Building a Social Media Platform

My resolution for the new year was to get with the program, technology-wise, and start acting like a writer of the twenty first century.  Specifically, I resolved to build my social media platform.  That means Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, all that lovely stuff I have already joined but haven't spent a ton of time on, writer-wise.  And frankly, shoring up my wobbly platform is just a bit intimidating.

The fact is, I've neglected my blog, ignored Twitter, and used my Facebook page for strictly personal use.  It's not that I don't have much to say as a writer - sometimes, I've got too MUCH to say.  It's just that in my head, there's this little voice warning me, "Don't say that.  Don't put that down in words.  For God's sake, don't WRITE that where other people can see it!"

You see, every year or so, the teaching staff at my school has to sit through a teeth-grittingly tedious and blood-pressure raisingly irritating staff meeting about the public face of teachers.  Namely, that we are all teachers 24/7, that we are bound to our professional personas with chains of lead, and that anything that we say or do in our personal lives can and will be used against us if we're not careful.  I get it, in a way... teachers who go out partying every weekend and post pictures all over Instagram of themselves getting wasted or teachers who loudly advocate on Facebook for the legalization of recreational marijuana are not really the role models we want teaching our children.  But I get the heeby-jeebies at the thought that people might be watching ME, analyzing anything I post or tweet, just looking for an excuse to complain to my principal or superintendent about my unprofessional behavior.

This leads, of course, to the necessity of cultivating a professional face for the public... and that opens up an entirely new doorway leading down a hall I don't particularly want to walk.  While I don't consider myself half the icon the fictional Atticus Finch was, I've always loved To Kill a Mockingbird and yearned to be, as Miss Maudie says of Atticus, the same person in my house as I am on the public streets.  I don't want to cultivate a public face.  I just want to be myself, and be enough in that self that I don't need to worry about what anyone says or thinks about me.

All of this makes shoring up my social media platform a challenge, to say the least.  I can grit my teeth and post blandly on my Facebook author's page account, looking for inspirational quotes and pictures of kittens to fill that space; I can join Twitter, though I'm not sure I have the time right now to make it a worthwhile effort.  And I can dust off this blog, and try to make an entry a week - or can this blog entirely and start afresh, maybe, since anyone looking at the frequency of my past posts will see that I'm not exactly a regular updater.  But will I be able to be myself, as a writer?  Is that desirable?  Is it wise?

I guess I'll just have to try it and find out.

Blogging for Writers, Part 2

As I mentioned a few posts back, I'm working my way through a little book called Blogging for Writers.  So far, I'm fairly pleased with it - though it doesn't go deep enough into the questions and topics that bounce around my mind as I think about my blog.  Namely...

1. Privacy vs. living publicly.  How does one balance the need for privacy in a full-disclosure culture?  How much can, or should, one blog about one's personal life?  In that light, how is it beneficial to blog about what you're currently writing - or even to blog bits of works in progress?  I live in fear of someone snatching my ideas, let alone my work... and my family worries about oversharing.  Not a great foundation for a writer's blog, that.
2. Adopting the mantle of an expert.  In one chapter, the author highlights "the twelve types of posts" a writer's blog can, or should (I'm not certain here of the distinction), focus on.  Listed high on the list were reviews - of books, of other websites, etc. - and posts about the art and craft of writing.  I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with, or qualified to, attempt either.  I'm a writer and a teacher... but I'm no expert, and struggle mightily when it comes to providing salient advice even to writer friends.  As for reviewing... well, see my next conundrum.
3. Everyone's entitled to (my) opinion?  Unless it's liberally laying on the praise when it's been well and truly earned, I'm not really that keen on broadcasting my opinions about what websites are hot, which books are must-reads, which authors are the most up-and-coming.  I have opinions, sure... but do I feel everyone is entitled to hear them?  Not particularly.  More than anything, I hate hurting people's feelings, even through the cushioning of the ether.  And I hate having my own feelings hurt when people snark back at my opinions.  A thick writer's skin I don't have yet... and I am firmly in the camp of Thumper's dad: If ya can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all.
4. Kicking the wasp nest?  Another potentially blogworthy post, writes the author, is the controversial topic.  To be fair, she does make a point of noting that this sort of blogging is not for everyone.  Stirring things up can definitely garner readership - but it can also lose you readers, to my way of thinking.  Speaking personally, if I read more than a handful of posts I don't like, I unfollow the blogger faster than you can say Jack Robinson.  I'm guessing that this sort of posting is highly subject to the writer's personality, and is best attempted when one has followers to spare and a few won't be missed.
5. Blogger or Wordpress?  That's it?  Primarily, my biggest qualm about this book is that it focuses exclusively on the two largest blogging platforms to the exclusion of all others.  Tumblr, for example, is given passing comment as a "minor blog platform" - and yet, my Tumblr account has over a hundred followers, while this blog has three.  Well, four - but one of them is me.  What really gives one blog platform cred over another?  And does it really make that much of a difference?

I suppose what I'm really looking for is a fairly obscure and very specific book... one called Blogging for Writers Named Chris Vrba Who Want Answers to Very Specific Questions.  If you happen to come across it at your local book store, let me know, would you?  Tankyouveddymush.

The Need to Research

If I'm going to make this blog into my official website - my face to the online world, representing myself as a writer - I think I really need to do some research.  I need to read other blogs by writers I respect, see what sorts of things they blog about.  This will be hard.  I am easily intimidated by those who write better than  I do, those who are already more successful in the field of writing.  It's hard to imagine that Jon Katz (http://www.bedlamfarm.com/) or Derek Landy (http://dereklandy.blogspot.com/) was once just a beginning blogger, not a successful novelist... and then too, they came to blogging after their books were already out and successful.  Is that really the best comparison for my project?

On the other hand, looking at other struggling and aspiring writers can be just as daunting.  After all, I want to read GOOD blogs, not lackadaisical halfway projects... and there are lists upon lists of the best writing blogs out there to choose from.  But how to choose?  Honestly, I don't have tons of extra time to spend scanning and searching for other aspiring writers of children's literature - writers, not illustrators or illustrator/writers.  Would just any good writing blog work, if the writer is aspiring?  Maybe... it would give me an idea of what to write about here, at least... but then, does someone who focuses on romance or adult fantasy blog differently than someone who writes for a younger market?

And there's still the intimidation factor I need to overcome.  It's one thing to be intimidated or cowed by an established author... it's almost understandable.  But the best bloggers, even if they aren't published, are still successful in their own ways.  They have an audience, which I don't (the handful of friends who will read this counts only in my heart of hearts, sad to say) and are, in that, virtually as successful and accomplished as any professional writer.  It's hard not to be jealous of someone like that, when you're fighting the same fight to get your work out there.

But I have to start somewhere, and research is always the best first step... whether it's a book or a blog.  And overcoming the intimidation and tendency to feel alternately jealous and cowed is a worthy goal.  Off  I go, then... virtual pith helmet on head, virtual machete in hand, into the wilds of the blogosphere, in search of my quarry: the truly inspirational blog.

Onward!

Blogging for Writers

I'm slowly working my way through a new book - Blogging for Writers.  It's convinced me that, to be a valid professional writer, I need a blog.  It makes sense - I need someplace to send readers and potential publishers and agents to see my work, my thoughts, my "stuff."  What stuff exactly, I'm not a hundred percent sure yet.  That's in a future chapter, the author promises.  But a blog is something I need, and something that may get my writer's block chiseled down into something sculpturesque rather than wallish.  For that reason alone, I'm going to give it a go.

I'm just not sure, however, whether this is that blog, or whether I need to start again in another forum... WordPress, maybe?  Can I do what I want to do with a blog on Blogger?  Do I even really know what that is?  Right now, my concerns are pretty basic.  Can I get a landing page for a decent "About Me" blurb, for example, rather than using that Google template I currently have?  (Answer - Yes, I can... and yes, I did!) Do I need more interactivity?  Is my title too long, too vague, too... I dunno.  It's me, but does it convey the right sense of who I am as a writer?

As the King once pontificated in Rogers and Hammerstein musical form, "Is a puzzlement."

Blog Your Book?

I'm trying to process, bit by bit, an article in Writer's Digest about the new trend - blogging your book.  The premise is that many books that have been published recently started as blogs, so that this is a viable way for a new writer to find an audience and prove his or her worth to a potential publisher.

I'm not so sure how I feel about this.  Part of me finds it blissfully logical - of COURSE!  If you have something to say, and if you can say it well and clearly enough to earn that audience through blogging, a publisher is far more likely to see your worth... after all, dedicated blog followers will buy a printed book, particularly if it has additional content not found online.  Right?

The other part of me recoils.  Isn't this just a step above - or, perhaps more accurately, to one side - from self-publishing?  And... well, there's that whole idea of "if you can get the milk for free, why buy the cow?"  Not to mention the P-word.  PLAGIARISM.  These days, it's hard to teach kids - even college age kids - that just because you found it online, it doesn't mean it's free for the taking. 

I'm thinking of dipping my toe into the water... I've got my master's project, a very audience-specific book manuscript, and haven't been able to find a publisher.  I really don't want to self-pub.  So... I'll try blogging it.  If you're a teacher and you love animals, this blog will be for you - Critters in the Classroom.  I'll also be shamelessly begging for help getting the word out about it - you have been warned.  And I'll blog here about the progress. 

Commence experimentation.

Links to Book Blogging for the Curious:

• http://www.writersdigestshop.com/how-to-blog-a-book
• http://www.marismith.com/own-your-niche-by-becoming-author-how-blog-book/
• http://angelasfreelancewriting.com/should-you-blog-your-book/
• http://articles.submityourarticle.com/how-your-blog-can-get-you-published-282271

The Post of 5's

I think this will be a good filler post template... just a "quick 5" to make myself write something coherent.

• WHAT I'M WRITING - Lesson plans for a memoir unit, revisions to Joefic Lykoi, not much else.  Sigh.
• WHAT I'M READING - We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee
• WHAT I'M LISTENING TO - Nothing at the moment, but the Geek Mom podcast is next up when I have a second.
• WHAT I'M DOING - Contemplating if I'd like to teach a lower grade next year, pondering what's holding me back from sending my picture book manuscripts out on the query circuit.
• WHAT I'M WISHING - That I had the money for the Robert Atkins pledge commission I'd SOOOOO like to have... but alas, I don't.  Whimper.

And I Got... Nothing.

It's occurred to me that I haven't updated my blog in a bit, sooo... here it is.  Lots of "stuff" going on, but not really getting into it here and now.  Maybe I'll post a pic of the new dog later.  Internet friend Andy Bartlett has inspired me to get moving again, however, and thanks to his blog, I have a format.  Danke, Andy!

WHAT I'M WRITING:

• Finalizing a contest piece for Highlights Foundation's annual contest.  I so need to win tuition to their summer conference this year - send positive thoughts!
• Getting back to Nin-Gerbils, which I'm liking more with each revision.  Thanks to Torpedo from the IDW boards for his invaluable critique; the piece is better for it.
• Playing around with bits and fragments of Faith and Silence, a G.I. Joe fanfic and sequel to Promises to Keep.  It's a hard piece to write for many reasons, but I promised my fellow JoeMom Toni that I'd do it.  It's crawling along, Toni, but it will get done eventually.
• Drafting a semi-wordless comic book script for Psalm 23.

WHAT I'M READING:

• Spindle's End by Robin McKinley - one of my comfort books.  It's a fantasy retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and one of my go-to books when my mind won't settle.  I adore that I was able to find a hardcover copy at a library sale - wheee!  eBooks may be the future, but I still love having a hardcover in my hands in bed.
• Epic: The Story God is Telling by John Eldredge.  I grabbed this at Goodwill - one of my personal treasure chests for like-new dirt-cheap books - more because of the storytelling aspect than because of the Christianity.  Anyone who starts out a book with a quote from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is worth reading, in my book.
• On the nightstand - Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin, Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars by Tracy Mack, Reaching the Animal Mind by Karen Pryor, Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, Cat People by Margaret and Michael Korda, and a few more that I'm too lazy to go and check right now.
• Waiting for the #9's of the G.I. Joe: Cobra Command to come out... I grab them all at once... as well as for Green Lantern: New Guardians and Tiny Titans.

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO:

• Promise of the Wolves by Dorothy Hearst
• The Elemental Masters series by Mercedes Lackey
• Podcasts:  GeekMoms, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, A Way With Words, Hearing Voices, Cheetah Chat

WHAT I'M PLAYING:

• Angry Birds Seasons, and having far too much fun with the Chinese New Year's mighty dragon!

Off to bed now... zzzzz...