Monday, October 01, 2007

I'm off to a writer's conference in three days. Yeah, I'm not ready. Clothes aren't washed, bags not packed, book not written. But I have a plan. There's another draft after this one. It will be written when I input the current draft into the computer. I'm not as far behind as I feared. I'd be further along if I didn't have this Mike Rowe obsession. If only he would kayak down the Sibun River and I'd be able to call it research. :sigh:

Back to planning for NJRW. I've got two books done, one two-thirds of the way and another one in planning stages. I had a friend here on the weekend who suggested I use the blog as a marketing tool. Yeah, when I stopped laughing, I listened to her. She made a good point about established readership, hooked me up with sitemeter so I could compile statistics. She's a smart woman, this friend of mine and knows what she's doing when it comes to business and technology. I have no idea who's reading this in Calgary or South Africa but hi (enthusiastic wave). You look great in the reader report. I have an international readership (more waves to Theresa and Christina) as well as a core group of loyal people from writer's groups and other blogs.

Who knew blogs were such a great tool for writers? Actually, I did. They have led me to a number of fantastic authors I may have taken a lot longer to find, if ever. Many well-known authors use their blogs to build, encourage and entertain their audience. It's an effective way to communicate with readers.

Armed with blog statistics, three manuscripts and some experience at selling myself(the writing people, the writing), my plan for the writer's conference is to pitch a career rather than an individual project.

Wish me luck. And thanks for reading.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:30 PM

    Good luck! You'll do great.

    I'm almost done packing. I tried on all my business suits and "snazzy" clothes last night to take with me, all stuff I haven't worn in years, and instead ended up with a pile for the Salvation Army. What was I thinking when bought these things?! Wonder if there's still time to go shopping...

    I so hear you on the Mike Rowe thing. *swoon* But I think he has helped me come up with a new idea for a new WIP. So now I can call watching his show "research."

    Good idea for using the blog for advertising. Maybe I should think about finally getting one, instead of bugging everyone else on theirs.

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  2. Anonymous5:19 PM

    You're more than welcome (blush)

    (Waving enthusiastically from Toronto)

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  3. Did we mention that we want pictures from NJ? And when I say "pictures" I really mean photographs, dang it. Sounds like it's going to be a good party. Is the pitch hot enough yet? ;)

    Waving from Beaverton, where I've never actually /seen/ a beaver, let alone a ton of them.

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  4. Anonymous7:41 PM

    Best wishes from Texas!

    I don't see how they can resist you.

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  5. Glad I could help! ;) Hope NJ was fun. Can't wait to read your post and see the pics.

    Congrats!

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  6. Ooh, I just realized that I'm two categories ... both "other blogs" and "international."

    Can't wait to see those photos!

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