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There is No Such Thing As Too Many Books

March 12, 2021 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as books, Denise M. Colby, reading

I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as too many books. I’m sure that’s a quote I’ve seen somewhere. Maybe I should get a t-shirt with that specific phrase on it!

photo of a library with lots of books on the shelves with blog title There Is No Such Thing as Too Many Books

My To-Be-Read-Pile is ever growing, is yours?

I have books on my Kindle, books under my bed, books on my nightstand, and in the special pieces of furniture that I purchased specifically to hold books.

And yet, I still love to go to the library and peruse possibilities or hunt for treasures at used book or garage sales, or add to my Kindle list through all the different newsletters I receive from the many authors I follow.

Am I the only one who does this?

Any suggestions for how to manage them all?

used book store front window promoting used and rare books bought and sold — I love to shop in used book stores!

Adding To The List

As I’ve made new writer friends in the different groups I’m a part of, I seem to have added a whole slew of authors to the list of books I want to read. It’s fun and exciting, but it can be overwhelming sometimes too.

I’m just curious to know if anyone shares in this same quandary?

My desire to add to my pile seems to ebb and flow, sometimes based on how overwhelmed I am with where to put everything. But mostly, I do tend to just accept and enjoy this desire to continuously add to my pile.

Of course, many books become favorites and I find it difficult to add them to the donate pile. Anyone have that habit as well?

Some days it feels like book overload. But other days, I just smile and look forward to the new set of friends I’m going to meet in the next book I read.

I’m hoping I’m not the only one who suffers from this malady!

Do you, too?

Denise M. Colby is writing her first novel. Check out her website to find out more about her story. You can also take a peek at her real-life hero she wrote about in a previous blog post.

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URL Slugs: The Right Custom Slug Builds SEO

February 12, 2021 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, Marketing for Authors, SEO, SEO Marketing

Did you know you can customize the slug part of the URL for every blog post you create AND that it helps to build SEO? All of us create a URL when we post on this blog. But did you know you can customize it?

Blog post header that talks about how a Custom Slug Builds SEO by marketing for authors owner Denise M. Colby

What is the slug and what does it do.

A URL is the address of a website page. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. It’s this address that allows someone to go directly to a specific page. The slug is the tail end of the URL that identifies a particular page on a website in an easy to read form.

What’s nice about the slug is that you can provide the link. Or someone can find it in a search engine.

And we all want someone to find it if they search for the information we are writing about.

How can a URL slug appear in the searches we want?

Choose the right words.

In my research I found out that the simple extra words can be removed. Words such as the, and, of.

The simpler, the better. Just 4-5 words max.

And using the Keyword or phrase you’ve selected is a bonus when building SEO.

Even though we don’t own this blog, we want our writing to be found. So SEO on our individual blog pages matter, which means the right slug builds SEO.

And one way to do that is to customize the URL slug.

How do you customize the URL slug to build SEO?

The slug is listed in the Yoast section at the bottom of our post entry. You can also see it appear in the Permalink to the right, under the document.

Just take out the extra words. Choose words that would be a phrase that someone would write in a search looking for this particular article.

For this blog post, I chose custom-slug-builds-seo, which is the same as my keyword phrase.

I then took this keyword/slug and googled it to make sure that it fit what I wanted it to fit.

Once you set a slug, don’t change it.

This is because once you give out the link to the post, if you change it, no one will be able to find it.

I know I have several slugs I would love to go back and change and make them stronger and shorter. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

But keep in mind. It may not be wise to go back and clean up past URLs. Especially if you have already used them in other blog posts or pages. Once you change the URL the link is broken and people who click on the old link will get an error message.

If you’d like to learn more about SEO, sign up for my Marketing for Authors newsletter (notice this url slug was created way before I knew to condense them), or take a look at some of my other posts on this website including one about blog post creation.

I’d love to learn your experience with renaming the slug part of URL. Let us all know with your comments listed below.

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New Year, New Planner, New Word

January 12, 2021 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, Planners, Word of the year

I love the beginning of a new year, starting a new planner, and working with a new word! Last year, I wrote about how January is a reset month, and how using a planner can help you stay on track.

Blog title with colorful pens on one side and words on the other that say New Year, New Planner, New Word by Denise M. Colby

Aren’t new planner’s fun?

The pages are yet to be written and there’s this anticipation of setting goals and plans for our writing and our life.

This is my second year I’m using the My Brilliant Writing Planner, and this year the pages have been simplified, with two sizes available. I’m using the smaller 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 as I hoped I could take it with me more easily and it would sit on my desk and not take up a ton of room, but alas, I’m not going anywhere and I now have a bigger desk.

However, it doesn’t make me any less excited to use it.

One of my favorite pages in the planner is the One Word Page.

Every year, I select a word to represent my year. I know a lot of authors do this, so if you have a word, I’d love to know what it is. I have found the process of selecting a word and the focus all year long, has given me extra blessings and has fit me where I am in my writing journey, as well as my life.

I’ve written about some of my words in past posts. 2016, my word was Believe. In 2017, my word was Strength, In 2018, my word was Steadfast. And I liked it so much I did a summary at the end of that year. 2019, my word was Purposeful, yet I couldn’t find a post about that (that was very purposeful on my part, right?)

Last years word was Courage and I did a wrap up blog post as well.

For this year, my word is Wisdom.

Denise M. Colby's Word of the year 2021 is Wisdom written out on a white piece of paper

As I research this word, I have found several explanations that really fit where I’m at in my writing journey. Wisdom is an integration of knowledge, experience, and deep understanding.

I hope that in all the time I’ve been working on my novel, that I am able to incorporate all of those and be able to move on to the next step.

There are other terms associated with wisdom including: insight, judgment, decision-making, discernment, and sense of balance. That last phrase speaks to me. There’s a balance between all the differing feedback I’ve received from others during contests, and figuring out what is best for the book overall.

I love this quote I found on wisdom.

Wisdom involves a healthy dose of perspective and the ability to make sound judgments about a subject while knowledge is simply knowing.

This is the wisdom I seek.

I also hope to share my wisdom when it comes to branding and SEO. Launching my Marketing for Authors newsletter last year was a huge leap of courage (my 2020 word), and now that I’ve done that, I want to learn more and share that knowledge with others.

I’m still exploring quotes, verses, and synonyms that are connected to wisdom. It’s an interesting word in that, quotes about life and such are considered words of wisdom. So if I’m looking to simplify, I might need to limit to those phrases that only include the word wisdom in them. Not about wisdom in general.

Although I do love quotes and words of wisdom in general, too!

To end, I wanted to share some of the synonyms of wisdom. I feel like I can apply many of these to my writing goals this year:

Acumen, gumption, foresight, experience, savvy, caution, poise, prudence, reason, discrimination, discernment, practicality, shrewdness, solidity, stability, judiciousness, comprehension, astuteness.

Alas, I hope To grow in my writing with comprehension, astuteness, & gumption this year.

Here’s to a great year of writing for us all.

Share below what your word is for 2021! There are so many words to choose from, I love reading all the different ones people choose.

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Bullet Journal Page Design Ideas for Writers

December 12, 2020 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, journals, writerslife

Do you have a bullet journal or have you ever wanted to try one, but haven’t yet?

blog header titled Bullet Journal page ideas for writers by Denise M. Colby

I haven’t used mine as much as I would like, but I have done a few things that I love and wanted to share them with you. Who knows, maybe you might add a bullet journal to your Christmas list this year.

I’ve accumulated several ideas I’ve been wanting to try and recently I added these ideas and more to my Pinterest board for Journals and Journaling. In searching around further, I even found Christmas related doodles as well as banner headers I decided to attempt.

To organize my writing in my bullet journal, I divided the journal into two sections. The second section is specifically related to writing stuff.

My favorite spreads in my bullet journal are the bookshelves I created.

One set has all the writing craft books listed so I can remember what I have, while the other lists all the magazine articles I’ve published, along with a vase with the roses I’ve received from my OCC RWA chapter. (There’s room for the books I hope to publish too.)

bookshelf bullet journal spread idea by Denise M. Colby

reference bookshelf showing all the writing craft books I own by Denise M. Colby — Reference Bookshelf showing all the writing craft books I own

bullet journal page idea with highlighting published works done by Denise M. Colby — Reference Bookshelf showing all the writing craft books I own

Some other ideas I’ve come up with are hashtag and keyword tracking, as well as banners and box ideas, Christmas doodles, and other things to capture including a list of Musicals I have seen in person.

Bullet journal page with #hashtags on it — Hashtags I use related to writing posts

bullet journal page with keywords on it — Hashtags I use related to writing posts

I got the bookshelf idea from writer Chautona Havig who uses a bullet journal to keep track of everything from character names, words to avoid, and other writer related topics in fun and creative ways.

There’s something about having pages created in my own hand. I wrote a past blog post a while back as to why hand-written notes and journals are important.

I’d like to create more pages in my bullet journal for my writing, but I’m looking for ideas.

Do you have a bullet journal?

What are some ideas that you have used to design a page that’s related to writing?

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“Blank” Is A Daily Struggle

November 12, 2020 by Denise M. Colby in category The Writing Journey by Denise Colby tagged as Denise M. Colby, encouragement, writerslife, writing motivation

I titled this post “Blank is a Daily Struggle” because each day can bring its own set of challenges. Sometimes for me writing is a daily struggle, my health can be a daily struggle. Our finances and dealing with our children. In essence, everything in life can be, well,…a struggle.

Since we are all writers here, I’m going to focus on how writing is a daily struggle. I work almost full time now and finding the mental capacity to write has become a new challenge.

I tried writing after work, but most days I have no mental capacity left. I’ve tried to plan in the morning, and then I had 8am calls every day for a few weeks, and that routine went out the window. So, right now I focus on different times each week and weekends.

But Sunday I rebelled.

I just didn’t want to sit. Of course I had been sick all last week and resting when I wasn’t working, so I was a little done with the messes in my house and inability to move around without being lightheaded.

So instead of pushing myself, I gave myself grace. And focused my energies where I seemed to want to go. It helped. It was like I needed to clean off the desk so I could start new.

That’s how I try to approach each new day.

One of my favorite things to do each morning is focus on the fact that it’s a NEW day. And each new day is a re-start to whatever happened before.

It’s not always easy.

But sometimes it helps immensely.

A clean slate to start new. New words. New projects. New edits. It doesn’t matter how much I did or didn’t do the day before, what matters is how purposeful I am today.

Which reminds me of another idea to help with the daily struggle

The planner I’m using this year – My Brilliant Writing Planner – has sections to focus on ourselves as a whole. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, sensory, creative. We are made up of all these parts. But we don’t always pay attention to all these parts of ourselves.

When something is a struggle it could be that we are out of balance with one of these and we need to take time to replenish ourselves in a way that continues to help us function the best we can.

Just something to think about.

Just some rambling thoughts this month, as I try to balance life. Each day does feel like a daily struggle if I allow it to overwhelm me. I’m trying really hard not to do that. And I just wanted to share in case you were struggling too. I hope you find some encouragement in my words and that you have a blessed day.

If you are interested in checking our the 2021 My Brilliant Writing Planner, take a look at this website. She redesigns them every year and this year there are multiple sizes and types. I find them very adaptable to my needs, and I know Kitty has mentioned she uses them too. I already have mine!

This is what the My Brilliant Writing Planner looks like for 2021, with beautifully drawn feather pen and the words My Story Matters — I already have my 2021 Planner! I’m so excited!

I wrote a post recently about Finding Motivation to Accomplish Your Goals, and showed a few pics of the inside of my planner, if you wanted to take a peek.

Blessings,

Denise

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