Pippa's Journal & Some Blogging Ideas #amwriting

For the next few months, I'm on an almost non stop blogging tour with five releases over the next six months. I still have to pinch myself over that. FIVE! One of the things I love about my new publisher is they help out their authors with promotion - in this case a pretty respectable blog tour around the release date. Major plus! But being an independent sort and not used to this kind of boost, I still went ahead and organized my own. So here's the downside. Between my publisher's tour and my own, I needed to come up with 29 blog posts for Tethered. 29!! That's nearly a whole month's worth! *brain melts*

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Fortunately not all of them are guest posts - there's a fair few interviews and a few just excerpts. Breathless Press have also arranged a few spotlight posts for release day, which require no input from me at all, other than me visiting and sharing on the day. Oddly, the hardest ones are the open ones. Honestly. Give me a topic and I might grumble a bit, but faced with a request that says '1000 words on anything', and I can guarantee my mind will go blank. For my own tour I offered some options and suggestions for what I could do, which helped, but I still have some left totally open.

So I thought I'd tell you about some of the suggestions I made and some ideas on how to fill those blank spaces titled 'anything you want to write about'.

1. For my own tour, I offered the host a choice of interview, review (nerve-racking, I know, but you have to start somewhere), guest post on a topic of their choice (see 2), or an excerpt. Of course, interviews and excerpts are the easy (or easier) options, but trying to make interview answers sound fresh and interesting when it might be the third, fourth, fifth etc time you've answered a particular question does get harder. I'm not naturally funny, but I try to be. >.< 

Also, I try to make excerpts exclusive (and some host sites will insist that it *is* exclusive) which gets harder the more you do. I don't want to give too much of the story away, and publishers often put a limit on how much of your work you can use for promo (sometimes the first one or three chapters, or so many words or a percentage, so watch how much you use). But someone following your tour will soon switch off and lose interest if it's the same excerpt every time.

2. Guest posts. Now, one thing I did while writing or editing over the past year is actually write a few potential blog posts as I went along, as thoughts occurred to me. It could be your struggles with a particular scene, an interesting bit of research you came across, why you added/deleted something (BTW, deleted scenes and/or maybe a scene you thought of for a sequel/spin off could make a good post. For Tethered, I had a potential opening scene for a follow on book which I was able to use as an exclusive for one host site). Maybe a particular song you were listening to that helped with a section you were stuck on or inspired a character. Anything like that, while the event is fresh in your mind. 

I've also done some Five Things - five music tracks connected to the story, five facts about the story itself or something in it (eg for my zombie story Restless In Peaceville I have facts about zombies, and my paranormal short has five facts about redheads), five heroines from SciFi who inspired mine, and so on. Or you could do your five favourite bands, films, food, characters - anything like that, and just a little explanation about each. One of my author friends suggested ten things I need to write (thank you, Starla Huchton!). Sometimes breaking something down into points/facts works better than just trying to work from scratch. Also, some bloggers did give me topics they wanted. These might be tricky, but having SOMETHING can spark a post better than nothing. When all else fails, ask for suggestions or Google blog idea generators.

3. I generally make playlists for my stories as I write them, but oddly Tethered never got one. But those playlists can make for a good post (and you can use widgets from something like Grooveshark to actually include the tracks in your post). You can talk about how and why you chose the music, what influence it had, what it means to you. Music is such a huge part of my inspiration.

4. Image inspiration. As a break from writing, I often look up images either to spark a story or go with it, or to mock up covers for them. I'm no graphic designer, but sometimes it helps me focus on the main elements in the story and fine tune how characters look. But sharing those also make for a good blog post and maybe help explain your creative process.

5. Talking about writing. I don't know about you, but this is THE hardest topic for me. My process is chaotic and nonlinear. About the only helpful advice I can give aspiring authors is NOT to write like me. So here I tend to focus on the importance of research and talk over what I looked up, what I struggled with, what really interested me, and what resources I used.

So there you go. Maybe if you have some ideas you could add them in the comments. :)

Pippa's Journal

With all my upcoming releases, I don't expect to have anything new to announce before the end of 2014, other than an official re-release date for Keir (fingers crossed). I'm currently trying to finish an angel story (futuristic UF before you think I've forsaken SF permanently for the supernatural) for a submission call, a zombie short for an open call with Lycaon Press (who are publishing Restless In Peaceville), and possibly other short stories as yet incomplete, as part of Camp NaNoWriMo. The angel story has to be in by the end of July though, and if accepted would be released in December. SIX titles in six months? Could be a title too far...

Right now my schedule looks like this -

July

21st-30th Tethered tour with Breathless Press
21st - You Gotta Read
22nd - Love Romance Passion
23rd - Romance Reviews Today, Ezrabet's Enchantments
24th - Books and More, Sizzling Hot Books, Breathless Blog, Savvy Authors
25th - release day Tethered, spotlight at - Karenna's Blog,Pamaceeve's Blog, Nanee McGee,
28th - Urban Fantasy
29th - Literary Lagniappe (plus giveaway), Katie Babbles
30th - spotlight at Book Infatuation

August

8th-22nd - tour for Tethered
8th - Cate Peace
9th - Liza O'Connor
10th - Karen Y Bynum, Liana Brooks
11th - Melisse Aires
12th - Patty Hammond
13th - Celia Breslin, Samantha Holt
14th - Mark of the Stars
15th - My Creative Desk, Elle Clouse
17th - Pam Mandingo
18th - Cassandra Page
20th - Layna Pimental
20th - Release day for Restless In Peaceville
21st - Winter Bayne
22nd - Sonya Clark
25th - Veronica Scott

And that's just for Tethered... I'm off to finish the ten remaining blog posts for the tour before I have to get started on the one for Restless In Peaceville. And edits for Keir and When Dark Falls and the paranormal short for October... In the meantime, Tethered is already available for pre-order from Breathless Press, ARe and Smashwords. Now please excuse me while I go implode... *wanders away muttering*

8 Days to the Apocalypse...and I Have Nothing To Say?

You'd think the season, the goings-on in writerdom, and the pending end-of-the-world-disaster scenario would give a writer plenty to write about. Alas. I claim to never get writer's block, but now I realize that isn't entirely true. When it comes to blogging, I sometimes have absolute writer's freeze.

Like...oh, the last three weeks, for instance.

So kind of like the Jerry Seinfeld show that was "about nothing" this post is about non-blogging. What do you do when you wrack your brain for hours and just can't come up with a topic to expound on?

Well, maybe you write about that.

So...I'm writing about having nothing to write about.

It can be so frustrating! And that goes double for writers. I mean...writing is what we do!

When you have problems with any other sort of writerly affliction, like how to plan character arcs, or eliminate passive verbage, or improve plot development, there are a lot of places you can go to get help and advice. Fortunately, when I started hunting I discovered the same goes for Blogging Dysfunction (BD).

For most writers, I think BD is really TBD. Temporary Blogging Dysfunction. Find a little bit of inspiration and the creativity engines kick in. Maybe it's not so much a matter of What, but just of finding the right Who, Where, or Why to write about.

When I started researching TBD, it turned out that it's a pretty common malady for writers. We can write a 100,000+ word novels, but dashing off a short, self-contained article gets us completely buffaloed.

There's an app for that. Okay, there's not an app (not that I know of -- please let me know if I'm wrong, maybe there is an app for that), but there are a lot of websites for that.  Here's the short list:

Keep It Fresh: Where to Find Ideas for Blog Posts

25 Blog Ideas That Will Rock Your Readers World

20 Ideas For Writing a Blog Post

6 Places To Find Ideas for Blog Posts

Where to Snag Creative Ideas for Blog Posts

10 Blog Post Ideas You Can Use Right Now

The Only Blog Post Idea List You'll Ever Need


Most of the above links can point you in the right direction to find inspiration.

If you still need help, you might consider taking a class on blogging. Such as:

Gotham Writers Workshop: How To Blog

Or buy an instructional video or DVD:

How To Blog for Authors/Writers

(The above are just examples, not endorsements. Use a search engine to find the best match for what you need as a blogger.)

But don't stop there.

Once you find your inspiration and have that great blog written, you need to take steps to promote it. You can be a more effective blogger by learning how to use some of the social media bells and whistles. Here are a few tips on how to get more "reach" once you've written your masterblog:

5 Tips to Make Your Blog Posts Immediately More Social

This covers ideas like embedding Twitter tweets and Facebook comment boxes right into your blog, and providing instant Tweet content for readers to share just by clicking a link. This will help focus more attention on that blog across social media that you've brainstormed and perfected.

So, now it's your turn. Do you ever struggle with writing blogs? Do you have your own tricks and tips for coming up with blog ideas? Do you have a favorite site or application for inspiring blog ideas? Let's hear 'em!