Joyce Carol Oates advises writers to blog to find their voice and connect with their audience

I am grateful to Justine Musk for sharing the story on her blog of how her friend, on a panel with author,  Joyce Carol Oates, reported that when someone in the audience asked Ms Oates what she would do today, if she had to launch a writing career all over again, she said “I would blog”.

I was thrilled to hear this and Justine goes on to paraphrase some more of what the author had to say about blogging before writing:

I would blog before I wrote a book. I would create a voice that connects, and I would build an audience online, and then I would write a book in that voice.

I love what Justine herself says about developing your writer’s voice through blogging:

Your ‘voice’ isn’t just how you write but what you write about: the influences that you take from the world; the themes, obsessions, ideas that bend and shape your worldview. You keep going in the direction of what works. You revise or abandon what doesn’t. Each blog post is another piece of deliberate practice, another chance for feedback…You are discovering your places of relevance. You are locating those points where you connect, and resonate, and inspire conversation…You throw down roots. You take nourishment. You grow.

Wonderful advice for would-be writers and those looking for new ways to promote their books, don’t you agree?

Reblogged from Write On Track:

Do you have a bucket list? Do you have a list of things you want to achieve or complete? Perhaps you want to write a book or start a blog?  According to a Sunday Times article I read a few weeks ago, the top things on most people’s bucket lists were losing weight, writing a book and to stop procrastinating.

Read more… 502 more words

Do you have a bucket list? Do you have a list of things you want to achieve or complete? Perhaps you want to write a book or start a blog? According to a Sunday Times article I read a few weeks ago, the top things on most people’s bucket lists were losing weight, writing a book and to stop procrastinating. I was amused by the procrastinating one as after all, if you bite the bullet and grasp the nettle regarding your bucket list, that would eliminate the procrastination.

Are you a writer? Do you have something to say? A message to communicate? A voice worth hearing? Maybe it’s time you declared it to the world.

This is the challenge put to you by writer, Jeff Goins, who is running a video contest for anyone who wants to declare himself or herself a writer. The most original video will win three prizes, including an Amazon gift card.

How to enter competition

You have to create a video and post it online in order to enter. For rules and details, see You Are a Writer Video Contest

Contest ends May 20th.

Read the remarkable story of Christopher Healy and his attempts to break a world record for diving. Even if you are not a diving enthusiast, Christopher’s story of determination, focus and love for his family will leave a lasting impression on you.

Christopher Healy, is a native of Kilmaley, Co. Clare and an experienced diving instructor with his own diving school, The Atlantic Diving School, based in Ennis, Co Clare,   In March 2010 Christy and his wife Trish were given the news that their only child, Stephen (18), had Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (a cancer of the lymphoid tissue).

One of  Stephen’s regular visitors during his hospital stays was Christopher’s cousin, Jonathan Mangan, an active volunteer with the Share a Dream Foundation (making dreams come true for sick children in Ireland). An idea began to form in Christopher’s mind that he would like to do his own fundraising for the charity by attempting a 10 km dive – a new world record.

This is the story behind Christopher’s record-breaking dream.

In advance of the official launch of Christopher’s book about his world record-breaking 10K dive, on Saturday, May 5th, Christopher is on a virtual book tour this week.

Win a copy of the book

Win a signed copy of The 10K Record by diving into the following book stops on Christopher’s virtual book tour:

May 1 Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer

May 2 Destress For Life

May 3 Life and Fitness Magazine Ireland

May 4 Write Words

May 5 CG Online Marketing

Buy The Book

The official launch of The 10K Record is happening Saturday, May 5th in  Hughes and Hughes Book Store, Ennis, Co Clare ( full details  can be found on the Atlantic Diving School’s Facebook event page).

From the 6th May, you can also purchase a copy of The 10K Dive from Christopher’s author site.

2. “If writing seems hard, it’s because it is hard. It’s one of the hardest things people do.” ~ William Zinsser

3. “Writing well means never having to say, ‘I guess you had to be there.’ ” ~ Jef Mallett

4. “Writing gives you the illusion of control, and then you realize it’s just an illusion, that people are going to bring their own stuff into it.” ~ David Sedaris

5. “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” ~ Red Smith

6. “Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” ~ E.L. Doctorow

7. “I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.” ~ James Michener

8. “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

9. “If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.” ~ Isaac Asimov

10. “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” ~ Stephen King

11. “Ink and paper are sometimes passionate lovers, oftentimes brother and sister, and occasionally mortal enemies.” ~ Terri Guillemets

12. “Write drunk, edit sober.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

 Source: 12 Most Worth Documenting Writing Quotes

Productivity coach and author of Chaos to Control, Ciara Conlon tells writing.ie how she found time to write her book and how she transformed her life from disorganized and chaotic to calm, happy and stress-free. She has some great tips for readers on setting priorities, eliminating distractions, and time scheduling.

You can read the article in full here

Evan Jacobs of KindleGraph shows off his startup in 1-minute

The Kindle has transformed the way people read books. But one thing was missing – the personal touch readers got from having their book autographed by the author.

Seattle developer Evan Jacobs decided to provide a solution through creating the KindleGraph, enabling authors to send personalized, digital inscriptions directly to the reading devices of their fans.

How does KindleGraph work?

To personalize their e-book, users log in with their Twitter credentials and select from a list of popular e-books. So far approximately 1,700 authors are involved, with around 7,500 books listed. After selecting an e-book, a request is then sent to the author who, after logging in, will see a list of current requests. There is space to type a personalized message, and clicking “Kindlegraph it” will send the message to Docusign APIs which embed the signed message and sends a PDF back to the reader’s Kindle. Jacobs hopes that authors will use it as a means to build relationships with fans, for example: sending preview chapters or short stories before they are published. A video on the Kindlegraph’s website explains how the platform works in more detail.

Jacobs is also considering hosting virtual book signings where authors could create a video presentation promoting their books.

“Then, anyone who is watching can request a KindleGraph and they get it seconds later delivered straight to their Kindle,” said Jacobs. “It makes those author and fan connections much more available.”

Source: Geekwire

Reblogged from time to consider the lilies:

Writing is neither quick nor easy. Often, so elusive are the ideas and then the words to attach to them, that I may as well be divining for water. For the better part of today, I have been laboring on Day 15′s writing challenge. I just haven’t written anything. When an idea worth exploring comes my way, I hesitate to commit it to the blank screen in front of me, because its potential might be diminished by an ill-chosen word or a clumsy sentence.

Read more… 540 more words

Great thoughts on the writing process from Yvonne Waterson

Alain de Botton

People who go on to be writers are those who can forgive themselves the horror of the first draft ~ Alain de Botton