Celebrating 150!

I reached a milestone in the last week that I just now noticed – this little blog now has 150 terrific followers! I appreciate each and every one of you for the encouragement and comments you’ve sent my way over the years. You are the reason I do this. Thank you.

So, How’s the Book?

This blog is supposed to be about my author’s journey, right?  That’s why it’s called WordWacker; I’m slogging through a jungle of words, looking for the right ones and slashing away at the wrong ones. I haven’t posted anything about the book in weeks, though, so it’s about time for an update.

Tomorrow Never Comes #IWSG

I’m working my way through my revisions – but very, very slowly. I keep thinking, “Yes, I need to do that, only right now I need to do this, so I’ll get to the revision tomorrow.” But you know what? Tomorrow never comes.

100 Celebration!

I’m celebrating today! Last night the 100th wonderful person made the decision to follow this blog. I could write a lot here about what reaching this milestone means for me and my blog, but there’s really only one thing I want to say: THANK YOU. I promise not to let you down.

What Readers Can’t Do

Yesterday I said that when readers tell us something is wrong in what we write, then by definition something is wrong and we have to listen. However,  not   everything readers say about our writing is true. How do we tell the difference?

What Readers Can Do

Now that I’ve got some people actually reading my words, I’m thinking about what readers can do for writers (besides buying our books, of course!). Back in grad school I took a course on professional writing. This is the first of two posts on what I learned about how to use readers’ advice.

Getting Out There, Part 2 #IWSG

It’s time for my November check-in with the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, the lovely mutual aid society that connects those of us struggling with our words. This month’s awesome co-hosts are Stephen Tremp, Karen Walker, Denise Covey, and Tyrean Martinson. Thanks to the whole support group!

I’m a lot less insecure right now than I was 24 hours ago, because I did it – I read from my work to others for the very first time at the monthly meeting of R-SPEC. I promised last month that I would, and I did!  From this experience I learned three important things.

Happy Gaming Place #photochallenge

Where’s my happy place? In the shared imagination of my gaming friends. Here’s my heartfelt ode to fantasy role-playing games.

Barriers Outside and In #photochallenge #IWSG

Two birds with one post: a response to this week’s Daily Post photo challenge: Boundaries, and to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (hosted this time byTB Markinson, Tamara Narayan,Shannon Lawrence, Stephanie Faris, and Eva E. Solar). I’m an insecure writer trying to understand the boundaries, outside and inside, between me and my writing goals.

Four Lessons From a Year of Blogging

WordWacker is one year old today. Hooray!

Looking back, what have I learned in this last year?  Aside from “everything” and “not enough,” that is?

Here’s a summary of what I think I’ve learned.

1. I’m still a newbie. This is the biggest one, I think. A year is not nearly enough to figure out how to do this blogging thing well. I’ve made it a ways up the learning curve (thanks to some help – see the next point!), and I almost think I can see the top from here, but there’s still a long way to go.
2. I’m not going alone. There are lots of folks out there giving lots of help along the way. Let me point out two that have been especially helpful. I can’t say enough good things about the great folks at Blogging University. I went through their Blogging 101 course and highly recommend it, and I will be looking into other courses they offer as well. I’ve also gleaned helpful insights from Reflections, a blog about blogging. Other bloggers have been generous with suggestions and helpful tips. Thank you, all of you.
3. It’s more fun than I expected. I started blogging because I thought that having a social media presence would be useful in my hoped-for career as a published author, and I should have something in place, with a history behind it, before that magic moment when my book comes out. But along the way I found it was a delightful creative challenge to plan posts, write them, and release them into the world. It has been especially fun to get feedback and responses from people (I’ve had over 400 visitors and over 50 subscribers – wow! Welcome, everyone!). Another source of fun has been figuring out what would be an appropriate image to anchor each post and doing the photography and photo editing. For this one, I got to buy a cupcake (and then eat it of course). It’s all been a blast!
4. It’s all about what I say. Clever images, Facebook links, and everything else aside, no blog will work if it doesn’t have the right things to say, so that’s what I spend most of my energy on. I’m not on target yet, but I’m working on it! I think there are three things that are key here.
   • I need to have something to say. This blog started focused on my writing, which gives me a niche.
   • I need to have something else to say. Nobody would read a blog just about what I’ve done each day in writing, so I need to bring in other things as well. I think of it as ripples spreading out from that central focus on writing: writing tips, writing and authorship, book reviews and analyses, and general commentary about things happening around me.
   • I need to say what people want to read. This is not just me, talking to myself in some kind of isolation chamber. If the blog is nothing but self-indulgence it won’t go far.

My bottom line is that what makes a blog work is its readers. You, right there. Yes, you. *taps on glass* You are what drives this blog forward every day. With your help and support, I’ll make it through another year.

Thank you.