Foolish tasks I give myself

Last year, I was reading my usual round of blog posts and thought that one article written over on Writer’s Digest was good. 25 Ways to Improve Your Writing in 30 Minutes a Day listed tips from proven authors on how you can spit-and-polish your writing. It is, of course, like countless other lists of writing tips out there, but I paused and thought, with a fingertip to my lips, You know, maybe I should do a blog post for each piece of advice? I’d learn more that way.

And I did. Here’s a list of my posts about the 25 writing tips. And I do feel that focusing on each piece of advice helped me improve my writing skills. I hope it was helpful to my readers.

Anyway, at the beginning of this year, I felt like I should do the same. Why? I don’t know. If nothing else, it gives me something to focus on for this blog, otherwise, you’d be getting pictures of my dog (I know, that’s what you all are hankering for), or my rants about homeless folks, or politics. Or, egads, religion.

Lucky for you, I stumbled upon a post written by Robert Lee Brewer that conveniently had 25 tips for increasing blog traffic and I thought, with another fingertip to my lips, Brilliant! Just like last year. I’ll use that!

I promptly announced I would go through each tip – sans reading the entire article.

(gulp)

What an idiot. I should have read the entire thing. The tips Mr. Brewer offers are valid and noteworthy, but not expandable for an entire post. If I was a really good writer, and I mean, a really good writer, I could make any subject riveting. Right?

Well, I’m not a really good writer. Even worse, I don’t want to write about increasing blog traffic. Don’t get me wrong, I love blogging and interacting with my readers, but getting hundreds of hits a day is not my focus. So, I will abandon my review of those wonderful 25 tips.

Do not despair. You can still read them in Mr. Brewer’s original post here. Enjoy and no need to thank me.

~~~~

But, you say, what will you write about, Ms. N. E. White?

Funny you should ask that question, for I was pondering the same thing, and here’s what I came up with:

A Grand Notion

You know John Scalzi‘s Whatever blog? Mr. Scalzi has been blogging for the equivalent of internet-eons and he does a thing called The Big Idea. It’s where he showcases an author’s work and they get a chance to spout about their book’s “Big Idea”. Basically, they have an opportunity to reach his tens of thousands of readers and explain to them what inspired the author’s latest work.

I thought to do the same thing. Not exactly, of course, because I don’t want to be a complete plagiarist. So instead of calling mine “Big Idea”, I’m calling it “A Grand Notion”. Nifty, huh? 😉

Okay, so it’s just a tad bit on the derivative side. That’s art, honey. Deal with it. And, I don’t have that many readers. I believe I have a dedicated twenty or so – on a good day. Your exposure to the masses is not guaranteed, but it might give you a chance to practice your marketing skills and reach a few readers you might not otherwise.

Here’s how it is going to work:

1. You just wrote the next world-famous novel.
2. Submit an email to me at nilaewhite (at) gmail (dot) com. Including the following:

• In the subject line: A GRAND NOTION: [name of your book]
• A short blurb about you (no more than 100 words)
• A longer blurb (no more than 750 words) about what inspired your book

That’s it!

I look forward to splashing your Grand Notions on Wednesday of each week. Given that I am not a famous writer nor do I have a huge readership, I suspect that I will not get too many takers – at first. So, I’ll fill in each Wednesday with analyses of famous books and what inspired their Grand Notions.

Until later, dream big.

Advertisement