Busy Times In the Blogosphere

September 10, 2010 at 5:40 am (Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , )

Okay, I really don’t like the word blogosphere, but it is apt for describing the network of writing blogs out there. And these are busy times.

I’ve been busy planning my blog tour but I’m starting to get back out there and find out what other bloggers are up to. Let me know if you have an event coming up. I know a few of you have books about to be released and there are several blog fests I’ve been wanting to check out. Two notable events that are coming up:

Talli Roland is calling for people to help her take on Amazon and she is looking for bloggers willing to help out on December 1st. I think she might be a tad ambitious in aiming for 1000 but if we all get behind her, she might just make it.

Alex J Cavanuagh is calling for people to join the Top Ten TV shows blogfest on the 20th of September. I’m a little busy this month but I am definitely looking forward to reading some of the contributions to this blogfest.

Let’s help Talli and Alex out and let me know if you’ve got something coming up.

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Back on Twitter

August 9, 2010 at 5:18 am (Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

Midway through last week my internet was back and so I resumed posting some of my favourite blog reads on Twitter. Here are some of the posts I found this week:

My recommendation for this week:

Elspeth Antonelli – 10 tips for characters: http://elspeth-itsamystery.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-tips-for-non-perfection.html

Other great reads:

And a reminder that the blog tour schedule is up for september. I have to add acouple of late entries to the schedule but otherwise the tour is set.

Have a great week and I look forward to reading your blog posts this week.

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The Day the Tweets Died

August 2, 2010 at 5:40 am (Author Info, Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , , , )

Not really. As I mentioned in a comment last week, I managed to finally hit my download limit – all legal of course. That means ridiculously slow internet until the next period which is still about a week away. Which means that twitter is just not working for me at the moment. I can see the top couple of frames, and then it times out an dies. This is also a problem for some of you with really big blogs that have a lot of stars and bells and whistles. Love them usually, at the moment, I can’t actually view them.

What it all really boils down to is I can’t do my coming to a usual round up of tweets concerning excellent blogs I’ve read, not because I haven’t read some excellent blogs, but because without the twitter list telling me where I’ve been, I don’t actually have all the links.

In lieu of having some great links, I thought I would share a few random facts about my blog.

  • Since I started this blog in November last year I’ve had just over 15000 views – though while it doesn’t count me viewing my own blog it will count you every time you visit the site so I’m certain that a lot of those views are from people I know are reading the blog regularly.
  • My worst month was April of this year (not surprisingly) with only 384 views. This could be because I didn’t post during this month due to the flood, power cuts, clean up effort and just being overwhelmed by everything else that was going on. I’m not certain, but I think that would be a good guess.
  • Twitter is my most regular referer and posts that I tweet tend to get more immediate hits than those I don’t – which is tough luck for me at the moment given I can’t tweet.
  • Most people who comment on my blog (in fact nearly all) are people I have visited first.
  • The number one search term to find my blog at the moment is still “reasons why books are better than movies” which makes the post 10 Reasons why books are better than movies and its companion post, 10 Reasons why movies are better than books, two of my most often hit posts from the past.

What did I learn from this?

If you don’t post, people don’t visit. If you don’t tell people you have posted, they won’t visit. If you don’t visit others, they won’t visit. And it really is worth using the tags and categories because sometimes really random google searches find your site.

Sorry for the lack of links, a couple of weeks and they will be back.

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Twitter me this

July 26, 2010 at 5:35 am (Death's Daughter, Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

Okay – so the links are coming thick and fast, but probably because there are so many brilliant bloggers out there sharing their stuff.  Here are the links I’ve found and posted on twitter over the last week.

My picks for the week – and there is a few of them because everyone has been writing awesome posts this week:

Talli Roland on blogging: http://talliroland.blogspot.com/2010/07/ten-for-tuesday-of-blogs-and-bloggery.html

Elspeth Antonelli – 10 lessons for writers: http://elspeth-itsamystery.blogspot.com/2010/07/10-lessons-for-writers.html

Words of advice from fantasy authors: http://io9.com/5579212/words-to-live-by-advice-from-34-science-fictionfantasy-authors

Just Jemi – printing out the MS: http://jemifraser.blogspot.com/2010/07/printing-epiphany.html

Lua shares her writing story: http://likeabowloforanges.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/getting-aligned-or-the-dilemma-of-being/

Check out Sybil’s collection of book trailers – yes, mine’s been added:

Trailer for Death’s Daughter been added to Sybil’s collection of book trailers: http://www.sybilnelson.com/

Other great links this week:

My top 5 songs to get me ready to write – what are yours? https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/top-5-writing-songs/

Miss Rosemary’s scattered thoughts on writing: http://disgruntledwriterscircle.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/scattered-thoughts/

Yona Wiseman – Rave rejections: http://daylightprocrastinator.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/rave-rejections/

Hema P – The writing bug: http://hemapen.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/the-writing-bug/

Cheryl Angst – Twitter chats for writers: http://cherylangst.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/twitter-chats/

To Conquer a Mountain – Creating a universe: http://shoutitfromamountain.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/creating-a-universe-and-a-reality/

Casey Lybrand – time management for writers: http://blog.caseylybrand.com/2010/07/19/writing-time-management-and-blogging/

Holly Ruggiero – Playing with Words: http://scribblessplashes.blogspot.com/2010/07/playing-with-words.html

New blog post – Bringing fantasy to life: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/bringing-fantasy-to-life/

Talli Roland – chick lit is dead: http://talliroland.blogspot.com/2010/07/chick-lit-is-dead-long-live-er-womens.html

Elizabeth Spann Craig – About being a writer: http://midnightwriters.blogspot.com/2010/07/8-things-no-one-told-me-about-being.html

Jemi Fraser looks at getting an e-reader: http://jemifraser.blogspot.com/2010/07/e-reader-help.html

Carol Kilgore – using your sixth sense as a writer: http://underthetikihut.blogspot.com/2010/07/that-tickle-on-back-of-your-neck.html

New blog post – My writing goals: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/writing-goal/

Mason Canyon reviews Nowhere to Hide: http://masoncanyon.blogspot.com/2010/07/nowhere-to-hide-by-terry-odell.html

RT @bubblecow A Four Parargraph Approach To Cover Letters http://bit.ly/b17YA0

Cat Woods – Seven deadly sins for writers: Pride – http://catwoods.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/seven-writing-sins-pride/

Terry Odell guest posts on Mystery Writing Is Murder: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/07/homework-time-by-terry-odell.html

Criminal Brief – why writers need an editor: http://criminalbrief.com/

Margot Kinberg – Straight Shooters http://margotkinberg.blogspot.com/2010/07/straight-shooters.html

Terry Spear – The closet muse: http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-closet-muse.html

Stephen Tremp – the 30 second blurb: http://stephentremp.blogspot.com/2010/07/30-second-elevator-blurb.html

New blog post – Query Letter: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/query/

Novel Journey – on dialogue: http://www.noveljourney.blogspot.com/

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More From Twitter

July 19, 2010 at 5:29 am (Death's Daughter, Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , , , , )

Another round up of exciting links that I have found in the last little bit. I do post these on twitter as I find them and I hope that people are finding them useful. Yes, my links are scattered through them.

My must-read recommendations go to the following:

Very cool book trailer for CassaStar – check it out: http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/2010/07/book-trailer-for-cassastar.html

Cat Woods sharing seven deadly sins for writers: http://catwoods.wordpress.com/

If you have the time check out this review of Death’s Daughter:

The Rhapsodist reviews Death’s Daughter: http://alexwillging.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/cassandra_jade/

Here are the other great reads I’ve found recently:

Sybil Nelson – 8 steps to a great book trailer: http://journeysinink.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/eight-steps-to-a-great-book-trailer/

Lua Fowles – writer in a mask: http://abrokenlaptop.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/be-mysterious-writers-in-masks-features-lua-fowles/

Helen Ginger – on using Networked Blogs: http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com/2010/07/giant-head.html

An award for my blog: https://cassandrajade.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/resolution/

Susan Whitfield – Interview with Tim Marquitz: http://susanwhitfield.blogspot.com/2010/07/tim-marquitz.html

Sylvia Dickey Smith – http://sylviadickeysmithbooks.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/guidelines-for-a-writers-critique-group/

Janice Hardy – trends in writing: http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2010/07/being-trendy.html

What women write – finding your writing rhythm: http://whatwomenwritetx.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-do-you-need.html

Eric – The importance of the little things (character) http://workingmymuse.blogspot.com/2010/07/little-things.html

Robert Liparulo: making fantasy feel real: http://noveljourney.blogspot.com/2010/06/5-elements-that-make-fantasy-fiction.html

Elspeth Antonelli – ten things to do before you write: http://elspeth-itsamystery.blogspot.com/2010/06/before-you-write.html

Madison Woods – getting answers from twitter: http://madisonwoods.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/another-reason-i-love-twitter/

Some interesting tips of spelling: http://manuscriptedit.wordpress.com/

Elizabeth Spann Craig – excellent list of links for writers: http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/2010/07/top-retweets.html

Stephen Tremp – moving along on his writer’s journey: http://stephentremp.blogspot.com/

Mason Canyon – A question for authors and soon to be authors: http://masoncanyon.blogspot.com/2010/07/do-i-ask-or-not.html

Jeaniene Frost – Why women find vampires hot: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/06/30/why.women.love.vampires/index.html?fbid=oF8F5aXpTib

Bibliophile Stalker – Some great links for writers: http://charles-tan.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-14-2010-links-and-plugs.html

Cat Woods – Sentence variation http://catwoods.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/improve-flow-with-sentence-variation/

Carol Kilgore – Try something new: http://underthetikihut.blogspot.com/2010/07/lab-experiment.html Must read for #writers.

Lee Robertson – Murky Middles: http://writerleerobertson.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/murky-middles/ Got lost in the middle of your story?

Vivienne Tuffnell – Would you write full time? http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/guest-post-vivienne-tuffnell/

Lua shares her thoughts on World Building: http://likeabowloforanges.wordpress.com/

Fantasy e-book Death’s Daughter: http://www.lyricalpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_19&products_id=227

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Twitter Links

June 14, 2010 at 5:53 am (Death's Daughter, Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , )

I haven’t done a review of writer links in awhile – I used to do them weekly but now find myself just not having the time to put them all together. Here is a recap of some of the links I’ve been sharing on Twitter recently. Sorry if some of the links don’t work – I tried to test most of them and they seem to be up and functioning.

My Links:

Excellent and interesting writing links:

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Useful Writing Links

May 23, 2010 at 6:39 am (Death's Daughter, Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , )

Useful, or maybe just interesting. I’ve been finding some great blogs recently and really want to share all of them but have limited myself to those that I think will be most helpful.

I think anyone thinking about self-publishing should check out Stephen Tremp’s blog, Breakthrough Blogs.  He’s been keeping us up to date on his publishing journey and the steps it ahs taken.  You may need to go through a few posts but there is some excellent information to be found.

Margot Kinberg on Confessions of a Mystery Novelist has an interesting post discussing development of characters and the changes they make with age. Some of her examples are quite interesting and the discussion that follows was well worth the read.

Martin Edwards on Do You Write Under Your Own Name discusses the authenticity and whether it is always necessary. Some interesting points made here.

The blog Plot to Punctuation has a great post, Seven Ways to Show Character Growth.  Fantastic ideas to explore.

From JannaTWrites Blog, Writer’s are Like Superman.  Gave me a smile.

Cheryl Angst discusses the Top 3 Things she focuses on while writing.

Always a Writer asks you what you promise the reader. This one got me thinking.

Then, just because it is my blog, I’m throwing in a link to the excerpt from Death’s Daughter.

As usual, if you have a link you think will be helpful, please add it in your comment but try to make sure it is writing related and not spam.  Wishing everyone the best.

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Lots of Links

May 16, 2010 at 6:26 am (Thoughts on Writing, Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , , )

Not reflecting on the week anymore – mostly because I don’t know from week to week whether I’m going to be online or off anymore (hopefully I’ll be online more often than off).  However, I still want to share some great writing links so here they are.

I’ll start with the self-promotion and get it out of the way.  If you haven’t checked out Death’s Daughter, here’s the link.  Or you can read an excerpt here. And if you happen to have a kindle you can buy it from Amazon here.  Self-promotion over and onto some useful links for all the writers out there.

My Pick

Let the Words Flow asks nine writers whether they outline their plots before writing.  Some great insight.

Other Links

  • Jane Friedman from There Are No Rules has once again shared a list of the best tweets for writers – which comes with a whole lot of links that writers may find helpful. Well worth checking out.
  • Helen Ginger on Straight from Hel looks at the use of details in a story.
  • Beth Groundwater on Inkspot shares some useful brainstorming techniques.

Hopefully some of these links will be helpful for you and if you have some other links that you would like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments. Just try to make sure they are writing related. Thanks.

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Reflections on the Week That was 14

February 7, 2010 at 5:30 am (Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , , )

This week has been crazy busy and I know some of my posts have been pretty short. Still, it has been a great week and I am pleased to share some interesting links for the week.

Just reminding everyone about the series of guest posts I will be running from Feb 15. The title of this series is Novel Elements and I have asked writers (published or unpublished) to share what they think the most important element of a novel is and why. So far I have only been emailed a few responses but I know that other people were interested in participating. If you want to be a part of this series please email me your answer (try to keep it to about 200 words). The email is cassandra (dot) jade (dot) author (at) gmail (dot) com.  Looking forward to reading some of these responses and I can’t wait to share them with my readers. Also remember to send a brief bio, a link to your blog, and a picture (the picture isn’t essential but it is nice).

I hope everyone had a great week and here are the links.

Recommended Read:

Big Beat From Badsville shares a fantastic post on how to turn something from Noir to Cosy in 12 easy stages. Well worth a read.

My posts for the week:

Following on from ‘Oh Sock’ – Response to Elspeth Antonelli’s post about missing socks.

5 Heroic Traits – what makes a hero?

Things that go thump in the night – wondering why so many characters over react to mundane noises and why the ignore things that might be important.

Best Movie Endings – What makes a great end to a movie?

A Banquet for the Characters – I sat down my latest cast and watched the chaos unfold. I still don’t know what my characters like to eat.

Old Friends or New – Do you call on the protagonists old friends or do they meet somebody new?

Other Posts on Writing:

LawrenceEz talks about using flash-backs and repressed memories.

Richard W Scott discusses why writing what you know might be a myth.

Margot Kinberg looks at characters bearing grudges and motivation.

Katie Ganshert explores using hooks at the end of chapters to keep people reading.

The Old Silly shares some advice on moron dialogue – more importantly, he gives examples on how to improve the dialogue.

Elizabeth Spann Craig discusses the bad guys and how to make your antagonist interesting.

DNBRD explores Steampunk and provides some great examples of authors from the genre.

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Reflections on the Week that was 13

January 31, 2010 at 5:27 am (Weekly Review) (, , , , , , , , , )

Another fun week down. Not a lot done on the writing front this week but enough. I spent some time getting to know my new protagonist again. I already relocated her story from a complete fantasy world to a slight variation of reality and have since given her multiple character adjustments. The most recent is going to require a complete renovation of everything I’ve already written. I gave her a sister. Too much internal dialogue was just dragging the story and I decided she needed someone who knew her well to converse with and to help move things along at times. Also, just someone who would tell her outright when she was being a pain in the neck. Oh well. The story itself is still working really well and I’m more or less pleased with the supporting cast although I may have to tweak the villain a little more. I think they are playing it far too safe at the moment.

Anyway, I actually did read quite a few blogs this week and I am pleased to share some of my favourites with you though just reminding everyone that the Novel Elements Series is going to begin on February 15 and if you would like to participate I really need your response by February 10.

Recommended Read For The Week

Laura Renegar – Confessions of an Exclamation Mark Abuser – Too funny and it makes an excellent point.

My Posts for the Week

The Hero’s Journey and Other Things – Some fantasy books don’t involve a journey.

Thinking Outside the Box – Finding ways to write about things you may not know, experience or think.

Sleep Deprived Characters – Using sleep deprivation as a plot device and just being aware that characters occasionally need to sleep.

Writing Lessons From Reading Traci Harding – One of my all-time favourite authors and the lessons I have learnt from reading her work.

Sunrise or Sunset – When do you hang someone?

5 Ways to Gain Inspiration While Shopping – Plus a few suggestions from other writers who have also taken advantage of shopping times to brain storm.

Other Posts on Writing

Dee Scribe – Turn your writing upside down – create the unexpected.

Conan the Grammarian – Affect vs effect.

Kathryn Apel – Creating Believable Fantasy Worlds

Elizabeth Spann Craig – Where do your ideas come from?

Michelle Locke – 10 Ways to be a better writer.

Jody Hedlund – Does blogging really help sell books?

Plus – Just for fun and nothing really to do with writing.

Twitter Twouble

In a dire situation?

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