Some of you may know that I deleted my website quite a while ago because of hacking. I didn’t want to risk taking the time to research a solution just in case my subscribers might be attacked. You all were my first concern.
Finally I’m ready to try the world of websites again, and am fiddling with hostgator, but haven’t yet discovered how to set up a new website. So I’m dipping my toes back into the cyber-water by posting on my old original blog. Waving at anyone who sees this after so long a time!
I’ll share a photo or two about the most exciting thing that happened to me in 2014. My daughter Lori and I went to Scotland for two weeks.
Folks who have subscribed to the marionspicher.wordpress.com site are in the process of being transferred (by jetpack) to my new site marionspicher.com which will serve as both website and blog.
My former website is no longer accessible. I’ll dress up the new site when time allows–currently the ambiance seems rather drab.
Jetpack instructed me that you will no longer receive emails telling you of a new post, but the posts could be read in a reader. That sound like a bit of a nuisance for you all! I don’t plan to post on this site once these little details are handled. Telling you this in case you wonder what the hey?
SIMPLEST SOLUTION: He said you would also need to subscribe to the new site. Please do! I would think that no further action is needed. I look forward to posting on the new site more often and reconnecting with you all. Hope spring becomes a reality for most of the nation!
My website and blog are being consolidated and transferred to WordPress. When all the adjustments and changes are made, you will find both by clicking on the link above.
One of Nature’s Lovely Creations
Amanda Hagarty is helping me with the transition. I’ll keep you posted. She is now working on transferring my subscribers to the new site.
I am excited. I face challenges in the learning curve while giving the site the look and feel I want to portray. Hooray that the blog and website will all be in one web location.
And who knows? Maybe I’ll post interesting things more often.
Decision time today. I feel like Mary Poppins when she said change is in the air.
While I stirred the blackberry freezer jam, my ‘hunker down and get cozy genes’ also stirred. The crisp cool days, misty fog in the mornings, and deciduous trees coloring my world, make me dream of hearth fires, an afghan throw, and a good book. And maybe a Castle episode or two.
I kinda hope my subscribers will miss the three blogs a week, but in reality I think we’ill all be glad of the gift of time … one less blog to read as Thanksgiving approaches in Canada. (I grew up in Canada.) So one more blog this week, on Friday, and the following week, only on Tuesday and Thursday.
A five minute detour for you down memory lane: the movie trailer for “Mary Poppins.” Makes me want to rent the movie!
Kristen Lamb’s Blog is well worth a visit. Her book “We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media” is on sale right now for $4.99 according to her most recent blog. I am currently enrolled in her online class on blogging, and found her teaching most valuable. Now I gotta run. Sending good wishes to all.
In response to a comment on my last post, here is an opportunity to learn how to maximize a writer’s potential blog traffic. Many writers have benefitted from the experience and teaching skills of Bob Meyer and this online class is presented through “Write it Forward” … a site well worth checking out on its own. The book cover on the left will connect you with Bob Mayer’s main website. The offered class registration is contained within the Write it Forward site.
Unpublished writers, would Social Networking work for you? Browse the pros and cons below:
Folks must budget time if they decide to network on line. I budget an average of three hours a day, checking email loops, writing and reading emails, blogs, facebook, twitter an LinkedIn.
No budget constraints? Hire a professional to set up the website and the blog, etc. The rest of us must learn as we go.
1st turning point suggest we get the learning curve out of the way before one is known and published. The fear factor diminishes when we know no one but family is paying attention.
We can learn to make posts crisp, interesting or helpful, not dallying with readers’ time.
Why did I start ahead of the game? Knowledge of how my mind works. My left-brain has one track, and that track needs repetition, using more time. Stress freezes my brain cells, and when my manuscript is picked up by an agent or publisher, I’ll avoid the learning curve angst. Published networking friends taught me pressure builds once published, as one marketing strategy is a network platform.
Ancient Whispers by Marie-Claude Bourque
Knight of Passion by Margaret Mallory
The clear message in an email discussion on the GSRWA loop by Marie-Claude Bourque and Margaret Mallory? Creativity and time redirects away from our manuscripts to social networking.
Whatever the decision, realize social networking cuts into writing time, and for some, dampens creativity.
Weigh the time pressures and alternate zones for creativity. Techies breeze through social networking, learning to link efficiently. In a former post on this blog, a pointed to a link ‘how to blog on wordpress for non techies.’ I suggest blog first, then graduate to a website if you must.
Agents admit that if two equal manuscripts in the same genre sit before them, and they must choose only one, the writer with a network wins. Consider the odds. Perhaps not likely. But a great story? I wager they’ll wait, and deal.
Social networking bumps your name up on the Google search. Something to consider when deciding when to choose a pen name. A writer wastes a lot of name recognition exposure, waiting to switch names. If you do comment or write blogs or have a website, Google yourself. You might be surprised. You’ll reap great motivation to make the first sentence count because it may appear on Google.
One last thought? Would I have reaped the same level of motivation, inspiration, support, encouragement, resources, & education, without social networking? No.
Would my passion for writing have continued to grow without social networking? Maybe not. We’ll never know.
Finally got around to checking for comments today. I’ve had my head buried in a manuscript revision.
Thanks to all who stopped by and left comments.
Tia Nevitt, the author of one comment, listed the URL for an educational post she wrote. Check it out here. She has a new blog as well called Debuts and Reviews. It is worth a visit as well. Thank you Tia. I hope to make some improvements soon.
Great classes giving a blow by blow description easy to follow, to build a blog. Even though I have blogged here for a while, I created another WordPress blog site so I could practice. I am learning how to do things I avoided because I didn’t know how. Thanks RU for this instruction! Can’t wait for session #3.
If you are a writer, and know it is time … but are not a computer techie, you might dread creating a blog. Here is a teacher who can really simplify the 1-2-3- of the process, and save time. Check this site!
Romance Writers of America created a blog to provide short bits of continuing education for writers called RU and the posts currently take a person who has not worked with wordpress and walks them through the process, one day at a time. If anyone is interested it looks like a real winner!
If you didn’t click on the URL in the first paragraph, here’s your second chance! Check it out. The title is “WordPress for Non-Techies” written for RU by Carrie Spencer.
Bye for now … See you on the blog page you create!
Marion Spicher's Blog 