Writer Worry

Even though I just wrote three articles today, I was feeling a little guilty and worried that I hadn't written a blog post in a while.

In a way it is partly due to feeling as if I didn't really have anything I deemed worthy of writing about.  I mean why write something that isn't going to benefit someone, yes?  Then I realized that maybe there are other writers out there with similar worry.

To those of you out there sweating this particular small stuff, I offer the following that assuaged my worry: Mark Cuban has a blog.  I noticed he only blogs about once a month.  If it is good enough for Mark Cuban to go that long without adding a new post, it is good enough for me.

In case you are wondering about the three articles, I write articles for examiner.com as their LA arts examiner and as their LA sightseeing examiner.  Examiner.com has been sending me emails about lists being the new thing.  Apparently they help with search engine optimization and some other such stuff like that.

Today I thought I would give this list article writing opportunity a try.  It was a bit more complicated than their straight-forward article writing template.  So it took me quite a bit longer than I ever imagined.  However, if I do say so myself, I am proud of it as a first attempt.  I share a link here: http://www.examiner.com/list/15-reasons-to-visit-union-station-downtown-l-a.

After publishing the article and reviewing it, I am a little concerned.  The list portion of the article doesn't seem so obvious to me in the way/where it is placed in the article.  You know? If I was someone who stumbled upon this article and didn't know about the list thing would I wonder what is up. You know?  Like where the heck is the rest of the article.  I guess we'll see what kind of feedback examiner.com gets from this.

Here are links to the other two articles. 1.  an article about APE the book. http://www.examiner.com/article/kawasaki-and-welch-aim-for-ape-to-be-go-to-resource-for-artisanal-publishing 
2.  an article about HRC's pink and red graphic becoming inspiration for artistic expression 
http://www.examiner.com/article/hrcs-pink-and-red-equal-graphic-becomes-inspiration-for-artistic-expression

Number 2 is about the speed which the HRC pink and red equal sign logo whizzed through the webosphere (according to my spell check, webosphere is not a word and I beg to differ) inspiring all sorts of artistic interpretations.  The photo accompanying this blog post is one of my faves.  Looks like we have the folks at visiblefriends.net to thank.  Thank you, visible friends.

Send to Kindle

Send to Kindle Button

Would you enjoy making it easy to have people send your content to their Kindle for viewing later at their leisure?  Think of it?  This may be the difference between them reading your content and not reading it.  

This is the link to the Kindle Daily Post with information about adding the "send to Kindle button" to your web content: http://www.kindlepost.com/2013/03/send-to-kindle-button.html

I added the button to this blog already and tested it with my newly installed Kindle for my android.  Voila!  Almost as if by magic, it sent my blog contents to my Kindle.

With all the many ways you can have a virtual Kindle device and/or a Kindle this button can be an asset to your web real estate.  That's pretty sweet.

You don't need to be very tech savvy to add the button.  If I can do it... Once I read the Amazon blog post about adding the button, I clicked the link to get the HTML.  There is a lot of stuff on this page I won't pretend to understand.  Instead, I just decided to throw caution to the wind and see what happened if I copied the HTML that appeared when I clicked on the "generate widget code" button.

For this end, the blogger end, this is what I did:

1. I clicked "design"
2. Then I clicked "layout"
3. Then I picked a place to "add a gadget" and clicked
4. Not seeing an already predone option, I chose the "HTML/JavaScript" option
5. In the title section I typed, "Send to Kindle Button"
6. In the content section, I first pasted the HTML that I'd copied from Step 1 on the Amazon page.  Then I added to that HTML by pasting the HTML from Step 2 in the content section.
7. Then I clicked the "save" button.
8. As a precaution, I always click any other "save" buttons that show up.
9. Then I click "view blog" button to view my newly updated blog.  And voila! 
10. Then I clicked my newly installed "send to kindle button".
11. Doing this prompted me to sign in with my Amazon info.  I use my email and my password.
12. A box showed up asking me to choose which of my registered Kindle devices I would like to have the info sent to.
13. I chose my Kindle for Android (which I first had to install, but for our purposes here I will assume you already have some sort of registered Kindle device)
14. Then I checked my Android Kindle in the Archive section.  There was my content.

 I'd be lying if I said I didn't think this was really cool.  I loved how the info exchange made my content look like a book.

One thing I don't know about (that if anyone reading this does and would love to share, thank you in advance).  Is there a way for me to do something so the cover of my book looks a little more exciting?  Although, if I have downloaded the content to my device, I am most likely in it for the content and not what the cover looks like.

Also, I added a button to the bottom of every blog post thinking this would allow the reader the option to send only that particular blog post to their Kindle.  My entire blog content was sent to my Kindle.  This blog is quite small at the moment being new and all.  This could be an issue with a well-established blog that already has hundreds of posts.  So...this may be something to experiment with.
There you have it.  Now, what would be more phenomenal than this?

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Would you be interested in writing advice from E. L. James

E. L. James, author of the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' trilogy, along with publisher, Vintage Books, is publishing and releasing "Fifty Shades of Grey: Inner Goddess (A Journal)".

Appropriately clad in leather, the journal includes writing advice from Ms. James interspersed with lined pages. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the journal includes space "to record the journal owner's deepest thoughts and personal musings."

Ms. James shared that feedback from readers prompted the creation of the journal.

Considering the 'Fifty Shades' series of books were initially released as an e-book and print-on-demand paperback in May 2011 and have since sold over 65 million copies worldwide, it is understandable that fans would seek writing advice from Ms. James.

Publishers Weekly named E. L. James their Publishing Person of the Year for 2012. This choice created controversy as many "talented" writers have, to sum up, called her writing: terrible prose.

The journal is slated for buyer availability on May 1, 2013.

Is the 'Inner Goddess' journal a good idea? I would appreciate knowing what you think!

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Comixology: self publishing platform for comic books

As the mother of two now grown sons, comics were a welcome book substitute.  They were cool enough that my sons enjoyed reading them.  They were great reading practice tools.  Loved it!

Some boys never grow up, if you get my drift.  Not that it is necessarily a bad thing.  And now, they have a platform to self-publish comic books.  How cool is that?

Today's guest blogger is Adi Robertson who wrote about this subject on March 8, 2013 for the online publication, The Verge.

"Digital distribution has spurred new interest in self-publishing, with storefronts like Apple's iBookstore creating special tools for authors who work outside the traditional publisher model. At the same time, Comixology has helped bring digital versions of traditional comics into the mainstream, creating a broad platform that moved beyond either webcomics or titles from single publishing houses. Now, Comixology is launching Submit, its own publishing tool for indie authors.

Opened in private beta last year, Submit lets creators upload comics for approval. From there, Comixology reviews work to make sure it "maintains a level of professional content," then adds it to the catalog. Besides getting a storefront, authors will have their work formatted for Comixology's mobile apps, with a panel-by-panel view that's proved useful on small screens. In return, they'll give up a hefty chunk of revenue: there's no up-front fee, but Comixology keeps half the money from each sale after other processing fees, and like other in-app purchases, sales through the iOS app will see Apple take its own cut.

"No up-front fee, but Comixology gets half the net money from each sale." 

Submit isn't the only self-publishing tool for comics: similar service Graphicly has been around for several years, and it's possible to create and submit graphic novels with iBooks Author. Authors who publish through Comixology can also still sell their books on other platforms.

Update: Comixology clarifies that its take is half the net sale amount, which means processing fees (or fees for the App Store) will be deducted and authors and Comixology will receive half of what's left."

Ms. Robertson's cited source for this article is Comic Book Resources (PR)

Image is public domain as copyright was not renewed.

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Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling

Today's blog is written by guest blogger, Cate Allen, a Melbourne based writer and editor.

These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list - When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres.

1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
3. Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
4. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
8. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
9. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
10. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
12. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
13. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
14. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
15. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
16. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
17. No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
18. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
20. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
21. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
22. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Lori Bjork
lbjork9999@yahoo.com
http://lbjork9999.wix.com/writer-for-hire

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When Words Fail Me

I love that the secret to writing isn't really a secret, right?  Write.

So, when words don't seem to come, what's a gal...a SoCal gal to do?  Just begin writing.  Write anything.  And before you now it...

Of course, as a writer for hire, it is the greatest to write when someone is paying me.

What may I write for you today?

Give me a topic.  Hire me to blog for you or write an article from a broader topic TO transcribing your audio musings into something pretty and lucid TO fleshing out your written outline, notes or ramblings into something pretty and lucid.

What may I write for you today?

How about you?

You know you want me to.

Lori Bjork
lbjork9999@yahoo.com
http://lbjork9999.wix.com/writer-for-hire