A Brand New Year!! by Sally Shupe

Who’s excited for a brand new year? Last year is in the past. This year is a brand new slate. What do you want to see you accomplish? Dream big! Everything in the past is gone, setting this year up to be a great launching pad into another year.

Take a few moments (But only a few moments! It’s time to move forward!) and think about last year. What didn’t work so well? Did you have a planner that didn’t keep you on task? Get a new one for this year! Did you want to get more things accomplished around the house, or lose weight, or be more active? Brainstorm ways to see that happen. Did you find if you had highlighted certain tasks that they got done in the timeframe needed? Get more highlighters, in different colors! Did you feel like it was just you swimming in a big pond and you wished you had someone in your corner, someone who would encourage you, ask about your writing (or whatever you’re working on), be interested in reading what you wrote? Take this year to find a critique partner, or a really good friend who you can bounce ideas off of, who will encourage you along the way. Need a running buddy so you’ll get out there and run? Find one! Need to lose weight but lose momentum? Find a group who will motivate and encourage you when you want that midnight snack.

However, for this exercise, keep most of your focus on what worked for you. Do more of that! Did setting an activity goal for each day or week make you more motivated to work out, walk more steps in a day, or get more things done? Did writing out a grocery list enable you to eat healthier and not come home with random junk food in your bags? Did having a critique partner keep you accountable and at the end of the day, week, or month the words were piled up in a great way? Then continue those traits into the new year!

Find what works and keep doing that. If something doesn’t work, change it. It’s your plan for success. There are as many different ways to accomplish something as there are people. What works for one person, or a dozen, may not work for you. Find what works for you. You want to be successful this year. You want to lose weight, get more things done, write more words, have completed novels to publish. Work out a game plan to get it done! This is a great new year for you to be who you wish to be. Work out a plan that works for you and watch this year be the year!

Sally Shupe lives in southwest Virginia with her husband, two grown kids, and a whole bunch of pets: five dogs, three cats, a rabbit, and birds at the birdfeeder (and the mandatory snowman when the snow cooperates). She writes contemporary Christian romance, with two completed manuscripts and others in progress. They are part of a series located in small town Virginia.

When Sally’s not writing or working full-time, she is a freelance editor for several authors who write fiction and nonfiction; students working on dissertation papers; a copy editor for Desert Breeze (now closed); a content editor for Prism (became part of Pelican); performs beta reading for various authors; publishes book reviews on her blog and with Valley Business FRONT’s monthly magazine; is a member of ACFW and ACFW Virginia; and loves genealogy, running, and crocheting.

Sally uses her love of words to write about God’s amazing love.

How (not) to Build Your Social Media Platform by Susan Tuttle

Susan and I switched Thursdays this month. She normally posts on the first Thursday of each month, but in March she is graciously visiting with us on the fourth Thursday.

 

I’m in a couple different groups that are giving some great advice about social media platforms. The need for consistency and clarity across all devices is imperative. Your numbers and constant growth is even a larger concern. And as writers, we are brainstorming ways to reach the broadest audience in the most effective way. As I’ve listened to everyone chime in, I’ve learned a lot about what to do. More importantly, I’ve learned what not to do. Today I want to chat about that.

See, publishers want to see big numbers. We’ve heard that repeatedly. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s been rubber stamped across my forehead. But when you are unpublished, it feels like you’re peddling air and asking for gold. How do you market a product that is as-of-yet invisible? But it’s a necessary in this world, and so the work for numbers begins.
We:

• Push “friend request” on Facebook a hundred times and when someone accepts, our first message to them is, please like my author page.
• We blindly follow on Twitter and when we receive a “follow” back, we send an automated reply to their inbox saying, if you follow me here, like my author page too!
• We stalk hashtags on Instagram and blanket the popular users with requests so that they will follow us back.
• We pay a source to increase our numbers for us.

I know there are far more ways people gain a skyrocketing number across their social media platforms, but do you know what is missing when it’s done this way? Authenticity. Without it, you’ve gained numbers but no relationship.

If we are not interacting with people, it doesn’t matter our numbers because they aren’t going to care what we have to say when we finally have a stage to say it on. Readers want to trust the voice that spins the story they are reading. They want to connect not only to our characters but to us. And as Christian writers, isn’t connecting what it’s all about? Because to share our message of faith, we first need their ear.

If you’re trying to build your social media numbers, I challenge you today to start by interacting with the people who are already there. Begin to build your content and connections. Let God worry about how big your reach is while you worry about authentically following that which he’s called you to do.

Susan L. Tuttle lives in Michigan where she’s happily married to her best friend and is a homeschooling mom of three. She’s firmly convinced that letters were meant for words, not math, and loves stringing them together into stories that inspire, encourage, and grow women into who God created them to be. Romance, laughter, and cookies are three of her favorite things, though not always in that order. You can connect with Susan at her blog, Steps, Facebook, or Twitter.