Joining the Celebration of Bloggers tour today is Isabella Louise Anderson, founder of The Chick Lit Goddess blog and soon-to-be-published author. Isabella is one of the strongest supporters of chick lit and chick lit authors I have ever met. She generously promotes authors on her blog with interviews, guest posts and book reviews, but she takes it a step further. She even formed a group on Facebook as a safe haven for chick lit authors, aspiring authors and bloggers to seek and give advice, and share good news as well as concerns and frustrations related to our writing and publishing journeys. I have been featured on her blog and I am also a member of this Facebook group and am so appreciative of Isabella’s tireless desire to keep the genre of chick lit alive and kicking. If you have not done so already, please check out the Chick Lit Goddess blog today! Before that, check out what she has to say about being a daily blogger:
BEING A DAILY BLOGGER
I’m a writer. My thoughts, feelings, emotions, and imaginations all come out through characters in my books, so why do I find it so hard to blog? I’ve written two books (and am working on a third), yet when I sit down to write a blog post, topics escape my mind and I go blank. I admire other bloggers who write daily and often wonder how they do it. So, recently I came up with a game plan on being a successful daily blogger.
–Keep your phone (or pen and notepad) near you:
As a writer, I’ve learned to keep my iPhone handy for when an idea strikes. This can hold true for a blogger as well. For example, if you’re in a bookstore and want to write down authors names and books you might want to write about, your phone is right there to help you store any notes you might want to take down. If you do not have a phone that has a memo pad kind of option, carrying a pen/pencil and a notebook/notepad will work fine too. Also, know that it’s okay if your notes are unorganized—you can always go back and retype them on your computer. (This is one thing I had to learn the hard way because I’m OCD and everything I write as far as notes, had to be organized and look pretty, but I’ve learned to deal with the mess to create whatever it is I’m writing).
–Be on the lookout for new author/book news:
In the “books” section of sites like Amazon and USAToday, I often search for new books and its writer(s). By doing this, you can keep up with your competition, which might even trigger blog topics. My advice on this one is to go to either site once a day and find an article you like, then blog about it.
–Subscribe to similar blogs:
Depending on what kind of blogger you are, a good idea is to subscribe to other blogs similar to yours, especially those who are daily bloggers. By subscribing to these blogs, your writing will most likely come natural because of the common interest. Also, don’t forget to read comments on the posts. I’ve come to learn from being a blogger that opinions vary, which might be helpful too.
–Research:
No matter what kind of writer one is, doing research is very important. Get your facts right, and you might even want to quote the person and site where you found the information. While it’s okay to state your thoughts and opinions on your blog, it’s hard to take a blogger seriously if you do not get the facts right. However time consuming this might be, it’s just an extra touch on creating a good blog post.
–Just write!:
“Just write,” is the advice that people always say. You scoff at the notion, right, then keep on struggling with coming up with a topic. If you must know, this blog post was one of those instances. I struggled because like I mentioned earlier, topics tend to escape my mind when it comes to writing blogs, so I decided to sit down and “just write!” It’s okay to think that your work is trash, but that’s what editing is for.
In closing, being a daily blogger isn’t easy, it’s hard work, but it’s nothing that anyone needs to stress over. If you are a new blogger, work on trying to find your own voice and be true to your topics and feelings, and you will soon gain loyal followers and subscribers. Until then, take it one day at a time and enjoy the wonderful world of being a daily blogger! 🙂
Coming soon: Blogger Girl
What happens when your high school nemesis becomes the shining star in a universe you pretty much saved? Book blogger Kimberly Long is about to find out.
A chicklit enthusiast since the first time she read Bridget Jones’s Diary, Kim, with her blog, “Pastel is the New Black,” has worked tirelessly by night to keep the genre alive, and help squash the claim that “chick lit is dead” once and for all. Not bad for a woman who by day ekes out a meager living as a pretty, and pretty-much-nameless, legal secretary in a Manhattan law firm.
While Kim’s day job holds no passion for her, the handsome (and shaving challenged) associate down the hall is another story. Yet another story is that Hannah Marshak, one of her most hated high school classmates, has now popped onto the chicklit scene with a hot new book that’s turning heads–and pages–across the land. It’s also popped into Kim’s inbox–for review. With their ten-year high school reunion drawing near, Kim’s coming close to combustion over the hype about Hannah’s book. And as everyone around her seems to be moving on and up, she begins to question whether being a “blogger girl” makes the grade in her off-line life.
