Respect the Email

By Laurie Epps

We've gotten so used to corresponding by email, that the very idea of sending a letter via snail mail seems foreign to us. I don't know about you, but I love the feel of a handwritten letter written on pretty stationary. I've got a friend named Betty that our handwritten letters are still the main form of correspondence. However, for the business world, waiting for the postman to arrive is very inefficient.

The norm for the business world is to send a thoughtfully written email. Problem is that it's often taken for granted since it's also the main way we communicate with our friends too. An important thing my professor in college used to say was "to remember you're not writing your buddy." I think that little tidbit of advice is important to remember when querying for work, or even if you're reaching out to readers. Email is tragically overlooked.

Pinterest & Image Copyright Issues

Photo courtesy of Edie Melson

By Laurie Epps

Let's hit the bricks together. What images can you use on the Internet? Which ones can't you use? How to know the difference is covered in our text, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers by Edie Melson. If you need to purchase a copy, just follow my link.

For example, if you'd like to use one of Edie's photos on her blog, she's got expressed written consent directly on her blog, just as I've done.

Pinterest doesn't change those rules, and anything you've posted wrongfully, you're liable for personally.

Do You Pinterest?

By Laurie Epps

Although I've got a Pinterest, I know it's grossly underused. As a writer, I only saw it's application to post book covers. My main line is feature writing, so it's first impression lost my interest. That's changing now.

We're continuing with our book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Authored by my mentor, Edie Melson, she breaks down the good, the bad, and the ugly of social media, and explains it in very easy to read terms. If you don't know where to start with your branding, or a blog, this will be a great addition to your resource library.

Pictured with Edie Melson, my first day as an intern

Six Twitter Taboo's

By Laurie Epps

There's a lot to remember when you're first getting started on any social media site, but here to play watchdog for you is Edie Melson. Not only was Edie a pleasure to work for and with, in her book Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers Edie breaks it down in simple and manageable pieces for us.

I confess, I'm learning right along with you! But that's part of the whole purpose of this column, to share experiences with one another. We're all in this together. What's wonderful about being a writer is that we're all so different, that we can all just make a little room for each other.

Today, we're going to talk about all the things we're doing wrong so that we can fix them. There's a double edged sword with social media, but there's also a little bit of grace. So let's get serious, and stop doing the six little faux-pas on Twitter.

Twitter Etiquette

Cassin's Sparrow

By Laurie Epps

Twitter has a lot more rules compared to other social media outlets, especially in regards to composition. All users have an 140 character limit per Tweet on Twitter. If you plan to re-tweet, you've got to keep it under 120 characters.

Not only is Twitter restrictive on how many characters you can use, there's lots of subtleties that make people mad. As a conscientious blogger, I just know you don't want your Tweets to undermine all the hard work you're doing on your blog.

In Edie Melson's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers she gets down to the nuts and bolts of the fundamental unwritten rules of Tweeting.

Making Every Tweet Count

Western Bluebird

By Laurie Epps

Twitter has become more and more popular. This is both good and bad. Here to guide us through the gauntlet is my mentor in her book, 
Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. 


The popularity of Twitter is:

• good, because it's easier than ever to connect with other people.
• bad, because it keeps getting increasingly harder to stand out.

Social Media and the Laws of Diminishing Returns

By Laurie Epps

The number of social media sites is climbing daily, so how do you keep up? How do you still keep a presence online, but not devote an entire career on it?

Here to help us along is social media expert, Edie Melson. Join along with us by reading her book, 
Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers.

At the time the book was written there were over 40 social media sites and climbing. When I cross-referenced it now, it was closer to 60! It's essential for us as writers to have a presence online.

7 Helpful Tips to Improve Your Facebook Page

Intro by Laurie Epps

Facebook has changed how we interact as a society overall. Want to find my blog? Want to see my new dress we were just talking about? It's all there, right on my wall awaiting the virtual world to discover it.

But as a writer, we also need to market ourselves with the public. For me, this has meant adding a separate writer page to Facebook. How can we use that forum to best represent us to our public? Here to walk us through the do's and don'ts is my guest blogger, Melisa Marzett.

Fostering Relationships Online

Photo Courtesy of Edie Melson

By Laurie Epps

As writers, when we first get online, we usually have an agenda when taking on social media. This is true of Edie, and myself, and every writer I've talked to online.

What are we out to prove? Usually, we just want to get our names out there, and prove to the gatekeepers that we're publishable. There's a lot more to it than that, and today we'll talk about it.

To follow along with us, consider buying my mentor's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. It's full of advice, and tips on managing your social media.

Vonda Skelton, Edie Melson, & Michelle Medlock Adams
at the Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference, May 2013.

Common Blogging Mistakes

By Laurie Epps

My mentor, Edie Melson, has written a fabulous book that simplifies was does, and doesn't work with social media and blogging.

A public speaker, and author Edie speaks all over the country recognized as an authority about social media.

So follow along with me in Edie's book: Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Every week, we'll uncover a new chapter to have you on your way.

Writing Challenges

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

One way to focus on your writing practice is to participate in a challenge. Most are familiar with NaNoWriMo, in which the participants try to write 50,000 words (the length of a short novel) during the month of November. But some write to write something shorter - like poetry. What challenges are out there for them?

For those looking to do something short and sweet, there's NaHaiWriMo, a month with daily challenges in writing haiku. As in all of these challenges, you are provided with a topic each day, and you try to write your best haiku about that topic.

Editing Your Blog Posts

By Laurie Epps

The hardest thing for any of us to do as writers is to edit our own writing. 

There are a lot of reasons for this: including we tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, but we also sometimes are too close to our writing and can't see the mistakes anymore.

Today, let my reflections guide you with my mentor's book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. Edie Melson is well respected as a social media expert, so let's get started, shall we?

How to Find Ideas for Blog Posts

By Laurie Epps

My mentor Edie Melson wrote a book about Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers, to follow along with the book, click here. 

Every week, we'll go through her book, chapter by chapter. 

So get ready, we're going to learn some techniques for starting up your blog. (Or re-inventing your old blog.)

Acrostic Poetry

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

If you are looking for a challenge, or for inspiration, a fun way to play with words is to try writing an acrostic poem. In an acrostic poem, the first letter of each line is part of a sequence, usually a word or a phrase. A well-known biblical acrostic poem is Psalm 119 (118), in which each stanza has all of it’s lines begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order.

Is Blogging Right for You?

By Laurie Epps

This blog is loosely based on a book authored by my mentor Edie Melson. To purchase the book, click here.  

For most, writing a blog seems to be a natural choice for writers, but do you have to start a blog? The answer is no, not really. 

But it's my opinion that you should have some sort of regular online presence. Whether that is on your own blog, or as a columnist for someone else, you should have a regular entry someplace at least twice a month.

How to Write Poetry for Children (And Everyone Else, Too)

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

A young friend read this poem to me earlier this week, and then she read it over and over. It caused me to consider what makes a poem connect with its readers, even when it is something so simple as this:

My Kitten

By Marchette Chute

Kitten, my kitten

soft and dear

I’m so glad

that you are here

Sitting together

just us two

You loving me

and me loving you.”

~from Surprises (I Can Read Book 3) Paperback by Lee Bennett Hopkins

What can we learn about connecting with readers from this simple children’s poem?

Use a Familiar Theme

Sitting with a kitten in your lap is a common pleasurable activity for nearly everyone, especially every child. Whether you are writing for children, women, theology buffs, or even men ;-) there is always something common to them that will develop that instant interest in what you have to say. I tend to be guilty of writing from obscure ideas that excite me but mean nothing to other people - they can be fun, but they don’t get feedback from the readers that makes writing a communal effort. Writing from the familiar goes to where the reader is and brings her to where you want to go.

Use Simple Phrases

Each phrase of My Kitten holds together alone as an idea to which every child can relate. This keeps the reader engaged and following the flow of the idea. While the phrases are simple, one has a depth of meaning that makes them both functional and essential to the concept of the poem.

Use Feeling Words

Feeling words connect with the reader on a visceral level, both physically and emotionally. Words like “soft and dear”, “glad”, and even “sitting together” help the reader feel your ideas, not just understand them intellectually. And good poems, as with most good writing, are about the feelings that are evoked.

Personalize

Personalization doesn’t have to mean putting the poem into the mouth of the reader as we see in this poem. It does mean connecting with the reader’s experience, and using it to create a new experience in the reading of the poem. We as poets want our work to belong our readers in a way only each reader can experience. This poem accomplishes this in multiple layers, from the familiar activity of holding a kitten to the love we experience by being together with someone.

Here is a children’s poem suitable for this time of year - I hope it connects with you:

Mom called my brothers and me for dessert

We shot in like a cannon blast

I knew she was serving my favorite treat

And I did not want to be last

There, slopping out of our mammoth-skull bowls

Was that yummiest, oozy glop

Three towering dollops of cold eyes cream

With congealed scary on top

I gobbled it up like a monster should

Using all my fingers and toes

I ate it so fast that I choked real good

And gobs of it shot out my nose

I like to sling food at my brothers’ heads

But I love eyes cream so much more

So I used all my tongues and tails and teeth

And I licked it up off the floor

Now that my big furry belly was full

And I had swallowed every slurp

I flopped down in front of the monster box

And let out a monstrous burp

My brothers all burped out loud just like me

Then we started to scream and hop

"Bring us some more of our favorite stuff:

More eyes cream with scary on top!"

Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy is a freelance writer and poet living in the upstate of South Carolina with his wife and four children. To find his daily poetry entries, log onto: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bad-Bad-Boy-Publications/557182874309579

or find him on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-OShaughnessy/

How to Find “That Word”

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

So you’ve written a few lines that really grabbed you, and you know exactly where your poem is going, but to get there you need a word that rhymes with “bottle” or that starts with the letter V. Suddenly your mind is blanker than the paper you’re staring at. What do you do?

The two best resources I've found so far for finding a word that starts with a specific letter are http://www.scrabblefinder.com/ and http://www.wordbyletter.com/. Both divide the list by word length. Scrabblefinder lists the words in columns, and Word By Letter lists them in blocks - which you prefer will depend on personal viewing preference.

Connections: A New Addition to Monday Morning Book Club

Introduction by Laurie Epps

Many of you know that I've worked as an editorial intern for Edie Melson. What some of you may not know is that she is also my mentor and a forerunner in the writing community.

Edie has a unique niche. People all over the United States go to her with any questions regarding Social Media. In the future, I hope to interview Edie and share with all of you her journey to receive this recognition.

To begin this journey with us, follow along at home with her book, Connections: Social Media and Networking Techniques for Writers. You can also follow along with her own Social Media Mondays column at http://thewriteconversation.blogspot.com

Cutting Through to Your Best Material

By Laurie Epps

Today, we're going to cover the last three essays in Writing Down the Bones. It is fitting for me to be winding down with the book now because with the onset of a new school year, and a new job, it's a time for new beginnings. Today, we're going to talk about the process. How do we tackle cutting out what's irrelevant and what's not?

Goldberg uses colorful analogies, and brings to life some different techniques to break through to our best material. So let's dig in and get to cutting!

The Samurai
pp. 169-171

Yes, it's true. There really aren't any good writers or bad writers. We all deserve a little bit of room. We all have a unique voice. Just like any other artist, all of that is subject to interpretation. 

Every part of the process is valuable. Composition is valuable because our writing wouldn't exist without it. But today, we're going to talk about self editing. A preliminary step before you hand over your work to a colleague or friend to critique.

This is the moment your work meet the Samurai sword. Those grueling moments where you decide if anything you wrote is any good, or if it's relevant. 

Difficult and scary, this part of the process we tell ourselves frankly if it's any good or not.

Be careful and choose wisely. If only one line makes an impact, then only use one line.

Have you ever been in love with your own work? Like a sentimental parent, you don't want to give up a single word. What did you do when this happened? Please share with us below.

Rereading and Rewriting
pp. 172-176

Goldberg recommends rereading your journals. Become comfortable with how your inner mind works. As you're rereading circle phrases or sentences that stand out as being good. Merely, string those ideas together in a cohesive piece. You might be amazed at the finished product if you do.

A Place to Write

By Laurie Epps

"Writing is the act of burning through the fog of your mind."

~ Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

 This week we are going to talk about preparing a place to work on your craft, not just a home office as I am erecting, but a space in your mind to get settled, and get to the craft of writing. If you'd like to follow along, you can buy your own copy of the book by clicking on this link for Writing Down the Bones