BookBlogWriMo. Book Blog Writing Month. Created by “Book Bumblings” as a book bloggers’ version of NaNoWriMo. I found it through “Shattered Hearts Reviews“.
Day Ten – Memes I Meme
Teaser Tuesday – The idea is that you open the book you’re reading to a pseudo-random page, pick two sentences from those pages, and provide a teaser, which shouldn’t provide any spoilers. When Sunday or Monday night rolls around, I start looking for a couple sentences while I’m reading that would make a good teaser.
Flashy Fiction Friday – Well, I actually post the prompts for this one and don’t write stories for the prompts often enough. The active site just moved from Blogger to WordPress.
Wednesday Poetry Prompts – Weekly prompts by Robert Lee Brewer on the writersdigest.com site.
#FridayFollows (on Twitter) – I got caught up in this a bit when I first got into Twitter a couple years ago. The idea was that each Friday, you’d give a shout out to a handful of folks you were following.
#MorningMusic (on Twitter) – I don’t know that it’s a meme, but for many months now, I post a couple lines from one of the songs I’m listening to on the way to work using Tweetcaster. [Yes, this is only done when I’m either stopped at lights or after I get to work.] It posts to my Twitter feed and Facebook. I get occasional likes, comments, and retweets.
I’ve participated in a number of Poem-A-Day (PAD) challenges and now BookBlogWriMo, none of which, I think, are quite memes.
Day Eleven – Most Popular Posts
As of 14 November 2014, these are the top ten posts on this blog. A few of my pages (the homepage, writing background, The Reading List, and Favorite Writers) actually were in the overall top ten page hits, but I limited this list to only posts. In order of popularity:
1. “If you see it, darling, then it’s there.” – a quote by Freddie Mercury
The flamboyant front man of Queen on stage, who was much more reserved off stage, explaining what the lyrics of Queen’s songs mean.
2. “Waiting was a sin” – A Quote from “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman
An excerpt from the dark story in which one of the characters thinks about waiting is a waste of time.
3. “…it was a beginning”: An excerpt from “The Eye of the World” by Robert Jordan
A short discussion of the cyclical nature of life in my favorite book series, The Wheel of Time.
4. Ask Boromir – A Quote by R. A.. Salvatore
An excerpt from R.A. Salvatore’s “Why Fantasy?”, the Introduction to Philip Athans “The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction”, in which he talks about ethical/moral decisions made by characters in fantasy.
5. Poem: Better Off Me
A free verse poem about thinking it might be better to be someone else.
6. Poem: Like a Mojito…or Three
A shadorma (poetic form) about life being confusing.
An American Haiku (not about nature)
8. Review: Gauntlgrym, Neverwinter Book I by R.A. Salvatore
9. Review: Neverwinter, The Neverwinter Saga, Book II by R.A. Salvatore
10. Poems: Day Thirty One & Sometimes It’s Better To Just Move On
A lune and a triolet (poetic forms) on the subject of moving on.
Day Twelve – Advice for Newbie Bloggers
As this is far from a highly visited blog –none of mine are, actually– I’m not sure I’m really the person to provide advice to newbies, especially those who are looking to see their number of followers hit stratospheric levels. Here’s my short list of advice:
1. Don’t write for the visitors, write for yourself.
2. “Don’t let the bastards wear you down”
That’s from a mug I’ve had for years….and years…and years, but it’s great advice. People love to trash people, to criticize them, especially if their writings, ideas, etc. are the least bit controversial or edgy. Learn to separate good negative criticism (sounds like an oxymoron, right?) from a trashing. You should welcome the negative and positive criticism and learn from both.
2. Don’t chase the followers.
3. Follow people whose writing/posts you might actually be interested in reading.
4. If you want your numbers to grow, write more. The more prolific you are, the more followers you’ll end up with.
5. Don’t chase the money.
If writing/blogging is your passion, do it because it’s your passion, not because you want to get rich. If you take something you love to do and try to force it to make money for you, you’re more than likely going to get frustrated and lose your enthusiasm for it. If you’re passionate, and good at writing, opportunities will present themselves…
which leads to my last bit of advice…
6. Embrace life’s opportunities when they present themselves…and this includes writing/blogging. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail, and, in doing so, you learn and grow.
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