Visual Storyboarding: Accountability

So - I am woefully behind on my last installment of the Visual Storyboarding series. I'll spare you the excuses, or if you want to know precisely why I haven't done more than flash fiction here in a good while, you can visit my Beauty of Painful Grit post.

Recently, I've tried to practice what I've been preaching to all of you since my blog first started in late September 2011. After months of lecturing on how to write, what to do, and not do, I've made it a priority to put my money where my mouth is. I've been writing - serious rewrites on Castle 8, and expanding my suddenly-hello-here-I-am-you-ought-to-write-me manuscript idea for Welsan.

But it's easy to get discouraged when you're writing bits and pieces every day, and your characters argue with you, or simply won't cooperate. So I figured out a way to help me overcome the doubt that so often bogs us down.

This is what I would rather be doing all day.

I have so many jobs, and so many demands on my time, that making time to write is difficult. Of course, we could all say that - life in the 21st century is an ongoing cautionary lesson on the cannibalistic principle of busy-ness. Our lives eat us alive, and with it most (if not all) of our creative energy. That's the very real threat, at any rate.

My writing funk came from knowing that I was doing a lot of writing - A LOT of writing - and yet very little of it was showing up in my manuscript. It was a horrible feeling to think that I was writing my fingers off and had "nothing" to show for it.

I was also discouraged because, a couple years ago, I and a few writing friends made it our mantra to write a minimum of 500 words a day. The ugly truth finally hit home: 500/day just wasn't a feasible goal for me. It felt more like a hollow ritual that somehow had me by the neck.

So one day in mid-May I stopped, and took inventory of my writing life.

I thought about how much blogging I do. That I had been trying to get back into more flash fiction. That I was spending a chunk of time each month beta-reading for friends who are on the same road to publication that I am.

It wasn't that I hadn't invested in my love, I realized. I had lost track of how I invested in that love.

My accountability calendar. This is now as routine for me as brushing my teeth.

Pictured above is my personal solution to that quandry - and, as you might expect, it's a very visual way to keep track. But I am a very visual person, so this is what works for me.

If you study the above photograph, you will detect several patterns to how I "keep track":

     * I always note the starting word count, and ending word count on my manuscript each day.

     * I then figure the difference and note the total word count in the box at the top of the day.

     * Negative word counts are considered progress 

     * Other things noted as writing progress:

          - flash fiction opportunities (Menage Monday, Five Sentence Fiction, Write4Ten)

          - posting said flash fiction on my blog, or other blog posting activity

          - beta-reading for someone else

          - those evenings spent doing significant networking on Twitter

Keeping track of my writing in this fashion didn't make a lot of sense for the first few weeks, but now that I've been at it a couple months I'm detecting distinct patterns. I've learned that:

     * Up to three non-writing days in a week is fairly average for me. 

     * I tend to write more toward the end of the week.

     * Getting anything written on Monday is nothing short of miraculous most weeks.

     * When I make time to read, I am more likely to make time to write

In recent weeks I've seen several bloggers sound off on the "Don't count your words - make your words count" saying, and similar axioms. I must say I am inclined to agree. I also think the age-old advice to "write every day, regardless" is also worth its weight in gold.

Obviously writing isn't going to happen EVERY day - see my calendar as proof of this - but if the habit of writing every day is there, and the accountability to boot - then the dream moves forward.

Not by leaps and bounds, perhaps, but forward movement is all any writer ultimately needs.

How do you make your words count? How do you hold yourself accountable for your dream?

Let me know in the comments!

And as always - thanks for reading!!

If you missed the earlier Visual Storyboarding episodes, you can follow these links to catch up:

     PART ONE: Storyboarding vs Mere Plotting

     PART TWO: Building on Your Hook

     PART THREE: Chasing Down the Details

PART FOUR: Jellybean, Licorice, Vonnegut, Line

Surprise Badges & Fairy Godmothers

So...I've been off the internet radar for most of the past week. Some of that is due to being out of town a couple days for Father's Day. The last few days, however, I've been leading a week-long art camp on upcycled fashion. It's been fun - but tiring, which means I've been crashing early every day this week. Almost as soon as I get home, in fact.

And then, in the middle of all my fantastically busy, artistic, non-writing week, I received a flock of tweets pointing me toward a most WONDERFUL surprise.

You see, I apparently have a fairy godmother in the online writing world. And she is supremely awesome. For proof, I submit the following evidence:

Isn't it wonderful?!?? A website banner of my very own, magicked into existence by the blogging Fairy Godmother herself, Donna McNicol. In honor of the Visual Dare flash fiction posted here every week, Donna made this lovely badge for the Anonymous Legacy blog.

If you don't already, I strongly recommend that you follow Donna on Twitter (@DonnaBMcNicol), and her site Write for Ten,  which is a great challenge to write every day, even if it's only for 10 minutes. Her site has a nifty cool banner as well, and you would all do well to link through and follow it:

Of course, weekly writing challenges are NOT the limit of Donna's awesomeness. She's also a writer and author in her own right, with two forthcoming novels and several shorter works already available for Kindle or Nook. Her author website can be found here: http://donnamcnicol.com/.  She also has a writing blog (http://donnamcnicol.blogspot.com/) and a personal blog that spotlights her traveling adventures with her husband Stu (http://www.2takinga5th.com/).


And you know what? My amazing badge is not the limit of Donna's sweet fairy godmother ways. She's also made a banner for fledgling writer's website Sweet Banana Ink, and recently spotlighted it on her writing blog.

See what I mean? If anyone is a fairy godmother with a double scoop of awesome AND fairy dust - it's this lady.

When I joined the Twitter/blogging/online writing community in September 2011, I was totally unprepared for the wonderfully accepting, encouraging network of writers I would find. So much of the artistic world can be cutthroat and divisive, but I have found the online writing community to be anything but. Thanks to wonderfully creative, writer-ly souls like Donna, my journey down the path toward Authorship has been full of encouragement, thoughtful questions, running jokes, and lovely surprises.

Thank you, Donna, for my AL badge. And thank YOU, wonderful readers, for making Anonymous Legacy and the Visual Dare a banner-worthy endeavor!

I hope all of you have a fairy godmother, online or in real life. Do you?

What's the nicest thing a fellow writer has done for you?

Storyboarding vs Mere Plotting

With JuNoWriMo almost upon us, I have tweeted more and more lately about the “storyboarding” stage of my writing process. Several people have asked me what I mean by that, and still others have asked for a closer look at how I go about the prewriting process entirely.

Most writers refer to this as simply “plotting” – but I confess, it’s a word that rarely enters my writing vocabulary.

In the world of Angela, prewriting means storyboarding.

What is storyboarding?

A nice dictionary definition of storyboarding is simply this: “A panel or series of panels of rough sketches outlining the scene sequence and major changes of action or plot in a production to be shot on film or video.”

In other words, it is a term generally applied to the film industry. Generally, it’s a visual pictorial outline that looks something like this >>> See johnstanicek.com for excellent storyboard examples. <<<

This sort of “plotting” is essential to those in film, since so many details hinge on the presentation of the visual aspects, and not dialogue only.

The Megatokyo Connection

I first ran across the term storyboarding several years ago, when I discovered the mother of all quality, convoluted, complex webcomics known as Megatokyo. The mastermind behind the comic, Fred Gallagher, was still putting out Largo & Piro goodness in his original gag-a-day comic strip format then. But not long after I joined this deliriously inverted world of geeks, mystery, social awkwardness, gaming, and the undead - Fred did something VERY interesting: he decided to morph the comic strip from a daily yucks-and-giggles routine to an overarching story with multiple characters, intricately interwoven plotlines, and ongoing themes that actually went beyond humor and meant something.

In short, he wanted to move out of sitcom territory and tell a substantive story.

As he went through the transformation, Fred documented his efforts in his blog posts, which always show up at the bottom of the page after the comic. This is where I first heard him rant about storyboarding, and how much time was consumed in plotting things out correctly.

Then he started posting snippets of his storyboards. He still does this sometimes, by posting “in progress” comics when the finished result is taking a while to really polish off.

Once I saw what he meant by “storyboarding”, my whole vision of what it meant to put a story together changed. Drastically.

Why storyboard a novel?

The idea of “storyboarding” changed my view at a bedrock level, and on a point so simple as to be considered obvious: Stories need to be visual.

That’s almost a “duh” kind of statement, isn’t it? After all, we live in a visually charged society. If it’s not the internet or television or movies, it’s coming over our iPhones and iPads, Kindles and Nooks, not to mention the old standbys – billboards and posters and magazine covers in the grocery store check-out lines. We are bombarded by visual stimuli constantly. Yet we still need the reminder – or at least I do – that today’s audiences are so visually conditioned that any would-be-author who ignores this reality of the modern audience does so at his own peril.

Again – a “duh” moment, right?

But here’s where the lightbulb went on for me: If I am going to write for such a visually charged audience, then I need to write visually – even before I put words to paper.

Please do not misunderstand me.

Storyboarding a novel does NOT mean:

·      Drawing tons of sketches beforehand (though some authors – including J K Rowling, are known to do this. But it’s not for everyone.)

·      Belaboring my writing with loads of long, heavy description. (This is generally considered monumentally BAD writing.)

But my audience is visual. VERY visual.

So how do I do this?

My personal answer is what I would like to take you through for the next few weeks. I’m not saying that I have all the answers – only that I’ve found what works for me; and I have helped enough writers along the way that it seems to help other people as well – not everyone, perhaps, but many. And it’s adaptable; so if you’re NOT an artist, then you can tweak the process in a way that fits you.

Over the month of June I will break down the steps of how to storyboard a novel the “Angela Goff way”, and let you be the judge of which part of these sub-components works for you.

Generally speaking, the trajectory of this series will cover: context, hooks, idea gathering, timelines, maps and sketches, and then of course how to merge all of that into a full storyboard.

I hope this little foray into my brain will help some of you, or at least encourage you in knowing that you’re already doing some of these things that will save your novel from the slush pile.

Follow me on Twitter (@Angela_Goff) or subscribe to email notifications for this blog to catch the next installment, hopefully coming your way by the end of the week.

Questions? Comments? Does any of this sound helpful?

Let me know in the comments!

A Kreativ Honor

Yay me! I have been nominated for the Kreative Blogger award by fantabulous Irish writer Matt Sloan (Everyone go to his blog and say hello! And comment on his current flash fiction because it is amazing.).


The Rules:
1. Thank & link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the ten questions.
3. Share ten random facts/thoughts about yourself.
4. Nominate seven worthy blogs for the Kreative Blogger Award.

The Questions:
1. What's your favorite song?The hymn "And Can It Be" by Charles Wesley. I adore many songs, sacred and secular, but this one sends chills through my soul every time. Good chills. Love it.

2. What's your favorite dessert?
Nothing really stands out....though if it involves mango, I'm liable to fight you for it.

3. What ticks you off?
Recklessness. Sheer, utter, stupid recklessness.

4. What do you do when you're upset?
Write.

5. Which is your favorite pet?

Not allowed to have pets at my current location (SNIFF!) but I am definitely a dog person. Would probably have a cocker spaniel since that is the dog I had growing up.

6. Which do you prefer: black or white?
Black tea. White chocolate. Yes, thank you.

7. What is your biggest fear?
Not finishing what I've said I will do. Namely, finish at least ONE of my manuscripts and get it published. So hold me accountable to that dream, won't you?

8. What is your attitude mostly?
I'm here. I'm healthy. I am surrounded by loving friends and family and great opportunities. So....obviously I'm supposed to learn something, do something. What is it?

9. What is perfection?
Mercy and redemption personified, given in unselfish sacrifice. I'll let you guess where that puts me in the spectrum of religions and world views.  :-)

10. What is your guilty pleasure?
In music: Flogging Molly and Boiled in Lead
In food: Chocolate. Always chocolate.
In writing: Using my writing to procrastinate something else.





The Random Facts:

1. I bit my tongue off the summer following first grade.

2. I have been to 5 of the 7 continents.

3. I once had dinner with the Lord Mayor of London.

4. I ring in a handbell choir.

5. My favorite color has always ALWAYS been blue.

6. When I was little, my dad would sometimes read to me from Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a bedtime story. This is when I first fell in love with poetry - especially epic poetry.

7. Tried writing an epic poem in high school and got about halfway through, until I tried to get feedback from my AP Lit teacher and she said "That's not my thing." Talk about having the wind taken out of your sails...

8. I've had a poem, "Inflexible and Stationary" published in an anthology from The National Library of Poetry (Essence of a Dream, 1997).

9. In addition to writing, I am also a painter (watercolors), a sculptor (clay), and a potter (functional stoneware). I've done several art shows with my pottery and still produce work that sells rather well - when I have it in stock. (The trick is finding time to do it with all my other obligations.)

10. As a general rule, spiders and snakes do not bother me - unless they are poisonous or bigger than me. :-)

SO. Enough about me.....how about some nominations for other fabulous blogs?


Below are several other wonderful writers I've met through the wonders of Twitter. They are also the writers who have bedazzled me with the flash fiction they've written for my weekly Visual Dare. Be sure to pop in and say hello to all these wonderful people!!


SARAH @reraveling / Re-Raveling
SUSAN @SuperEarthling / Super Earthling
MARY MARGARET @JustPlainMary_ / Spark of Hope
ANMELIA [Twitter name?] / Anemlia's Blog
AFSANEH @Afsaneh_Dreams / Dreaming of Stories
STACY @RowanWolf66 / A Jar of Fireflies
SHARON @sharonscribbles / Sharon's Scribbles

Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you!

Let me know what you're thinking in the comments!

Creative Pacing

A new month, a new blog design - and a new update schedule. Welcome to the new AL.

When I started my blog waaaaaaaaaaay back in September, I decided that I would not marry myself to one specific updating schedule, though the "shiny" of a new endeavor naturally meant that I was posting a lot. As in, every day.

I wasn't worried about the frequency at the time. New things always have their lustre that must wear off before you step back and readjust. Knowing that this blog would be a learning process, and an ongoing "writer's resume" (of sorts), I decided to keep up the 5-6 posts per week routine until I felt that both the topics and the pacing had worn thin, and I needed to scale back.

The big surprise: It took me five months to get to that point.

But that threshold - or perhaps I should say crossroads - has at last come. Personal craziness aside (the Goff Clan has been racking up frequent flier miles at the doctor's offices and hospitals lately), I've come to a point where the daily writing energy that I've funneled into blogging needs channeling to other projects, not the least of which is the now nearly-completed trilogy that I hope to query beginning in late May or early June.

The Upshot: I am going to hold true to my original vision of what I set out to do, by:

(a) Going to a Tuesday/Thursday update schedule (weekend silly posts and Six Sunday Sentence excerpts will continue as usual) 

(b) Hold myself accountable to the original discipline which started this adventure in the first place. (Especially item #3 in that link)

This new schedule will allow me to do three things:

1.  Focus on the writing that is at the heart of why I do what I do. 

2. Give updates of higher quality to my blog followers (including the popular Agent Tweets series) 

3. Stay sane.

OK ---- so maybe that third item is a bit of a stretch. But here's hoping. :-)

I also intend to continue with Lillie McFerrin's weekly Five Sentence Fiction challenge (really excited about this week's prompt, by the way - go check it out!). So expect the odd random flash fic to appear here from time to time.

So with all that being said...next Agent Tweets coming to you next Tuesday! With a little weekend silliness along the way.

Keep Reading --- Keep Writing --- Keep On Creating!

Let me know what you think in the comment section!

http://anonymouslegacy.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-endeavors.html

Favorite Nooks

On the road today, so I'm sending out a quick little post with some of my favorite nooks and crannies from across the web - all favorite blogs of mine, that have become my frequent haunts over the last few weeks (and months, some of them):

Yearning for Wonderland:  Snarky, spleen-eating, Downton Abbey-loving, can't-remember-where-she-parked-her-Barouche-Box-and-in-which-century Anna Meade has a wonderful blog full of fairies, fiction, whimsy, yearning for yesteryear, and snark. Love this girl. You will too.

Amanda McCrina: Poli Sci student, movie aficionado and soon-to-be published author, Amanda writes concise, thoughtful posts on a host of topics. Having been privileged to be one of her beta readers for His Own Good Sword, I can also vouch for her giftedness as an insightful and incisive writer. Look for more about this savvy lady on my site in the coming weeks as she approaches her May publication date.

The Surly Muse: Keep Daniel Swensen's blog on speed dial for insightful articles and some of the most original flash-fiction I've ever read. (Don't believe me? Check out this one. Or maybe my personal favorite over here.) He writes phenomenal longer works too, as this happy beta-reader can tell you. Wish you could read them for yourselves...hopefully you will, and soon.

Going for Coffee: I wish I did live close enough to meet this gal for coffee in person. Jo-Anne Teal is one of the kindest, encouraging, most sweet-hearted writers I've met since joining Twitter*. Her blog exudes her natural sweetness and sincerity, and her flash fiction - though entirely hers and in that same calm tone - carries an extra edge that will surprise you at every turn. Go for coffee at her blog and sip some of her writing - you won't be disappointed.

Kristen Lamb: I discovered Kristen's website just the other day, and let me tell you: Kristen Lamb is sharp. She knows the publishing business. She's made mistakes and learned from them. Nor is she afraid to tell you about them, or which side of the prickly Mistake Fence you've fallen on. This lady has a LOT to share - including some great writing, the #MyWANA hashtag - and even some morbid hints about The Pants of Shame.**

* No, I was not paid to say that --- I mean it whole-heartedly! Seriously.

** Not for the faint of heart. Trust me.

Enjoy these stellar blogs - and then join them! Follow these savvy people on Twitter.

Then enjoy the knowledge that your Coolness Quotient just went through the roof.

You're welcome. :-)

Winners!

Oh, how I wish we could have picked more than five. Do you know how unbelievably difficult it was to choose finalists from such an amazing line-up of entries for our Blog Hop Contest?

Of course you don't. Unless you took the time to read all of the entries, in which case...of course you do!

So many fantabulous writers, so few prizes.....

But we DO have five amazing finalists -- at last!!! Here is the full roster, with their magnificent prizes:

1st PLACE:  Ruth Long ~ "Between the Lines" ~ 50 pg edit from Lillie McFerrin

2nd PLACE:  Donna McNicol ~ "Forest Flowers" ~ 25 pg edit from Angie Richmond

3rd PLACE: Jo Ann Teal ~ "Out of the Dark" ~ 15 pg edit from ME!!!!!!!!

4th PLACE:  Brewed Bohemian ~ "A Beautiful Place to Die" ~ 10 pg edit from Daniel Swensen

5th PLACE:  Gwen Tolios ~ "Extinguishing Souls" ~ a copy of Stephen King's On Writing

Aren't you splendiferously proud of all these writers? You should be! Drop by their blogs and tell them so! 

Follow them on Twitter! And then join their blogs. And read their contest entries. 

And encourage them to write MORE.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Congratulations to all our winners!

Thanks also to Lillie, Angie and Daniel for hosting the blog hop and making all this possible.

Fanfare

'Tis the first workday of the new year, and with it the task of easing back into everyday "normalcy". In terms of this blog, "normalcy" means looking ahead to the next several months, and shaping up the direction of where I go from here.

I intend, of course, to continue my usual posts on all things connected with writing, as well as the Agent Tweets series that debuted last week. But with the recent success of several writer friends, I also see where this blog will become much more active in promoting writers whose work I admire highly. Today, I would like to acquaint you with three writers whose recent successes deserve a wider audience.

(NOTE: Names are hyperlinked to their Twitter page - follow them if you haven't already!) 

The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other Name

Michel R. Vaillancourt - Through the wonders of Twitter, I came across Michel's name and his steampunk novel,  The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other Name, recently published through Trestle Press. I've tried the steampunk genre before, but really wasn't sold on it, as I couldn't find anything that really grabbed me. All that changed when I  downloaded The Sauder Diaries on a whim and devoured it over Christmas - as in, stayed-up-till-4am-and-lost-precious-sleep-because-the-book-wouldn't-let-me-go, kind of devouring. Rest assured, I will post a detailed five-star review of this book here in the very near future.
     Check out Michel's pirate-infused steampunk world for yourself on Amazon's Kindle menu, or on the Barnes & Noble website. The $5 price tag is very generous - it is worth far more than that. You can also visit his fan page on Facebook and his official website at http://michelrvaillancourt.com/.

His Own Good Sword

Amanda McCrina - I've been privileged to know Amanda personally for many years. We frequently meet at the local coffeehouse to talk books, writing, and publishing, so I was ecstatic when she called me up a few weeks ago to say she had been offered a book contract with Winter Goose Publishing. Her novel, His Own Good Sword, is set in an alternate antiquity and follows a young nobleman whose integrity exiles him to a violent outpost on the borders of his empire. Set to publish in May, this is a richly textured narrative rooted in a deep love and intricate familiarity with the ancient world. Since I was fortunate enough to be a beta reader for this novel, you can expect me to serve up a detailed pre-launch review on this one as well. In the meantime, check out Amanda's blog, Fly Casual and extend your congratulations on her big announcement!

Goddess of Death ~ Man's Best Friend

John Hansen - Another literary cohort from Twitter, John is a high school student who is already making inroads in the publishing industry with the recent acceptance of an urban fantasy short "Goddess of Death" into Dark Light Anthology and horror short "Man's Best Friend" to Untreed Reads. He also has a blog, which can be found here. Congratulations, John!

What other good news have I missed? Let me know!

Roll Call

Some weeks I write more, other weeks I read more. That's the natural pulse and rhythm of my life.

This week has been more for reading than writing - of books and papers for school, of fun reads I want to catch up on (you can see my Goodreads profile for what's caught my fancy just now), and of blogs that really strike a chord with me.

Listed below are several of the blog posts that really stood out to me this week, including one open competition you ought not to miss (though you need to get your entry in before the 12th!). Take a look at the links below for some great insights for writers.

How to Lose Readers and Alienate People, by Daniel Swensen

When You're Drowning in a Sea of a Million Blogs, by Jeff Goins

Passive Voice in Creative Writing, by Sirra

A Collection of Writing Tips, by Sirra

Age- Appropriateness in Historical Fiction, by Amanda McCrina

Breaking Into Publishing, by Rachelle Gardner

Christmas Open Cold Competition, hosted by Krystal Wade and Derek Flynn

What recent blog posts do you think I should check out?

Visual Stones, Mindful Dares

Today I've put up three more photos for another installment of Visual Dares, which is my little challenge for authors who need a boost to get through a current scene in their writing. Look at these and incorporate one, two, or all three into your scene, chapter, or overall tale.

And today, these three pics come with an added challenge. 

I've watched the past few weeks as the lovely @Fiona_Robyn and her tweeps count down to the "river of stones" challenge in January. She explains it so much more eloquently on her website, but the short version is this: It's an exercise in which writers are challenged to completely unplug from their 21st century wiring for at least a moment, and completely connect to the Real World so they can "precisely capture a full moment" (to quote Fiona). Aside from the obvious boost it will give to your writing prowess, it behooves us all to "unplug" once in a while, even momentarily.

Can't get away from your computer? Understand. It's still December and we all have deadlines. But you can participate in "capture the moment" practice. 

If you don't have a current "work in progress" in which to infuse the following three scenes, use them instead as practice for your "small stones." Just a few lines, an impression, a spontaneous haiku or two.

Then learn to do it with Real moments. Then do it often. Then do it for life.

Up to the challenge? Sure you are.

Here are your Visual Mindful Dare-Stones:

photo by Jennifer Jackson

photo by almonkey

photo by Rachel Winslow

Social Tangles

When I started this blog over a month ago, I knew what my general goal was: to build a "platform." Never mind the fact that building a platform for a fiction writer who isn't published yet is a bit nebulous, or that marketing yourself while trying to complete/polish/query said manuscript is more than a bit daunting.

OK. Not merely daunting. Terrifyingly daunting.

Part of the headache that newbies like me face is the whole social networking tangle. I've read a lot of articles that encourage would-be authors to connect into every possible social network - Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and goodness knows who else. (I admit, I don't know them all.)  Others recommend you pick two of the "Big Three" - Twitter, Facebook and Google+ - and really work those.

If that's the case, then I'm afraid I"m the new caveman on the block. When I decided to ratchet up my publishing aspirations, my first decision was to shut down my Facebook entirely, and deliberately avoid Google+. I decided that I only had time for ONE social network, and Twitter was the tool that best fit my networking needs.

In the weeks since making that decision, I feel that I've been proven right. With multiple jobs, multiple manuscripts on tap, plus needing to maintain some semblance of a normal (read: non-computer related) social life, Twitter more than fills up my social networking niche, and then some. Honestly, I did not have any idea at the outset of how intricate Twitter would be. For something that supposedly is as simple as managing status lines, I had no clue it could be so complex, and push my networking capabilities into such remarkable quadrants. Already I have made some amazing connections with published authors, agents, editors, and people like me who are navigating the murky waters of determined would-be authors.

But it takes time and energy to keep the social networking wheel turning - even if you're only working with one. Since late September, my internet time has revolved around a careful triangle of blogging, email and Twitter. Already it has become a dance. When to Tweet and put myself out there. When to be quiet and just scan, read, think about what I'm seeing. The whole hashtag dance, which is in some ways is its own coded language, but a great networking tool if you know how to tap into it. It's a whole other world.

And then, yesterday, I was introduced to Klout.

Klout adds a whole other dynamic to the social networking thingy. So far as I understand it, it's an online "pulse check" that measures your social networking influence. It's a nifty little gizmo, but yet another item that could rapidly swallow more time. One more thing to obsess over. More internet time that truly, honestly, ought to be spent on my writing.

Of course, Klout wants me to "add in" Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and every other social network it assumes I'm participating in (which I'm not). If I did do all of those things - heaven help me. I'd be obsessively checking it twenty times a day. Yet another reminder of how glad I am that I picked one and am sticking with it.

Where does this take me? I'm not really sure. I have a hunch that this is a topic I'll be blogging on again in the future, as it is a journey that is still unfolding for me. It's a double edged sword:
     *  time consuming, but it gets your name out there;
     *  promotes your work, but smacks at times of selling yourself out;
     *  gets public response to new ideas, but worrisome in regards to copyright and idea protection;

.....and so on. Kinda makes a person wonder if you started eating the whale from the right end.

This is where I'm hoping I get some feedback from blog readers....where do you 

stand on the social networking thing? How much is too much? What's your ulterior motive 

for social networking? Pitfalls? Benefits? I am ALL ears.

Let me know what you think!!!!

NaNoConfederates

The first week of NaNoWriMo is almost over! As of typing this post (late Thursday evening) I am sitting at about 7200 words, so I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing so far. Plus I get to see my writer's group on Saturday for several hours, during which we are determined to do multiple word blitzes, talk about our current projects, dream big dreams, eat tons of food, and indulge in more than the FDA-recommended allowance of maniacal laughter and world domination plans.

So.....a typical writer's meeting. Yeah.

I hope all of you fellow writers are having equal success (or better) with your manuscripts, and that you have a regional NaNo meeting, or a local writer's group or something, that you can tap into to sharpen your focus and add to your word count. If you don't, you should check out some of the wonderful NaNoConfederates who live online. The following blogs are run by people who are actively participating in NaNoWriMo and whose websites I found intriguing, with lots of stuff to read and think over and cull through. Some of them are published authors, some of them are "not yets" like me; but they are all worth a closer look:

Write Me Happy                       The Daily Dose                          Lawrence Pearce                   
Liz Holbert                                Jason Runnels                          The Wild Pomegranate   
The Four Part Land                  Musings from the Slush Pile      Fly Casual

Like what you saw? Great. Want to find more blogging and writing greatness from WriMos across the web? Then go visit the hub of all the amazing NaNoNetworking at Lyn Midnight's site WriMosFTW! You'll find all manner of fellow WriMos networking there, plus a wealth of NaNo-centric information, writing tips and contests.

Now go add to your word count!! The month is still young....

But before you go, tell me - how are YOU doing with your NaNoWriMo endeavors?

Shifting Gears (A Bit)

My blog has now been up and running for a full month, and I have learned a lot in the process. These past four weeks have taught me a great deal about traffic patterns, tighter guidelines for blogging, visibility, intended and extended audiences, and how often I can reasonably update, among other things.

With that in mind, I am slowly refining a new posting schedule, as well as pinning down what topics I want to write about, and when. I've had great feedback from people on several of my anecdotes - Elephant Chai and DaVinci's Grocery List being current favorites - but I also want to talk about what I'm reading, especially since my October Fun Reads post received the most hits to date, and by a wide margin. I'd also like to occasionally post on matters strictly pertaining to aspiring writers, including some of the insights I've gleaned from Twitter about book agents, the publishing industry, and especially the ever-dreaded necessity of query letters.

Obviously I don't want to get in a rut, be untrue to myself, or fill my blog with dullness and drudge. So I would like to know: What would you like to see in regards to books, writing, or stories in general? What do you think I should not do, or have you spotted some mistakes I've already made? Those of you who have been blogging for a while - what advice do you have? You can post your comments here, or email me at goff (dot) taproostudio (at) gmail (dot) com.

Next official update will be Monday - until then I'll be working on getting ahead for future posts, as well as the beginning of NaNoWriMo! Wish me luck - and again, feel free to let me know what you're thinking about the site. Thanks!

Ringscar and the Guest Blogger

By the time this updates I will (hopefully) be in the air and on my way to a much-needed little vacation visiting friends out west. Under the heading of keeping my wonderful blog family up to snuff, here are a couple of little updates about what's going on:

1. Guest Blogger: First of all, since I'll be out of pocket for at least four days, I have asked the fantabulous Amanda from Fly Casual to do a guest blog for me on Friday!! So be sure to check back late Friday/early Saturday and see what sort of amazingness appears!

2. Ringscar says hello: NaNoWriMo begins in just over two weeks! Are you registered? Are you ready? Are you just going to plunge in headfirst and fly by the seat of your pants? Either way - the NaNoWorld welcomes you. Get over there and get ready! Then let me know how I can find you on the forums. I'm on there as Ringscar.

3. Read Much? Just in case you haven't discovered it yet, go over and check the book-friendly social network of Goodreads. It's like being in a big virtual library and being able to whisper to each other through the bookshelves. That and you can show off just how incredibly book-savvy you are, to boot.

4. Twitterpated: I am getting such great insights into the current agent/publishing industry that I am actively working on a weekly spotlight on my blog that, I hope, will be insightful to others as well. More details later - stay tuned.

NaNoAmmo

Three days remain till I see my journalist friend about my manuscript. Thirteen days remain until the manuscript blitzing of NaNoWriMo begins, and I get to plunge headlong into the sequel. And in the meantime, there are the wonderful NaNos themselves, creeping out of their litearature-infused dens to network with the extended Brotherhood of Writers. This means that the NaNo forums are lighting up with activity (expect the avalanche to grow as November 1st approaches), and the NaNoBloggers are going into overtime.

Not all of the NaNos are only just now coming out of hibernation, however. A few diligent souls have been hard at work, most notably Lyn Midnight's blog of WriMosFTW! This blog is an excellent source of networking and encouragement as you gear up for November, with guest blogs from various WriMos throughout the month. While the official NaNoWriMo site puts out all kinds of pep talks from published authors, the blog posts on Lyn's site are from fellow NaNos who have a common heritage of battle-scars from previous November blitzes, and infuse their posts with all sorts of wisdom and encouragement such as only a fellow NaNo can bring - and who doesn't want to be encouraged like that, from those who are part of the NaNo Brother hood?

The blog updates every day (or nearly), and with a variety of topics that keep apace of the NaNo frenzy. Be sure to bookmark the site as November draws near....you never know what glints of NaNo awesomeness you might find there....perhaps even a guest post from yours truly? Quite possibly....

OK. So it's not a mere possibility. I've submitted an idea for a guest post and have been accepted. Can I tell you how excited I am about this? You have no idea.

So....keep your ear to the ground, folks.....the next few (writing) weeks are going to be wild....