Some of you may have known a little about my plans to write a book, a non-fiction work. I am still very excited about this. I have started blogging just for about four months now and I think I do make sense when it comes to writing, at least I know some of you are being so supportive, so there should be something worthy about what I write that makes you feel I should do this.
I'm not writing because I have the encouragement for it. Of course, that is the driving force that keeps all of us going and we need support from each and every author friend we know. But I'm writing because I want to write and I know I want to see myself getting the thoughts on my head on print, in the form of a book. This, I know very well. But then, comes the greatest barrier, the starting trouble. I have not written a thing of what I have on my mind yet and it is like catching up bits and pieces of my ideas every time I want to get started with it.
That first word of the first line, I swear it is so freaking hard to decide. I am not sure if I'm being too picky about it, trying to be a perfectionist or if I'm just confuse not knowing where to start. Organising trails of thoughts can be very difficult, especially when we want the work to come out just the way we wanted it. Authors, how do you usually start your book? Preface, Chapter 1 or just about anything that pops out of your mind where you jot it down and later match them like bits and pieces of jigsaw puzzle? Does your title selection comes last?
For some of you who are still wondering what am I trying to accomplish, I am in the idea of writing a non-fiction book featuring the lives and stories of women all over the world with some of my personal thoughts incorporated in each chapter. I want to do this so badly, not just because I want to get it over with. No! I want to do this because I feel the urge of doing it, so badly.
Confused and self-doubting,
Jas
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
First of all, I would like to thank each and everyone of you who took time to participate in my blog hop that I hosted sometime back. It was a pleasure having all of you there. I met
some new bloggers and it was interesting to learn about your writing journey.
I would like to express my gratitude by having your interview up on my blog to let my readers know about you. So, first in the list is +Glendon Perkins
Tell us about yourself a
little
A) I'm a Wyoming native, U. S.
Navy veteran, and a three-time published author of short stories.
Why do you write and what
is the motive behind it?
A) I write to
tell a story. That seems like a simplistic answer but it's true.
What is the biggest
motivation (people/any incidents) for you to write?
A) Situations in life are the most often
motivators to my writing. I see something or hear something or experience
something and a story starts developing in my head.
How is the feedback from
people or your readers?
A)Nearly all
the feedback I've received from my readers is positive. Some readers may not
like the genre I write in, but the writing itself is generally well received.
What is the progress in
writing that you are proud of?
A)My
overall progress in writing. Going from someone who didn't have a clue about
writing a good story to being someone who understands what a good story is.
Tell us about an
interesting writing you have made so far.
A) For several months I posted a novel in rough draft from my novel in
progress "Buried Alive." The story was so well received, and along
with the popularity of the story mixed with the term "publishable", I
was forced to remove it from the public.
What is hardest – getting
published, writing or marketing?
A) For
now writing is my greatest challenge. I seldom have completed works to try
marketing and I'm not ready for publication of a novel yet.
What marketing works for
you?
A)My marketing consists of word of
mouth and posting links on social networks.
How do you plan to expand
your writing experiences (ex: from being a blogger to a writer etc?).
A)I
already blog and write so being published is how I hope to expand.
Are you aware of the tricks
blogging have to drive you more traffic? (like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
and blog layouts?).
A) Nope, don't know anything about how to draw more
traffic.
What do you want to achieve
through writing?
A) A published novel,
preferably through traditional publishing.
How would you encourage or
advise someone who is intending to take up writing?
A) Just do it. That's about as simple as it
gets. Write a lot and read a lot. Don't worry about your first attempts being
bad. We've all been there. Find a special or ideal reader to write for. And ask
questions.
What do you hope people
will take away from your writing? How will your words make them feel?
A) I would like my readers to com away with
some kind or emotional response. I like to hear the readers say they received
"chills" or the story was "chilling" or "I was right
there."
Do you have a website you
would want to share with us?
A) My
website is www.glendonperkins.com. It has my blog posts, guest writers, writing tips, and links to
my published works.
Thank you, Jassy for letting me be a part of
your blog hop.
Thank you
for your precious time Glen and I wish you all the best!!
Love,
Jasveena
I welcome you thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
It was a casual day with me going through the internet, blogging and getting distracted from what I was supposed to be doing which is applying for jobs. I had and still having a good time having absolutely, I mean it, absolutely nothing to worry about at home. So there was this day I could still remember. I was going through a few blogs of authors and writers as they appear on my news feed on my Google + homepage. There is a huge network of authors over here with people like Alana, Adrianna and Vashti being so warm and welcoming. In fact, through these people and other friends on writers' community, I am getting to know awesome blogs and writers. So, I remember going through a new blog belonging to a whole new person, Melinda Field and the first thing I saw on her blog was about her book and I quickly learned that she is a writer. I left a comment on her blog as I found her book very intriguing and little did I know she would be mailing me soon about her book. I received this book together with her beautiful wisdom card a month ago and I had so much fun reading it.
Something about Melinda that might catch your interest:
Melinda Field is an award winning writer/poet/playwright who lives in the mountains of Northern California. A version of her short story The Ledge, excerpted from True, was an award winner in the Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Competition. She has authored three sets of wisdom cards with photographic artist Lani Phillips, that were created to inspire and empower women of all ages on a daily basis. They are Wisdom of the Crone, Wonder of the Mother and The Journey. The cards can be viewed at www.wisewomenink.com. Melinda is currently working on a sequel to True.
She has been a wonderful support within a short period of time knowing her and I would like to thank her for amazing guidance. It really means a lot to me Melinda. :) You can read her blog at this link and her official page here
True, from my point of view, is a story told in the most natural and genuine way. It is highly relatable to our daily life, with the good and the bad coming together in the same journey of life. The book starts off with Caterina Ramos, being a stubborn child, forced to go to her grandmother's place after her mother has been sent to the prison for prostitution and drug abuse. Caterina goes to school nearby and there she sees a bunch of terrible boys who bullies her. Later, she becomes the victim of rape when these boys take advantage of her. Her grandmother Jenny passes away hearing this, and Emma, one of the horsewomen takes care of Cat while she continues her pregnancy.
The story evolves beautifully and peacefully emphasizing on the true friendship between these horsewomen and how they help each other to overcome life and death. Melinda is currently working on the second book and I can't wait to buy it next. Get her book at Amazon
I welcome your thoughts and views ! :D Thank you for your feedback
I have a book named Things I Want My Daughters To Know. I bought this some years back and I think this book expressed the emotional bonding of a mother with her daughters so well. It is one of the books I read that still stays so fresh on my mind and I think the novelist has implied the message a mother would want to let her daughters know before her death. In this story, the mother dies due to cancer and the daughters would discover letters written by the mother after her death that would guide them through their important moments of their life.
Things I Want My Daughters To Know
Inspired by this book, I wanted to come up with the things I would want my daughters to know, if I have any in the future. I thought it would be good to think about this now to mold the future of my children soon.
1. I Want My Daughters To Know That Seeking People's Approval Hurts
I want them to value themselves for who they are and no longer be the women in the older generation where they used to care for people's approval about their behaviours and being 'obedient' women pleasing men and putting up with their shit.
2. I Want My Daughters To Know That It Is Not A Crime To Have Their Own Opinion
I want my daughters to know that they should always have a firm opinion on any issues and never fear the societies' and religions' brutal limitation and control over what women should and shouldn't do. I want them to know that standing firm by their belief is more important than anything else. 3. I Want My Daughters To Know That They Shouldn't Allow People To Have Control Over Them
I want them to fly free like a bird, doing what they feel they could do, and pursuing their desire that could complete their seek for a sense of achievements in life. I would never want them to see as someone who is being taken granted for as a wife, forsaking their own goals in life.
4. I Want My Daughters To Know That They Are Women With Class
I want them to define their own life and be a woman with class. I want them to carve success in a unique way and be a leader, not a follower and most importantly be different from everyone else. I want them to be wise and not innocent, taking guard of themselves and analysing different aspects of life from their own perspective.
Difficult times in life can be very devastating. Some can cope with the hardship and come out of it to be a better person, whereas some get out of track, gets mislead and never come back to the journey he or she is supposed to be travelling on. What differs these two different group of people? What are the connection between tough times and spirituality and most importantly God?
The one who loses hope fast are the ones who never get their spiritual strength renewed. They seemed to be seeing more negativity in life more than the goodness it has to offer. With hatred in heart, they become someone they are not, from good to bad, disseminating the negative aura and vibes to everyone surrounding them. Life and negativity win them over. People who embraced success and faith in life are those who were able to see the bright side of difficulties. They had hope with the future. And the hope came in the form of God.
God Take Over: I Am Finished. A Cry For Mercy When Suffering Seems Unfair is a book written by Christine Agada, based on her own life's trial and tribulations as she struggled in life, willingly and sometimes unwillingly submits to God's will. Catherine beautifully captures the message that if we choose to seek God's help and allow God to take control of our life, our faith would be restored and our souls will be revitalised.
By applying the ultimate message in this book: where human senses,
strength, power, abilities, knowledge, and intelligence end, God’s supremacy begins, one would realise the strength weakness has and turn it into a stepping stone for success and peace of mind.
It is an inspirational, spiritual and personal growth book that would restore your relationship with man and God. For those who say God is Nowhere, this book would show you that God is Now Here and opens your eyes to faith, peace and spirituality, taking you one step closer to God.
I found that my G+ friends could not drop their comments via G+ on my blog when I enabled Disqus a few weeks back so I contacted the Support at Disqus regarding that and their response was:
Hi Jasveena,
To clarify, although users can connect their Google account with their Disqus account, they cannot comment with their Google Plus account at this time. Let us know if you have any other questions.
Brittany - Product Support Disqus
As a blogger for the past three months, I am keen on updating my blog to be appealing to my readers as well as Search Engines. In order to take blogging into the next level, one should do Search Engine Optimisation to his or her blog. Now many bloggers have great contents on their blog and some even get thousands of visitors a month. It is a sad case if you don't make an effort to learn about blogging further when some people out there are mastering blogging tricks and bringing their blogs on the first page of Google thus being a blogger by profession.
I have always wanted to have my Facebook friends and Twitter followers commenting on my blog. Most of the time, when I have not published any new post, I would still be getting a decent amount of audience on my blog on my popular articles. I know they are not from G+, so they are not able to comment on my blog or like the post. So I enabled Disqus thread on my blogger account. With this, I hope more readers would be engaged on my thoughts via my posts.
For Disqus to work you should disable G + comment system. All you should do is to create an account an install the widget via their easy-install method on http://disqus.com/
I hope this work for you and do let me know if you like the changes on my blog.
You really thought I ran away from home huh? Kidding. I was away from home to pursue my higher studies and now back HOME. As of June 2013, it has been 4 years I'm away from home, learning to handle life somehow on my own and I think after all these years, I could make a good conclusion on what I have learned so far while running life according to my own instinct. So what lessons did I acquired?
I was attached to a local Technical University after my STPM (which is equivalent to what we all know as A level). I was offered a degree course in Chemical Engineering in June 2009 and now I'm done with it after 4 years. It was indeed the first time away from home and that was when I left my comfort zone to learn life apart from what the books taught me.
I feel those 4 years made me into a different person altogether. I may not have changed very much from the way I look but internally, my thoughts and attitudes have been shaped better. If you are a student who just started off your university life or about to go into your future university or higher education institution, I hope you would start learning life altogether, not just looking into what the books have to say. If you do so, you are losing a part of your valuable life and I certainly feel sorry for students who fail to think out of the education scope. These are the conclusions I could make now after the bitter-sweet ride of 4 years.
1. Screw People Aside
The one complicated thing about anything we deal with everywhere is people. From businesses, politics, family, relationship and friends, everything is a mess because people don't have parallel thoughts with you. I'm not saying you should disregard everyone but there are very little people who are genuinely interested in your well-being. So know who are they and always cherish your relationship with them. Never count on someone who would stab you from the back. I learnt to never really sweat on things happening with people as people come and go in life and all you should know is that you have done good from your part.
2. Keep Your Focus On Your Goals
One thing that keeps your life spicy is having goals in life. These aims are the reason for you to get up and out from your bed. When you have reasonably beneficial goals, you will be focused in life and nothing could distract you from getting what you want. You don't just live a life at college for a piece of paper that tells your boss you qualified exams alone. I felt I should have pursued writing two years back when I created the blog, yes THIS blog, for my English class (Academic Report Writing I think) and I have abandoned it after three months.
3. Time Is Gold
My lessons in life within that 4 years also taught me that I should appreciate time. Procrastinating is not going to lead us anywhere and I think once you have found the purpose of you living, you will regret time wasted and would never want to waste your time anymore. You will be more grounded. Make use of time to gain as much as you can; knowledge, money and experiences. They say life starts at 40, but I'm not 40 yet to comment on that. Nevertheless, I can say that life starts the moment you want it to get started.
4. Jump Out Of Your Comfort Zone
If you are going to be an ordinary student going to class, sitting for exams and passing with flying colours, you will eventually regret your boring schedule. Take a risk. Of course a calculated risk, do what you have always liked doing or ever dreamed of doing before. Go to the gym, keep yourself fit. At the end of a tiring day, a sense of accomplishment would follow and that is the reason for a peaceful sleep and also the reason for you to wake up the next day.
It's your life and you choose how to live it. So live it your way in your own terms and grab success your way. Thank you for reading and it will be so nice to have your say on my posts in the comment section regarding your lessons.
I have been a blogger now for the past four months with almost 10K visits to my site. Regardless of why we blog, we need good traffic to actually promote our writings. A good blogging way would drive quality traffic to your blog. So how do we do this? I have learned some important tips that are worth following all these while and I think SEO plays an important role in ensuring you get a good number of visitors. It is a well-known short form for Search Engine Optimisation. I bet most of you would be using Google as your primary search engine. In order to have your page appearing in the lower Page Rank List (PRL), you need to tweak your blog and articles to some extent.
1. Keyword Density
Ideally, you should have one keyword that is included in your article title, and appear two to three times only throughout your blog. I chose the keyword which is the abbreviation of Search Engine Optimisation as it appears to be having a medium level of search results per month. You can check the priority level of keywords using Google Adwords. When you limit your keyword usage, the search engines crawl better to look up for your articles or blog.
Google Adwords
2. Page Layout
I just checked for my SEO site checkup results via this page and it says that my page loads slowly as it exceeds the average size of a webpage. An average web page's size is only 33 kb whereas mine is about 200 kb which is pretty high and one way to cut down the size of your page is by using CSS layouts, external style sheets, and moving javascript to external files. I have no idea yet what those stuff mean but I will surely look into it. Apparently, sites with larger sizes discourage people to visit which is pretty true.
3. Blog Article Details
Make sure your blog article is updated with search descriptions and labels. Ensure you have enabled custom robot tags too. If you have pictures, make sure you add titles to it and always cite the page that you have taken the pictures from. I have learned that words in italic and bold help search engines to locate your articles better but there are other sources saying this is not necessarily true or effective. As you can see, I have highlighted my keyword here in bold to emphasis on SEO
4. Google Analytics
If you have signed up for Google Analytics, you will find interesting stuffs regarding search engine results related to your blog. This is the result of my blog. Check the keywords people use to land on my page. It is pretty interesting.
Google Analytics
I'll be updating this page with more information from time to time. Stay tuned.
I'm kidding. Another blog award by +A Long, a poet who has lovely poems you wouldn't wanna miss. His page can be viewed at this link. He has been a wonderful support to me and fellow authors on Google Plus and I would like to extend my gratitude at this point to him. I hope he would continue to be a support for us.
THE RULES FOR ACCEPTING THE "SHINE ON" AWARD ARE: 1. Display the award logo on your blog. 2. Link back to the person who nominated you. 3. State 7 things about yourself 4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them. 5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award requirements.
7 Things About Me:
1) I'm unemployed at the moment and I'm loving it. (Okay I don't want it to look so bad on me, guys!! I just graduated and lazing at home for the time being)
2) I have a date with my girlfriend tomorrow and I just remembered!!
I have been enjoying making video book trailers for authors who are have published their books and about to publish their books. The one thing I'm happy about doing these trailers is the fact that the books are remarkably amazing and the ones I have made so far mostly come from the self-help category. The previous trailer was about a man who survived drug abuse and harsh environments where he was brought up. He chooses to make a book out of his life in the hope that it could someday save a life or change a person into a new leaf.
This week, I had a great opportunity to work with Ronda Rockwell, a soulful person who wrote the book ''Marybeth's Final Journey". This book is about Ronda's mother who was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer and it tells you how the family handled the difficult situation and embracing the final few weeks left with Marybeth. It was Marybeth's desire to have this book shared with everyone so help families facing similar situations cope with the loss of parents or loved-ones due to cancer and any other illness.
Ronda Rockwell shares with us some of the interesting stuffs about her.
Describe
yourself in five words – Passionate, Compassionate, Loving, Artistic, Sunshine
What
fact about yourself would really surprise people? That
I have 3 grandsons already
How do you work through self-doubts and fear? With “I can do or overcome
anything” attitude
What scares you the most? heights
What makes you happiest? My
husband and family
Why do you write?To share experiences and because I love writing
Have you always enjoyed writing? yes
What motivates you to write? Feelings
of experiences, to help others and to share
What writing are you most proud of?.Marybeth’s Final Journey- for my Mama
What are you most proud of in
your personal life?Choosing to change my life at 39. I
needed happiness for myself, my kids and my mom (she lived with me). I chose to
divorce after 17 years and now I am married to my soul mate Ron.
What books did you love growing up? All
types. Non-fiction, fiction, suspenseful, self help
What do you hope your obituary will say about
you? Ronda was a wonderful wife,
mom, Nana and philanthropist. She changed lives for the better.
Location and life experiences can really
influence writing, tell us where you grew up and where you now live? I
grew up in San Diego, Ca. As a teen I lived in Pacific Beach, moved to Ocean
Beach as an adult. I moved away from San
Diego a couple times and returned to my home city. There is no place so
beautiful and full of different cultures and people.
How did you develop your writing? I wrote since I was
in school. I wrote in journals. I have always wrote poetry as well.
What
is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing? Hmmm,
I became an indie publisher, writing comes with ease, I will say marketing.
It’s not just writing the book and getting published. It’s how you market
yourself to get the book out there.
What marketing works for you?Word of mouth, internet, and soon a book tour
Do you find it hard to share your work? No.
Is your family supportive? Do your friends
support you? Oh yes they are!
What else do you do, other than write? Photography,
a variety of art mediums, I currently work as a Contract Administrator for a
large firm.
What other jobs have you had in your life? Cashier,
Store window decorator, Property Manager, Project Coordinator, Relationship
Consultant and Project Administrator
If you could study any subject at university
what would you pick? Nuclear Medicine
If you could live anywhere in the world where
would it be?San Diego
Tell us about your family? I
have a wonderful family, three children, three grandchildren, my husband Ron,
brothers, sisters, Auntie M, Uncle J and many nieces and nephews
How do you write – lap top, pen, paper, in
bed, at a desk? Laptop, sometimes anywhere
and on anything if I have an idea.
How much sleep do you need to be your best? 5
hours.
Is
there anyone you’d like to acknowledge and thank for their support? Heather
Hudson for the encouragement to share my mom’s story
Every writer has their own idea of what a
successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look like to
you? The best selling author…
Tell us about your new book? Why did you write
it?It is a heart-touching final journey of one family,
mine, as my sweet mom Marybeth was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The story
will walk you through what we experienced in our love, laughter, acceptance,
spiritual awakening.
If you could have a dinner party and invite
anyone dead or alive, who would you ask?Leonardo
da Vinci, he was not just an artist, he was brilliant.
When you are not writing, how do you like to
relax? Go to the beach
What
do you hope people will take away from your writing? How will your words make
them feel? I hope with this book, Marybeth’s Final Journey, that the readers
feel transported into the story and that some of our experiences will be
helpful insights into their own lives or with their own loved ones’ illness.
It was a pleasure working with Ronda and learning about her book that is very soon to be available in online bookstores. I am looking forward to reading this and it was an honour to interview Ronda. I have encouraged her to be a part of the Support-a-Writer community and hopefully, we could see her around soon.
