My Web Site

Posted by Lynne Griffin

It took some time, but my new website launched this week! I invite you to take a look and please, tell me what you think.

A website is a personal thing. It's your image, your brand. I wanted to create an inviting space, where visitors could get a sense of who I am, what I do, and what I care about.

A website is a professional thing. It's your calling card, your brochure. In my case, finding the right tone for merging my identities -- parenting author& speaker with novelist -- required careful consideration. I didn't want a mish-mash of pages leaving my visitors scratching their heads.

I've learned a lot in the last few months about building a web site, one that reflects my individual personality, one that lets readers know what they can expect from me. I thought I'd share my list of top ten things to think about when creating or updating your website.

Secure domain name(s): Your name and/or your book's title are especially important. Keep in mind your readers will google the most obvious thing about you. Even if you don't plan to host a site right now, secure the domain names, so you'll have them when you're ready.

Establish a budget: You'll want to know at the outset what you can afford. A simple static site will cost less than one with all the bells and whistles. Ask yourself what you really need vs. what you'd like to have.

Spend time visioning: Even using a designer, which I strongly recommend, you'll need to have a sense of the look and feel you're after. Only you really know the image you're trying to convey.

List what you want and what you don't want: Writing down what you want and don't want will get you started. For example, I built in a blog to my site so I could announce news. And I wanted a library of television and radio clips. It's easier for your designer to know in advance, the capability you'll need.

Search for sites you like: It can help the designer a lot to know what like about certain sites. I love Therese Fowler's site so much, I decided to work with her designer. Brian from Low Fat Designs built Amy's site too.

Keep your eye on the future: Knowing what you want and need for your site today is important, but so too is the need to be forward thinking. Will you need an event calendar? Or a place to announce your wonderful blurbs? Be sure your designer factors in the ability for the site to grow as your career does.

Ask for feedback before launch: Just like every writer needs a great editor, every site should be field tested. Ask a few savvy surfers to take a test drive.

Learn some simple programming: My site is built on what's called a content management system, and because I know simple html, I can make all my additions & changes, without relying on or paying an outside provider.

Update the site on a regular basis: Sites that change and are added to, keep traffic up. Don't you love going to your favorite sites to see what's new?

Be sure to capture statistics: You won't be able to fine-tune your site with readers in mind, if you don't know who's visiting. Get a stats package from your designer, and learn how to look for key pieces of info.
I hope you like my site, and I hope my post spurs you on to update or create your own. A website is a wonderful networking tool, helps you establish a web presence, and gives you a place to announce your news. Once your site is launched, let me know. I'd love to be one of your first visitors.

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50 Ways to Give... to Other Writers, Too

by Hannah Roveto

I needed to track down a writer last week for my public relations work. She'd written a story for a regional magazine and her area of interest clearly overlapped with my client's offerings. I went online to try to track her down and found, among other things, this: 50 Ways to Give Right Now, written by Deblina Chakraborty.

The list will follow, but I loved how so many of these work on multiple levels. Not just in the wide world, in our larger lives, but as writers and creative people supporting each other. A few of my favorites:

Applaud a great performance: Amy, Lynne and I did this literally on Monday night when we gave Lisa her feedback. Wow, was it fabulous and we were so excited for her that we broke into spontaneous applause. And then three of us again for Tethered, and again for news that Lynne had, and then they for me for delivering gray cardboard boxes filled with 264 pages of either a stunning novel or complete insanity. (Or something somewhere in between, hopefully more toward the first...!)

Confront a friend who needs confronting: This, too, we do in writers' group and it is the reason we are so close. We are honest and kind, which it is possible to do in the same breath, and we now actually seek the truth from each other. Would that everyone had this in our real lives as well -- a friend who would deliver honesty and kindness when something needed to be said.

Forgive yourself. For a bad page, a day without writing, whatever. Get back up and do it right the next time. Forgive and move on.

Give your full attention. To every detail: plot, character, voice, setting, word choice, structure. Every little bit of what you write and what you read.

Laugh.

I love this list. I love that it centers me when I feel like my life is spreading out beyond its borders faster than I can run around and push it back into place. By focusing on what's most important and pushing the good karma out there has it will come back a hundred-fold. And can't we writers use a little good karma now and then?

50 Ways to Give Right Now

1. Applaud a great performance.
2. Become a Big Brother or Big Sister.
3. Buy a meal for someone who's hungry.
4. Call a friend you haven't heard from in a while.
5. Confront a friend who needs confronting.
6. Donate blood.
7. Elect to be an organ donor.
8. Extend a warm welcome to a newcomer.
9. Forgive yourself.
10. Give a compliment.
11. Give directions to someone who's lost.
12. Give up your seat.
13. Give your full attention.
14. Help a fellow traveler with her luggage.
15. Help a younger person discover a hidden talent.
16. Hold the door.
17. Invite someone who's not a part of your inner circle to a friendly gathering.
18. Kick bad habits, like smoking, that can harm others.
19. Laugh.
20. Lead by example.
21. Leave a big tip when you eat out.
22. Let go of an old grudge.
23. Let your spouse sleep late.
24. Look cashiers in the eye. Thank the bank teller.
25. Make a donation, however small, to your favorite charity.
26. Mentor a colleague who's new to your field.
27. Next time you're ready to honk at another car, don't.
28. Offer a ride to somebody without a car.
29. Participate in a race that benefits a charity.
30. Pass on good news.
31. Pay the toll for the person behind you.
32. Plant a tree.
33. Praise someone who's done well.
34. Put yourself in another person's shoes.
35. Raise money for a cause you believe in.
36. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
37. Rescue an animal from a shelter.
38. Say a prayer for someone who's hurting.
39. Send a thank-you card to someone who's shown you kindness.
40. Smile at a stranger.
41. Spearhead a petition.
42. Spend time with an elderly person.
43. Stay calm during a stressful time.
44. Surprise someone.
45. Teach your children about giving.
46. Tell a joke.
47. Tell your mom you love her.
48. Throw a party for someone celebrating a milestone.
49. When you see trash, pick it up.
50. Write a letter to a person who's made a difference in your life.

~ Deblina Chakraborty

Source: body+soul, September 2007

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Tethered Chosen for Borders' Original Voices Program

By Amy MacKinnon

While I was on vacation last week, my publisher called with good news. She said she couldn't wait, it was too fantastic and it was. Tethered was chosen by Borders as one of their August picks for their Original Voices Program!

Naturally, I checked out what they're featuring for June. But what does this mean? Lots of good things it turns out. As I understand it, my novel will be among the five other novels selected for the program among all the novels scheduled for release in August -- not just debuts -- to be prominently displayed on the front table of every Borders in the nation courtesy of Borders. It will also appear with a written endorsement, courtesy of Borders. And it will certainly help build that all important buzz. Again, courtesy of Borders.

Now that's all well and great and I'm more grateful than I can duly express here, but it's not the best part. What moved me to tears was the review the buyer wrote about Tethered on the Borders web site. She didn't have to do it, it was enough that she nominated me. Going this extra mile took time and effort. And what she wrote...well, she got the book. She read it the way I'd always hoped someone out there might. So thank you Deanna P. From the bottom of my soul, thank you.

EXPERT REVIEW
:
5 out of 5
An Original Voice for Mystery! June 9, 2008 By Deanna P, Mystery Buyer from Borders Home Office (read all my reviews)
"Original Voices is a Borders program that highlights fresh, compelling, innovative and ambitious works from new and emerging talents. TETHERED by Amy MacKinnon is a perfect example of a book that belongs in this program, bringing together unforgettable characters and a well-plotted mystery with language that is rich and full.Clara Marsh is an undertaker, a mortician who helps prepare the dead for their final viewing with extraordinary care and compassion. She works surrounded by death, but imparts a last bit of life as she sends each person onto their final journey with secretly-placed fresh flowers in their caskets. Morning glories (affection upon departure) for an old woman who was much loved. Marigolds (cruelty in love) for the man who abused his wife.Clara's days are structured and constant. She clings to her loneliness just to make it through each day, keeping even those that care about her most at arm's length. Until the day she discovers a sad little girl named Trecie playing in the funeral home. Until Detective Mike Sullivan starts asking her questions again about the still unsolved death of another little girl that was nicknamed Precious Doe. Until the day that it seems that these two little girls are linked and that the clock may be ticking to save Trecie from a similar fate. MacKinnon has created a wonderfully flawed and human heroine in Clara Marsh, who must face the demons and ghosts of her own past in order to help Trecie. Given her occupation, it is inevitable that the mysteries of death and what come next are examined. Clara is privy to the beliefs of so many different kinds of people because of her job, but she herself is unable to believe. While she does her job, she sees what tethers our bodies to life, but it will take solving the mystery of Precious Doe and Trecie for her to truly understand what it is that tethers our souls to this earth and to one another. Highly recommended and not to be missed, TETHERED will keep you thinking well past the last page."

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What Matters?

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Tonight, our writers' group is meeting. As it happens, only my pages will be critiqued. The rest of the time will be spent catching up with each other, personally and professionally. I so look forward to their feedback. I am nervous to get feedback - Yes - but I intend to persevere until my novel is as good as I can make it. I will listen carefully to the positives (what works), and the negatives (what doesn't).

Here are some rules I tell myself to live by when my work is critiqued:

1- I swallow my pride, and listen.
What others say about your work, matters. What you feel as they speak doesn't.

2- It's not personal, it's business.
Feedback is what counts. You, a writer, need to understand how your work is perceived. It doesn't matter if you poured your soul into this scene. It doesn't. It may HAVE to be changed.

3- Don't sweat the small stuff.
If someone makes a mistake with a minor character's name, it doesn't matter. If they are not convinced a major character may act the way she does, it matters.

4- Insist group members don't hold back.
Each of us in the writers' group asks for honesty. Lay it on me, I try to convey to Amy, Hannah and Lynne. I worry that if they are worrying about me, they may offer sugar-coated criticism. I don't want that. I want the truth.

5- Be thankful.
If you are in a writers' group that helps you improve your "product", then you are lucky.

Recently, I've had more acquaintances and friends ask me for details about my two YA WIP novels. Some have offered to read my work. I'm so reluctant to hand them chapters because I know their feedback will throw me. If they like it, I may become too relaxed; would I let up on that drive I feel each day. If they don't like parts, what then? Perhaps they're not the right audience. Perhaps my work isn't their style. I am loathe to change parts that "passed" writers' group.

I have come to accept that feedback is not easy. I allow myself to feel proud when I submit pages. You should, too. The road to success is not easy.

To quote a wise writer I know, adore, and respect: "Writing a novel is hard work. Who knew?"

What is crucial is to remind yourself that some things matter, some don't.

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Making a Literary Life: What If We Didn't Write?

All the talk this week of other arts makes us think of the questionnaire James Lipton offers to his actor guests on Inside the Actors' Studio. Originally created by Bernard Pivot, with some credit apparently due in some measure to Marcel Proust, the questionnaire includes 10 questions that include the following;

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

and

What profession would you not like to do?

And we will add, why?

Lisa Marnell
I would have liked to be a doctor. I would have hated to be a doctor.

I love the idea. I would hate the implemenation of it in real world insurance realities (revolving-door).

Next, a singer. Believe me, if American Idol had auditions for over-thirties I would cue-up ASAP!

Amy MacKinnon
I suppose if I were smart enough I would have been a doctor. The pace, the drama, the purposefulness of it all attracts me. The worst job I've ever had and never want again is that of a waitress. When people have a little power -- customers -- they wield it cruelly.

Hannah Roveto
Beyond the wild-dream professions -- singing, if I had the voice for it, for example -- I always thought being a meteorologist would be fun, tracking weather and predicting it, not necessarily being the one to report on television. Mother Nature is so powerful and fascinating that being closer to a first name basis (Mother? Ma?) would be worth waking up for every day. As to what I wouldn't do, that's hard. There are a lot of difficult jobs (EMT, working with at-risk kids) but those would have rewards to make the challenges with it. Bottom line, anything with tarantulas would be impossible.

Lynne Griffin
Yesterday's post filled you in on my love of dance. I would've loved to be a professional dancer. Yet when choosing a college, even in the late seventies, I was directed toward nursing or teaching. I chose both. I've worked in hospital intensive care units, nursing homes and schools. Jobs I couldn't do? While Hannah loves Mother Nature, I have to say any outdoor work would eventually do me in. Living in New England, winters and summers can be extreme, I wouldn't last long outside in cold or hot temps. And no doubt I'd pull a Lucille Ball if I ever worked in a factory assembly line. Ditto on anything with tarantulas.

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Lisa Marnell has completed and gained representation for her middle-grade novel. She's now at work on a second.

Amy MacKinnon's debut novel, Tethered, will be published by Shaye Areheart Books/Random House in August 2008.

Hannah Roveto is a public relations specialist at work on her first novel.

Lynne Reeves Griffin is a nationally renowned parenting expert and author of Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment! (Penguin, September 2007). Her debut novel, Life Without Summer, will be published by St. Martin's Press in winter 2009.