I was just beating myself up (figuratively - it's had to really beat yourself up because it hurts!) about breaking my promise to Elaine Kiely Kearns, of KidLit 411 fame! I told her I'd blog more regularly and that was almost 3 months ago - sorry Elaine!! I thought about why I hadn't blogged more often this past year and I realized, it's because I've been busy blogging - on other people's sites!
Here are some of the blog posts I've written in the past year:
~ I'm a regular contributor to a group blog called Word Disco - an Unexpected Party. I wrote five posts there last year. The other amazing author/posters are: Jenni
Bielecki, Meg Fleming, Renee Gian, Betsy Pritts Ickes, Megan Maynor,
Stephen Shaskan, Trisha Speed Shaskan, Catherine Urdahl and Heather
Zenzen.
~ I'm also a regular contributor (though I'm late a lot - sorry!) to Nancy Viau's wonderful blog for kids, WIT - Writing Info & Tips. The other contributing authors are: Alisonn Formento and Margie Gelbwasser.
In addition to my series guest posts, I've also done one-time posts on a variety of other sites:
~ I did a post on Genres for Donna Martin's series, Writerly Wisdom.
~ I've contributed a few times to Marcie Flinchum Atkins' series, We're All in This Together.
~ I wrote a post and writing prompt about Rhythm on Shannon Abercrombie's series, Start The Year off Write.
~ I contributed a Dot to Peter Reynold's Celebri-dots for International Dot Day, held on September 15th.
So, instead of beating myself up, I should be hoisting myself on my shoulders (definitely harder than beating yourself up) and patting myself on the back (that I can do!) for writing so many posts in the past year!
You can expect to see a lot more posts from me soon - 30 to be exact! I'll be writing a poem-a-day in April for Poetry Month, as I did last year. In each poem, I'll use a word suggested here or on my Facebook page. I stole borrowed this idea from Ed DeCaria's March Madness Poetry Contest. I made it to round three this year, with the words Protean, Rapturous, and Quotidian! Next year I'm going all the way!
If you know of anyone else participating in April Poetry Month, please share their info here for other poetry lovers!! Also, please suggest words for my poems and come back in two days to read the first one!
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When I read the theme for this month's post on my glog, Word Disco, "Seeing Red", the first thing I thought of was Marnie! If you've seen Alfred Hitchcock's 1964 movie, Marnie, starring Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it yet - you should (and not just because Sean Connery's in it)! In the movie, whenever Marnie sees the color red, it brings back memories of a traumatic event in her childhood and she becomes paralyzed with fear. I don't think watching the scene below will ruin the movie for you so, feel free to watch the clip (I'll wait).
With Marnie in mind, I decided to write about facing our writing-related fears. More specifically, our self-promotion-related fears. Once your manuscript is acquired, well before it's published, you'll need to start promoting your book and yourself. You'll want to build your platform to create a presence to help reach your target audience. You'll also want to build relationships with other authors, illustrators, editors and agents.
To build your platform, and connect with fellow inhabitants of the kid lit world, you may have to do things that take you outside your comfort zone and make you see red (in the Marnie sense). Things like:
- interviews with newspapers, magazines, radio or TV
- writing guest posts on blogs and websites
- attending conferences, even when you don't know anyone there
- presenting at conferences
- book signings (sometimes with crickets chirping)
- school visits in classrooms and sometimes for the whole school
- skype visits
- joining a critique group
- teaching about your craft to aspiring authors and illustrators
- volunteering at SCBWI events
- starting a website and/or blog and actually making them public
- participating in online writing challenges
- designing business cards, bookmarks and postcards
- creating a book trailer
- _____________(fill in the blank for the things I forgot to mention).
I've done everything on this list, in one form or another, and I've had second (and sometimes third and fourth) thoughts before doing them. I was scared. I felt incompetent. I wanted my mommy! I could have chosen not to do any of these things; to stay in the safety of my comfort zone. But, I faced my fears and, instead of feeling afraid, I felt confident and empowered (ok, when it was just me and the crickets at a few book signings, I didn't feel so great)! Still, I could have seen red and let myself wave the white flag of defeat. Instead, when I saw red, I added some cool blue and made purple! (Which just happens to be my favorite color.)
