of view Some writers hop from one character’s thoughts to another—a habit I refer to as “brain billiards.” At the other extreme, some scenes don’t have any point of view whatsoever. Events happen in a vacuum, not through the lens of any one character’s viewpoint.
Remedy: Stick to one POV per scene. When choosing which character to use ask, “Who has the most to lose or gain?” Once you answer that, it should become obvious whose POV to choose.
2. Relying too much on dialogueWhen you have a scene that’s almost all dialogue, your readers can get lost and consequently feel disconnected to the scene. Dialogue should be used like spice: sprinkle in just enough to give the scene flavor.
Remedy: To keep readers anchored, break up your dialogue with action, description, internal thought.
3. Piling on the actionThis is a particular danger in thrillers. The writer drags the reader through every step, giving a “blow-by-blow” account of what’s happening. The result is all show and no tell. We see the punches being thrown, struggles, chases, knife fights, but we don’t get the impact of what’s happening.
Remedy: Step back, take a breath, get inside your character’s head, and find ways to combine lots of smaller pieces of action into a bigger picture.
4. Summarizing what happenedThis has the opposite effect of piling on the action. We’re told what happened instead of being thrust right in the middle of the action. Consequently, we don’t really feel involved.
Remedy: Allow the scene to unfold in real time rather than simply saying who did what to whom. Use enough details so that the reader can film a “movie in her mind.”
5. Not having a clear purposeIt’s not enough for a scene to be emotional or funny or colorful or scary. It must have a reason to be in your novel. In my work with first-time authors, too often I have read scenes that seemed more like window dressing than an integral part of the story. In these cases, the scene might be interesting in and of itself, but it leaves the reader scratching her head wondering why the author put it there.
Remedy: Before you write any scene, ask yourself how it serves your story. Each scene should either help a particular character move closer to his ultimate goal—or put up obstacles, creating a struggle.
Once you’ve become aware of these mistakes, and challenged yourself to correct them, you’ll find that your scenes are much richer, deeper, and livelier.
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Artfully Editing Your Personal Essaysby Melanie FaithAh, the spark of inspiration—the keys clacking, the ideas flowing, the wind at your back! Shortly, however, the initial draft is finished, and it’s time to begin the more arduous editing journey. Take heart…and these tips to sculpt your personal essay:
1. Division decision— A bit of creative structuring may take a piece to an exciting new level. In
Crafting The Personal Essay, Dinty W. Moore notes: “While most of my nonfiction writing follows a pretty traditional path, I have also composed essays that mimic the form of a coroner’s report, a made-for-television movie script, and a Zen koan. One of my favorite experiments, ‘Son of Mr. Green Jeans: An Essay of Fatherhood, Alphabetically Arranged’ borrows a form known as abecedarium from the world of poetry.” Consider unique subject headings or organizational methods. Poem titles, favorite thematic quotations, place names, even times of the day may all structure an essay into an intriguing mosaic.
2. Time, time, time— Although writing nonfiction, that doesn’t mean that a writer must adhere strictly to chronological order. Consider flashbacks and flash forwards, mixing chronological time with the more sophisticated timing of personal epiphanies and hard lessons well-learned.
3. Spotlight self—A writer may include many other “characters” within the piece—siblings, neighbors, exes and friends—but the central moments of change must occur for the speaker. Readers want to discover the aha! moment via the first-person narrator; she is the one readers root for and identify with most strongly. Edit or omit sections where discovery takes place through or for another person. An essay will be stronger for narrowing the focus.
4. “You don’t say!”— Dialogue can be a great tool for compression. Are there whole rambling sections describing setting, clothing, or personality that could be expressed more succinctly in a tart remark or an aside? In
Naked, Drunk, and Writing,
Adair Lara advises, “Dialogue is very readable, makes writing move fast, and is the fastest way to reveal character…Keep dialogue short and punchy. We’re not allowed to say much before we’re interrupted by others or something else is going on.” Characterizations are strengthened by lopping off background fluff. A short interchange between speaker and friend can easily demonstrate more complex conflict. Lara further advises, “Dialogue gets interesting when there’s subtext: what characters are saying between the lines.” Trust that your readers will intuit much from less.
5. Edit details that don’t showcase theme(s). While interesting, does this portion contribute to the whole piece? Ask yourself: would a reader who had not experienced this person/event find a meaningful connection with the rest of the essay?
6. Set it aside. Then trust your gut. When writing truth, a writer’s emotional connection to the material can cloud editorial judgment. Take breaks of days or even weeks to let the material cool. With the passage of time, an essayist often finds the courage and perspective to hit the backspace key.
***
By: MP,
on 6/18/2011
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WOW! Women on Writing Blog (The Muffin)
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by Nicky LaMarcoMany freelance writers lack organization and this can cause lost income, which no one wants. Learning how to manage your freelance writing projects is vital to your business since you are working on several different writing projects at a time.
Use a TemplateStart with inbound client paperwork. Keep it on your desk at all times. When a client calls or emails you with a new project you will be able to ask all of the right questions and get it all on paper. Templates save you time and energy. You can create them for invoices, project outlines, e-mails, interviews, articles, and just about anything. To get an idea of what freelancers use them for, check out these helpful
templates for research on WOW
! You can get some other helpful templates on Jennifer Mattern's blog,
All Freelance Writing.
Coordinate Calendars You should have a desk calendar, a home calendar, and a daily planner. Keep them updated on a daily basis. Write deadlines and appointments on your desk calendar. If you need to go to a business meeting write that on all of your calendars. Use your daily planner to write out the tasks you will need to complete every day in order to meet your deadlines and make the money you need to every day. Before the start of your work week pull all three calendars together to ensure you have everything written on each one. And if you don't want to lug around printed calendars, you can always create calendars online with
Google or get an app for your smartphone.
Use a Schedule Create your own schedule and stick to it. If you plan to work from 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday, then do it. Work when you are scheduled to work and do not work when you are not scheduled to. This will help you manage your freelance writing projects and avoid overworking.
Determine Your LimitHow much can you write every day? What is your limit? Knowing this will help you manage projects because you can immediately accept or decline new freelance writing projects. For example, if you mainly write articles and you can write 10 articles a day, but no more, you will know that you can accept more if you are currently writing 8 articles a day. Use a little math to determine how many you will need to write each day in order to meet the deadline. If you can write 2 articles a day to meet the deadline you can immediately accept the new project. If you can't you will need to have a later deadline or decline the project. Don't be afraid to say, "I am sorry but I am currently booked until March 1st," for example. Overworking yourself on too many freelance writing projects will cause burnout and may end up in broken contracts and projects that do not get finished. This results in lost money and a client that will probably never contact you again.
Managing your freelance writing projects will help you become more successful.
Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net*****
By: MP,
on 6/12/2011
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by Lynne GarnerA friend recently asked me where I got my ideas. "Everywhere," was my reply. She looked a little confused so I explained about the three picture books I’ve had published. The first A Book For Bramble evolved from my work with a not-for-profit organization that rescues sick, injured and orphaned hedgehogs. I began to wonder what (if any) dreams hedgehogs have whilst they hibernate. Slowly the story of Bramble the hedgehog and his friend Teasel the mouse evolved.
My second book The Best Jumper grew from a conversation with a friend. We were discussing putting on weight and no longer being able to wear that favourite garment. We agreed at least we had the chance to lose the weight and squeeze back into that garment. Unlike a child who would never be able to squeeze back into their favourite piece of clothing because they’d grown out of it. From that conversation came Spindle and his shrinking jumper.
My last book Dog Did It came from owning a dog. Anyone who lives with a canine friend will know they can sometimes suffer from flatulence. This aromatic problem can sometimes result in a statement along the lines of “the dog did it!”So my three books have come from:· An idle question
· A conversation
· A life experience
Now, although I have taught myself to ask questions my secret tool as a writer is my notepad and a pen which I take everywhere with me. In this way, when I see, hear, read or am told something I feel I could use in a story I write it down. Now that small spark of possible inspiration is not lost. So, if you want to be a writer, arm yourself with that secret tool. Pop it into your bag and get into the habit of jottin
Time Management for Writers
by Kelly L. Stone
One of the primary questions I am asked by aspiring authors is “where do you find time to write?” Most people already know that the answer is you don’t have time, you make time. But making time to write in what feels like an already crammed schedule isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Unless you try counting.
Let me explain.
It is a scientific fact that whenever you start counting the number of times you do a certain behavior, that behavior will either increase or decrease in frequency depending on what you want it to do. So one way to track how often you are doing a behavior is to count it.
Let’s say you have a suspicion that time spent on social networking sites is eating into time that you could be writing instead. How can you tell for sure? Get out a pen and paper and start counting how many hours you spend each day on social sites. One person in my writing classes did this and discovered she was spending 3 hours a day on social networking sites, and this was after working a day job! And she wondered why she never had time to write!
This can be done for anything activity that you want to eliminate, compress, or delegate in order to make time to write: tv watching, checking your email, internet surfing (under the guise of *research*), talking on the phone, going shopping, checking for loose change beneath the sofa cushions, and so forth.
An easy way to find out where you can shoehorn writing into any schedule, no matter how busy, is to use what I call the 24-Hour Time Budget™. It’s simple. Simply track every minute of your day for a few days; I suggest a typical weekday and weekend day for starters. This exercise is similar to writing down every penny you spend in order to get a handle on where your money is going; the goal is for you to see where you are “spending” your time in order to wedge in some writing. After a few days, you’ll have an overview of where the bulk of your time is going. Then you can scrutinize the budget to see where you can eliminate, compress, rearrange, or delegate some activities and fit in writing time, instead.
Don’t be surprised if you find, like my former student, that you spend a lot more time in non-essential activities than you thought you did. (The average person watches more than 4 hours of television a night.) Just lop off some hours on the social networking sites and focus on your WIP instead.
Leave a comment letting me know where you discovered you’re spending all your time, and be entered into a drawing to win a TIME TO WRITE or THINKING WRITE lecture packet. Two winners will be selected from a random drawing.
***
Kelly L. Stone’s (
http://www.authorkellylstone.com/) novel, GRAVE SECRET (Mundania Press, September 2007) was called “powerful” and “well written” by RT Book Reviews. She is the author TIME TO WRITE, THINKING WRITE, and her latest book for writers is LIVING WRITE: The Secret to Bringing Your Craft Into Your Daily Life (Adams Media, September 2010).
Kelly is also a WOW! Women on Writing Classroom instructor. Her interactive workshop EMPOWER YOUR MUSE, EMPOWER YOUR WRITING SELF starts Monday, June 6th. Click he
+Kelly+Stone.jpg)
Karen,
This is interesting. I need to read this again (rushing out the door right now) but you have my mind reeling on what I could do different! Thanks!
Margo
Karen,
Thanks for the information. I'm always so confused about the best option for my blogging site about authors. Every few months I change it to static from current post and haven't been able to distinguish a difference in traffic.
What are your thoughts?
Thanks for reading,
Sarah Butland author of Sending You Sammy, Brain Tales – Volume One and Arm Farm