January 12th, 2005
The first lesson in our next Pro Write workshop, "Blog Your Writing", will be posted on January 15. Here's a brief excerpt from the Introduction. >>> A blog, also known as a weblog, is an instant-publishing tool. Until blogs burst into the mainstream consciousness in 2004, blogs were known as online journals, because of their content. However, in 2005, it's more useful to think of blogs as an instant-publishing tool, because that's what blogs are. In this workshop, you'll discover exciting ways in which you can use blogs not only to build your writing career, but also to improve your writing. Blogging is constantly evolving. I'm writing this workshop in January 2005. It will be interesting to see what people do with blogs in the next couple of years, because blogs seem to have hit what Malcolm Gladwell calls the "tipping point". With over ten million (yes, million) blogs online, blogs have gone from a so-called fad, to a permanent part of the media landscape. >>> Blog Your Writing has three lessons, with exercises: * Lesson One: Get a blog --- what a blog can do for you and for your writing career * Lesson Two: Blog-slog --- blogging consistently * Lesson Three: Using your blog as a marketing tool, and platform for ALL your writing You're invited to post your exercises to Pro Write's forums. Your Pro Write membership includes help when you need it, so please ask questions if you're uncertain about anything.
January 5th, 2005
Happy New Year! Hope you and yours had a wonderful and safe holiday season. Blogging is the term du jour and will be the big Internet news of 2005, if 2004 is any guide. If you're new to blogging, the Evangelical Outpost is running a great series on the nuts and bolts of blogging. Biggest tip for starting your own blog? USE YOUR OWN NAME. Your blog is creating a platform for your writing, so unless you have a reason to do otherwise, use your own name on your blog. On January 15, we'll start the year's workshops on Pro Write. Our first workshop will be "Blog Your Writing". I've had so many enquiries from writers about blogging, that it can't be anything else. Don't forget to check out our newest blog (see below). I post items to it daily, so there's always something there for you. :-) Angela Booth NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
November 23rd, 2004
I'll be posting Lesson Three of our current novel workshop on December 5. This means that the next workshop should start on December 15. However, that's pretty close to the holidays, and we'll all be busy. Therefore the next workshop will start on January 5, 2005. BUT!! Don't stop writing over the holidays. I'm not going away. I'll be writing every day, working hard on the Nano novel (see the Writing Blog). :-) Since I'm not going away, you can contact me at any time with questions and queries, right over the holiday break. Angela Booth NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
November 9th, 2004
I'll be posting the first lesson in our next Pro Write Workshop on the 15th. Here's an excerpt: >>> You don't write your novel, you build it
The first several novels I wrote, I just plunged straight ahead. I wrote the first sentence, and carried on, looking to neither right nor left, as if I were wearing blinkers, until I reached the end. When I'd written word 100,200 or whatever, I thought I had finished --- all that needed to be done was a little tidying up of the grammar, a few word changes, and I was ready to sell. Needless to say, those novels didn't sell. :-) I did learn from writing those early novels however. I learned enough to finally sell a series of romance novels to an international publisher, some years later. Nevertheless, at a distance of some 25 years, I can say confidently that even then I didn't have a clue. My writing was vivid, my characters had flashes of life, but I had no idea how to develop characters, I didn't know how to plot, and I wouldn't have recognised a plot point if you had threatened me with execution. I was writing by instinct: I'd read enough to understand the structure of the kinds of novels I was trying to write, so I sat down and wrote to that nebulous structure. The structure was nebulous, because although I recognised it, I didn't understand the reasons for the structure. I was like a hobbyist carpenter, building a house, because she'd seen a few houses, and knew how they were put together. Perhaps I'm being a little hard on myself. At that stage, I was doing the best I knew how. One benefit of those years of groping in the darkness was that I lost self-consciousness about writing. I wrote as well as I could, I sent my work out, and learned to ignore rejections. This workshop is the workshop I wish someone had created for me 25 years ago. :-) >>> Angela Booth NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
November 6th, 2004
Read this comical article, " Tales of a book-monkey". Loved the bit about Jilly Cooper: >>> Occasionally the routine was varied by a visit from a best-selling author. One day, Jilly Cooper was due to do a signing, and I was assigned to help her pre-scrawl her mountain of books to cut down on queue time for the public. Ronald, our assistant manager (he wore green cords and could never look you in the eye) rushed out to buy cakes and champers for Jilly and instructed me to stand by her pile of books. My task was to hold them open in front of her as she signed, while Ronald oozed round her with the goodies. Like some rogue royal, she was all sibilance and politesse. "What do you do?" I should have thought this was pretty obvious, but to her credit she didn't seem to register that people actually worked in shops and when Ronald's back was turned she would force her champagne into my hand. "Have a sip, sweetheart, two even! How about a little cake? Goodness, what a lot of my books you have!" >>> Angela Booth NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
Interesting article at CFO Magazine, " Blogging for Dollars". >>> Things have changed. Blogs, once the domain of the malcontent, have gone mainstream, thanks in large part to the thousands of Web logs dedicated to celebrities and defunct TV shows ("Buffy" bloggers, you know who you are). In the process, business leaders have come to value what they once feared about Web logs: these online diaries provide an easy way to reach a large audience. Venture capitalists, for example, now use Web logs to uncover inventors and entrepreneurs with promising new ideas. Corporate directors, including those at enterprise resource planning giant SAP, have launched blogs to help them better communicate with stakeholders. And managers at some companies, including Sun Microsystems, use blogs (among other approaches) to talk to employees and let employees talk to one another. >>> Started a blog yet? Blogs don't take much time. Once you're up and running, you can post to your blog in less than ten minutes a day. The benefit? Visibility. :-) Angela Booth NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
November 2nd, 2004
Doing NaNoWriMo? Don't forget that our Genre Fiction workshop will help. Do the " Write Genre Novels (Commercial Fiction) For Fun And Profit" as you progress through this month. I wrote the workshop for beginning novelists, and for novelists who've written a novel or two, but are having a hard time getting published. I'm doing NaNoWriMo too, so check my new blog (URL below) helpful ideas and thoughts each day. Angela Booth NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
October 30th, 2004
If you're a member of Pro Write, and want to write fiction, take NaNoWriMo challenge and write 50K words of your novel in November. I'm participating too. Pop over to Angela Booth's Writing Blog (URL below) to read about the Snowflake Process to help you get started on YOUR novel. Don't forget to register on the official NaNoWriMo site. It's free, although you can help out with a donation if you wish. NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing Blog
October 24th, 2004
The second lesson in our latest workshop is up on the site. Log in to read it --- and don't forget to do the exercises. Please post them on the forum. NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
October 22nd, 2004
My ebook writing manual, Tell, Yell And Sell: Marketing Skills For Writers, is packed with information on how to get your writing career off the ground and keep it going. The basis of your marketing skills as a writer is, of course, confidence. How do you build your confidence? Here's a snippet from the book: >>> 1. Your first goal: Sell something: NOW
Aim to sell something every week. It doesn't matter how small the sale is, or how large. Just set your first goal to sell a piece of writing every week. This is because each sale builds your confidence. Years ago I read an article by a writer who created a New Year's resolution to sell as many pieces as he could during the year. His aim was 365 pieces of writing for that year. He didn't care what he sold, how large or how small the sale was, as long as he sold a piece of writing for each day of the year. I wish I'd kept the clipping. I'd love to get in touch with him and ask how this goal affected his writing career. I think it boosted his confidence out of sight. Once he knew that he could sell whenever he wanted, there was nothing to stop him aiming for the heights. What will you sell? It doesn't matter. You can sell an article a week, a tip to a women's magazine, or a recipe. The fact of the sale is what counts. >>> Tell, Yell And Sell: Marketing Skills For Writers, is available for instant delivery, right now. I'm recommending the book to a student of mine who's a fantastic writer, but who hasn't been writing long enough to realize this. :-) If you're lacking confidence, but suspect that you're GOOD, get the ebook. Angela Booth NEW! General writing blog - Angela Booth's Writing BlogSubscribe to two free ezines for writers at Digital-e. Much more for writers at Pro Write. Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets TODAY!
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