Category: Blogging

Blogging

10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge: Day 3

Mandy Webster

Day 3 - 10-day-write-blog-challengeDay 3 Prompt: Introduce yourself with your writing bio.

This is the (very) short bio I send with a lot of my short story submissions:

Amanda L. Webster has an MA in English, with a concentration in creative writing, from Mount Mary College. She won the 2013 Sigma Tau Delta Individual Blog Award for her blog located at writeontheworld.wordpress.com.

I wonder sometimes if it is a little too brief. What do you think? How can I improve my writing bio? Do you think I should include more personal info, or will that distract from my professional accomplishments? Continue reading “10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge: Day 3” →

Blogging

10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge: Day 2

Mandy Webster

10 day writing blog challenge, day 2Day 2 Prompt: Make 10 Writing Related Confessions

Today’s writing blogger challenge prompt might be a hard one. I am sitting here racking my brain and not coming up with more than one or two. So, here’s what I’m going to do: Let it simmer. I am going to simply leave my Word doc open and run back to write these down as I think of them.

Hopefully I’ll have come up with ten by the time I need to post this. Otherwise, I may end up posting a partial list –OR- using the alternative prompt, which is to take a blogging break for the day. Nah, I’m not taking a day off!

Okay, here’s my list: Continue reading “10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge: Day 2” →

Blogging, Uncategorized

10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge: Day 1

Mandy Webster
10-day-write-blog-challenge-button300
Welcome to the 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge.

I’ve been reading Vikki Thompson’s responses to Hunting Down Writing’s 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge over on her blog, The View Outside and decided to partake in the challenge myself. So, without further ado, here is my response to the Day 1 Writing Prompt:

For this first post, I chose to use the alternative prompt, as I believe I have already shared a pitch of my current novel project.

Here’s the first prompt: Discuss whether writers should blog about writing.

And my answer: YES! I think writers should blog about writing for a variety of reasons. Continue reading “10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge: Day 1” →

Blogging, Digital Marketing, Uncategorized

What’s in a (my) name?

Mandy Webster
July 2013 picture of me wearing explorer hat
My ex-husband’s father’s girlfriend took this picture of me recently. Do I look like an Amanda or a Mandy to you?

When my mom was pregnant with me, she wanted to name me Mandy. I think this was around the time Barry Manilow’s song, Mandy came out. My dad said there was no way he was naming his kid Mandy. So they settled for Amanda, which happens to also be a family name.

Then I was born, and my dad was the first person to call me Mandy rather than Amanda. The nickname stuck, and I have been Mandy my whole life to everyone but my grandmothers, some schoolteachers, and an ex-boyfriend who insisted on calling me Amanda despite the fact that it irritated the hell out of me (only special people get to call me Amanda, and he just wasn’t that special.)

When I set up my online portfolio and blog a couple of years ago, I set it up using the name Mandy because that’s what everyone calls me. Now that I am seriously considering actually getting something published, I think I want to publish under the more formal name, Amanda L. Webster.

Here’s the problem: Continue reading “What’s in a (my) name?” →

Blogging, Digital Marketing, Employment

Check out Fiverr for buying and selling writing services

Mandy Webster
I will tell you how to drive readers to your blog for just $5.
Check out my first gig on Fiverr.

A reader (thanks, Tonette!) recently suggested I check out a website called Fiverr to see if I can find someone to design a book cover for a collection of poems I would like to self-publish. While I haven’t yet found someone to design my book cover, it did occur to me that maybe I should post a few gigs of my own on Fiverr.

My first idea was to offer novel critiques to fellow writers looking to polish their novels before self-publishing. (I also borrowed this idea from another reader.) I posted a gig for this, but after getting to know the website a bit better, I do not think this is quite the right format for advertising this particular service. Continue reading “Check out Fiverr for buying and selling writing services” →

Blogging, Holidays, House and Home, Parenting

Where have I been all this time? –And- My thoughts on STUFF

Mandy Webster
a graduate and her dad
My dad looks a little sleepy in this picture, but I look good, and he’s not online to see it and complain about it, so here ya go. I got my Master of Arts in English with a concentration in creative writing from Mount Mary College on May 18th, 2013.

Hello there. I’ve been MIA from my blog for some time now. I hope you all didn’t miss me too much. This may turn into a long, rambling post with little to no point. I hope you don’t mind.

So, where have I been? First of all, I made it to graduation and crossed the stage on May 18th. I may now officially refer to myself as Mandy Webster, MS, MA. Wow, look at all those letters behind my name! I also got an A on my creative writing thesis (go me!) Graduation and all that goes with it is part of the reason why I’ve been largely absent from the blogosphere.

I was also wrapping up all seven of the courses I taught this semester (or quarter depending on which school I was teaching at.) Needless to say, after teaching seven courses and writing a thesis in one semester, my house was a bit of a wreck. Since graduation, I’ve been on a cleaning streak that has completely distracted me from all things academic. Continue reading “Where have I been all this time? –And- My thoughts on STUFF” →

Awards, Blogging, Conventions & Conferences, Sigma Tau Delta

Write on the World wins Sigma Tau Delta Individual Blog Award

Mandy Webster

Guess what, everyone – You are officially reading an award-winning blog! This morning, I found out Write on the World won the Sigma Tau Delta – International English Honor Society Individual Blog Award at the 2012-2013 Convention that took place in Portland, Oregon in March.

Sigma Tau Delta presents awards “annually in the areas of writing, performance, service, and website and blog construction.” According to their website, “individual blogs are judged on creativity, usability of design, and content, as well as how well they support or advance the purposes and principles of Sigma Tau Delta as outlined in the Society’s Constitution.” Continue reading “Write on the World wins Sigma Tau Delta Individual Blog Award” →

Blogging, Reading

Blogs you should follow, if you’re so inclined

Mandy Webster
Reader of novels
This is me, reading your blog. Only replace the book with a smartphone. (Ha Ha, just kidding. The pickin’s are slim on Zemanta these days. Seriously, what is going on this picture?) | Reader of novels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hopefully none of you are depending on me for regular blog content this semester. But just in case you are, let me share a few of my favorite blogs with you… something to keep you busy until after I graduate in May. Hopefully after that, I’ll have more time for blogging. I don’t want either of my subscribers to get bored. I’m talking to you, Ryan. You and that other guy. I don’t know his name. Continue reading “Blogs you should follow, if you’re so inclined” →

Awards, Blogging, Digital Marketing, Uncategorized

Because my resume could use another award or two…

Mandy Webster

My blog was recently nominated for a Liebster Blog Award. Probably because I personally know the blogger who nominated me, and we’ve been sharing strategies for bumping up our readership. At any rate, it looks like fun, so why not?

liebster blog award

The Liebster Blog Award

The rules for the Liebster Award are very simple: You are required to thank the person who nominated you, answer the 11 question they have asked you, nominate 11 other people and ask them 11 questions in return. According to the guidelines, the Liebster award should be sent to bloggers with less than 200 followers so that new bloggers can see how awesome they are!

By the way, thanks to Punky Coletta at SlimeGreen  for the nomination!

My Questions Continue reading “Because my resume could use another award or two…” →

Blogging

I do my best blogging at the coffee house

Mandy Webster
The view from my comfy chair at Cafe de Arts in Waukesha, WI proved very inspiring last weekend.
The view from my comfy chair at Cafe de Arts in Waukesha, WI proved to be inspiring last weekend.

I love blogging while sitting in a coffee shop. Whenever I meet my writer friend for a day of coffee and writing, I always end up putting my intended work aside to write at least one blog post. At our last session, I ended up writing three different blog posts before the afternoon was done.

Maybe I should just plan on going out to a coffee house once a week to write all of my blog posts. When I blog at home, my blog posts often come out concise, professional, and utterly boring. At the coffee shop, I get creative ideas and write posts I think people might actually want to read (I hope.) Continue reading “I do my best blogging at the coffee house” →