“Dear Willard, we the undersigned characters of your novel Ground Out have decided to move in another direction and no longer require your services….”
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Monday morning writing joke: “That look”
First writer: All my characters have a certain look.
Second writer: And what look is that?
First writer: The one they give me every time I try to get them to do something.
Filed under Monday morning writing joke
Photo finish Friday: “Half of it”
Sometimes, a relationship just doesn’t hold together.
The man in the waders
by David E. Booker
The man in waders
met the woman in half.
When others saw them,
they thought they were daft.
They met at the creek,
down by the water’s edge.
It was a salvage operation
of the heart it is said.
She could not say
where her lower half went.
Like a little mermaid
she was half woman, half rent.
The relationship didn’t last.
Alas it is said,
the fact she had no bottom
went straight to his head.
Filed under Photo by author, Photo Finish Friday, poetry by author
Haiku to you Thursday: “Weeds at home”
The weeds are at home /
nestled in the greening grass. /
Motley blooms my yard.
Filed under Haiku to You Thursday, poetry by author
Writing tip Wednesday: “Content Niche”
5 Tips for Finding Your Content Writing Niche
By Ellen Miller
Source: http://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/for-writers/5-tips-for-finding-your-content-writing-niche/
Pretend you just contracted a strange illness that caused your hands to turn purple. You go see your doctor, and he refers you to another doctor that specializes in curing weird hand pigment diseases. You breathe a huge sigh of relief, knowing that you’ve found the perfect person to solve this very unsightly issue.
In that way, brands are a lot like patients. They have specific content writing needs and want to find writers who can do the best job meeting them.
What we’re talking about here is a content writing niche. In a recent piece on personal branding, I addressed the importance of identifying your niche with a quote from John Gordon: “Experts are not called upon because they are the smartest person in every room; they are called upon because they are the smartest person in a specific room.”
Finding your niche, or your areas of expertise, will do wonders for your personal brand and your wallet. That’s because brands aren’t just looking for good writers; they’re looking for good writers with very particular areas of expertise. By carving out a content writing niche and becoming a subject matter expert, you’ll see more freelance job opportunities and higher paychecks.
So, how does one go about figuring out their niche? Here are five ways to get started:
Leverage Your Experience
If you have a day job, or used to work in a particular industry, you can leverage that experience to your advantage. And be creative! Let’s say you worked at a Verizon store, where you sold customers mobile devices and accessories. That kind of experience can give you authority on a range of topics: consumer mobile technology, technology retail, contract sales, retail management, window displays, and more. List out topics you know about from jobs, hobbies, and school, and then identify the ones that get you most excited. If you’re not passionate about the topic, it’s probably not the niche for you.
Be Specific
Let’s say you want your content writing niche to be “finance.” That’s a good place to start, but there are millions of other writers out there doing the same thing. So force yourself to be more specific. “Living on a budget” is a step in the right direction. Even better: “Living on a budget in college.” The more specific you get (within reason), the more likely you are to be a top choice for brands and recruiters. This list gives you a sense of the type of specificity to shoot for, and might even inspire you to find your niche.
Other recommendations include: Align with an Industry, Think About Your Audience, and Listen.
Details at: http://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/for-writers/5-tips-for-finding-your-content-writing-niche/
Filed under writing tip, Writing Tip Wednesday, writing tips
Monday morning writing joke: “State of mind”
Two fifty-five-year-old authors were sitting together on a dais at a writer’s conference.
The first one looks at the photo and short biography of the third author who is scheduled to join them.
“Wow,” the first author says, “I must be getting old.”
“Why?” the second asks, “because she looks so young in the photo?”
“No. Because she says she’s twenty-seven and describes herself as middle-aged.”
“Yeah,” the second author sighs, “middle age is looking younger and younger to me, too.”
***
Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
–Mark Twain
Filed under Monday morning writing joke
Crime Writer Michael Connelly Shares Secrets With Students | TheLedger.com
Crime Writer Michael Connelly Shares Secrets With Students | TheLedger.com.
Sample:
Bestselling crime novelist Michael Connelly had just returned from two weeks in New York, where he met with writers planning scripts for a new TV series adapted from his books about the Los Angeles Detective Harry Bosch.
He planned to take part in a conference call Thursday evening to help determine who would direct each episode for the first season of “Bosch.”
In between, Connelly stood in the Mini Theater at Harrison School for the Arts on Thursday afternoon, handing out copies of the script for the first episode of “Bosch” to a group of teenagers. Connelly, also author of “The Lincoln Lawyer,” spent nearly two hours talking to some 30 students in the Motion Picture Arts program at the Lakeland school.
Connelly, who lives in Tampa, talked about the writing process, the creation of characters and the challenges of adapting novels for TV and movies. He also treated Motion Pictures Arts instructor Rick Jansen’s class to the opening scene of the pilot for “Bosch,” which is still in production will be available for streaming on Amazon as early as next fall.
“I think that’s really nifty,” senior Eric Moots said afterward about Connelly’s visit to the school. “I don’t think this could happen anywhere besides Harrison.”
Continued at: http://www.theledger.com/article/20140419/NEWS/140419149/1002/sports?p=1&tc=pg
Filed under Writers on writing
The Underrated, Universal Appeal of Science Fiction – Chris Beckett – The Atlantic
The Underrated, Universal Appeal of Science Fiction – Chris Beckett – The Atlantic.
Sample:
When I’m introduced to someone as a writer, a now familiar pattern of events often follows.
“Oh, really! How interesting!” the someone—let’s call her Jane—says, sounding quite enthusiastic. “What do you write?”
“Science fiction,” I say.
Jane instantly glazes over. “I’m afraid I never read science fiction.”
In other instances, people who know me have read a book of mine out of curiosity and then told me, in some surprise, that they liked it—“even though I don’t normally like science fiction.” Indeed, when a short story collection of mine won a non-genre prize, it was apparently a surprise to the judges themselves: According to the chair of the judging panel, “none of [them] knew they were science-fiction fans beforehand.”
Filed under science fiction
Booker's Blog 