Category: Blogs & Blogging

Yes, It’s April

I’ve been so busy writing lately that I haven’t had time for the blog. I know, I’m bad. The proliferation of social networks has made the blog kind of passé, but I like that posting to my blog feeds to the social networks, which is where I get the most interaction with my blog readers. It’s so easy to reply to a blog post on Facebook, etc., why bother visiting the author’s website and commenting there? I understand the ease, and I understand the reluctance to post one’s email address in the Comment field (even though the blog admin is the only person who sees it). I don’t visit blogs anywhere near as often I used to. I used to check several author and agent blogs per day. Now, well, there doesn’t seem to be enough hours IN the day to engage in the social networking that most publishers insist the author needs to do, blog, AND write our books.

No, I’m not dismantling my blog, just providing one of my myriad excuses why I don’t post here with regularity anymore. Also, when people don’t comment ON the blog, it does make the author feel a little like there might not be interest in what I’m posting. Maybe I’m getting boring.

I’d like to say I’m going to make a concerted effort to begin blogging more frequently. And I have some professional changes coming up in June that just might very well lead to me blogging regularly. In fact, I think I’ll put that on my June to-do list.

I don’t want to announce the changes now, because they’re still in the works, but let’s just say I’m entering a new and exciting stage of my writing career. One that will put me in charge more than ever before (was I ever in charge?). Some of you will know what I’m talking about. The rest, make a guess!

Pardon My Dust!

I’m currently updating my website and blog to reflect the December release of WHERE SHE BELONGS (don’t worry, I’m not tampering with the style sheet, which is what led to the hacking two years ago). My blog design is based on a very old WordPress template to match my website, and until I needed to add a new book cover to the blogroll, everything was working fine. WordPress has made updates to the way the blogroll works, and there must be some glitch happening because once I opened the drop down window in the dashboard to look at the book covers and URL links under Cindy’s Books, my blogroll widget decided that if I’m going to show Link Names for categories other than Cindy’s Books, then Cindy’s Books needs to show Link Names, too. Yes, the blogroll decided this all on its own. It’s quite evil.

I can’t get my old blogroll to show only the book covers (Link Images) under Cindy’s Books while only showing Link Names under the Categories called Cindy’s Sites, Fav Author Blogs, etc., etc. I’m supposed to be able to, but the selections aren’t sticking. So, for now, Cindy’s Books shows only text links to Amazon. I figure the only way around this is to delete Cindy’s Books from the blogroll entirely and create a new Cindy’s Books in a text box that I am hoping I can link to images of my book covers.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t fear, neither do I. I’m completely winging this, so if the blogroll looks like a mess for the next couple of weeks, items keep disappearing or look like they’re repeating, don’t blame me. It’s the evil blogroll widget.

All will look pretty again…someday before my new book releases…I’m sure. In the meantime, I’m only working on the website and blog changes on the weekends, so it’ll be a bit messy around here.

And, if anyone knows the best way to insert book covers into the Text box widgets so they will look nice (example, take a look at the book covers on Alison Kent’s blog or HelenKay Dimon’s blog), please email me!

Small But Important Changes Coming

As some of you know, my website was hacked by a web bot looking for open security doors way back in October 2009. The problem was brought to my attention by Google alerts and then fixed by a professional web designer and blog coder in November 2009, but Trend Micro (an anti-virus program) has declared my blog and website “dangerous” ever since. Every once in a while I receive an email from someone saying they can’t visit my website or blog because their AV program is telling them not to. And every single time I ask which AV program they use, it’s Trend Micro.

This has been very disturbing to me, as over 18 months have passed, a professional website designer and coder fixed the problem for me, but because my site had a problem for one month in 2009 it seems like TM will make me pay forever. The feeling seems to be that if the blog ever had the problem, it might have the problem again. But I know the mistake I made when I updated my blog back in 2009 that led to the problem, and I don’t need to be taught the same lesson twice. I won’t make that mistake again. I’ll go back to a professional to ensure I don’t make the same mistake.

At any rate, I am very happy to announce that my main website URL – www.cindyprocter-king.com – and my blog URL referrer – www.museinterrupted.com – have now both been declared safe by Trend Micro. I had to fill out some form a TM tech told me about and send it in for each of my three URLs.

People with Trend Micro, however, still can’t visit www.cindyprocter-king.com/blog without getting the warning. So, in essence, they can’t visit www.museinterrupted.com either, because it will bring them to the URL Trend Micro doesn’t like. If they put my blog URL into their safe lists, then they don’t get the warning. I hosted several guest bloggers after the 2009 problem who had Trend Micro. All of them inputted my site names into their safe lists and had no problems. But, once a problem always a problem is the way I feel this situation is being treated by the AV software. And that is their right.

To try and fix the issue, I need to change the name of my blog link. I don’t know when I’ll get time to do that. A shoulder injury is limiting my computer time. But at least TM users should now be able to visit my home page and books pages without getting a warning. They just can’t click on my blog link.

Once  the changes are made and I receive assurance from TM that the blog tests as “safe”, you can bet I’ll be announcing it all over the place. I’ll have to. Because my blog URL will have changed.

Caught Around the Web–And In My Brain

Family-wise, it’s been a very hectic past several weeks. Picking up Youngest Son from university and having the extra body around as he unpacks his stuff and searches for summer work. Eldest Son has been super busy finishing up his second student teaching practicum and is now working on his last course for his teaching certificate plus is taking two of three courses needed to complete his Bachelor of Education on top of his B.A. and certification, plus he’s moving out! Very slowly, as he tries to fit the moving out with three classes.

I’ve been experiencing a bit of Motherhood Mania, when you feel like you should have enough hours in the day, but extra brains are EVERYWHERE. I don’t know about you, but extra brains deplete my creative energy and finding butt-in-keyboard time has been a challenge, particularly because I’m at the brainstorming/drafting stage of a new project (as Cindy).

Thus the slow-down in my blog entries.

Did you know you can now put your blog up on Kindle and subscribers can pay a fee to receive your posts on their e-reader? I wouldn’t consider Kindle-izing my blog at this time, because I believe that if you’re going to Kindle-ize your blog, then you should be writing a steady stream of content, and that’s not a position I find myself in.

I’m not likely to subscribe to blogs via my Kindle at this point, either. For one thing, I’m not using my Kindle exclusively—I still have a paperback and hard cover TBR pile as well as a Kindle TBR pile. To me, subscribing to a blog via Kindle would feel much like subscribing to a newspaper or magazine via Kindle. I’d feel like I should be picking up the Kindle every day to check in on my subscriptions. But I’m not on my Kindle every day. I am on my computer pretty much every day, and I check my fav blogs via my blog-roll.

So here are a handful of new blogs I’ve discovered that I intend to put in my blog-roll so I’ll remember to visit them (instead of having to be reminded through Facebook posts that I should visit). I hope you find them interesting, too.

First, D.P. Lyle, M.D.’s Writer’s Forensics blog. I discovered Dr. Lyle’s blog while writing SEX, PIs & PACKING TAPE, the mystery romance single title that is currently enjoying a bit of back-burnering in anticipation of pitching the manuscript at the RWA National Conference in New York in June.

I don’t read Dr. Lyle’s blog daily, or even every week. But when I’m working on a book with a mystery or suspense component, his Forensics blog is invaluable.

Romance author Shannon McKeldon has begun The Happy Writer blog. Her tag line is “Life’s hard. Write happy.” It’s a great idea for a blog (and also the sort of blog that I think deserves Kindle-izing). It’s all about remaining positive—and providing tools to help writers remain positive—within this rollercoaster business. Because, yes, it’s fun to get to do what you love for a “living” (ahem) every day, but writing for publication is very, very difficult. Deadline pressures, an editor messing with your voice (has never happened to me, but I’ve heard the horror stories), losing an editor and then suddenly losing your ability to sell to his/her replacement, despite that you have published several award-winning books (yes, it happens. Writing is subjective, and what one editor loves, another might not). There are pressures and there are stresses that no one but other writers truly understand. So if you need help maintaining a positive attitude, check out Shannon’s The Happy Writer.

Another writer’s blog to check out is Cathy Yardley’s. First, she has her main blog, which I really want to read more often (so it’s going in my blog-roll), and then she has a marketing/writing blog called Rock Your Writing, tag line “Sell a Lot without Selling Out.” (I really love these clever tag lines!).

Cathy lost several posts during a blog implosion (her words). But her blog is definitely worth checking out. Both blogs are going in my blog-roll.

Lastly, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie and multi-publishing romance author Barbara Samuel (aka Ruth Wind and aka Barbara O’Neal) have been discussing the new e-publishing self-publishing model that has spawned success stories like Amanda Hocking’s. Their discussion occurs in three posts on Jenny Crusie’s blog. It’s interesting, although I found myself skimming because (a) I’m short on time these days and (b) I’m short on time. If you want to read from the beginning, here’s the link to Post 1. Post 2 continues their conversation, ending with Post 3, which discusses self-publishing and editing.

I’ve read Post 3 and Post 2, because naturally I’m reading them backwards. Don’t ask me why. I hope to get to Post 1 today. “Hope.”

Because I think I finally have a handle on the first scene of my short story WIP, in which my heroine appears drunk. My romance writer’s brain tells me, “She can’t be drunk. An editor would never buy that.” My Cindy brain tells me, “But she’s not drunk. She’s just really sloshed. And I’m writing this for a niche market, not a major publishing house that might frown on heroines walking on-stage inebriated.”

Really, it’s okay for my heroine to be sloshed in scene i. I need to accept that. Real people get tanked and still find love—why can’t my heroine?

Initially scene i was written from her point of view when she wakes up in the hero’s apartment and pieces together what happened the night before. Then it suddenly occurred to me that it would be great fun (for me as a writer, anyway) to show WHERE the hero found her (in the apartment building laundry wearing revealing sleepwear), which would lead to WHY she was down there, and basically adds a layer of “out-of-control”ness my heroine is experiencing at this time in her life. Let me assure you (why must I assure you?), she over-indulged for a very good reason. She was keeping up with her friend, who’s about to go all Bridezilla in the series. As the Maid of Honor, my heroine, Claire, felt it was her duty to keep up with Tanya. And, if you’ve ever drank a Mudslide, you know how easily they go down.

So there. That’s my justification. I have a drunk heroine in the first scene of my WIP. And I’m okay with that.

Will romance readers be okay with that? I don’t know. But that’s one of the nice things about writing a series like this for a niche market. If I’m writing for a niche, I don’t have to worry about appealing to the masses. I want to appeal to the masses, but I also want to write the stories that make me smile. And this one makes my madcap romantic comedy demon grin.

How to Write Funny When Your Sense of Humor Sucks

Today I’m guestblogging on writing humor at the RWA ChickLit Writers blog. You don’t want me to be lonely, do you? You want to hop on over and lap up my knowledge, right?

Just in case not…

You are feeling sleepy. Very, very sleepy.

Your typing fingers are not under your control. No, they are under mine! They will do whatever I say. And I say that your typing fingers will click this link to the ChickLit Writers blog, read and comment on my post.

Then, and only then, will you be able to move on to anything else. Then, and only then, will you find the will to eke out a productive day.

You will have no memory of this conversation.

Next time you see me in person, say, at an RWA conference, you will feel strangely compelled to buy me a drink.

Snap!