A little bubbly and sober thoughts

            As I've often shared with visitors to my blog that we go on frequent hikes in the not quite high country-- meaning we find great views and hikes in the foothills that are within a half hour drive from our home. One of our favs, but one that I have never posted any pictures of is Green Mountain. The name Green Mountain has always been a somewhat ironically named hill as most of the year it is brown- except this year! We had so much rain in May that the tabletop hill just to the west of the city is as green as the much hardier evergreens that color the mountains behind it.

My son and I once saw a baby rattler on the trail here! A little scary!

Walks are a nice time to reflect and this particular day I was reflecting on my writing and on the topic I've been blogging about for the past couple of weeks. 

            I take it from the response (or lack thereof?? Some of you responded! Thank you!!!! ) that some of you might been embarrassed that I was saying it out loud OR I was simply stating the "well duh" of blogging obviousness.But of course if your plan is to  use your blog for your platform building or your advertising base, then I think the question becomes a great big: HOW????  

Maybe you have a plan??? (care to share???)  

A flower's view from the top looking westward

 I mean, I think there are the things we all do which may feel like A Plan: blogfests, the Writer's Platform Building Crusades, etc. where we meet other writers and follow each other, build a support base. And that is fine!! It's good. I am not criticizing them. I believe that bloggers are a community and support for each other is a good thing! The only problem is that it doesn't necessarily reach readers- it reaches other writers (again, not a bad thing...!!!) And as Talie commented on my last post "Building a brand can be hard, I think social networking these days is definitely a good way to start but then to get readers buying - that is the question! ;-)"
      Which is exactly my point! As I have said to you I am a realist (or as close to being a realist as a writer can be-- haha!) and I would like to have readers one day (wouldn't you???). I mean, I will write whether I ever get published or whether I ever have any readers of my work or not, because I simply must.
But my hope is not to have boxes of unread manuscript for my loved ones to send off with my ashes when I die (I mean, how morbid to have all that time and effort  quietly floating in the air above Key West following the gulf stream for who knows how long then finally come to an end as fish food. Sounds fine for my worn out flesh... but my work??).

Our evening is capped off with a bottle of champagne!

 No! I hope for more. So I am looking out over the blogosphere and the World Wide Web-- I mean not EVERYWHERE (and while I am at it, if you want to be thoroughly depressed about your creative endeavors, you can hop over to Michael Offut's blog and read his post on what it's going to take to even get published, click here. It's a reminder too as to why we all keep blogging.) as it doesn't take a thorough search to begin to get some ideas of what may work and what may not. And, as I looked around I spoke to a few other book purchasing friends (in other words: potential customers!!!! Well, not mine, we have different tastes but you get the point. They buy books! They are some of the few!) I got their take on what they thought would draw them to a particular site for a book purchase.

Sunset over the Rocky Mountains

But in the meantime I wanted to analyze my own blogging preferences: I follow 258 blogspot bloggers. That does not include those lovely bloggers who have Wordpress or Tumblr blogs so if it were all totaled up I might follow close to 300 blogs. I do not follow you all as well as I would like. I'm not great at keeping up even with Google Reader's aid but I do try to pop in when I can and there are some I am better at than others because I have developed a connection with the blogger, so to be perfectly frank, I make more of an effort to check on those blogs more frequently (as do you, don't lie!). 

              But then there are blogs I follow because I find them interesting whether or not I have a connection with the blogger and it is those blogs or websites that I am most interested in discussing, because they are also blogs or websites of authors. 

So Bear with! 

A partial view of Denver as we are coming down the hill after sunset. 

One of my very favorite authors is Jeanette Winterson. She is a British author and had a best selling book some years ago called Oranges are not the Only Fruit (loved this book and I highly recommend it to all and I often purchase if for a gift!) but has written MANY books since then which are featured on her site. She has a lovely website which I enjoy but I don't visit it very often. Click here and see what you think of her site. Tell me what you think about it. Would you visit it frequently if you loved her books? 

The second website I would have loved for you to see was for a book called Special Topics in Calamity Physics by New York Times best selling author Marisha Pessl. Unfortunately the website is down so I will just tell you the website is super cool but it is just for the book and tells you nothing about the author at all. There is nothing interactive for visitors at all- no updates on the author... (could this spell trouble for her???)  What do you think about her site being down and no word on a next book or a site for her? 

The third website/blog is maintained by best selling author Jerry Coyne who wrote "Why Evolution is True" (the site is named the same.) I think his site has the most to teach all of us (please don't let content get in your way!), but what do you think? 

Do you know of any blogs or websites that you follow because they are interesting and they simply draw you in? Tell me about them! 

I'd love to hear! 

I know this is a lot of work here but I do think it might just be worth it! 

More to come!!! 

PS If I am breaking my rule about long winded posts, I apologize! I don't know how to break these up anymore and still keep some continuity. I am trying not to be too rambly.  

Building the Brand

Responses to my post concerning why bloggers blogged were pretty varied: Many like Chris at The Kelworth Files , Mary at Mainewords and Trisha at WORD + STUFF mentioned the friendships and the sense of community and Michael at In Time said, “First, I've learned so much about writing. This community is so helpful and bloggers/friends go out of there way to help... [meeting] so many wonderful people who I really do consider friends." Liz Fichera said “Blogging for me is a release, of sorts. It's a way to connect with people in an otherwise very solitary profession. I do it because it's fun” And Ann Best said, “Blogging is what I had to do, said my publisher, because I could promote my book otherwise.”  Ladyfi does it for herself as she writes for a living. Talei at Musings of an Aspiring Scribe spoke about blogging helping her to develop her "writing voice- which is one of the key reasons I took it up." While Conchscooter blogs in order to show how time passes on Key West with wonderful pictures of the island. All valid reasons to blog, I think!! 

However, I am a realist, I think. And I think that we all have to face that our blogs, while being fun and a way to meet friends and being a way to practice our craft are also a way to reach out into the world. A way to promote ourselves even when we aren't really intending to-- in the same way we unintentionally tell future bosses (or voters!!!) something about ourselves when we post unfortunate photographs of ourselves on Facebook or Twitter (what were you thinking Rep Weiner!?!?!?!) After all, all someone has to do if they want to see what we're REALLY like when we're not presenting our best foot forward is to google your name and wa-la your name will pop up with more than one link. And hopefully those links will show you in the most positive light. If not, then perhaps it's the light you want to be seen in and not the light that will make future readers run the other direction! 

Orchids given to me from my daughter for Mother's Day last year brighten up my bookshelf

Ann Best (who I might add has just published her memoir In the Mirror, A Memoir of Shattered Secrets) is in the throes of finding out how to get her work OUT THERE. She is experiencing first hand how difficult it is to promote her book which is essentially promoting herself. You might look at her experience and write it off as being the experience of a writer who is published for the first time or who is published by a small publishing house or who's agent simply didn't get her the best deal except that... author after author speaks of the same quandary. A few weeks ago, on a local radio program, radio host David Sirota bemoaned the difficulty he was having promoting his new book. He was thanking someone who had allowed him on their show to promo his book and saying how hard it was to get the word out about a newly published book and how much he appreciated their allowing him to come on their show. That from a man who has his own radio show! 

Aubrey and girlfriend Nisa gave me this orchid for Easter- a house full of color!  

Then I read an article in the New York Times Book Review section where essayist Tony Perrottet takes all writers into his confidence, "As every author knows, writing a book is the easy part these days. It’s when the publication date looms that we have to roll up our sleeves and tackle the real literary labor: rabid self-promotion. For weeks beforehand, we are compelled to bombard every friend, relative and vague acquaintance with creative e-mails and Facebook alerts, polish up our Web sites with suspiciously youthful author photos, and, in an orgy of blogs, tweets and YouTube trailers, attempt to inform an already inundated world of our every reading, signing, review, interview and (well, one can dream!) TV ­appearance...whenever I have a new book about to come out, I have to shake the unpleasant sensation that there is something unseemly about my own clamor for attention. Peddling my work like a Viagra salesman still feels at odds with the high calling of literature." He goes on to show how writers in history have engaged in what he calls "literary whoring." 

I was surprised to find him mention Balzac. But apparently the great writer was quoted to have said “For artists, the great problem to solve is how to get oneself noticed.” And then he quotes Stendahl who said in his autobiography “Memoirs of an Egotist,” “Great success is not possible without a certain degree of shamelessness, and even of out-and-out charlatanism.” Hmmm... well, okay, perhaps it's not just a modern problem but surely writers were rewarded more for their skill then they are today where a name gets them ahead of the game???? (How is it that Patricia Cornwell seems to have a book out every other day? The woman can't even seem to spell!) He goes on to tell this story as recounted "in “Lost Illusions,” Balzac observes that it was standard practice in Paris to bribe editors and critics with cash and lavish dinners to secure review space, while the city was plastered with loud posters advertising new releases." And then this! "In 1887, Guy de Maupassant sent up a hot-air balloon over the Seine with the name of his latest short story, “Le Horla,” painted on its side."

Orchids from stepson Aubrey brighten up my kitchen window (also this spring

All right! I get it. Writers have had to promote themselves through pretty extreme measures for a long time already in order to sell books. And any illusions I have had that my book is going to leap into the hands of readers just because it is good is just naive. Because no matter how good it is it is still going to take a lot of promotion to get it into the hands of people so that they can find out it's good. SO the big question is: How do I promote my book? After all I don't even have a radio show from which to start? And I don't expect the New York Times Book Review Section is going to be asking me to write an essay on book publishing any time soon where I can add a blurb about my newly published book either. No, sadly, the only thing standing between me and the reading world at this moment is my blog. And for better or for worse, that is where it is all going to start or will start when I ready to start promoting it. The question is.... How is that gonna happen?????? 

Thus ends pt. 2... but stay tuned! More to come!!!

*Pictures taken and edited by me. Added to ease the message and add a moment of zen to your day! Hope you enjoy!  

What's in it for me???

So back from the blog vacation and while I was "gone" I was thinking about the next big post I wanted to write. In the real world I was working a lot. I am on a task force (sounds very formidable and formal doesn't it?) that is putting together a training manual for The Library. It's not finished yet but the biggest part of it is done and is a 250+/- document. My share was much smaller but it took a lot of my energy. So now that we've got the big stuff done, perhaps (perhaps???) blogging can be more like usual. Life when I wasn't working has been full of the usual walks on lovely mountain paths...

At any rate, as I pondered what I would I write and one of the things that I have been thinking about was why do I blog? Why do any of us blog?

So maybe I should just start at the beginning. (This may take more than one post... ) 

In October it will be three years. I began blogging because a teacher friend- Amy Kalinchuk  of Craft e-Revolution said I should blog and join NaBloWriMo. Why would I do that? and what in the world is NaBloWriMo and why would I join? A blog is an online journal she said as she sat in my comfy blue chair and NaBloWriMo is National Blog Writer's Month and a bunch of us all sign up to write on our blog every month. And why would I do that?  Because you're a writer and it's good practice- a place to write every day. 

Blue skies peering down at us through the rock.

At the time, I was working as a middle school librarian with the pay of a paraprofessional. I didn't have a teaching degree or a MLS but I was expected to do all the same tasks the teaching librarians did (learning on the job)... without the pay. In some regards though it was a great job and one of the great things about it was that I had some time to write when the work was all caught up and there wasn't a heavy stream of kids in the library. Kids would trickle in and I would have time to do my own thing whilst supervising the book shoppers (although generally they were just trying to get out of class so I always had to make sure I was keeping an eye out on the time). Blogging seemed an easy way to write what was on my mind without requiring too much solid concentration. 

Mo took this picture a mile or so into our hike. 

NaBloWriMo was quite a challenge but it was fun. I didn't really know the etiquette of blogging, didn't know I should follow people or have any desire to have followers (in fact I kind of dreaded them I think). I wrote on politics and religion and my family and I was always somewhat surprised (perhaps taken aback!) when someone would comment. It wasn't until I met a real blogging (Key West Diary) community that I started seeing how fun a blog could really be! 

You meet people and you have conversations. Perhaps you support one another or you just have fun. Whatever the case, many times you find things in common because you are writing about things that you care about and that others who like what you like are commenting on your blog or commenting on your comment. So, now I found two reason to blog. I was writing and I was making connections (although admittedly there were still not a lot of people stopping by my blog). But as I move on, I think there it's time to process this thing out because blogging takes time and building a community of followers who are really friends takes time. Having gained 182 followers (and I appreciate each and every one of you!!!) takes time! But is it worth it? Is it taking away too much from writing? Or will it have pay off and if so, how? What's blogging doing for me? 

So what about you... What is blogging doing for you?  

Ollie Ollie Oxen Free!!!

Alright... it took me enough time but I've been tagged by the lovely Talei of Musings of an Aspiring Scribe and I have not yet passed it on. BUT! I have the perfect excuse!!!! I've been on blog vacation (just look at the beautiful pictures I've been posting for the past few weeks and see what you've been missing by not tagging along!) and (in the real world) I've been working the last nine days with one day off (does that make sense? I worked 5 days- had one day off and then worked 4 more days) and I could only just bring myself to do a little writing that day. Nothing has gotten done- dishes are piled high, house needs vacuumed and the laundry is done but needs hung up so I haven't had time to play tag. BUT! having made my excuses I am adding a caveat to the game that appplies to the rest of the players (which I am glad Talei didn't do to me or I would have been doing this) so you better read to the end to see what happens to the loser... 

 1.  Do you think you're hot?

I am ze locksmith of love, no? (Who did I steal that quote from and you win... something)
2.  Upload a picture or wallpaper you're using at the moment.
I am (illegally- did I say that???) using a picture of a talented artist named  Marth de Poo.  The picture is called 'Francis Street'.
 
3.  When was the last time you ate chicken meat?
Sunday- Quesadillas! 

4.  The songs you listened to recently.
I wake up with a "theme song" each morning that I must have running through my head during the night. Sometimes it sticks with me all day- sometimes not. Here are a few that I often wake up with: 
Aimee Mann: Red Vines
Bird York: Wicked Little High
Melissa Ethridge: Fearless Love
Dido: Don't Believe in Love

5.  What were you thinking as you were doing this?
That I have waited way toooooo long to get this done!

6.  Do you have nicknames?  What are they?
Just a few: as a kid my cousin called me Donut, my brothers called me Nette, friends have called me "D" a few dared to called me Danny- about once. And some real morons called me Damn-it. LONG STORY but it's what happens to kids in really restricted private Christian school environments. 


7.   Tag eight blogger friends.
Ann Best
Donea Lee
Alberta 
Patrick
Trish
Lisa M Potts
Mary
Michael


Who's listed as No.1?   Ann Best! She's been tagged recently but I'm going to tag her again with the hopes that you will all go visit her and wish her the best as she gets her book underway. Congratulations Ann!!!! 
Say Something about No.5.  Trish, it was a pleasure finding a kindred spirit! 
How did you know No.3? I met Alberta in the Crusader Challenge- we were in the same group together. It has been interesting to learn about her disability and how she has adapted in order to write. 
How about No. 4?  Patrick  was also in the Crusader Challenge. I have found him to be a witty and thoughtful blogger.
Leave a message for No.6. Can't wait for the Running of the Roses next year, Lisa!   
Leave a lovey-dovey message for No.2.  "come wiz me to ze Casbah - we shall make beautiful musicks togezzer!" Did I mention Pepe Le Pew was my hero? (Hope you can sing Donea- 'cause I can! And that's it-- there will be no real lovey dovey stuff.)     
Do No.7 and No.8  have any similarities? As most of my blogging friends- they love to write I met them early on in a blogfest but perhaps more importantly they enjoy life and having a good laugh! Such Fun!!! 

Now here's the rub: In the real game of tag the last one caught was IT! Well you've all been tagged so the last one to post your list gets to include either an embarrassing picture of yourself or your most embarrassing moment - you get to choose. 

*shew, now I can head back to the beach*