Blogging for others

I've been writing blogs like mad, but for other blogs as a guest. All part of my promotion campaign and fulfilling the very kind requests. Someone asked me, what do you write about? So I thought I'd pass on my ideas.

Obviously the point of doing guest blogs is to promote my upcoming release. But nobody wants to hear or read about that over and over again. It's necessary to find something that relates to the novel, but isn't a direct selling pitch. Thinking around the novel, there are always going to be points of general interest.

With historicals, it's easy enough to pick up areas of research and talk about those, which is what I've mostly done. But what if your novel is modern? Are there still points of interest you can fix on.

Think of it as you would a hook for your story. Is there something in the area of the setting? You may have had to research something about it, or about the type of buildings you're using, or the lifestyle of one of your characters. Use your research and talk around the theme, only bringing in your story where it's really relevant, and perhaps only once - twice at the most.

Is there a medical or physical problem involved with a character? Even the simplest things - an allergy, a sprained ankle - require some specifics about the problem, its treatment, how it incapacitates the character. Anything of bigger medical interest will have its own data you can plumb for your blog.

If you're doing something light, why not write about how you choose names, or how characters get their hair and eye colour, whether they arrive fully formed or appear gradually. This sort of writerly inside information is always of interest to the non-writer. Then it's easy enough to bring your current characters in and tell how they became who they are.

Thinking about it, there are endless possibilities that lead inevitably back to your novel under promotion. Covers are a good bet, and invite pics as well. Titles - fraught with interest! Readers would love to hear all the titles books didn't get called - even the bad ones. Awful howlers that got through copy edits galore. The horrible agony of getting a decent author pic. Having to rewrite half a book because you boobed.

People love to read about mistakes - it makes you human. Don't try to focus just on the good stuff. Life isn't all sweetness and light, and it warms the heart to know others are just as vulnerable as you are. On the other hand, don't play the sympathy vote with a dreadful sob story. If you're talking about the horrors of life, make it light. And then your lead character's difficulties in the current book are easily brought into play.

Remember - as a writer, you are already interesting. Talk about some aspect of your work, and you can't go wrong.

I may be at home, but I'm actually working, thank you!

OK, this is a rant. But it may resonate with some of you, and may it serve as a flag up for those of you who are dying to be full-time writers. Full time? Ha!

Without going into personal detail as to why, I can't actually shut myself away in my eyrie and refuse to respond to anything outside of it. I know other writers (or indeed others who work at home) are in similar situations. Family commitments are sometimes such and that's all there is to it. BUT.....

How come if there's one caller at the door one day, they are immediately followed by at least five more? How come one interruption of any kind seems to generate a whole raft of them? Days just dissipate so fast and you get to the end and realise nothing got done.

Then you think, ok tomorrow will be different, I'll do so and so and so first and then I'll get to the writing. Oh yeah? What makes you think sod's law is about to get changed just for you? And after three or four days of this, you're tearing your hair out.

Admittedly there are weeks when it all rolls along nicely. But lady, this ain't one of them. Don't people around here realise that I have not one, but two books to write? Plus guest blog posts for promotion; not to mention assessments I'm doing for other writers. Oh yes, they realise it in some vague way. I think non-writers have some sort of strange idea that books are just ideas that float onto the page without much input from the writer.

And when I protest, all I get is; "Oh, you'll do it. You always do." Yes, I'll do it, but they might have to cart me off in a straitjacket!

Be warned. If you're at home, you're fair game.

Promotion - amazingly works!

I've taken time out from writing book three to promote book two, which comes out beginning of April in the US and online. I've never done much of this before, but it's quite astonishing how willing bloggers are to help out. Here's what I've been doing:

Located a few appropriate blogs to begin with, followed their links to others and ended up finding a blog that lists 100 top blogs culled in various different ways. I haven't had to google anything due to finding this list. I've checked out each one, looked at their review policy and only sent to those who might have interest in my genre.

It's rather like doing the agent research when you want to get published. You've just got to take the time to find out what they are looking for, what they will look at and how they want it presented. Same with bloggers. Do what they ask and they are willing to read your email.

Once I had done a huge chunk of requests and got the responses coming back, I didn't stop. And this is key. I am trying to contact five blogs a day. I haven't kept it up every single day, but I've kept it going through the week. The result is that I now have over 20 bookings for reviews, guest posts and interviews - all over the world. And counting.

Now of course I've had to add in doing the interview questions, writing the posts and arranging for review copies to be sent out. It's very time-consuming, but extremely gratifying to find bloggers are interested enough to want to participate.

I really don't think it has much to do with my name, my book, my publisher or the fact it is the second book in the series. Like getting published, it's persistence and quantity. Keep touting for interest, keep asking, keep looking for another outlet. The more going out, the more will come in.

You just don't know who you are going to hit. One blogger was so happy to be asked because I was the first author to email her for a review, and this will be her first review.

The lesson here is, once again, never give up. Keep asking and you'll get results.

Window of opportunity

I'm writing this because there is one. Right now I've got space for doing assessments, if anyone wants one done urgently. That is, within the next couple of weeks.

These days I do a fast and effective assessment on an emailed attachment Word doc (which, for my sins, has to be earlier than Word 7 because I can't read docx annoyingly). As I read through, I put in comment balloons, so you can see exactly where the problem is in the text. Then I write an email assessment with general comments and details referring to specific comments as needed.

This system seems to be popular because it's quicker - and cheaper! Takes less time, so I can keep costs down.

If you want to take advantage of my window, email me on lizannabailey@googlemail.com

And just to keep your hopes up, here's a quote from Patrick Dennis on his Auntie Mame (which later was made into a film) - "It circulated for five years, through the halls of fifteen publishers, and finally ended up with Vanguard Press, which, as you can see, is rather deep into the alphabet." Motto: Never give up.

Stuck!!

Following my policy of posting while it's hot and I'm doing it, yes, I'm stuck. I'm now two-thirds into the story, am aware that the pace needs to go hell for leather as of now, am sure lots of earlier stuff is flabby, and don't know how on earth to get myself through the next 30K words.

So what can I do? Sleep on it and hope the next twist of plot pops into my head. Done it, didn't work. Not yet, anyway. What else? I can do a readthrough from the top and hope to revitalise the story and know what is needed. But will I get caught up in wanting to edit or will I be able to treat it as first draft and let it alone? The solution to that one is to write in comment balloons as I go that I can come back to on the edit.

I can also puzzle over the plot ad infinitum, looking at all my notes and jottings and try to work out what should go in where and how. Some people do this with post-it notes successfully, setting down plot points and shifting them about like a storyboard until they're happy.

I can leave the whole thing for a few days, moan about having a treacle book, do something else and hope it all gels when I get back to it after a break. But I'm horribly conscious that it's taken so long already and I really want to get to the end of this, plus this is a writing day and I've got stuff on for the next three days that will probably rob me of any writing time.

Or - and this is probably what I will do - I can just write through it. But how can I do that when I have no idea where the plot is going or what comes next? Well, it's another trust the writer within moment. I've got a stack of what-needs-to-happen items I wrote up when I discovered I was stuck. I'll just pick one at random, start a scene to create it and just write.

See, it doesn't really matter. Somewhere deep in the depths of my experienced writing persona I know that I do know what has to happen. I just don't have it right here in the front of my mind. So I have to spring it somehow, that's all.

My advice to myself? Write on, Liz. Just write on. Trust your inner writer, because she knows.

Thanks to Jane Richardson for The Liebster Blog Award

Wow! I've been nominated by the lovely Jane Richardson for the Liebster Blog award! This is to encourage readership of small "lovable" blogs which have fewer than 200 followers. I understand from Jane that "In accepting the Liebster Blog Award, the recipient agrees to thank the person who gave them the award and link back to that person’s blog and must reveal five snippets about themselves that readers may not already know."

Delighted to do both, if I can work out how to link back to Jane's blog! OK, done. Here's the snippets:

1. In my teens I wore a baby poke bonnet so I could look like a Regency lady - but as it was only worn at target practice with a 303 rifle I think the effect might have been slightly ruined.

2. My first story was written at 10 - a fairytale where the hero had to rid the heroine's land of a plague of sea spiders.

3. Though born in England I grew up in Africa.

4. I only started writing seriously in my late thirties. Until then I'd been an actress.

5. My father entered my mainstream novel Fly the Wild Echoes into the Booker in 2005, and it was accepted into the list, much to my astonishment.

The Liebster Blog award also asks me to nominate five blogs myself. I'm going to save my nominations for later, but here's one I recommend and would like to award:

Gilli Allan's blog at http://gilliallan.blogspot.com/


Meanwhile, here's a nugget about writing from the inimitable PG Wodehouse: "Success comes to a writer, as a rule, so gradually that it is always something of a shock to him to look back and realise the heights to which he has climbed."

I think this is so true, inasmuch as whenever you do look back at earlier work, you realise how much you have learned since.

Writing through treacle

OK, I've talked about this before, but as I'm experiencing the phenomenon right now, it's worth going over the ground again. What do you do when the novel turns into hard slog?

The natural inclination is to throw oneself to the carpet and drum heels screaming all the while. That's what's going on inside, isn't it? But unlike Lady Caroline Lamb, we refrain from such demonstrations and instead carp and grumble at loved ones. At least, that's what I find myself doing.

Believe me, it doesn't help. So what does. First off, contact your writing buddies and scream argghhh at them. That's what they're there for and they will commiserate. They may also have some useful pointers. Then it's time to look at what's really going on here.

Assuming there are no external crises holding your attention, there's got to be something wrong with the story. Is it characters behaving out of character? Have you gone off at a tangent and can't get back? Is the scenario just plain boring? Let's face it, if it bores you, it's going to bore the hell off the reader.

The commonest thing I discover is that I've lost the impetus of action. Too much exposition, not enough go. In my current book, the sleuth isn't physically close enough to the action, so I keep finding her slipping out of it. The moment I get her back there, everything takes off again. So this is one to watch.

But the plain truth of the matter is, some books are like that. They don't flow well, it's all stop/start and you honestly do feel like you are wading through treacle most of the time. There really is only one solution, I'm sorry to have to tell you. Keep going.

Bite the bullet and push through. Write one sentence after another and just suffer on through it. Get to that finished first draft. Tell yourself you can fix anything in edit mode. Drink gallons of tea, stuff yourself with chocolate or whatever tickles your comfort zone, take frequent breaks. But write, write, write.

The payoff? At worst, you've got that draft and you can work it. Much more likely, it won't be nearly as bad as you think. Several of my treacle books have turned out to be among the best I've written, according to report and feedback.

The point is, just because you're finding it difficult doesn't mean your craft and talent is any worse. You still know how to write. You still write at the level you write. The reader ain't going to know whether you raced through like a demon enjoying every minute, or you went through hell and high water cursing the day you decided to be a writer.

Ergo, it doesn't matter. It matters to you at the time. I'm about to slit my wrists at the moment, I can tell you! But I know from past experience that I'll get through it and I'll have a complete book, and I'll be able to edit it into shape. Treacle? Bring it on, I can handle it.