Image by Move The Clouds via Flickr

Shhh….don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret!

Just kidding.  It isn’t really a secret, but on the other hand it isn’t really broadly known either. How do you make the most of all these social networking sites?  Especially if you’re a writer and you want to just get your name out there, become known and get work (paid work).

The power of these sites comes from your ability to create relationships.  Real friendships.  As a writer, you have an edge!  You can communicate through words.  Not everyone can do this.

If you’re on Twitter, you need to find little messages to tweet on a daily basis. You can also reference your blog. These will all help you, but who will listen?  Yes, you can build “followers”, but if they don’t know you, they probably won’t respond. They won’t look for your tweets and forward your messages on to their people.

You have to spend some time helping others forward their tweets too. You can also work to help them, giving advice and assistance as you grow your followers. Just focus on helping others and it will come back around to you.

If you’re on Linkedin, you have much more flexibility and it is your time to shine as a writer. Spend some time on their forum (called “Answers”) and post answers to people’s questions and pleas for advice.

Your answers will be read by others and if they are well written, you will get noticed. They will then click through to your profile, which must read like a fascinating bio and resume combined. Have a good headshot and fill in every little bit of info that you can. When people click through, you want them to want to get to know you, learn more about you.

On Linkedin, you can also find groups to join. If you do, make sure to be active on their discussion boards. Help others, answer questions, give advice.

Through relationship building you will find work, you’ll get referrals and can make money as a writer. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Image by miss miah via Flickr

When you visit a blog and you like an article, post a comment for the blogger.  It is always appreciated.

If you are able to, ask a question, start a discussion.  The questions and answers will be saved on the blog for other readers.

This is very helpful and encouraging to the blogger, but it also helps you.  When you sign the comment, your name will link to your blog and others will find you, click through and read your blog.

It is a win, win situation!

Make sure that your comments are positive.  If you disagree with the poster, do so with respect.  An intellectual debate on a blog makes for a very interesting read, but only if the parties are thoughtful in their response. Otherwise, it is as my young son would say, “awkward” (you know, when it is said in a sing-songy way).

So, help a blogger, post a comment!

I host regular writing contests on Linkedin.com through my group called, “Write On, Networkers!”

We ran a contest last month, which invited writers to write an uplifting holiday story (or end of the year story). Our judge was Charlotte Babb, who announced Diane Hall as the winner a few days ago.

Diane’s winning story is “Jessica’s Wish”.  I wanted to share it with you here.  Diane is a freelance writer and qualified proofreader. Visit her blog to read more of her writing.

If you have any questions for Diane about her story, please feel free to ask her and she’ll be happy to answer here on my blog!

Jessica’s Wish

I struggled to read through my tears, my daughter’s letter to Santa. Above her entry of this year’s must-have toy (Barbie – whose 112th edition was accompanied by a magnificent prancing pony) – was her dearest wish:

"Santa…pleeeease can I have my Daddy come home. I need him to see the presents you get me. Please make him stay."

Her childish scrawl, which, on the whole, was steadily improving as she progressed through infant school, still took up most of the page. I stared across at my little sleeping angel and turned off her nightlight.

John had only been in the army six months when I met him, so it was a fairly new experience to both of us. It had been exciting at first, to follow him half-way round the world, though after a while all the barracks looked the same wherever they were. Once we became serious I made it clear I wasn’t prepared to drag any family we had round in the same way. We chose a great village in North Yorkshire to settle down in, turning this beautiful cottage into a warm and welcoming family home – something that would keep John wanting to return to us each time he left.

So life fell into a pattern. I got a job in a bank and gradually got used to sharing my husband with around fifteen other men – those of his regiment. Toby was born a couple of years after we settled and Jessica came a few years after that.

I felt another pang of guilt and pain as I held the letter to my chest. The kids didn’t usually ask after daddy; they just accepted it, and didn’t really know any different. To them he was a larger-than-life stranger who scooped them into huge hugs when he was on leave, only to disappear a week or two after. I was the mainstay, the one they could rely on – daddy was just a bonus.

I could tell that John’s last visit had been different. Jessica had been having problems at school with a boy who’d insisted on teasing her. He’d told her horrible things about soldiers (God only knows how he knew what he did) and had frightened the living daylights out of her. She’d become clingy and when John was on leave, she wouldn’t let him out of her sight. He’d returned back to his duties a few hours early, slipping away in the night; we thought it had been for the best, so as not to cause a scene. Now I can see that that idea had probably made things ten times worse.

I slipped Jessica’s note into my diary and tried to write down my thoughts. I needed to be able to tell her – and Toby – of the phone call I’d had that afternoon. John had been involved in an accident; he hadn’t been killed but he was badly wounded; he’d actually lost both his lower legs. He was being transferred to a local hospital as soon as was practical but was at a military hospital in Surrey for the time being, making visits extremely difficult. He had also been discharged from active service.

I found my moment the next afternoon. Toby, being the eldest, had guessed something was wrong and wouldn’t let up until I told him. Jessica sat on my knee as I explained in the simplest way I could what had happened to their father.
Toby sat quietly on the settee – pensive. Jessica threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tight. I hugged her back, just as fervently, hoping that I could ease her pain. As she drew away, I was stunned at her beaming smile.

"Santa has brought me my Christmas present early!" she said.

"Santa? What Christmas present?" I struggled to understand.

"Daddy! Santa has brought me daddy!" she said.

"Oh, sweetheart. Daddy will be home soon, but he’s very hurt. I don’t think this is your Christmas present" I said, trying to soothe her.

"It is!" she insisted, "If he’s got no legs, he can’t run away from us again….."

So politically incorrect. And probably a very warped way to celebrate her father’s return – but to a six-year-old girl, this was her greatest wish fulfilled. Daddy was coming home, for good this time.

Image by Rennett Stowe via Flickr

I was reading an article about procrastination, specifically about why writers don’t write.  This subject interests me, as I know a lot of people love to write…but don’t.

One of the big reasons given was that writers sometimes don’t like what they write.  So they stop writing.  The quality bothers them.

It struck me that these writers must be editing themselves out of existence!  Maybe they had a teacher or parent or “friend” who told them all the reasons their writing wasn’t good enough.  Those comments can stick with one and can stop a writer.

The best thing to do is to keep writing.  Continue.  Don’t let your fear that you might not be good enough for someone out there, who might one day read your story or article, stop you from putting the words down on paper.

If you are having trouble finishing a story, any story, push yourself to complete it.  Don’t worry about the quality.  After you write your rough draft you can go back over it and change things around, pull sections out, etc.  But for now, just write, get it all down.

This isn’t to say that if you are an experienced writer and don’t like a piece you are writing, that you must finish it.  That would be dreadful advice.  No, sometimes it is completely acceptable to scrap something and start over.  But then you wouldn’t be procrastinating, now would you?

If you’d like to read the original article in full, click here.  Join in on the conversation!

I recently became a manager for The Blog Zone, on linkedin.com.  It is a well-established group, with over 2000 members, all devoted to blogging.

I will be working with the owner, Mike Clough, to encourage members to help one another with blogging. There are many cooperative activities we can all do to help one another.

If you are interested in joining, please click here.

You will need to join Linkedin.com first and then be approved by Mike.  Let him know that I sent you and then watch for my subgroup(s).  I welcome your thoughts and ideas on how we can all work together.

Come on over. It’ll be fun!

Image via Wikipedia

If you have a business and you are interested in boosting your internet presence, try writing a few articles. Give them away for free, offer to guest blog, etc. Just get your name out there.

What do you write about? Well, let me turn that question back around to you. What knowledge do you have to offer that no one else on the planet knows?

Don’t be concerned that you need to store away all your secrets for that grand book you’re planning. Start sharing now!

Whatever you do, don’t try to promote.  People will see right through you, roll their eyes and move on. Come on, it’s annoying when you read an “article” that is really an ad.

Instead, offer valuable information.  Ideas that people can actually apply to their current lives with success.  The business will come in if you just focus on helping others through your articles.

Make your articles fun and interesting.

Think about what you look for in an article. What do you like to read? Write to your readers in a way you’d like to be written to. You’ll enjoy writing in that style and it will be real to your reader.

Avoid long paragraphs. People typically prefer short paragraphs, snippet reading.

Lists are always good:

• “Putting Tips for Beginners”
• “Fun Activities for Four Year Olds”
• “Recipes for the Parent with Two Jobs”

You get the idea.

Whatever it is, write about it, maybe have a friend proofread it and then offer it to others. Many are looking for content for their websites and blogs.

And, it will be a good chance to practice your writing skills!

One way to keep up on your writing is to start a blog…today!  Don’t put it off or it won’t get done.

What should you blog about?  As always, write about what you know.

Pick a theme that you can comfortably talk about every day (or at least every other day).

Don’t worry about the “right way to blog”.  Just start and write and write and write.

The best blog articles are the ones that help others in some way.  Share your expertise in some area.

Are you an organic gardener?  Share basic tips!  What difficulties have you overcome? Show pictures if you can.  People love pictures, showing what you’re discussing.

Are you a fine artist?  Share your work on your blog!  Tell others how you got started, how you find the time to paint, how you get clients, etc.  You can even go over basic techniques of your style.

Make sure to keep the language simple, avoiding the technical terms to do with your hobby or business.  If people can’t understand what you’re talking about, they will click away and not return.

Above all, have fun!  If you enjoy writing your blog, others will probably enjoy reading it.  And before you know it, you’ll find you’re writing up a storm.  Feel free to share your blog with me.  I’d love to visit!

Image via Wikipedia

I wrote this a while back and entered it into Writers of the Future. I was honored to hear back from one of the judges. Although I didn’t win, I did make the Quarter Finals. Here’s a snippet from “Just a Job”. If you’d like to read the rest of the story, I’d be happy to send it to you.

Just a Job

This was Mildred’s second strike. She sat on the hard chair and tried to look as small as possible, feeling some small comfort in the veil of hair that fell over her face. One more strike and she would have to turn her brown dress in for a dull gray one. Looking around the room she saw the Blues bustling around helping Browns at their little government cubicles. Once in a while a Red or Green would pass by on the way to one of the nice offices to the right. Mildred dreamed of wearing a different color.

“Mildred 429?” a crisp voice called out.

“Here!” Mildred said in her best, most polite voice. She looked up and found a rather impatient looking Blue glaring at her.

“Well, come along,” the woman said. Mildred did her best to follow the Blue through the maze of cubicles. As she passed she overheard other Browns interviewing for work. A few of them had single black bars on their sleeves, but no one else had two like she had.

Passing through the cubicles they entered a large open area, filled with Blues interviewing Browns. The Blue Mildred had been following stopped and indicated that Mildred should sit down. “Back again so soon?” she muttered snidely.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mildred replied demurely.

“What happened this time?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Mildred began. She concentrated and two fat tears fell from her eyes.

“What happened?” the blue snapped.

She quickly wiped her tears away and replied, “The kid ran away.”

“Was the child recovered?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Lucky for you!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The Blue looked at her in disgust. “I need to fill out the standard paperwork,” she said. She pushed aside some of the accumulated papers on her desk revealing an antiquated computer, built into the surface of the desk. She pulled out the keyboard from under the desk and started typing.

“Ma’am?” Mildred asked tentatively after a few moments.

The blue stopped typing and looked up at Mildred “Yes?” She took a quick glance at her watch.

Mildred stared at the edge of the desk in front of her. “I was just wondering if I could do something else. A different job.”

The Blue furrowed her brow. “Like cleaning or something?”

“No ma’am,” Mildred said with a deep sigh. “I mean like something completely different.”

The Blue barked a laugh. “You’re a Brown.” She resumed her typing.

Colin Taufer is the headmaster of Delphi Academy, my children’s school. He is a writer, one I respect a lot. Recently he wrote this piece for his newsletter.  He kindly gave me permission to reprint it here.

Exploring Education

by Colin Taufer

Ours is a technology driven society. Every day newer, better, faster, smaller, more powerful micro-gadgets hit the street, pushing yesterday’s older, slower, less powerful, not-so-micro-gadgets aside. The advance is swift. Technology marches on.

As a child, one of my most treasured micro-gadgets was a Sony Walkman. I could listen to an album’s worth of my favorite music on a compact cassette tape; it was my own personal concert. The sound quality was fair. The music would speed or slow according to battery strength. But it was cutting edge technology and it was fantastic.

Comparing the technology of the Walkman to today’s is laughable. With no moving parts, today’s digital music device can hold 40,000 songs and is a fraction of the size of the Walkman. And if that’s not enough, it’ll also store and display 200 hours of video. Incredible!

So what happened to yesterday’s micro-gadget maker?

The answer lies in this famous quote by educator Dr. Laurence Peter: “Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.”

Unfortunately, yesterday’s micro-gadget maker, the expert in the technology of compact cassettes, is a master of a dying technology. We can hope his expertise advanced apace with the technology and he is today gainfully employed in a related field. If this is the case, and we hope it is, we can correctly assume his core competencies, his ability to study, to read, to mathematically compute and to reason, were fully achieved in his schooling as a child.

But what of the micro-gadget maker lacking these solid academic basics? Without these components of competence in place, like yesterday’s discarded micro-gadget, his ability to make his way in today’s world has vanished. He has gone from king to pauper.

How does the educator of the present prepare today’s students to be competent with the unknown technologies of tomorrow?

The answer lies in the teaching of the basic academics, the traditional core competencies: reading, writing and arithmetic. Beyond that the teacher must add still more competencies: the ability to study, to communicate, to research and to reason.

All of these abilities, fully taught to a very high standard, give the young student a firm foundation upon which all future education can be built. And from there he can build his own kingdom no matter where the tides of technology and change carry him.

For, as the Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle said, “The king is the man who can.”

Image by austinevan via Flickr

Write about what you know.  I’m sure you’ve heard that one before, right?  It’s true.  When you put your name on something, you want to be sure it is accurate.

If you need to write about an area you know nothing about, you must do a lot of research.  Don’t just take the word of one source, even if it “sounds about right”.  You can wind up with egg on your face.

Personally I like to find at least three to five different references on a fact before I take it to be true.

A word of caution: If you’re using the internet as a research tool, be careful of other “authors” who just copy another’s work.  Obviously that isn’t a second source.

I do a lot of non-fiction writing.  As I research a subject (and I do research every subject I write about, even if I’m familiar with it), I see blatant copies of paragraphs in different articles.  Word for word copying.

I’m currently writing a series of articles and guides about mortgages for a client.  I was hired because I had been in that industry, as a licensed mortgage broker, for five years.  I learned a lot and even lectured regularly about different kinds of mortgage loans.

Even with all that personal knowledge, I still want to research the area.  Why?  Because I want to make sure my information is current and accurate.  Then I add in my own perspective, making my articles and guides unique.

Over the last few months I have read a lot of articles about mortgages on the internet and I can tell you that many have incorrect information. It is appalling how wrong some of them are.

Then I see others copying these incorrect articles, printing them as their own.  So, if you were to simply look for three sources, you could find them and still end up with egg on your face.

The way around that is to find three different sources who are clearly speaking from experience.  Look at the author’s credentials and look at the other pieces they have written.  Are they an expert in their field?

I also like to speak to industry professionals.  Social media networking comes in very handy for finding experts in any field.  Talk to someone who is currently working in the area you are researching and check any information you are not 100% sure about.

For some research projects the library is hands down the best resource.  Although books are usually more reliable than internet articles, you still need multiple sources.  It isn’t hard to find three.

Researching is a fun task. And chances are, if you do your job correctly, you’ll end up being a source for someone else.