Life of A Writer

This past week I've been busy juggling my time between clients and a new blog. When I've not been writing articles, blog posts and television recaps for clients, I've been spending my free time searching through Wordpress themes for a new blog that I'm getting ready to launch.

After two days of searching for just the right theme -- which I never really discovered (I found one to modify instead) -- I headed to my Web host to install Wordpress. Then I spent the last two days (including this afternoon) learning Wordpress 2.7, downloading and editing Wordpress plugins for my theme, and getting the blog ready to launch. I must say, I'm really enjoying Wordpress. I've worked with older versions of Wordpress for clients, but this was my first time experimenting with Wordpress 2.7. In fact, I'm seriously considering moving Life of a Writer over to Wordpress. Yes, I've said this in the past and then stewed about it, but this time I think I'm going to make the move, once things slow down a bit. I really love the plugins and features that Wordpress has to offer, and I'm ready to give Life of a Writer its own domain anyway. Furthermore, having my blog on Wordpress will allow me to optimize it better for search engines. I tell ya, Wordpress is a lot like Twitter: very addictive.

How would you like to be the first to get a sneak peek at my upcoming blog? No, you won't actually get to head over and view it, because it's not ready for that yet, but I will share a screenshot of the theme I finally decided on -- and I'd love to hear your thoughts about the theme (below). Oh, one last thing, For Better or Worse (the title of my upcoming blog), will be about married life -- my married life, of course. I'll be rambling about my life as a wife, work-at-home mom and stepmom. I'll also share relationship advice for men and women, plus a whole lot more. Yep, through this blog, you get a glimpse into my life as a writer and learn from my mistakes, and once For Better or Worse is live, you'll get a glimpse of my married life, too. It should be interesting, especially when I rant about my husband's annoying habits, my teenagers' attitudes and more.

I think I'll head back over to Wordpress to do some more work on For Better or Worse. Until next time, may God bless you with an abundance of engaging words!

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I entered a short story competition at Daily Writing Tips. While the prize is not money, they're giving away two full licenses to an executive edition of WhiteSmoke's writing software, which has a value of $310 each.

When I enter free writing contests, I usually enter the ones for a cash prize, but I'm familiar with the WhiteSmoke writing software, and my budget hasn't allowed me to purchase any of the software yet. Therefore, I knew I'd be extremely satisfied with the prize offered by Daily Writing Tips -- that is if my fiction piece is engaging enough to gain readers' votes and win this short story competition. In fact, if I win, I plan to write a review about the writing software here at Life of a Writer. I've heard good things about WhiteSmoke's writing software, so I'm anxious to try it.

That said, I'd love it if you'd head over to the Daily Writing Tips short story competition and read my fiction piece entitled Last Words. Then, if you enjoyed my short fiction piece and believe it deserves to move on to the next round, please vote for it using the poll that follows the entries. My entry is number 7.

Thank you in advance! Happy reading!

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Right now I'm debating with myself about planning a little time off from my hectic writing schedule. Mind you, I just finished the last task on my aforementioned writing schedule, so I haven't had any sleep yet. Nevertheless, what good would it do to cuddle up next to hubby on this cold winter night and try to sleep? Honestly, none whatsoever, because I would just gaze at the ceiling as I try to decide if it would be a good idea to clear my hectic schedule so I can complete and launch a couple personal projects that I have planned for this new year. Oh yes, did I forget to mention that one of those personal projects was among my writing goals for 2008 that I never got around to working on. Okay, I confess, I believe I wrote a few pages of the fiction story I was working on for that project, but it ended up on the back burner with everything else due to time constraints.

Anyway, I'd love to finish and launch the project I started last year, and then I'd like to finish up my plans for the new blog that I promised myself I'd launch this year. However, in order to do all of this, I've determined that I'm going to need to devote all of my time to these projects. Moreover, if I decide to clear my writing schedule, I need to decide how much time I need for both projects.

Okay, I've decided that I will take some time off from my hectic writing schedule, but how much time will I need. I figure I can complete and launch both projects in a month's time, but I wonder if that will be too long to put everything else aside. Maybe I should go with two weeks instead, but I'm not one-hundred percent sure if that would give me enough time to complete the projects. One month or two weeks? I guess I'll ponder that question a while longer and let you know my decision when I figure it out.

In case you're wondering -- especially if you're one of my clients and reading this right now -- I will NOT, I repeat, will NOT leave my clients unsatisfied and risk my entire writing career for these personal projects. Once I decide how long I'll need to tackle the projects, I'll write all the content for my clients in advance. As for my blogs, I'll write that content in advance as well, and then I'll schedule it for advance publication. Since I do have one client whom I write a recap for, my schedule won't be totally clear. The two television shows I write the recaps on airs a day apart, so I'll watch those shows and write the recaps for the client. Once I've submitted the recaps, I'll return to the personal projects. That shouldn't be so bad, should it?

Have you ever had a personal project or two that was long overdue, but you couldn't seem to complete them because of a hectic writing schedule? If so, how did you solve the dilemma?

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Just the other day I was brainstorming unique ways I could sell books to locals. I tried to think of all the events that have taken place in my community -- events put on by politicians, store owners and others. I wondered how I could tweak their marketing ideas to sell my books to folks in my area. Then I had my "light bulb moment!" I remembered an annual event that most towns host. I knew this event would be perfect all authors. What event am I referring to? A parade of course! And just how easily can you sell your books to locals through your town's local parade? Decorate a float for the parades in your hometown and/or nearby towns. You could design a float related to your book and even have others dress up as characters from your book. In addition to the theme, your float will need a sign letting parade goers know who you are. When you create that sign for your float, include text such as local author, your name, your tag line and your website address. For example, my sign would read "Local Christian author Misti Sandefur. Inspiring With Words to Warm Your Soul. Find out more at www.mistisandefur.com."

On the day of the parade, join many of the others who throw out candy, but be different. While you'll still be keeping with the tradition by giving out candy, you could also include a bookmark, your business card and a brochure about your book. What you need to do is fill a plastic bag with candy, your bookmark, business card and the brochure. Once you've placed all of these items in the plastic bag, tie the bag so that nothing falls out when you throw it during the parade. Another idea would be to figure out a book marketing budget -- and remember, you can always write this off as a business expense on your taxes.

Now that you have a book marketing budget in mind, fill more bags, but this time fill these bags and set them aside on your float to throw to adults who don't have children with them, unless, of course, your book is a children's book, and then you'd want to throw the bag to adults with children. These bags will each include one copy of your book, and since they're for adults, instead of candy place a bookmark, your business card and a promotional item of your choice in the bag with your book. Again, if it's a book for children, substitute candy for the promotional item. By giving away a few free copies of your book, you could gain word-of-mouth advertising, which is more beneficial than any other form of advertising.

There you have it, my "light bulb moment," the one I chose to share with you, my loyal reader, so that you, too could see how easy it really is to sell your books to locals. Do you have any other bright ideas on what to include in the bags authors can throw out during a parade? How about other ideas for decorating an author float? Please share all your ideas in the comments area below.

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