cj Sez: I’ve been
tagged for a Blogger Recognition Award--a kind of blogging award chain letter, and
here are the rules:
1- Thank the blogger
who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2- Write a post to
show your award.
3- Give a brief story
of how your blog started.
4- Give two pieces of
advice to new bloggers.
5- Select other
bloggers you want to give this award to.
6- Comment on each
blog and let them know you have nominated them & provide the link to the
post you created.
And here are my responses:
1- Thanks Candace Marley Connor, a
wonderful SCBWI author, mother, and fellow Mobile Writers’ Guild member, for
nominating me to participate in this blogging event. It’s a bit like practicing
flash fiction, and that’s a great writing exercise. (By the way, Miz Connor’s post for this event
is downright wonderful. Just click on her name to read it.)
2- I am now writing a
post to show my lovely award.
YIPPEE ! Quite lovely, don’t you agree?
3- Here’s the brief story
of how the Lyrical Pens blog got started:
Lyrical Pens began on June
22, 2009, when I clicked “publish” on my first post. You can click on the
date to read it. Joyce Scarbrough was my first (and only) commenter…Thanks,
Joyce, although it seems to have started a one-of trend (sigh). The blog was
intended as a marketing tool for three writing/critique-group buddies (Mahala
Church, Tracy Hurley, and me) who wanted to “get our names out there.” Mahala
and Tracy had just co-founded the Mobile Writers’ Guild, and I had joined them
as a charter member and Secretary…or maybe that was Treasurer (faulty memory).
Go-getter Tracy worked through the technical part of building the website, and
it hasn’t changed all that much since it began. Sadly, Tracy Hurley died in December 2010, and Mahala and I carried on. Today, where once there were three, there is
now one. Mahala retired from the site in 2016.
4- Two pieces of
advice to new bloggers: First piece of advice comes with a caveat: “To thine
own self be true.” That is to say, identify your goal for the blog and write
your posts with that in mind. Do you want to share tidbits of personal data to grow
your relationship with fans and readers? Do you want to share professional
writing stuff for fellow authors? Maybe it’s a combination of both, which is
where Lyrical Pens sits, although it does lean more toward the professional
writing information.
Second piece of advice: A blog is a great way to build an
author brand if you link your posts to your author Facebook page, Twitter,
Instagram, et al. Be sure to embed buy links and book trailers. Did you notice I wrote “author Facebook
page?” I have two FB pages, one for personal and one for author stuff. Your
personal social media followers aren’t there to be sold to; they want to share
conversations. Keep the advertising low-key on those sites. A new book notice
or reminder is fine, but heavy slugs of “Buy My Book” advertising in every post
might drive away some of your new Friends.
5- I'm nominating one author, Sojourner McConnell (the
nom de plume of Vicki Goodwin Turner), for this award. Sojourner is a relatively new blogger and has a brand new book release
with great reviews, “Who’s That in the Cat Pajamas.”
6- I dropped Sojourner a note to alert her about the award.
Okay, that’s my post for today, and I’m sticking to it.
You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.
cj
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newsletter sign-up at
cjpetterson@gmail.com
POSSE TRAILER for "Bad Day" short story: https://youtu.be/I3jvofqqJwU
And what a ride it was and still is thanks to your interesting and friendly posts and great pictures. Marilyn gave the blog its name, one that suited all of us perfectly. Congratulations on a well-earned blog!
ReplyDeletecj Sez: Thanks, Mahala, for the applause. I dearly miss Tracy, the spark plug of our group, but I'd like to think she'd approve of where the blog has gone.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice, cj and thanks for playing along! It's neat to see the evolution of your blog. I remember first following your blog when you and Mahala did the Stuff and Nonsense contest (loved those!! They were my first foray into flash fiction) and now I enjoy all your writing tips!
ReplyDeletecj Sez: Thanks, Candice, for the opportunity to play. And I'd forgotten about Stuff and Nonsense. Maybe I need to think about a resurrection. Best wishes for continued success with your writing
ReplyDelete