Please take note of my new links below which link you to my Goodreads author page and email as well.
Goodreads: Octavia
Nothing
Email: WritersBlockParty957@Gmail.com
Thank you!
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark gives great advice in under 2 minutes to aspiring writers. What is her advice? Write what you like and what you know. This way, your own interests, readings, and knowledge will have already prepared you for the genre you are writing in, if it is one that you truly enjoy. Her advice to look at your bookshelf and see what it is you yourself like is one of the best pieces of advice I have heard so far when it comes to wanting to write. I think my love of reading and particular genres does give me an edge when it comes to writing in those genres, so I am definitely going to take her advice and write something I myself would pick up from the shelf.
Monday, June 10, 2013
J. K. Rowling's Employee's Facebook Page Critique
I
just picked J.K. Rowling and viewed her Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/JKRowling
. The first thing I noticed was that all of the posts are written by someone
working for her and not by her at all. Also, these posts only contain her accolades
and her new books you should buy in the dry, matter-of-fact tone of someone
just doing their meaningless job.
I
find these types of pages ridiculous and offensive, personally. Why would
ANYONE “friend” an author’s employee to read reports about how great J.K.
Rowling is? What is the point? If you’re not going to take the time to connect
with your fans delete your Facebook page and
stop using it as an empty, free billboard. The theory behind Facebook is great:
connecting people all over the world. In reality, J.K. Rowling isn’t connecting
to anyone.
Not only that, but Rowling's Facebook page doesn't use any obvious SEO practices. Then again, I suppose she really doesn't need to. Everyone already knows her and her work. But to me, authors enter into an unspoken, magical contract when readers pick up their books. The unspoken part is that your book will positively impact their life (no matter how menial) either through providing entertainment, passing time, providing insight, explaining views and other perceptions of the world, etc. A true author, one who loves the magic part of it – namely the ability to emotionally impact another using nothing more than the written word – would be the one to write the posts if they want a FB page. Connecting with readers only enriches both the writer and the reader’s experience, and advice for fellow writers is the least an author can do to “give back” to those who are the very reason for their own measured success. Then again, that’s just me.
Not only that, but Rowling's Facebook page doesn't use any obvious SEO practices. Then again, I suppose she really doesn't need to. Everyone already knows her and her work. But to me, authors enter into an unspoken, magical contract when readers pick up their books. The unspoken part is that your book will positively impact their life (no matter how menial) either through providing entertainment, passing time, providing insight, explaining views and other perceptions of the world, etc. A true author, one who loves the magic part of it – namely the ability to emotionally impact another using nothing more than the written word – would be the one to write the posts if they want a FB page. Connecting with readers only enriches both the writer and the reader’s experience, and advice for fellow writers is the least an author can do to “give back” to those who are the very reason for their own measured success. Then again, that’s just me.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Why Write?
If there has been one question asked of me about writing more than
any other it is, "do you really think you can make money writing?" It
saddens me that people have used this fact over and over to discourage
me from following a childhood dream of mine to become a well-read author
and to make people feel something by using nothing more than the
English Language. . The most important question I think that needs to
be asked is "will this help your creative output?" Or, "will it make
writing enjoyable again?"
Well, I am at the end of my writing degree, and while I have come to terms with my own inability to pull a bestseller out of myself with little-to-no problems, I have also learned to enjoy writing again. Not because I think others will like it, but because it is a part of me that I have shared with the world. A piece that is deeply ingrained in my psyche that yearns to be woven into a story by my own hands (not to mention I'm dramatic enough to be a writer).
Writing, to me, is a self-expression tool which allows complete strangers to form a sort of emotional bond with each other through no more than the magic of the written word. It is this marvel that has always compelled me to communicate via the written word (even over talking at times). The magic that happens on the printed page is tangible, and one that can be harnessed and shared if you know how to wield that magic by writing your own story on a previously empty page. So if you are wondering "why write?" my answer to you is "why not?"
Well, I am at the end of my writing degree, and while I have come to terms with my own inability to pull a bestseller out of myself with little-to-no problems, I have also learned to enjoy writing again. Not because I think others will like it, but because it is a part of me that I have shared with the world. A piece that is deeply ingrained in my psyche that yearns to be woven into a story by my own hands (not to mention I'm dramatic enough to be a writer).
Writing, to me, is a self-expression tool which allows complete strangers to form a sort of emotional bond with each other through no more than the magic of the written word. It is this marvel that has always compelled me to communicate via the written word (even over talking at times). The magic that happens on the printed page is tangible, and one that can be harnessed and shared if you know how to wield that magic by writing your own story on a previously empty page. So if you are wondering "why write?" my answer to you is "why not?"
Saturday, May 25, 2013
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