Spring Inspiration
April 30, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Louisa Bacio, May SubmissionsHelp For Those Late Night Fights With Your Blog
April 25, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Blogger, blogging, Blogspot, Jenny Hansen, OCC, OCC Slice of Orange, technology, Wordpressby Jenny Hansen
Technology has been a fluffy happy kitten for some of my friends and a scary jaw-snapping lion for others. Everyone knows it’s here to stay but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be their Happy Place.
Last week, I saw an email from one of my blogging pals at 3:30 am because she’d set an alarm TO POST A BLOG. After fighting a migraine the day before. I’ll tell you what I told her: I don’t ever want to hear that any of us got up at an obscene time to post a blog!
For the love of your sleep (which is golden to me as a new mom) and your stress level in general, please schedule your posts!
If you are shaking your head and wondering what I’m talking about, read on my happy friend, read on. You’re about to get a whole lot more sleep. 🙂
Below are the instructions for how to do this in the two most popular blog hosting platforms: Blogger/Blogspot (which is what OCC’s blog uses) and WordPress. (If you’ve got great tips or links for any of the others platforms not mentioned here, please post them in the comments.)
Blogger /Blogspot
From the Blogger Dashboard, click the New Post button. You will be on the New Post screen on the Posting tab.
This screen is where you add text, format, insert Hyperlinks (the button with a globe and a chain link). Below is the Hyperlink screen, which I’m including by request.
At the bottom of the New Post window, you will see Post Options underlined in blue. Click this link to show the extra window detail seen below. This is the area where you can schedule your blog (Marianne, our webmistress, is blessing me right now) and label or tag it for search engine optimization. (Think Google results.)
When you are finished with your changes, click the Publish Post button and this blog will be shown in your list of scheduled posts.
All the screenshots above were done on the old post editor for Blogger (since that’s what I use at work). For the new post editor, click this link. There are several improvements, particularly with the handling of images. I might have to lobby for an upgrade…
To enable the new editor, first navigate to your blog’s Settings Basic tab. Near the bottom of the page you will see a field called Select Post Editor, and from there you simply need to select Updated Editor and save your settings.
WordPress
Log in to your site and go to the Dashboard – there’s typically a toolbar at the top of the screen with a button that says, My Blog. When you click it, a dropdown menu appears – the word Dashboard will be at the top. All the magic is in the Dashboard – Settings, Posts, Widgets, etc. – this is a place to spend time exploring.
To schedule a New Post:
In the toolbar above (to the right of Jenny Hansen’s Blog), there is a button that says “New Post†or you can look on the navigation bar on the left side of the screen. You will see the word Posts and below that is Add New (you might have to click Posts to open this menu).
Go to the Add Post button to get to the Add New Post screen (shown left).
On the right side of the screen, just above the Publish button (which changes to say “Update†once you’ve published), you will see the word “Immediately.”
Click the word “Edit†to the right of “Immediately” (it is underlined in blue) and choose the date and time you wish to post your blog. 
Note: If you don’t click OK, this will revert back to “Immediately.”
If you have the Publicize feature turned on in WordPress, an update will be pushed out to the Twitter and Facebook accounts of your choice. You may edit the Twitter/Facebook content by clicking the Edit link next to the accounts that you’re Publicizing. Again, this is just above the Publish button. I also add Tags to my posts to make them come up in more search engine results – this is located down the right side of the screen.
Click the Publish/Update button at the end of all your edits in order to post the blog.
Other cool Techie blogs:
Are You A Learning Addict? by Jami Gold
WordPress Plug-ins at Dear Author – tweeted by Elizabeth Spann Craig (if you are a writer and haven’t found Elizabeth on Twitter yet – @elizabethscraig – you are missing out…her Tweets are legendary!)
Blogger For Dummies – has all sorts of articles for Blogger websites
Keyboard shortcuts while posting in Blogger
Scheduling your posts lets you add three or four posts at a time and get ahead. I think it’s one of the best features available in both these blogging platforms.
What do you love or hate about posting your blog? Tired bloggers want to know! If you aren’t blogging at all, what made you decide to bypass it?
Jenny Hansen fills her nights with humor, writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit and short stories (and walking the floor with her new baby girl). By day, Jenny coordinates training for two accounting firms. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, it’s nice for her to be able to sit down while she works.
Stay tuned each month for Jenny’s blogs on software, computer how-tos, new parenthood and the latest works in progress. The rest of the time you can find her on Twitter at jhansenwrites, over on the Writers In The Storm blog or on her own blog at http://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress.com.
0 0 Read moreContest Deadlines
April 21, 2011 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Contests, deadlines, writingUpdated and all sites tested…Compiled by Donna Caubarreaux….May be forwarded with credits.
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EA = Electronic Format Available
EA/Non US = Electronic for Foreign Entries
EO = Electronic Only
MO = Members Only
U = Unpublished
P = Published
P/3 = Not published in three years
Pnr = Published, but not by RWA standards
PC = Not published in category selected
MAY CONTEST DEADLINES
Bad Kitty II
Inland Valley RWA
Emailed or postmarked by May 1, 2011
First fifteen pages + one page synopsis (Kitties and/or Werewolfs)
http://inlandvalleyrwa.wordpress.com/bad-kitty-ii-bigger-and-badder/
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Break-Up Contest
Alaska Romance Writers
Received by May 1, 2011
Enter break-up or dark moment scent, limit to ten pages, with up to three page set-up.
http://www.alaskawriters.com/membersites/akrwa/about.html
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TARA Contest (u – P/3 – EA)
Tampa Area Romance Authors
Received by May 1, 2011
The first chapter, 4,000 words max (actual word count), including prologue if applicable.
http://www.tararwa.com/contest/contest.php
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Golden Claddaugh
Celtic Hearts romance Writers
Due by May 5, 2011
First thirty pages + up to five page synopsis.
http://www.celtichearts.org/contest.html
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Maggie Award for Published Authors (P)
Georgia Romance Writers
Deadline: May 8, 2011
Copyright of 2010
http://www.georgiaromancewriters.org/the-maggies/2011-maggie-awards-for-published-romance-novelists-rules/
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The Molly Contest (EO)
Heart of Denver Romance Writers
Received by May 15, 2011
First thirty pages (max) + five page (max) synopsis
http://www.hodrw.com/contests/the-2010-molly-unpublished-writer-contest/
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Ignite the Flame
Central Ohio Fiction Writers
Postmarked by May 16, 2011 or Emailed by same date.
Entries should be 15 pages MAX, with an optional one-page, un-judged, set-up. (No synopsis) Entries should be the first meet or first reunion meeting of your hero and heroine.
http://www.cofw.org/contest.html
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Weta Nichols Writing Contest (U – EO)
Ozark Romance Authors
Received by May 16, 2011
First ten pages.
http://www.ozarksromanceauthors.com/
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- Check out Contests and Contest Winners on: http://contestdivas.blogspot.com/
- Check out the Award Winning Romance Books on: http://awardwinningromances.blogspot.com/
- Contest Alert-All the news on upcoming contests, plus Finalist & Winner listings, questions, etc. Sign up now! ContestAlert-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
- Announcement only list: ContestDeadlines-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
- For Published Authors: ContestAlertPublished-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
- If you’re a Contest Judge, join ContestsJudges-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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Donna Caubarreaux is a member of Coeur de Louisiane, Scriptscene Chapter, NOLA Stars, Heart of Louisiana, and Kiss of Death. She received a RWA Service Award in 1997
0 0 Read moreSTORIES THAT DO MORE THAN ENTERTAIN (and a few of my favorite books)
April 19, 2011 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Member At Large, Monica Stonerby Monica Henderson Stoner, Member at large
Romance writers write romance. Sometimes they write romance with a twist or hyphen. And sometimes they write romance with a subtle message, one that might stop the reader mid paragraph, and have them thinking about other than boy meets girl.
I’ve come across these books in the past, and taken away something more than just a story. One of the first was Kathleen Korbel’s JAKE’S WAY, about a man who gives up his own dreams to help his family, who never realize he can’t read. Korbel whammied me again with A ROSE FOR MAGGIE, about a charming baby with Down’s Syndrome, and then A SOLDIER’S HEART, reminding me PTSD wasn’t just for the men in the field. She wrote about the agony of anorexia in SOME MEN’S DREAMS and about overcoming deep seated fears in both WORTH THE RISK and PERCHANCE TO DREAM.
Suzanne Brockmann faces issues head on. Dealing with Alcohol or drug dependency started with HEART THROB and continues right through the Troubleshooter books. Who can’t love Jules, gay and proud of it, who wanted a partner he could walk with in sunshine? People doing the right thing for the wrong reason, and people doing what has to be done even when no one else realizes what they’ve done, come alive in her books.
Then we come to SEIZE THE FIRE, a heart wrenching story of dealing with the horrors of war in a time when an officer and gentleman was supposed to keep a stiff upper lip and soldier on. FLOWERS FROM THE STORM, a stroke bringing a genius down to near disaster; THE SHADOW AND THE STAR, a young man overcoming a depraved upbringing. Laura Kinsale makes me think while enjoying her stories.
None of these authors hit me over the head with their MESSAGE. I’ve seen and tried to read books with a THEME, sometimes a worthy theme such as racism or man’s inhumanity to man. All valid high concepts but when your theme gets in the way of your story, sometimes people stop reading all together.
More recently, I learned from a fellow LERA member about Best Buddies International: http://www.bestbuddies.org/ a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing one-on-one friendships for people with IDD (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities). Their goal is to ensure these people have friends to call them. Gabi Stevens wove IDD into her newest fantasy romance AS YOU WISH, which I’m looking forward to reading.
For myself, I’m polishing TEACH ME TO FORGET, about a woman overcoming a depraved marriage and making something of herself, then learning to trust.
Happy reading and writing!
0 0 Read moreHeck Yeah! E-Covers That Seduce & Sell
April 15, 2011 by Rebecca Forster in category The Write Life by Rebecca Forster tagged as DYI, e-books, e-covers, Rebeca Forster
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| See all my covers at: http://www.rebeccaforster.com/ |
by Rebecca Forster
I doubt this will come as a surprise, but ‘pretty’ sells. So does intriguing, shocking, soothing and sexy. That’s why I spent the last three weeks sweating over cover designs for my backlist romances (all of which I hope you’ll check out for your E-reader) and redesigning my thriller covers.
Why, you may wonder, did this exercise create such angst? After all, these are only E-covers. Nobody will run their thumb over the richly embossed type, check to weight of the stock or touch it in a bookstore. This isn’t a ‘real’ cover on a ‘real’ book. And that is my point exactly. These covers are more important than a paper because they will live on in perpetuity.
In this new publishing reality authors who have backlists and don’t own the rights to their covers must now become designers; indie authors who have never had the benefit of seeing their work transformed into a visual face a daunting task of identifying the soul of their books. Bottom line, unlike paper, an E-cover’s impact will be farther reaching than any of us can even imagine.
In the old days an author might reproduce their cover image on bookmarks and mugs. In this brave new world, E-covers pop up as thumbnails on Facebook, Linked-In and other social media posts. They are broadcast to readers of blogs and reviewers who promote your work. An E-cover makes a statement on your own website. An E-book cover is brought up full-size and full color on most readers. An E-book cover sets the tone for your book in a way that a paper cover never could because you – the author – have designed it and that is the truly exquisite bottom line.**
No longer am I at the mercy of a New York art director working off a synopsis of the book we spent months writing. Never again will I have a cover where Lady Justice had a sex change and became a sword-toting Roman guy. I have seen the last of a beautiful ocean on the cover of my book that is set in the high desert of California. Hurrah! I have taken the beaches of cover design, and planted my flag and you can too.
I must confess that initially I was like a young soldier rushing into war without realizing how important the battle was. I lucked out with my Witness Series covers but others looked amateurish, weak and unmemorable. I had that revelation as I readied my romance backlist for E-publication. I was determined to make my covers as easily identifiable as my writing style so when faced with the prospect of creating a minimum of 8 new covers, I knew I needed a plan. I studied E-covers of books I admired and those on the top seller lists. I began to experiment. I realized that, like a first draft of a book, my covers were not perfect the first time out. I began to understand that I had to kick everything up a notch to get noticed.
The new covers now reflect the theme of each book or are evocative of the mood of that work. With the romances and women’s fiction in particular I tried to limit the use of full-on portrait photography in order not to inhibit the romantic reader’s imagination. For me, blocking and color worked for the romances. For other authors, flowers and pastels might be the key to success. For my thrillers, I decided to go darker with ominous and/or graphic images. Though there are no hard and fast rules, here are some guidelines that worked for me:
• Clean is better than fussy
• People (especially parts of people) are intriguing***
• Experiment. Odd colors and disparate type faces can to work together and create drama
• The covers should reflect the tone of the book
• Slugs should be tight and to the point
• Spend a little money on stock photos (I use ‘small’).
• Plug in image search words that aren’t obvious.
• Use PowerPoint portrait setting for your design. The pixel height and width will be perfect.
So, Heck Yeah! Get on top of the the covers. Your E-career will thank you for it.****
*See more of my handiwork at http://www.rebeccaforster.com/ .
**Even if you had a designer, they worked at your direction. Own that cover!
***See The Reckless Ones – my favorite partial body shot.
****The same thoughts hold true for E-packaging!
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THE ALLIANCE
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SILENT WITNESS
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