Evaluate, Update and Recommit to Your Blog by Edie Melson

Staying up to date with trends and advancements in the publishing industry is critical to any writer’s success. But many of us miss a regular evaluation of our blog or website. Technology is changing so quickly, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and forget about this basic—especially if it’s working okay. But a good site can often be updated to a GREAT site with just a little bit of thought and tweaking.

Today I’d like to invite you to take a look at your own blogging aspirations. Click on your own site and look at it with new eyes, keeping these thoughts in mind. Here’s the checklist I use to evaluate my sites. Don’t hesitate to tweak it to fit your needs.

Checklist

• Make sure your site hasn’t become too cluttered in the sidebar area. Clean out any old links and add any you’ve been considering.
• Recheck your default font. Sometimes you’ll find you’ve drifted into a different one. Whatever font you use, make certain it’s easily readable…on all screens.
• Update your about me section on your site. Include the things that have happened over the past year in regard to publication, job changes, awards, and anything else applicable.
• If you have a calendar with your speaking engagements, update it as well.
• Also be sure to update any lists you have of other sites, like those for writers, photographers or others.
• Now take out your mobile device (cell phone, tablet, eReader, whatever) and make certain your site is optimized for mobile viewing. This is vital because at least a quarter of all visitors to your site will be looking at it from a mobile device and that number will continue to increase!
• Reassess what action you want your reader to take after viewing your blog. Maybe you want them to share your site with their friends/readers. Perhaps you’re selling a book. Even if it’s only to follow you on Twitter, make sure it’s easy for them to see what you want and then execute it!

This is also a good time to look at your blog posting schedule and evaluate the popularity and efficiency of your different topics. You can do this by utilizing the stats section of your blogger dashboard or of your specific blogging platform.

• First, look at the most popular posts of the past year. Do they fall into a specific category or theme? If this isn’t the main focus of your blog consider making it a bigger part of your posting schedule.
• Next look at the day of the week when you get your most hits. Does it correspond to your posting date or is it the following day? You may need to tweak when your email notification is sent out.
• Finally, Google the subject of those popular posts. Don’t plug in the exact title of those blogs, instead try a more generic subject search. The purpose of this is to see where within that search your blog entry is falling. Not certain what I’m referring to? Read my posts about SEO and Tagging.

We all benefit from a yearly checkup and our blog is no different. I’d love to hear how you keep your site fresh and up-to-date.

Blessings,

Edie Melson is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for life’s stories. She loves to share her 16+ years experience in the field of writing through mentoring and teaching others. Her first foray into professional writing was as a technical writer in the 80’s. From there she quickly moved into freelance writing and editing, a perfect fit for someone who loves new challenges. Hundreds of articles and devotions, including those for Focus on the Family, CBN.com, Crosswalk.com and Christiandevotions.us, have flowed from her pen to her audience. 

A savvy business owner, Edie has numerous copywriting clients who rely on her expertise in SEO and keyword formatting. She also consults on web content and social networking. And, she's the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.

Fighting Fear, Winning the War at Home, is Edie’s latest project. This devotional book for those with family members in the military has just been contracted with Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. 

Connect with Edie

website - The Write Conversation, www.ediemelson.com

Twitter - @ediemelson

Fortifying Friday by Missy Tippens

This Fortifying Friday, we’re pleased to have guest author Missy Tippens share about her path to publication. Enjoy!


I’m so thrilled to visit with you today. I appreciate Dawn inviting me. I hope I can be an encouragement, especially for writers still trying to make that dreamed-of first sale.

Soon after my first book, Her Unlikely Family, came out in February 2008, two thoughts occurred to me:

--I started writing when my middle child was nursing—holding him in one arm while typing with the other hand. When the book came out, he was 13.

--And when I used to need writing time, I would bribe my three children by telling them if they would let Mommy write, then I would use my first advance money to buy them a swing set. Hmmm. By the time that book came out, my oldest was about to graduate from high school, and my youngest was 11.

Obviously, the journey took much longer than expected. :-)

When I started on the road to publication, I never, ever, would have imagined waiting so long. Whether published or not, this business isn’t for the faint of heart. And it isn’t for those who give up easily. We need to trust God and put the journey in His hands.

And you know what? I’ve realized that taking so long to publish wasn’t such a bad thing after all. For one, I believe it happened in God’s perfect timing—at a time when I was finally ready. But, also, by the time I sold, my children were old enough to really enjoy the thrill with me. When that wonderful first box of books arrived, after everyone cheered, my 13-year-old, a reader like me, grabbed one out of the box and took off to his room to devour it. He also grabbed one for his lit teacher. My oldest took one to church to show it off. And my youngest picked up my Alpha-smart to continue writing her own story. Then when the book released, our whole family made a trip to Wal-Mart to see it on the shelf and to snap photos. :-)

All well worth the wait!


Missy Tippens is a pastor’s wife and mom of three. She has a story included in Blessings of Mossy Creek, published by BelleBooks. After ten years of pursuing her dream, she made her first sale of a full-length novel to Steeple Hill Love Inspired. She still pinches herself to see if it really happened! His Forever Love was a June 2009 release and will be followed by A Forever Christmas in November 2009. And that debut novel, Her Unlikely Family? It’s a 2009 ACFW Book of the Year finalist!

You can find Missy at www.missytippens.com. And she blogs all over the place: www.lifewithmissy.blogspot.com, www.seekerville.blogspot.com, www.writingbyfaith.blogspot.com, and www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com.
She’s also on Facebook, MySpace and Shoutlife, so be sure to give her a holler!

The Character Therapist Blog

It’s Writer’s Journey Wednesday, and today we’re featuring a unique blog for writers. The Character Therapist was created by writer and licensed therapist, Jeannie Campbell. We invited Jeannie to visit and explain exactly what The Character Therapist offers novelists as they continue on their journey to publication.

Character Therapy: The Basics

by Jeannie Campbell

WHAT IT IS

Character Therapist [kar-ik-ter ther-uh-pist] noun. A person trained in the use of psychological methods for diagnosing and evaluating fictional characters to help authors write more realistically.

This is what I do. So how can you—a published or aspiring writer—and your beloved characters benefit? Rather than tell you, I’ll give you a few examples of the types of questions I field each week.

* “I have the man so tied to his mother that he can't break away from her. Do I need a good reason behind this?”

* “How would compartmentalizing parts of self damage a person? How would the buried parts manifest themselves? How easy would it be to slip up? He's pretended to be someone else for so long...what if he's that new person now, and can't find himself anymore?”

* It was brought to my attention it is against the law for a therapist to date a client for two years or something to that effect, but I took artistic license and played the story out the way I wanted to. Am I staring down the barrel of some serious issues here?

* “Is it feasible for a teenager with Asperger’s Syndrome to take a driving test, fail, and then want to take the test again?”

* “If someone has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and they are triggered, would they have ‘panic attacks’ that would send them to the hospital for a few days?”

* What makes a womanizer tick?

* If a child was young when they lost a parent, will they remember the parent? And if not, should they be reminded?

Internal motivations, effects of external conflicts, plot feasibility, character strengths and weaknesses, behavioral manifestations or limitations…a character therapist’s playground.

HOW IT WORKS

All I need to work with is a character sketch. I’ve gotten sketches that were a short paragraph to some several pages long. Some of the more fun assessments I’ve posted on my blog were the result of email “sessions” between the author and myself as we delved deeper.

I welcome specific questions, but otherwise, I look at the overall psychological picture. Quirks, pet peeves, family history, hobbies…all these things add up! I might not diagnose every one of the characters I do therapy on, but quite a few of them qualify.

Character therapy is just another tool in your writer’s toolbox to take your writing to the next level. Pick my brain so you don’t have to pick yours.

I look forward to therapizing…er…terrorizing…uh…analyzing your characters!

Jeannie Campbell is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She received her Masters of Divinity with Specialization in Psychology and Counseling at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and her BA in both psychology and journalism from the University of Mississippi. Her passion is helping those not afflicted with mental disorders to understand and have compassion on those who are. You can find her at The Character Therapist (where she posts Treatment Tuesdays and Thursday Therapeutic Thoughts) and her writing blog, Where Romance Meets Therapy.

The Seekers - Blog for Writers

It’s Wednesday and our Writer’s Journey continues as we feature another blog for writers, The Seekers. We're thrilled to have Ruth Logan Herne, one of the Seekers, visit and share pieces of the journey for this group of writers and why Seekerville was created.

Enjoy!

The Seekers

Ladies, congrats! A new venture. You go, girls!

Yay, you! This is where it begins. Stepping out, trying new hats, working together. Of course making fun of one another can’t hurt, especially if you embarrass each other in public, a trait the Seekers practice on their children. Since it worked well there, we decided to bring our antics to the Internet.

For the world to see, of course!

Seekerville Where else can you find fifteen competitive women who not only help one another achieve publication thereby becoming even more adversarial, but train others to take their place?

Either these gals are very good or uniformly stupid.

Since 11/15 are now published and/or contracted, let’s go with good!

The Seekers are an amazing group of contest divas who banded together to pray one another into publication.

Step back a few years. These gals repeatedly bumped heads in romance writing contests. They’d alternately place, win and nudge each other out of the tiara-wearing spot from week to week, contest to contest. Talk about annoying! Everyone knows I have the best tiara-wearing hair of the group! It’s not even close.

But…

Big BUT…

These gals recognized each other’s drive and direction. If we were good individually, how much better could we be as a unit? To that end we started a Yahoo group dedicated to God and us, bound by faith, work and love.

Writing is a solitary business. It’s difficult to find or form a local writing group where members share a similar drive and/or spirit. That’s part of what makes The Seekers special. Seekers don’t quit, they persevere. They work. They pray. Then they work harder. We’ve been rejected, dejected and ejected but we refuse to cave. One by one the calls have come until now, when there are only four ladies keeping the campfires going on Unpubbed Island.

Nearly two years ago, Tina suggested we start a blog.

Someone suggested focusing on contests/writing since that’s what brought us together.

Perfect. We developed Seekerville, a gathering place where readers and writers can mingle, get great food, find a hospitable welcome and a kick in the butt (as needed) and know they’re not alone. Ever. God is with them and the Seekers are on hand to dole out chocolate, hankies, Kleenex, lectures (my job) and more chocolate.

Always chocolate. Chocolate is God-given, but you knew that, right?

God-centered, we love to have a good time. Joke. Laugh. Inspire. We revel in God’s amazing grace and the intrinsic frailties of human nature. We are flawed and fun, focused and faithful. A wonderful combination!

I hope the gals can stop by and add their takes on this journey. We’ve cried when kids go off to college and war, and celebrated their safe return. We’ve commiserated over hair color, waistlines and the whole idea of digital scales just seems wrong. I mean, whose idea WAS that, anyway???

We’ve lost parents, friends, babies, pets and teeth, and we’ve supported one another throughout. We revel in romance while admitting we’ve yet to figure men out. But that’s okay because they always come around in a romance novel, don’t they? If only it were that easy in real life.

Laughing here.

Thanks again for the invite, girls.

Ruth

The Seekers

Ruth Logan Herne - Missy Tippens - Janet Dean
Sandra Leesmith - Myra Johnson - Cheryl Wyatt
Camy Tang - Julie Lessman - Cara Slaughter
Glynna Kaye - Mary Connealy - Pam Hillman
Tina M. Russo - Debby Giusti - Audra Harders