Following on from last week’s opener to this two-part series on blogging, I continue to share thoughts on the topic from some of my fellow writers.
Blogging can be a good place to start if you’re not sure what to write. I’ve found it to be a good way to make sure I write daily (most of the time anyway) and you can practice setting yourself a deadline or word count to work to. Both of these are excellent practice for submitting work to competitions where sticking to the deadline and required word count are vital.
A fun thing to do can be to create a blog from the viewpoint of your main characters. This can be part of the main author blog and written as a sideline from time to time. It’s another way of getting word about your books out there and shows something of the character to potential readers.
And from Dawn Knox, fellow flash fiction writer, Cafelit, Bridge House and Chapeltown author:-
Why I blog
I first decided to set up a blog as an experiment and set myself the challenge of posting daily for one hundred consecutive days. I achieved that without much problem and then found that all the photos which I’d used in the posts, had almost filled up the free space I was allowed, with the free WordPress blog. Having bought my domain name, dawnknox.com, I decided to upgrade to a paid blog.
I didn’t want to limit myself to one subject, so I called the blog The Knox Box of Miscellany and I post periodically about any topic, whenever I think I have something interesting or amusing to say. Generally, I try to use my own photographs which saves me worrying about copyright issues and since I take my camera with me almost wherever I go, that’s not too hard!
I use the blog to promote my books but try not to use it overtly for advertising because I assume that no one wants to keep hearing about the same thing. I would love people to find my blog entertaining and if I knew I’d brought a smile to someone’s face, I’d consider it a successful blog post.
Taking your own images is a good idea but there are free to use sites such as Pixabay and Pexels, where copyright will not be an issue. These sites will always say if they are free to use. If they don’t say, then there’s an issue – you will have to pay! Don’t use Flickr, Shutterstock etc unless you are prepared to pay and generally for a blog, it isn’t worth it. Using the free to use sites means sometimes having to think laterally about what images to use, but that is no bad thing!
And from recent CFT interviewee and fellow Chapeltown Books writer, Gail Aldwin:-
Why I blog
I started blogging as a result of encouragement at ‘how to get published’ conferences to develop a presence on social media. There is a long apprenticeship to the publication of a novel and although I’m not there yet, writing a blog has certainly helped along this journey. My most recently written novel is under consideration with two independent publishers so I am poised to transfer the marketing skills used to promote Paisley Shirt my collection of short fiction to the promotion of The String Games when it finally comes to print.
I named my blog after Carson McCullers’ novel (as there is no copyright on titles) and changed one word to read The Writer is a Lonely Hunter. I use Facebook and Twitter to attract readers to my posts – I particularly enjoy engaging with readers and writers on Twitter. As a result, I also Tweet on behalf of the Dorset Writers’ Network and the Women Writers’ Network. I use my blog to promote literary activities in Dorset to celebrate the creativity of the county and to provide updates on my writing progress.
Paisley Shirt – Gail’s collection of short fiction is published by Chapeltown Books and was longlisted in the Best Short Story category of the Saboteur Awards 2018.
Chair DWN: http://www.dorsetwritersnetwork.co.uk
And from Mandy Huggins, fellow Chapeltown Author, and with whom I recently discussed networking on CFT:-
Why I Blog
I have to admit that blogging isn’t one of my greatest strengths, but I’m striving to change that! There are so many forms of social media that it’s difficult to give everything the time it deserves. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, blogging demands something bigger than bite-size, and because of that it can get pushed to one side when you’re very busy with a number of projects. However, that extra ‘space’ to write means that blogging is a great way to shape and clarify your own thoughts, and to develop and share ideas. It’s also a good place to learn from those more knowledgable than yourself, and to offer up your own expertise in return.
Blogging offers opportunities for authors to open up about their writing and creative processes, to review books, and to learn a little more about each other. I really enjoy doing ‘blog swaps’ with fellow writers and inviting them onto Troutie McFish Tales for a chat.
Blogs are a great place to recognize amazing achievements and significant moments, and to share each other’s successes and disappointments. And sharing is the most important thing.
And from Aly Rhodes, fellow Chapeltown and Cafelit author (aka Alyson Faye).
I started my own writing blog with a basic free WordPress account, set up with help from my teenage son – and to start with it was just an on line diary for me to record my writing progress- the ups and downs. I didn’t really embrace the idea for 6 months or so from its start up and then once I started writing regular entries it became both addictive (I think in a good way), a way of expressing myself, a means of sharing tips and info on competitions and sharing advice from the creative writing workshops I began to teach in 2017.
I could refer students and writing buddies to my blog and a particular post if they had a query rather than emailing everyone- and I learnt how to add photographs and other visuals, which I now enjoy blending with my text. I extended into interviewing fellow writers, from my Otley group and on line writing friends, which led to more visitors I noticed, checking out my blog.
I don’t have that many followers, but some are in USA and Australia, which is rather lovely – to think that folk on the other side of the world get my blog posts. Looking back I’m amazed how many posts I’ve written and how long I’ve stuck at the blog- I thought it would fizzle out, but I still get a real kick from blogging.
Yes, I have a WordPress site myself (allisonsymescollectedworks.wordpress.com) where I collate my Facebook and Twitter posts and also link to my CFT articles. I find it easy to use and it is fascinating to see where some of the views come from. I can boast India and the USA from time to time!
Blogging should be seen as something to be done not as a marketing exercise but as something you enjoy doing and can keep going in the long term. It is way of showing something of yourself as author to readers (and marketing can be done this way. It is not “in your face” but a way of engaging in a kind of conversation, even if for the vast majority of the time, that conversation is one way).
Happy blogging!
Related posts:
Travelling by Bus around the World and Inspirational Flash Fiction – Introducing Gail Aldwin
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
There are a wide range of responses to your question, Allison. Interesting read, thank you.
Many thanks, Gail. It has been fascinating reading the different reasons for blogging and all are valid.
Good to see how writers make use of blogs. As a failed blogger I am looking for an alternative. It is depressing seeing my efforts as a Chandlers Ford writer failing to reach the required blogging standard. Some interesting topics I have tried to write blog articles about include choosing book covers, medical writing, backgrounds to major political events and inspiration for writers. A tragic incident at my place of work involving several deaths and a national panic provided a plot for one of Patricia Cornwall’s million selling novels. My recollection failed the blog standard here. Books I have written with other authors have a place in history as with my collaboration with the Serbian writer and politician Mihailo Marcovic who made great efforts to prevent the Bosnian War, all covered in my failed blog articles, together with an account of my cooperation with the Russian writer, Raya Dunayevskaya, Leon Trotski’s secretary, who fled with him to Mexico where he was assassinated by one of Stalin’s men. She moved to the US and towards the end of her life we shared ideas on the philosophy of GWF Hegel of whom I have written several widely acclaimed books. I am beginning to see Word Press as a form of censorship. Fortunately Me We can be added to Facebook and Twitter as a means of communication.
The topics you mention sound fascinating, David, and would make for some great articles, but I must admit I don’t see how you can be a failed blogger. I say that given you set up your blog and you write what you want to on it (barring the obvious exceptions of libel, obscenity etc). Word Press have never edited me or vetted my content. Having said that there are other platforms out there, including Blogger. Worth trying that?
Golden “rules” I try to follow when blogging are to:-
1. Keep it simple – not in terms of content but in terms of expression. Bullet points for the “headlines” and expand later in the blog when you want more detail. Clarity is everything.
2. Stick to a word count of circa 1000 to 1500 words. I do this for CFT. Any longer than that and I split the post into two or more parts.
Good luck and I hope you can get on to blogging, David. It is a valuable thing for a writer to do I think. The great thing with short blog posts is you can always expand on these later for longer articles to pitch to magazines etc.
Thanks Alison for your supportive comments. I have since contributed to a few blogs with no problems. Seems it is only in Chandlers Ford where I fail. I can live with that. Maybe I don’t belong in Chandlers Ford. My neighbour who I admire tells me that despite living here for over 40 years I am still an immigrant cos I wasn’t born here. There is a truth there.
If it’s any comfort, I wasn’t born in Chandler’s Ford either, David! It is actually my better half who is the “local lad”. Don’t give up. Home is where you make it and there will be plenty who ARE accepting of others.
It’s really interesting to see people’s views on blogging, Allison. Thanks for the post!
Thanks, Dawn. It has been great to find out there are so many reasons why writers blog!