Ten Years of Blogging

Posted on August 20, 2023 ·

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

This will be the last anniversary post for a while—I promise—but I couldn’t not shout out about the fact that this month marks my 10th year of blogging!

Having my very own corner of the internet to share my work, writing tips, and personal journey has been a joy. Other online spaces for me have come and gone: Facebook, Instagram, and probably soon the site formerly known as Twitter, but this space remains—a quiet place where I can be me and share things with you, a place you’re always invited to and where you’re free to comment safely, something always appreciated but never expected. Here there are no anxieties about numbers, no one shouting at each other, no ads.

I love it here. I hope you do too. And I hope, so much, that personal blogging becomes a thing again and that you’ll invite me into your little corner of the online world. I’ll probably be quiet.

But I’ll be listening.

In writerly news, my new micro, “Wrapping Paper,” was published this week in 5 Minute Lit. It’s a piece about Christmas, growing up, gifts, and motherhood, all wrapped up in 100 words. As always, thank you for reading.

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Nine Years of Blogging

Posted on August 27, 2022 ·

 

When I first started blogging in 2013, I remember feeling far behind. It was as if everyone had a blog already, and I watched in those early years as they celebrated their five or six or seven year anniversaries, thinking, I wish I’d started earlier.

Time passed quickly, and now here I am, celebrating my ninth year as a blogger. I’m not a very prolific one but I’ve managed to stay consistent, and I enjoy reflecting on my journey as a writer and all the moments of motherhood threaded through these posts. 

In honor of the occasion, I wanted to share with you my top four blog posts in terms of readership, my four personal favorites, and a bonus to make it nine. 

My Four Most Read Blog Posts

Image from Flickr by Leo Reynolds

Book Sales and Royalty Statements

Little wonder this would be the post that interested most readers! Money talks, and many of you were curious how much I was making back in 2014 after my debut novel, The Fourth Wall, was published. Spoiler alert: not much! But I had fun putting this post together, and perhaps it was illuminating. 

Are Blog Tours Worth It?

This is my second most read post, and I hope it brought some authors around to the idea of blog tours, because they are absolutely worth it! In fact, my tour for The House on Linden Way, hosted by the same company who hosted The Fourth Wall, begins next month. Stay tuned, and enjoy this post on the benefits of blog tours. 

One Author’s Experience With Kindle Vella

For a blog post that’s only a year old, this one has really generated some interest, making it my third most popular post ever. Not bad! Authors are understandably curious about Amazon’s new serialized fiction platform, and sharing my early experience with the self-publishing site has continued to intrigue other writers. 

Oh, What a Night

My fourth most read post since this site launched in August 2013 is the celebration of my book launch at Changing Hands Bookstore in the summer of 2014. It’s still fun for me to look back on too! Family, friends, cupcakes, a beautiful book display, a dream come true. Oh, what a night indeed.

My Four Favorite Blog Posts (and One Extra)

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The Story Behind You

It should come as no surprise that my favorite blog posts inevitably center around moments with my children. This one features a very special Mother’s Day gift and an eloquent truth all writers should remember.

New Beginnings

One of my sweetest memories was when my son’s second grade teacher invited me to talk to her class about being an author. I recounted the memorable experience in this post from 2015.

On First Publications

My daughter’s own success as a creative writer inspired me to write on the relevance of first publications. I was and am so proud of Abigail’s perseverance and bravery, commemorated in this post from 2018.

How to Fall in Love With Writing All Over Again

It is always my hope that others will find inspiration in my blog posts. How-to posts are some of the most difficult for me to write but also the most fulfilling. Here I share tips for learning how to recapture the love and joy of writing. 

And just to make it nine, and because there’s nothing like your first, here is the post that launched my blog nearly a decade ago. After all this time, it still feels as special as it did back then. 

Surprise!
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The Magic of Seven

Posted on July 7, 2020 ·

Photo by Dollar Gill on Unsplash

“Memories, Dreams, and Writerly Pursuits: Seven Years of Blogging.” That’s the title of my new book, although it’s not a book in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s a collection of the nearly one hundred posts I’ve shared since starting this blog seven years ago. Now seemed like a pretty good time to get them bound in print.

The book is being published by a company called Blog2Print, but only one copy will ever exist—a copy just for me and, later, for my children. I’m a big believer in preserving the past by pinning it to the page, and I like the idea of keeping those seven years safe whether or not I remember to pay my website hosting fees.

Seven years of memories, seven years of dreams. Seven years of chronicling the highs and lows of writing—including my journey through seven (actual) books. I wonder if seven will be my magic number?

Will my seventh book, written this spring, be the one to land me an agent? I’m still submitting my fourth, The House on Linden Way, but I’ll admit I’ve lost a little hope on that one. It’s not as discouraging as it sounds—what I love about being a writer is the actual writing, and I’ll happily keep penning novels because it’s fun and fulfilling and costs nothing but time.

Still, I want to share my stories. I guess that’s why I keep blogging. Maybe in another seven years, there will be another book of blog posts—more memories, more dreams, more writerly pursuits—forever bound in print. And maybe that’s magic enough.

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Six Years of Blogging

Posted on August 17, 2019 ·

Image from Flickr by Will Clayton

It’s hard for me to believe, but this month marks six years since I started blogging.

I remember nervously hitting publish on that first post, uncomfortable with the idea of broadcasting my thoughts and feelings to a public audience, a reluctance that now seems adorably quaint. Long gone are the days when putting ourselves out there inspired such thrilling anxiety; it’s both a relief and a sad kind of loss.

Back then, my heart aflame with the recent news that my book was to be published the following year, I committed to writing one blog post per week. That ambitious goal lasted approximately three months before I sheepishly conceded defeat.

I am not a fast writer, and despite being repeatedly assured that blog posts are meant to be written in a more casual and conversational style, I just don’t write that way. I decided I’d rather take my time and publish one or two posts per month than fire off one or more per week for the sake of producing content.

And I’m glad. Although I’ve never blogged frequently enough to earn much of a following, when I reread my old posts (six years’ worth!!) I’m proud of what’s there. Each entry was carefully thought out: every title, every picture, every paragraph break, every word—all with you in mind. Because if you’re here and reading, I want you to feel these posts are worth your time.

Hopefully I’ve succeeded. Thank you for sticking around, and in honor of that day six years ago, here’s a link back in time. I had just celebrated my 38th birthday and wrote about everything that was most important to me then, which happens to be the same things that are most important to me now: my family, my writing, and chocolate cake.

Some things never change.

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Thanks, and an Invitation

Posted on June 20, 2014 ·
Image from Flickr by jenosaur

Image from Flickr by jenosaur

It’s been a wild few weeks, and it’s about to get even crazier. So I just want to stop for a minute and say THANK YOU to all of you.

I mean it. You guys are amazing. You’ve showed support by visiting this blog, chatting with me on Facebook and even sharing my posts. Some of you have already RSVP’d to the launch party in July, and many of you have bought copies of The Fourth Wall.

My friend Jason in Cheyenne, Wyoming posted a Facebook selfie with the book after it arrived, which was so cool. The girl I shared a locker with in seventh grade was one of the first people to buy the book, read it, and share her thoughts. And last weekend a friend at work brought in her copy, which was the first copy purchased off the shelf from Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe. Yes, I peeked several times throughout the day to see which scene Melissa was on.

Your enthusiasm means a lot to me. So thank you.

In late July, I’ll be going on a blog tour, which means I’ll be visiting about a dozen blogs over the course of a month to talk about The Fourth Wall and participate in interviews and giveaways. I’ll also be showing up on a few other websites to discuss topics in the book, like lucid dreaming. The idea for the blog stops is to introduce the book to new readers and generate excitement.

I’m sensitive to the fact that author promotion can be overwhelming and redundant for friends and family, so I’m going to try and be very careful about how much and how often I share, especially on Facebook.

IF you absolutely don’t want to miss a thing, pop your email address into the subscription box below or to your right, or leave me a comment/let me know privately that you’d like to subscribe to email updates. I generally post to the blog only two or three times per month, and never more than once a week, so your inbox won’t get cluttered on my account. 🙂 And of course, you can unsubscribe at any time.

In the posts, you’ll get all the updates: links to interviews, photos, reviews, upcoming signings and author events, everything and anything related to the launch for The Fourth Wall. And I’ll keep you updated on my other projects too (short stories, essays, new novel) and occasionally host other authors, post my own book reviews, and just talk bookish/writerly stuff.

What do you say? Join me?

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The Secret to Social Media

Posted on August 16, 2013 ·

Writers love to rant about the (undignified! soul-sucking!) task of social media promotion. I’m sure at some point I’ve used those very words (blush).

But here’s the thing: when you stop thinking about it as promotion, and give yourself permission to have fun, it’s kind of, well, fun.

Of course, I just started; my Facebook account is four years old, but my Twitter, Goodreads, and Pinterest accounts (not to mention this blog) are babies.

It’s funny—now that I’ve figured out how to format a blog, scan Flickr for Creative Commons photos and attribute them correctly, and quell the anxiety of hitting “publish” without the validation of an editor, I find that blogging doesn’t take much time. What takes time is researching topics like

  • should fiction writers blog?
  • what should fiction writers blog about?
  • aren’t writers just blogging to other writers?
  • how do I keep my chocolate chip cookies from getting all crunchy around the edges?

Whoops, never mind that last one.

Anyway, if I’d applied those hours toward blogging, I could have started a year ago. And this article from The Write Life by Chuck Sambuchino silences the question of whether fiction authors need a web presence.

You’re supposed to ease into social media, but that’s what they say about gardening, too. And my family was so excited about our first, we bought an abundant, crazy mix of seeds and scattered them wherever we felt like it. That was our most fruitful garden; since then, we’re lucky to grow zucchini (and anyone can grow zucchini).

So I plunged in, and here’s my take so far:

Pinterest

Ah, I get it now. As a writer, I’d forgotten the pure joy of expressing emotions solely through visual imagery. I remember doing it as a child—with stickers on my school binders, magazine pages lining my bedroom walls and dreamy abstracts floating on my computer screen. With Pinterest, you can create boards that reflect the things you care about, and you never have to say a word.

Goodreads

What I love most about this site, so far, is I have one place to list my “to be read” books. Now I can collect all the scraps of paper, sticky notes, and electronic lists buried in my phone, and shelve those titles in Goodreads. Voila! A book lover’s dream.

Twitter

This was supposed to be my favorite, because that’s what everybody says. I do like Twitter—there’s something about the immediacy of it that’s freeing—but it’s confusing. I tried learning it before tweeting, but on Twitter it’s easier to learn by doing. There’s no real fear of judgment; people are just cool. And it moves so fast, no one’s going to hold it against you if you, like I did at first, respond instead of retweet, or whatever. It’s all good.

Facebook

After being on Twitter, Facebook feels like watching life in slow motion. But that has its moments.

Blogging

My personal favorite. This has been a shock—I worried about the time it would take to blog (see above), I worried no one would read my blog . . . now I know it’s about perspective. If you enjoy doing it, the rest is just icing. And since I enjoy writing (and am used to doing it for free), blogging doesn’t feel like wasting time at all.

Still, comments are nice 😉 Got one to share?

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