I am sharing this instead of writing a blog post because today I just don’t care.
Category: Blogging
Creating WordPress blog posts in Microsoft Word
I recently returned to blogging after a bit of a break and was surprised to find that my WordPress editor had changed in many ways that I so far do not appreciate. So this morning, I am doing a little experiment in creating blog posts using Microsoft Word. To start, I opened Word and clicked on: File –> New –> Blog Post. I am now typing this post directly into Word’s blog post editor and will test out the various functionalities to see if I like the way it publishes to my blog. (I also noticed that I have the option to open this document in Contribute, but that is an experiment for another day.)
Unfortunately, what I dislike most about the WordPress editor updates are related to how the editor interacts with my Zemanta plugin. Equally unfortunate is the fact that moving to Word will not fix this issue, as it does not appear that I can download a Zemanta Add-In for Microsoft Word. (If I am incorrect on this, would someone please inform me of how and where to obtain the Ad-In so I can get it? Please and thanks!) So, if I am going to be dependent on Zemanta for images and related content, I will likely have to add these by going into my WordPress editor and updating the post after I have published it. If you have found a way around this or know of a better way of doing this, please share in the comments below. Continue reading “Creating WordPress blog posts in Microsoft Word”
How to write a book one blog post at a time
The prospect of writing an entire book can be daunting. It’s a lot of work and can take a LOT of time to complete. All the while, you might find yourself wondering if you are good enough or if anyone will ever want to read it. One way to combat this anxiety is to write your book one blog post at a time.
Whether you write serialized fiction (like blogger/author Amanda Martin’s Two-Hundred Steps Home) or creative non-fiction (like The Bloggess’s Let’s Pretend this Never Happened – A Mostly True Memoir,) you can write the first draft of your book-length manuscript one blog post at a time.
There are many benefits to writing a book this way. Check out my list below and then feel free to add your own ideas in the comments at the bottom of this page. Continue reading “How to write a book one blog post at a time”
Tell me about your new book
I don’t know about you, but I sure haven’t been blogging much since the start of the new year. What I have been doing is plugging away at two novels in progress, both of which seem to grow farther from completion with each new plot hole I fill. It’s funny how that works, isn’t it?
You know, sometimes revising a novel is kinda like when you think you’re just going to quickly replace a bathtub in your 100-year-old house only to realize that by removing the old bathtub, you have now exposed a whole host of other problems you didn’t know existed, including rotten floor boards and termite ravished support beams. Yeah, revision can be a lot like remodeling a bathroom in a house that maybe should have been condemned a long time ago…
Needless to say, blogging hasn’t been as much on my mind lately as it once was. Continue reading “Tell me about your new book”
What to do when you are bored with blogging
I haven’t been blogging much lately. I’m kinda bored with it. I love writing, but I’m a little bored with writing about writing. How much more can I say about it at the moment?
It’s funny, I’ve been seeing a lot of this particular type of blog post in the past couple of weeks. It seems like a lot of bloggers are just bored with where their blogs are going and are making a resolution not to be so boring in the new year. If all of these bloggers are bored with blogging, I wonder how many of our followers are bored with following us? How many people are actually reading all of these blogs?
I follow several blogs myself. I try to keep up with reading most of them, but there are only a couple that I make sure I read as soon as a new post comes out. I read a lot of writing blogs for my own self-edification, but the ones I read because I want to are the ones that are simply entertaining without trying to teach me anything. Continue reading “What to do when you are bored with blogging”
2013 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for Write on the World.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, Continue reading “2013 in review”
200 Words: Part 2 of Making Merry
The past two weeks, I have been participating in Chuck Wendig’s 200 Words flash fiction challenge. This week, author Michael Woods picked up my story start, Making Merry, and added the next 200 words. You may read it over on his blog.
So far, my favorite part about this activity is seeing how another author can completely change the setting you had in your head just by adding a couple of words. For example, I had originally pictured a lower-middle class suburban neighborhood with small ranch houses, but the addition of the Saab and BMW parked on the street suddenly morphed the setting I had in mind to more of an upper-middle class neighborhood. This totally changes the dynamic of the story moving forward. Continue reading “200 Words: Part 2 of Making Merry”
The second 200 words: A Real Live Corpse
Last week, I posted the first 200 words of a short story as part of author Chuck Wendig’s latest flash fiction challenge. So far, I don’t think anyone has picked up my story where I left off, but there is still time to jump in. Even if you did not write a 200-word story start last week, you can still participate beginning in phase two. I would love to have someone pick up my story so I can see where it ends!
The first 200 words of this week’s story were written by Ken Crump from the Brickhouse Piggy blog. You can find his original post here. Ken did not title his first 200 words, but I really like his “real live corpse” concept. I think it would make an excellent title, so I am running with it. Of course, the next person to work with this story might think otherwise and decide to change it. But that’s half the fun!
I am going to attempt to write the second 200 words in a similar voice, so it (hopefully) will read is if written all by one person: Continue reading “The second 200 words: A Real Live Corpse”
Keeping tabs on my online activity
Author Charlotte Rains Dixon recently ran a blog post in which she listed all of the tabs she had open on her internet browser. I thought it was interesting to see what all she has open for research and such, so I thought I would do a “my tabs” post of my own. So, these are the tabs I have open in my browser at this time:
- Gmail: self-explanatory, I think.
- The My Tabs blog post that inspired this post.
- Facebook: Always open. How about you?
- YakTale: A writing acquaintance mentioned it yesterday, and I’m deciding if I want to submit some of my short stories to the site since no literary journal will ever publish any of my short stories. Or would it be better to publish them myself, as eBooks? Continue reading “Keeping tabs on my online activity”
Who’s up for a 200 word piggy back ride?
I finished NaNoWriMo Tuesday, and guess what? I haven’t stopped writing since! Today, I am joining a writing challenge hosted by Chuck Wendig over at the TerribleMinds blog. It’s a five part challenge in which participants will collaborate to write several flash fiction pieces 200 words at a time.
To participate, this week you should write the first 200 words of a story and post it to your blog. Then head over to TerribleMinds (where you can also find full details of the challenge) and share a link to your post. The next week, you will choose another author’s first 200 words (maybe even mine!) and write the second 200 words of that author’s story. The following week, you will choose yet another story and add an additional 200 words of your own, and so forth, until you have written a total of 1000 words on 5 different stories.
Sounds like fun, right? Okay, so here’s the first 200 words of my story: Continue reading “Who’s up for a 200 word piggy back ride?”
Write on the World 