Welcome to my blog!
January 22nd, 2010
What’s it like to be a writer? What editing tips can I give other writers? For the past 20 years, I’ve worked as a freelance writer. In those 20 years, I’ve published 500 things in magazines and material in four books. Along the way, I’ve led several critique groups and taught a writing course for The Institute of Children’s Literature to several hundred students, all over the world. As I wrote and re-wrote, published and submitted, critiqued and received critiques, I learned that I will always be learning. As I taught writing to my students and critiqued my writing friends’ work, my own writing became more polished with each word, each paragraph, each page.
As I start this blog, I’ll share what life is like as a writer–when you’re also mom to four kids (from age 22 down to 5) and wife of an international businessman. Hint: I laugh. I cry. I yell. I laugh some more. I write about it. I’ll do my best to share ideas on how to fine-tune your own writing and hopefully, we’ll have fun blabbing and blogging. And I can pretend I’m not all alone working in my home office.
Are you there, anyone? It’s me, Lorri, sitting at my desk, in what’s supposed to be the dining room. But does anyone use a dining room? Not us. So we usually turn ours into a home office.
Did I mention we’ve lived in 21 homes, in seven states? We’ve moved eight times in the past ten years, to three different states. I’m tired just thinking about it. But I’m always tired, and you and the rest of the world probably are, too.
Thanks for taking time to stop by my site. Talk to you soon.
Entry Filed under: Uncategorized
2 Comments Add your own
1. Lynne Wainfan | January 23rd, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Hi Lorri,
What a great idea to start a blog. Did you say an editor suggested you start one? Why was that?
2. Administrator | January 27th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Hello, Lynne. Thanks for great questions.
To clarify things for anyone else who might read this, I didn’t say this on my blog, but on my Facebook page, where I mentioned that I was starting the blog and connecting it with my writing/editing web site, partially due to editors wanting writers to have an online presence. This wasn’t any particular editor, just a general buzz I’m picking up from writing publications’ market updates and from other writers, as well as what I’m hearing when attending writers’ conferences and workshops.
Editors refer to a “platform” being necessary for writers these days–meaning, you have multiple capabilities from which you can promote your own work and get your name better-known. For children’s writers, we have to try and keep up with the kids, who are always better than most of us at the cutting edge stuff. This could mean a web site, Facebook, Twitter, a blog, pod casts, and.or whatever new technologies come along, too.
Old School techniques are still important. This means plenty of speaking appearances, free bookmarks promoting your book and yourself, interviews, book announcements on mailed postcards, any means toward getting your name out there and into the potential audience’s brain. Writers can do their writer friends a great favor by reading their new books and commenting favorably on Amazon, as another example. I have never contemplated a tattoo, but I’m sure there’s a writer out there with their book’s title somewhere on their body, for all to see.
I don’t pretend to be a techie, because I’m not. But I hope that answers your questions? Anyone else have more to add?
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