Proper Pinning: How not to irritate your followers on Pinterest
Pinterest featue in Metro – 27th February 2012 (Photo credit: Great British Chefs)
In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I kinda love Pinterest. I have tried a ton of new DIY projects and even make my own homemade laundry detergent now on a regular basis. But Pinterest can be as annoying as it is helpful when pinners fail to pin properly. To combat this problem, I have compiled a short quick-list of tips for properly sharing articles on Pinterest to avoid irritating your followers:
1. Link to the individual blog post, not the blog’s index page. (more…)
Writing prompt: Pick an object
You never know when the inspiration for your next great story might lurk somewhere in the depths of a random drawer. | (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you’re a teacher or student (or both, like me,) your head is probably about to explode from all of the recent end-of-year academic activities. So, for today’s Wednesday Writing Prompt, I thought it might be appropriate to pick something fun and light to write about. Of course, if you’re in the mood for deep and dark, you could probably take it that way too. Here goes:
Without looking, reach into a drawer, any drawer, in the room in which you are right this moment. (If you’re in a public place or someone else’s home, you may want to ask for permission first.) Pull out the first item you can get your hands on. Remember, don’t look in the drawer or look for a particular item. Instead, I want you to grab one random item (more…)
Life is Truth
The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In a recent Wednesday Writing Prompt, I asked you to consider what themes and motifs seem to appear regularly in your everyday life. One theme that regularly appears in my life is the concept of “truth.” This has occasionally crossed my mind over the past three years, but finally hit home last week when I discovered that yet another research paper had turned into a discussion of the identification and exploration of universal truths.
I’d been writing a narratological analysis of Elizabeth George Speare’s historical YA novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond and found that many of the academic resources I was reviewing on historical fiction seem to touch on those aspects of human nature that are largely unchanged from one generation to the next. While this was, by no means, the thesis of any of the research papers I read, it was the one common thread that seemed to weave through all of the pieces. (more…)
Write On the World Presents: Top 7 Spam Comments
Dear Spammer, I am not interested in buying Viagra or advertising it for you in my blog comments. | viagra is a commercial produced medicine containing Sildenafil citrate, which is used to treat male erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If you have a blog, you’ve probably gotten at least one ridiculous spam comment on one of your posts. You know what I’m talking about… those comments that were obviously written by some online Viagra salesperson in Southeast Asia who is sitting at a laptop filtering their spammy comments through Yahoo Babelfish before posting. And what about those comments that have absolutely nothing to do with the post you’ve written? Do these spammers really think we’re this stupid?
Luckily, I use Akismet on my blog, so I don’t have to read too many of those spammy comments. The ones that do occasionally slip through the spam filter are generally pretty funny. Check out this list of the top 7 ridiculous spam comments received on my blog, and you’ll see what I mean: (more…)
4 Tips for writing a “Pinworthy” DIY blog post
Has this ever happened to you? You find an interesting recipe or craft project on Pinterest that you want to check out only to click through and find the blog post is missing one or more essential elements required for you to actually be able to bake the goody or make the craft yourself. Or maybe everything is there, but it’s so disorganized, you immediately give up figuring it out and move on. You return to Pinterest without repinning the post. And that blogger just lost an excellent opportunity to see her blog post “go viral.”
If you’re like me, it probably only takes you a few seconds to look over a blog post and decide if you want to repin it. A few minutes ago, I found a blog post on making a “relax bottle” (aka “mind jar“) for counting down a child’s timeout minutes. I love the idea, the pictures are great… but I got to the blog post and couldn’t immediately figure out if the bottles are made using supplies I might already have on hand. And, where are the instructions? There are tons of great pictures, but the how-to part is all over the place. I still wanted to do this project, but I had to go look elsewhere for better instructions. (more…)
Themes and motifs in everyday life
How do the themes and motifs of your everyday life influence your writing? | Everyday life in art ქართული: ყოველდღიურობა ხელოვნებაში (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As a high school student, I always hated it when my literature teachers insisted that we identify the themes and motifs of the stories we read. However, as an adult, I have found that my life is laced with a few distinct recurring themes and motifs.
For today’s Wednesday Writing Prompt, I invite you to take a look at your own life and consider what themes and motifs seem to appear most frequently. Then choose one of these themes (and/or motifs) and write an essay, short story, or poem that explores the impact of this theme on your life.
You might also consider how the themes and motifs from your everyday life influence your writing in general. For example, do you often find yourself incorporating these same themes into each piece? (more…)
Can you do me a huge favor?
Would you mind taking a quick survey about a blog?
Earlier this semester, I wrote a blog post about the new blogs that my Communication Technologies students were creating. Well, they’ve been hard at work blogging all semester, and now they are looking for some feedback on their blogs. Each student has created an online survey asking for feedback on their individual blogs, and we are looking for willing respondents to take a look at one or more of the blogs and then take the survey. (more…)
Wednesday Writing Prompt: Are you a real writer?
Do you consider yourself a "real" writer? | "Writing", 22 November 2008 (Photo credit: dr_ed_needs_a_bicycle)
Yesterday I promised that I was going to begin to share a writing prompt on Wednesdays here on my blog. So, without further ado, here is today’s prompt:
Do you consider yourself a “real” writer? Why or why not? What makes a writer?
For today, I chose a topic that will likely make a better essay or blog post than a short story. However, I think it’s a topic we should all be considering if we take our writing seriously. (more…)
Corbin’s poems about Far North
Cover of Far North
Earlier this week, my 12-year-old came home from school with a booklet of poems he’d written for his English class. They’d read the book, Far North, by Will Hobbs, and had to write several poems about the book in a variety of forms.
I was more than just a little impressed with some of the poems my son had written, so I asked him if I could share one on my blog for Poetry Friday, which is sponsored this week by Random Noodling. This is the poem he chose for me to share:
Clint (a name poem)
Could you see that plane fly by
Like a bird
In the sky
Now the plane is going down
The bush pilot Clint was never found
~By Corbin DesJardins
And I wanted to share one more. This place poem was one of my favorites in Corbin’s collection: (more…)
Finally finished my tulip afghan
Tulip afghan I finally finished last night.
I don’t get much time for crafting, so when I finally finish a big project, I feel like I’ve really accomplished something. I started the center panel of this afghan somewhere around five years ago. It was originally going to be a long pillow for the hard hearth step in front of my fireplace where my dogs loved to lay in front of the fire. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish it before we moved out of our house, and that center panel ended up in my huge plastic tote full of projects that need finishing.
Several weeks ago, I was looking for something to work on while watching TV (because I’m such a workaholic, I feel guilty about sitting in front of the TV without simultaneously DOING something productive,) and I came upon this panel. It was too pretty to let it lay in the container any longer, so I decided to pull it out and turn it into a blanket. (more…)
AWP 2012 | Creative Writing in the Real World
Creative writing class-fine arts center (402690951) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Is it April already? I meant to write a ton of compelling blog posts about all of the sessions I attended at the March 2012 APW Convention in Chicago, but I didn’t get past describing the first session. Although I’m a bit behind, I think a lot of the lessons I learned at the convention are essential. So today, I’ll take a peek backward and tell you about the second session I attended, titled, “Out There and In Here: Creative Writing in the Real World.”
This session was presented by Abby Bardi, Rick Kemp, Janice Meer, and Adeena Reitberger in the Astoria room of the Hilton Chicago. The AWP’s official description of the session follows: (more…)
My tips for winning the Mega Millions jackpot (hint: I don’t have any)
Mega Millions tickets (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
With the Mega Millions lottery jackpot at half a billion dollars, everyone is talking about how best to win. So, I thought I’d write my own little list of tips. However, unlike every other blog post or news article you may have read on the subject, I will not be giving you tips on how to win (per se.)
I hate to break it to you sunshine, but all those tips you’ve been reading in the news are B.S. The lotto is, by nature, a crap shoot. The lottery is not designed for you to win. It is designed to generate revenue for the government.
#bettingonthegovernmentisalosinggame
The lottery is a game. Like any game, there is a good, clean, fun way to play. There is also a horrible, bad, spend yourself into the poorhouse way to play. (Don’t play that second way.) In case you don’t know the difference, here are my top 5 tips for playing the lotto. (more…)
Purple is for Independence
Here's my purple independence quilt, specially made for me by my mommy.
I never used to like purple. It was always way too girly for me.
When my older son was little, he insisted (much to his father’s chagrin) that his favorite color was purple. My son was about 3 years old when we bought our house. We asked him what color he wanted to paint his room, and he said, “Purple.” His dad threw a fit.
We asked this question again and again, and always the answer remained the same. We eventually painted the poor kid’s bedroom Buzz Lightyear Blue. He was happy enough with the new color, but once in a while, he would confess to me that he really wished it was purple.
Although my son eventually outgrew his purple fetish, the color had begun to grow on me. The fact that my brave little boy could stand up to his dad and keep asking for purple knowing that it would only get him in trouble was a symbol of hope for me. My son had a voice of his own, and he was not afraid to use it. (more…)
I can’t seem to get my homework done
The hyacinths in my garden are calling my name. "Don't stay inside and work," they say. "Come outside and hang with us."
I’ve been working on this week’s homework for two straight days, and I just can’t seem to get it done. I think it’s a combination of the subject matter (Narratology) and the weather. I’m not knocking Narratology, but this may very well be the most painful English course I have ever taken. We are studying Seymour Chatman‘s Story and Discourse, and I swear I have to read each sentence at least 3 times to make any sense of it.
This week, I have to take one of the theories of character Chatman discusses in Story and Discourse and summarize it in layman’s terms. I spent at least 4 hours on this yesterday and so far have only written 4 paragraphs of gibberish that I am quite certain don’t make a bit of sense. (more…)
2012 Sigma Tau Delta induction
Sigma Tau Delta (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Yesterday, I officially joined the International English Honor Society at the 2012 Sigma Tau Delta induction ceremony which took place in the beautiful Caroline Hall student lounge at Mount Mary College.
According to the Sigma Tau Delta website, “Candidates for graduate membership must be enrolled in a graduate program in English, or one of its specializations, have completed six semester hours of graduate work or the equivalent, and have a minimum grade point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale.”
I lured my children to the induction ceremony with the promise of food, and they were actually very well behaved throughout the ceremony. Perhaps it was the promise of a slice of the huge cake sitting on a back table that kept them in line. My boyfriend came along as well to keep an eye on the kids and man the video camera (he kept the camera trained on me for pretty much the entire video!) (more…)
AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 4)
Image via Wikipedia
Welcome to Part 4 of my blog series on the 2012 AWP Conference session titled, Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs. I’m assuming you’ve at least read my introductory post, so I’ll just jump right in today and talk about the panelists’ views on query letters and agent-hunting.
First of all, what is a query letter, and why do you need one? Well, these days most publishers do not want to see your entire novel manuscript if they don’t already have a working relationship with you. In most cases, they want nothing more than a query letter, and possibly a short synopsis. The publisher will then use that information to decide if they think it’s worth their time to request a copy of the full manuscript. So, it’s important to write a query letter that really sells your manuscript.
Our session panelists provided the following tips for writing an effective query letter: (more…)
AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 3)
What literary journals do you read and/or submit your short stories to? | Image via Wikipedia
Welcome to Part 3 of my blog series on the 2012 AWP Conference session titled, Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs. I’m assuming you’ve at least read my introductory post, so I’ll just jump right in today and talk about the panelists’ views on submitting and submitting and submitting and…
One of the main lessons stressed by all of the presenters on this panel is that you should submit and submit often. One of the presenters says there is no better time to submit your work than today because, “It’s best to begin the process of being rejected” sooner rather later.
Don’t avoid submitting your work because you don’t think it’s good enough to be published yet. Instead, submit everything and accept the fact that you will be rejected. Most of us would rather be rejected by a lover than by a publisher, but we have to remember that rejection is just a part of the writer’s life. (more…)
AWP 2012 | Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs (Part 2)
Hilton Chicago (Photo credit: Diorama Sky)
Yesterday, I began my discussion on the 2012 AWP Conference session titled, “Now That’s a Novel Idea: Marketability (Gasp!) and Creative Writing Programs.” Today I’d like to share some of the panelists’ advice on approaching the early stages of writing a novel.
Before I start, I should tell you that I arrived at this session late after getting lost trying to find my way to registration upon arriving at the conference. So, I missed out on the introductions and am unable to attribute some of the quotes I wrote down during the session. (Thankfully, I’m no journalist; otherwise I would probably be in big trouble!) I’ll do my best to give credit where credit is due, but if I get something wrong, please tell me so I can fix it.
One of the speakers at this session recommends that you write a synopsis of your novel early in the process to make sure you have a clear picture of what your novel is about. The synopsis will also help you sell your story to potential buyers (agents, editors, publishers, etc.) Remember, they won’t be interested in your novel if you can’t sufficiently tell them what the novel is about. (more…)
AWP 2012 Overview
This looks exactly like some of the rooms where I spent last weekend! | Chicago 8 (Photo credit: penmanila)
I had to miss class Saturday morning to make it to the 2012 AWP Conference and Book Fair in Chicago. My Narratology instructor encourages students in our professional writing program to attend such events, so he was okay with a few of us missing class just this once. However, he asked that we each write a review of the conference and discuss what our biggest takeaways were so we could share the experience with our classmates who couldn’t make it.
I thought my review, with a few revisions, would make a good blog post for today considering I’m always short on writing time on Wednesdays (I teach 2 classes on Wednesdays.) Enjoy… (more…)
Separation of Church and State
Image via Wikipedia
I have a confession to make. I have a 2-foot stack of back issues of National Geographic and Smithsonian magazine that I have never read. I am working my way through them slowly, but I finally let my subscriptions expire this year because I was feeling really guilty about just how large my stack had grown. Anyway, I just finished reading the October 2010 issue of Smithsonian in which I found a very timeless article that I would love to share with you now. The full story is available online for your perusal. (more…)
Windy city-bound today
I’m off to the Windy City today for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ (AWP) 2012 Annual Conference and Book Fair. This year’s conference includes a variety of readings from published authors, a keynote address by author Margaret Atwood (pictured at right,) and a plethora of educational sessions. There are so many options to choose from, I’m having a hard time deciding which to do. But here’s a quick-list of a few sessions I’m hoping to hit today: (more…)
I’ve decided to write an ebook
I like to build websites. No, I am not a website designer. I have a basic understanding of HTML, but I am in no way “experienced” with it. The type of websites I like to build are WYSIWYG websites like those you can create for free using Weebly.com and similar content management systems (CMS). These systems are so easy to use, I don’t know why every small business or non-profit doesn’t have a website. But then again, I guess they probably don’t have a thorough understanding of how best to set up a simple site in a way that will draw traffic. Maybe they think it’s too complicated to even think about doing it themselves. I think they’re wrong. So, I thought maybe I’d write an ebook about it. (more…)
Hey look, my name is in this book!
The book in question, pictured at right, is the recently released, Rocks to Riches.
The brain child of Elisabeth Donati, Rocks to Riches is a middle grade novel that Robert G. Allen, author of Multiple Streams of Income and Cash in a Flash, has referred to as the “modern-day Think and Grow Rich for kids.”
Nan and Millie, two of the main characters in Rocks to Riches, live in the same neighborhood and hang out with the same group of kids, despite the fact that the two don’t really care for one another. Nan, who lives in a run-down apartment building with her single mom and younger sister, thinks Millie is a spoiled brat with her big, fancy house and sports car-driving mom. And Millie can’t seem to get enough of reminding Nan that she’s poor.
9:30 a.m. is a magical time of day for me
Image via Wikipedia
No matter how hard I try, I can’t possibly be productive before 9:30 a.m.
It never fails, every morning I find myself looking at the clock at 9:30 a.m. and realizing that I am, once again, just now getting down to business.
I don’t think it’s just because I get to work from home most days and can take my time showering, getting a cup of coffee, throwing a load of laundry in the wash, and just generally screwing around until I feel like accomplishing something. When I had a full-time day job where I had to actually be someplace at a certain time, I was still incapable of accomplishing anything before 9:30 a.m. (more…)
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