Daily Archives: April 8, 2012

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Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh!

April 8, 2012 by A Slice of Orange in category Columns tagged as Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh

If a Blog Fell in the Forest…

â€œJust as long as we have we!â€ – Dr. Seuss and Albert Hague

In OCC lurks great power, but we do not harness it, nor do we wield it.

We have 175 members, 110 published authors, and myriad experts on everything from computer technostuff to cover design to contracts to self-publishing. And what makes the whole of OCC so much stronger than the sum of these amazing parts? Our interconnectedness, our willingness to share and communicate. So…our A Slice of Orange Blog should rock much more than it does.

We have the power to make A Slice of Orange grow into a cornucopia of talent, resource, tidbits, and discussion that romance readers and writers will consume voraciously. But when many of our published authors have a book coming out, they guest blog somewhere else. And many of our experts have their own blogs, and they ask OCC members to go there to read a good blog. Can we bring some of this love home to OCC? I think we can, and when we do, A Slice of Orange will be so much mightier than the sum of its parts.

-If you have your own blog, perhaps you can pick a blog day on A Slice of Orange (Marianne Donley has the master list of available blog dates mariannedonley@gmail.com). Then, on that day, on your own blog, instead of blogging, you can have a link to A Slice of Orange where your blog will appear that day.

-If you are a published author, you can blog about your upcoming book and add charming stories. Check out Jina Bacarr’s recent Titanic blogs.

-You can feature your upcoming book and add tidbits from your personal life. Check out Janet Cornelow’s latest blog. That is the kind of stuff reader’s LOVE! To feel they KNOW an author!

-Linda O. Johnston and Monica Stoner provide insight into the life of a writer â€“ pure gold to fledgling writers tying to get to know the biz.

-Rebecca Forster’s recent blog on characters and Barb DeLong’s conversations with Jann Audiss offer such fodder for readers and writers alike to talk about the things readers and writers love to discuss!

-Louisa Bacio’s and Kitty Bucholtz’s blogs are always choc full of info info info about everything that a writer would want to know about. Calls for Submissions, details about self publishing, reading recommendations and more and more and more…

We need more participation to make A Slice of Orange as strong as it has the potential to be. And not just writing the blogs. Do you read the blogs? Comment! Check those boxes at the bottom if you found it interesting or funny or cool or great! Do you write blogs? Comment back â€“ get discussions going. I think it would be great if the commenters even got into discussions with each other. For instance, today Laura Drake posted a link to a great blog by Larry Brooks, Storyfix. I looked 10 minutes ago, and he had 44 comments – I want that kind of interaction on A Slice of Orange!

Are you too busy to blog? You can pitch in by reading the blogs, checking the boxes, and commenting! We can all share and build our collective strength.

Why would this be such a great thing?

-A popular blog home base where you can publicize an upcoming release could be very useful – so the bigger our readership, the better.

-If you are self published and you blog about your book on our widely read blog, the more books you will sell.

-If you are not yet published, you can fortify your profile as a potential author who can sell her or his name by showing that you are a regular blogger on a popular blog.

-If you write your own blog, having it linked to such a strong hub can only increase your readership.

-If you are writer who feels unconnected, isolated or clueless, you can tune in to read about and chat with writers who love to share.

-If you are a reader, you can peek inside the world you love so much and get a heads up about what books are coming soon from some of your favorite authors. Or you might discover new favorites.

-Anyone in OCC can blog. Send Marianne Donley a request.

-Everyone in OCC and beyond can read and comment and discuss. But it has to start with us.

We need more OCC members writing, reading, commenting, commenting back, commenting back and forth, and telling others about our blogs in order to drive A Slice of Orange to its fierce destiny!

And even though many blogs are up for only a day before the next blog goes up, remember, the blogs don’t go anywhere! You just have to scroll down and you can keep the conversation going. For my Davy Jones blog, I was commenting back and forth for 4 days, even though Kitty’s blog posted above mine on day 2. And yes, I shamelessly asked some of you to read my blog and please comment so I could light a fire under my blog, and this flurry of comments brought in 8 unsolicited comments – but I want us all to have more than 8 every time! If we check in on the blogs and scroll through and comment and keep checking and commenting back, we can really get something going.

In OCC beats the power of its incredible membership. We need to harness and wield this power for the good of our careers. Unleashing such power will also enhance the vivacity and might of the romance community of readers and writers. And gleaning power from love and from loving what we do is good for everyone.

Mmmrh!

Please, let’s discuss. Let’s make this happen. All comments, pros and cons, will be welcomed, considered and discussed! And I hope we all discuss: commenters with me and commenters with other commenters.

Where better to discuss blogging than in a blog?