Blog of the Year 2012 Award!
I don’t know about you, but 2012 went by too fast and was an amazing year. I met an endless number of wonderful writers and read so many great stories that they wrote. Some even got agents! And I couldn’t be more proud x) This lovely award was bestowed upon me by my dear compadre, Meg, better known as Markedforpower to you twitter fantatics. Her blog is a great place to go for thought provoking topics on writing and I love all the pictures she uses (she makes them herself)!
Yay, what a B E A uuuuuutiful award!
Here are the rules:
1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.
3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)
4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them
5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience
6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…
For me, the person who deserves the Blog of the Year 2012 Award is a no brainer. The posts are insightful, the content is hilarious and the gifs….oh the gifs! I am certain you’ll agree that…
The Fizzygrrl Blog is a hands-down winner! Summer Heacock, aka the funniest, fizziest and fuzziest girl on the web has a rockin’ blog. From funny stories about her adventures in motherhood to tales from the query trenches and agent insights, Summer has put together a go-to blog for any writer. Check it out, subscribe, check it out again and enjoy!
Have a Happy New Year! I’ll bet 2013 will be as awesome as we all hope!
There And Draft Again
Hello lovelies!
I am part of a blog called There And Draft Again, written by, about and for fantasy writers. Of course anyone can read it, but given the lack of another site like it, or the difficulties fantasy writers face, we collectively thought it could be useful (read: awesome). We created a special place for lovers of the fantasy genre to share and discuss their experiences and hopefully get some helpful insight from our posts. Speaking of posts, here’s my first post about holiday worldbuilding! Check it out!
Also, sorry I’ve been lazy with my blog lately. I got caught up in my wip and now the holidays so hopefully after the new year *blows kazoo* I’ll be back on track! Happy Holidays!
Musings on Betas and CPs
This is going to be a bit of a gushy blog post. Mostly because I feel like everyone should gush about their betas and critique partners. There’s so much that they do to help build up your manuscript to its best level that they deserve endless praise.
For those that don’t know, a beta reader is someone who offers their time and opinions to review a freshly finished manuscript or set of revisions to see if you have accomplished your goals.
A critique partner is someone who you swap manuscripts with to go through with detailed notes covering everything from what works to what doesn’t (among many other cheeky comments to boot).
Every time I have given my manuscript over to readers, there’s a certain amount of anxiety before the intense trepidation begins once they have the story in their grubby hands. I’m always petrified about what people might say. Mainly “I hate this”. After the fear subsides, I am constantly amazed by the skill and adept eye for detail these readers come up with. Sure they find problems I had noticed myself, but other times they pick out holes I couldn’t see or mistakes that never caught my eye.
Ideally, you want to find someone who enjoys the genre you wrote so they don’t feel burdened to read as if the story is a chore. Sometimes the fit isn’t right so try to see if your prospective readers fill these 3 categories:
1- They enjoy reading your genre
2- They are part of your target audience
3- Their goals and intentions for your MS match your own
And when you locate that special person to fill beta or CP shoes, it’s honestly magical. I love each and every one of the readers that have helped me in the past and those who intend to help in the future. My manuscript(s) wouldn’t be even half of what they are without you!
How do you feel about betas and CPs? Share your experiences!
Pictures, Please!
Recently, I wrote a piece about the effectiveness of pictures in blogs for my boss. Mostly because through my adventures in social media for her company, I found pictures gained the most engagement. And when you boil it down, a blog is a social outlet as well and are viewed quite similarly. A quick analytic investigation of my own blog and those I assist for work proved my hunch to be correct. What I realized is that most people with writerly minds focus on the content of their blogs, the cleverness of their wordplay or the metaphors they string into their post. It seemed all too obvious that the omission of visual content needed to be addressed. The tunnel vision on the textual aspect of blogs is overwhelming to most word-people and so pictures are often forgotten. As such, I thought I’d share this important blog post with you all.
Pictures, gifs or videos will keep your readers on your blog and the more creative your useage of this marketing technique, the more likely your readers will return.
Pitch Wars Mentee 2014
Awards
