Blogger of the Week:
Christy Raedeke...
Oregon-based YA author Christy Raedeke is a self-proclaimed "compulsive blogger." Here she talks about starting out, why she blogs, and offers some advice to those just dipping their toes into the blogosphere. Click here to visit her blog Juvenescence (I love the name!)
Why did you start blogging?
I really started blogging about five years ago with a blog unknown to even my husband! I think blogging is a really interesting way to get your writing gears moving every morning. A year ago I started the blog Juvenescence, which gave my blogging a bit of focus. Wait, what’s less than a bit? A smidge? Okay, it’s more like a smidge of focus.
What do you blog about?
I started this blog to connect with other writers, not as a marketing tool. I try to include anecdotal information about the publishing process as I go through it and I’ve started doing interviews with debut authors, but a lot of the time I post about things that are happening in my life. Vignettes, I guess.
What advice would you offer new bloggers?
If anyone is thinking of starting a blog, I’d say go for it! It’s free and it’s incredibly easy to figure out. (It takes literally less than five minutes to set up a blog.) Blogging will quickly become a natural part of your daily writing practice. And there’s something magical about the “Publish Post” button that you click to get a new post on your blog; think of it as your daily commitment to publishing. I had no readers the first month, a handful the second, and then the growth was exponential. Stick with it. Post often, even if it’s a short one. Make friends with other bloggers—there are people I know through blogging whom I would hug like long-lost kin if I met them in person, that’s how much I love them.
Tell me about your upcoming titles with Flux.
This was my deal report from Publishers Marketplace:
Christy Raedeke’s PROPHECY OF DAYS, pitched as a YA Da Vinci Code relating to the Mayan calendar which mysteriously ends in 2012, in which a teen, with the help of a gorgeous Scottish lad, must figure out her role in a cryptic prophecy while trying to outwit a secret society that will stop at nothing to control her, to Andrew Karre at Flux, in a two-book deal, for publication in Summer 2010, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (North America).
Great advice, Christy. Blogging is easy and takes a commitment but it's a great way to connect with writers and readers.
http://www.marycunninghambooks.com
Great interview. Off to check out her blog. :)
Congrats, Christy.
This is so great, Alice! Thanks for featuring me!
The greatest thing about Christy is that she is so generous in teaching the tricks of the trade, primarily, how to write for YA, and also tips on conferences, queries, etc, etc.
Fortunate to be in her writing group, I've read her upcoming Flux book, PROPHECY OF DAYS. Let me tell you all: this little morsel is really something! Character, plot, setting...a five-course delight!
Excellent blog, Christy! Yours, too, Alice!
Everyone should read this blog, it's fantastic!
Great pick, Alice!
I loved your post- and the interview as well!! I adore blogging- unfortunately it has been interfering with my real life!!!
great interview.....
If anyone hasn't been, Christy's blog is highly entertaining!
Like Suzanne says, great choice!
Just like a good cup of coffee in the morning, reading Christy's blog is a part of my daily ritual. Love the random topics, general hilarity, reader comments. Christy rocks the blogosphere!
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we love Christy! :)
Great choice! Congratulations, Christy.
I just started following Christy's blog. It is so highly entertaining that I try to read it every morning before the
kids get up. She is definitely one to keep an eye on, and I'm anxiously anticipating the release of her novel!!
Everyone needs a smidge of focus. Is a pinch more than a smidege but less than a bit? Let me know!
Every day is something new and better than anything I could ever think of -- FABULOUS!!!
I love Blogging. It has become a great outlet for me and it has become a great marketing tool.
I find that when I am talking to someone I get a little more negative about some things, but when I Blog, I can edit and find considerably more positive ways to say things and that is helping me build my character as well as my writing skills.
http://karensyed.blogspot.com
Great interview, and thanks for the links.
Reading Juvenescence is a daily reminder of the thin line between reality and the dream where I show up for first period math in my underwear.
It was a dream, right?
Christy motivates everyone she meets, and she shares her knowledge and experience with those around her--her blog is just one more way to spread the hilarious and poignant wealth. So glad you discovered her.--Marcia
Yay Christy! Congrats on being featured here. Alice does it again - telling everyone about another great blog!
Namaste,
Lee
Love Christy's blog, I hit refresh daily hoping for more more more! Her writing is a technicolor illumination of a true thinker, observer oh yeah, and smeller.
More please.
I am also new to the blogging community. The first month I had almost no comments, the second I had a handful too, and well I am in the third month. So we will see. I enjoy blogging. I started it has a way to network with other people in literature. I am an aspiring author so I need to know what the haps is in the literary world. My blog is mainly about writing and books that I have read. I try to post several writing assignments a week, they are just things that I do at home to make writing part of my everyday life. Anyway I will stop typing now. Happy Blogging!!!