Shadow Swans by Laura Thomas

I never do this, but today is a day for exceptions. My cousin Laura Thomas recently published her first novel, Shadow Swans, and I just finished reading it this morning. After finishing this amazing adventure of human emotion, I feel compelled to tell others about it.

So today instead of a blog post on writing, you are getting a recommendation to read Shadow Swans (and to be clear, I will not receive any financial reward for this plug). I am not giving a full review or a synopsis. You can see those on Amazon. Here I want to focus on the writing process and craft.

Why read this book? Because as a writer, you are in a quest to learn about craft, hone your skills, defy the rules, and break new ground. Laura Thomas has succeeded in immersing the reader into the characters and the world of a New York you have never imagined. The underworld becomes alive with vivid descriptions as the characters effortlessly become people you care about and long to follow.

In short, reading a book so well crafted will help you as a writer. Learn from the methods of coloring a room with a tuned mixture of sound, sight, and smell. Relationships that are complex to all parties involved, and yet clear in their parts.

I know you will enjoy the book, but that is not the point in this blog. Use the book to take your writing to another level. Study the way voice is employed. Examine the incredible use of simile. Grow as a writer by reading great writing.

And enjoy.

Buy Shadow Swans on Kindle
Buy Shadow Swans on Nook
Buy Shadow Swans in Print

Scrivener Public Beta for Windows

If you are looking for software to help you organize your writing efforts, Scrivener is a great choice. If you are a Mac user, you may have been using this for quite a while. If you are a Windows user, you are now lucky enough to join the club.

I am not posting a full review here because I have not downloaded the software yet, but on reputation alone, I think the Public Beta is worth a test drive. If you have feedback on the product, please post comments.

Literature and Latte - Scrivener for Windows

Until next time, keep on writing.

yWriter5 Writing Software Review

I decided to start the year out by trying to be more organized in my writing. I have a system, but it consists of individual files for things like character summaries, plot outline, and chapter summaries. Knowing that there is software out there for writers, I decided to search and see what I could find.

After reviewing a long list of possibilities, I focused in on yWriter5. I watched the video demo and I was sold. It is feature rich, very light-weight, and FREE! And as an unpublished writer, I am a big fan of free.

I formatted my latest writing project in rtf format with chapter headings as required by yWriter5, and was able to import my whole project and have it automatically create the chapter division files.

You have options to add characters with character details, locations, items, and scenes which make up your chapters. Because of the "scene" approach, it is easy to drag scenes between chapters or rearrange them as your story fleshes out.

The reports are helpful, and you can even do a word-count report to help you stick to your writing goals.

I am really amazed at how much this free program offers, and from what I have seen so far, you are getting a top quality program.

Check it out at http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

Some Good Writing Articles and Blog Entries

Here are some more links to interesting blogs and articles I found on the web.

Tweet a novel?
http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2009/08/09/writing-a-novel-just-tweet-it/

Approach the blank page.
http://writeanything.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/approaching-the-blank-page-part-3/

Fifth time's a charm.
http://hubpages.com/hub/NaNoWriMocom-Can-You-Write-a-Novel-in-a-Month

For young writers.
http://www.examiner.com/x-19400-NY-Gifted-Education-Examiner~y2009m8d10-Gifted-Education-101-Expert-advice-for-the-aspiring-young-author

Road to publication getting harder?
http://www.zeriously.com/1412/get-a-book-publishedthe-roadto-publication-might-be-getting-a-little-rougher-3/

Great article about podcasting novels.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-08/07/novels-by-podcast-how-to-make-money-from-free.aspx

9 ways to promote your books online.
http://www.examiner.com/x-16045-Portland-Writing-Examiner~y2009m8d5-9-ways-to-promote-your-books-on-the-internet

Hope these help you out.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Novel Setup in Lulu.com and Choosing Book Size

I am making good headway on the Novelette/Novella, and as I started thinking about overall page length it led me to thinking about the book size. So I logged into Lulu.com and started setting up my book.

Here is a quick run down of getting started in Lulu.

1) Setup an account if you don't already have one. This part is a pretty straight forward sign up process.

2) Start a new project. You can choose paperback, hardback, or a host of other formats. In my case, I choose paperback.

3) Add the title, author name, and you can set the work as private or public. When you are just getting started and playing around, just make sure it is private. Then click to Save and Continue.

4) Choose the paper type and size. You can choose Publisher grade (only ships from the US) or Standard for the paper type. The size options are too many to list here, but all the standards are available. You also pick the binding: Perfect-bound (traditional for novels), coil-bound, or saddle-stitched. You also get a neat floating calculator in the top right of the screen that shows you the cost of your book based on your selections. You also choose black and white or color, but the black and white option does include a color cover.

Play with the combination of these features to determine the best combination of size preferences and cost. I only started checking, but also consider the ISBN option you will want. If you choose the free option of publishing with a Lulu ISBN, your print sizes are more limited. If I decide to purchase my ISBN (for $99.99), I like the Digest size (5.5" x 8.5"). Due to the print size, this allows for the least amount of paper waste and therefore the best price. For a 300 page Digest book the cost is $7.00 per book. For a 300 page Pocket book (4.25" x 6.875") the cost is $10.50 per book. Obviously that means a smaller book with less words costs more money. That is why I like Digest for a first book without an established audience.

5) Upload your file. I uploaded a Word document but you can use a PDF and I think there are more options than that.

6) Design your cover. There is a great wizard for designing a simple cover. I will probably end up designing a custom cover but it is nice to have something setup in the meantime.

You can then generate a print-ready PDF to see what your book will look like in layout. I am very impressed with the ease of setting up a book in Lulu. I'll give more details as I evaluate the different parts of Lulu.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

How and Why To Use Google Alerts

When you take off your writer's hat and put on the marketing hat, consider Google Alerts. They can be your best friend in both driving your marketing efforts and in showing you new avenues to explore.

One of the m0st difficult aspects of marketing is knowing how to reach people who might be interested in your content. Sure you can invest time in good search engine optimization, joining common interest groups on the Internet, and social networking with the right groups of people. In fact you should do all of these.

But how well is it working? Other than Google alerts, you should be monitoring your website/blog stats through a service like Google Analytics or Statcounter.com to see where the referring traffic is coming from.

I will start with the "how" of using Google Alerts.

Go to http://www.google.com/alerts and if you have a google account, login. If you do not have a Google account, then signup here. Once you are logged in and on the alerts page, you will see a form where you can create alerts that looks like this:

In the "Search terms:" blank, just fill in the words, phrases, or an exact website URL that you want to search for. Effectively, Alerts do the same thing that happens when you go to the Google search page and type in a search. One big difference is that if you do daily or weekly alerts, it will only include NEW results since the last time. You decide if daily or weekly works better for you. Then choose the email address to deliver to and you are done. You will begin getting alerts.

Also, just as with regular web searches, make sure you qualify your search as needed. If you want to search the exact phrase Till death do us part, you must use "Till death do us part" to do an exact phrase search.

So now that you know how, why use Google alerts?

1) Google Alerts can show you who is linking to your website/blog. Why do you care? I hope you can come up with lots of reasons, but here are a few. The person who added a link to your site did you a huge favor! They are directing traffic from their site to your site. It is good Internet manners to go to their site and post a "thank you" comment and perhaps put a link to their site on your site, if it is appropriate.

You also care because the more links there are to your site, the more your site will be optimized in the search results from Google. That is just a free bonus which requires no extra effort on your part.

2) Google Alerts can show you where you should be marketing. You can setup alerts for search phrases that people might use who would be interested in your subject matter. For example, setup a daily alert for "teenage vampire fiction" if you have a YA vampire book. Then look at all the links that come to you in your email, and click on every link. If the page seems to have users that might be interested in your fiction, leave a comment on the page if you can and include a link to your website.

You just directly marketed to your target audience. If you do this on five links a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks in the year, it will result in 1,820 unique links to your site from locations on the Internet that are part of your target market!

Seems like an easy choice to me. Hope this helps propel you from Internet anonymity to cyber-stardom.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

New Google Voice

I am seriously geeking out about Google's new Voice service. I signed up to be part of the early testing period and after about an hour, I am hooked and amazed.

First of all, notice at the top of the right-hand column on my Blog homepage the new "Call Me" link with a phone icon. You can type in your name and phone number, Google Voice will call your phone, and when you answer you will be connected to my voicemail (or my phone if I had it set that way). You don't even have to dial the number!

I was able to choose a phone number in my area code and to search for a phone number with a word or series of letters that I would like to appear in my phone number. The Google Voice page does a search to see if a number with that word is available and if so, it appears on the screen. I tried "hugh" and "jhthomas" but finally I found that "thom" was available, so now I can use the phone number 205-677-THOMAS, which is really just THOM but it looks better with my whole last name. Pretty cool.

You get voice mail which can convert your received messages into text and email the text of the messages to the email address of your choosing. I tested this and it works surprisingly well. You can also make outgoing calls to anywhere in the continental US for free. That's right, FREE! You just initiate the call from the website, it calls your phone, and when you pick up it connects you to the other party with no long distance charges.

I can call my phone number from any phone to check messages, to call another phone number, check Google411, or change my settings.

I would recommend getting a Google Voice account as soon as you can even if you just use it like I plan to use it, for connecting with my blog readers, fellow writers, and future fans.

On the writing front, I have almost reached 10,000 words in my Novelette so I am getting there.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com

www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Resources and writing update

Here are some links that I found interesting over the past week. Regarding my writing, I submitted a new article to ezinearticles.com and wrote a few paragraphs in my Novelette prequel to the main novel I am writing. This was a busy week with July 4th and my oldest daughter's 13th birthday, so I did not write much, but I am getting back on the horse.

A quick read to inspire you to get started on your novel.
http://www.ehow.com/how_4764267_write-novel-quickly.html

This is a funny and practical approach to finding an idea for your next story
http://goodexperience.com/2009/07/how-to-write-a-novel.php

A good article on 8 steps involved in writing your novel
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1901182/how_to_write_a_novel_in_8_simple_steps.html

Here is an encouraging question/answer for any young writers out there
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090705134726AAXjDur

Mighty Mur Lafferty talks about self-publishing
http://isbw.murlafferty.com/2009/07/01/revolutions-and-pitfalls/

Here's info on a Screenplay writing contest
http://screenwritingtips.com/the-rogue-knight-of-cinema-why-screenplay-contests-matter/

If you have some writing that is "contest ready" you have a couple of days to submit. This one is due July 15th.
http://writingcontests.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/grandmother-earth-xvi-national-writing-awards/

Here's a good article on setting your rates as a freelance writer.
http://copywriter.typepad.com/copywriter/2009/07/freelance-writing-3-tips-to-help-you-to-set-your-rates.html

The next time I blog I hope to have another chunk of the story written. Until then, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Choosing the Best Writing Tools

Although some writers still insist that their muse will vacate the premises unless they are writing on paper, that is not the case for most of us. We typically like the "type once" approach that a device provides. Today there are more choices than ever before. Here are a few that work for me.

Quickpad - The Quickpad is a small, keyboard sized device with a small four line LCD display window. It starts up very quickly, saves quickly, and shuts down quickly. That combined with long battery life and and light weight make this a great device for writing on the go. I have found this to be perfect for writing a first draft. The four line screen is not very helpful for editing.

Smartphone - That's right, I said smartphone. I would not recommend writing a novel on a phone-size device, but it is great for blogging, social networking, and even writing articles. Take advantage of those fifteen minutes you wait for the oil change or sit in a waiting room. I use a T-Mobile Shadow and have written more than fifty of my blog posts from the phone.

Netbook - The most popular computer devices on the market are also great for writers on the go. The small form-factor, light weight, and Wi-fi connectivity make them perfect for blogging, writing articles, social networking, and writing novel length fiction. I recommend a screen ten inches or larger, less for the screen size than for the larger keyboard which allows for comfortable typing.

Laptop/Desktop PC/MAC - Most writers today use a PC/MAC as their primary writing tool. It is my top choice for serious writing and my only choice for editing. Why mess with a good thing.

Word Processing - I still prefer MS Word over most of the competition, but I have used the free OpenOffice package and it did what I expected from a word processor. Google Docs has been my recent tool of choice which is helpful if you find yourself writing from different computers or internet enabled devices.

The bottom line is you have a lot of options. Choose wisely and you may even increase your writing productivity.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=J_Hugh_Thomas

Valuable Writing Podcasts.

Every writer finds methods to continue learning about the craft and business of writing. There are blogs, ezines, books, and magazines just to name a few. I use most of these resources but today I want to focus on podcasts.

What do I learn from podcasts? I learn about the craft of writing from authors and writing professionals. I learn about how to market your work. I hear interviews with authors which teaches me what to expect when (hopefully) I am one day being interviewed. And I can learn all of this in the flexible form of audio from a podcast.

Either from your computer or on your MP3 player, you have the flexibility to listen when you have time, and even take care of other minor tasks while you listen. Here are a few of the podcasts I currently enjoy, and I welcome you to post any that you love in the comments.

A 24/7 Writer's online radio station that I recently discovered. You will find some great interviews with Author's.
http://www.writersfm.com/writersfm/

The greatest combination of humor and practical guidance I have ever heard.
http://www.writingexcuses.com/

Mur is a great example of building a career through podcasting.
http://murverse.com/category/projects/podcasts/i-should-be-writing/

Great interview show broadcast out of Irvine, CA with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosting.
http://penonfire.blogspot.com/

Valerie Connelly, a writer and publisher, hosts this interview and tips show.
http://www.globaltalkradio.com/shows/callingallauthors/

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

http://www.jhughthomas.com/
www.facebook.com/jhughthomas

Summer Writing Contests for 2009

Here are some great writing opportunities over the summer. If you already have some stories written, or you plan to write over the summer, take advantage of writing contests to raise your profile and give you an advantage in the writing marketplace. If you have a specific type of writing that you want to submit, Google search for a contest that fits the type. Chances are there are one or more contests out there that fit the bill.


For Young Writers, K-12:

If you are a student who has what it takes, enter this contest to prove yourself to the rest of the world.
Due Date: July 31, 2009.
http://www.youngvoicesfoundation.org/writingcontests.html


For High school Seniors:

You can receive a $500 college scholarship for 500 word (or less) essay.
Due Date: August 28, 2009.
http://www.essaylady.com/scholarship_essay_contest.shtml


For All Writers:

Write the most gripping first paragraph of a story in one of the following genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Western, Ghost Story/Gothic. "...you could win a prize package from Fairmont Hotels & Resorts or a Walrus prize package, and have you work published at walrusmagazine.com!"
Due Date: July 31, 2009.
http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2009/05/29/enter-our-guilty-pleasures-writing-contest/


If you write middle-grade or young adult novels, you could win the ultimate prize, publication of your novel with Random House!
Due Date: June 30, 2009.
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/writingcontests/

Writer's Digest holds a recurring contest called Your Story. Based on a writing prompt, you write a 750 word short story and the possibility of being published in Writer's Digest.

Next Due Date: July 10, 2009.

http://www.writersdigest.com/yourstory

Other sites with writing contest lists:

Here is a listing of many writing contests courtesy of Barton County Poets and Writers.

http://bartoncountypoetsandwriters.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/spring-summer-writing-contest-deadlines/

Beware, most of these cost a fee to enter, but some of them are free to enter.

http://www.oncewritten.com/WritingContests.php


Sign-up for this feed and get ongoing updates on contests.
http://writingcontests.wordpress.com/


Ready to enter quickly? Here are contests with deadlines in June 2009.
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/thebusinessofwriting/a/JuneContests.htm


I realize I have barely scratched the surface of a comprehensive list, but I hope it helps. I wish you all the best of luck in your contest submissions.


On the writing front, after a week at the beach I have written just over five thousand words in my short story. I like the way it is coming together, and I hope to finish the first draft in the next few weeks.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

http://www.jhughthomas.com/
My Facebook Account

Resources

Sometimes, it is good to just look around on the Internet and learn what you can from others. That may even be how you found my blog. This week, I just want to list out some links that I found interesting or could relate to in some way. Hope they help you either emotionally or practically.

Another unpublished neophyte talking about writing.
http://undisciplinedoaf.blogspot.com/2009/04/so-youre-writing-novel.html?zx=711354ae21d39de

A nice set of writing insights from novelist Marilynne Robinson.
http://writingcompanion.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/writing-marilynne-robinson/

A young person struggles with the idea of writing a novel.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977666398&grpId=3659174697239359&nav=Groupspace

A blog entry about Print-on-demand.
http://writingright-martin.blogspot.com/2009/04/print-on-demand-publishing-when-does-it.html

An interview with Cindy Wilson.
http://adventures-in-creative-writing.blogspot.com/2009/04/changing-expectations-interview-with.html

What do you do after you finish the first draft? Here's a list.
http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2009/04/youve-written-novel-now-what.html

Learning the Craft: Writing a Novel
http://trishlawrence.com/blog/2009/04/26/learning-the-craft-writing-a-novel/

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.twitter.com/jhughthomas
http://profile.to/jhughthomas

Resources

Hope you are having a good writing week. Here are a few resources to help you through the weekend.

http://www.bookwhirl.com/

http://oldenoughnovel.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-pub-based-research.html

http://the-new-author.blogspot.com/2009/03/guest-blog-your-way-to-more-readers-and.html

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christinerose/2009/04/01/On-the-Road-to-a-Bestseller-Making-a-Living-as-a-Writer


More to come on Sunday. Until then, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.twitter.com/jhughthomas
Facebook Profile

Podcast your novel. The new face of publishing.

Often in history, innovation causes a shift in the direction of business. The telegraph industry gave way to the telephone business. The horse and buggy were replaced by the car industry.

That's not what we are seeing in publishing.

It is a new age where people operate in a new way. In the last ten years, the ipod, audio books, podcasts, and blogs have come into their own. People consume entertainment and information in the midst of a busy day, on he fly, or on-demand. On an average day, most people read less on the written page than on the computer screen. Increasingly, people hear less on a CD than on their ipod or computer streaming.

It isn't a replacement of a previous industry, but a change in the way we operate, and therefore the way the publishing industry must operate in order to keep up.

I still think it is a valid pursuit to seek traditional publishing, and probably the best place to start. Just don't stop there. And depending on how small a market you expect, you may even want to start with the "non-traditional" approach.

You should study the pioneers of the podcast novel including J.C. Hutchins, Scott Sigler, Tee Morris, Mur Lafferty, and so many more. If you listen to interviews or personal podcasts by these individuals, you will quickly find that the podcasting route requires a lot of work... I mean a lot. But it can pay off in the end.

Check out the selection of Podiobooks that are available. You could be next on the list.

This is a good article about the brave new world of podcasting fiction.
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1872381,00.html

I will probably do a more in-depth blog on the podcasting option in the future. Until then, let's all keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

Writing Contests for 2009

Happy New year to all, which means a whole new wave of writing contests are rolling out. This article from writers-editors.com is an excellent listing of contests, in order by the submission deadline. The deadlines range from January 15 to May 15, so you have time.

These contests cover a wide range, from poetry to a one page plot synopsis. You can start from the time you read this blog and be ready to submit by the deadline. Why not? What do you have to loose?

Here are some other listings.
Perhaps the best place to start is Writer's Digest.

Contests for best mystery, private eye, or first crime novel.

For later in the year, September, consider the three day novel writing contest.

Another list of non-fiction, flash fiction, short fiction, etc. contests.

As for my writing update, I FINISHED THE SCREENPLAY! I actually finished it late on New Year's Eve, so it was done in 2008. Thank you to Scriptologist.com for the article on screenplay formatting (which I knew nothing about) and to Microsoft for having a downloadable screenplay template for MS Word 2003. I am in the process of moving all the text into a formatted version, but the first draft of creative work is done.

Incidentally, the entire first draft of the screenplay will end up being around fifty formatted pages which according to FilmSchoolOnline.com equals about fifty minutes of screen time, a convenient 1-to-1 ratio of pages to minutes. In addition, the entire first draft was written on the small keypad of my T-Mobile Shadow phone.

After I finish moving the text into a formatted screenplay, I will be back to working on the novel with a fury. Next time, or at least soon, I plan to blog about picking up on a novel that has been set aside for a while.

Until then, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas
Facebook Account

Monitor your writing website and blogs

Last time I mentioned using feedburner.com to burn your blog, which gives you easy RSS subscription management, email subscription management, and some statistics on how people are using your blog. I want to build on that post with some more ways to monitor how your blogs and websites.

The first requirement for me is the price... FREE! Because I am not making any money doing any of this, it is important that the services are both free and useful. Here are some options to consider.

Statcounter.com is a great website for tracking standard statistics such as number of unique visitors, number of page loads, or search phrases that were used to find your blog or website. It is easy to sign up for a free account, and place a small snippet of HTML on each of the web pages you want to track. You can track the path that users take through your site grouped by user which makes it easy to find what is working well in your site and what users are not finding. Another neat feature is tracking the city/country of all your visitors. I love seeing the list of visitors to this blog from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, Indonesia, France, New Zealand, and dozens more. And by the way, thank you all for your continued support.

Quantcast.com is an interesting site that tracks demographic information about your visitors. I have not started using it, but I read about it in Randy Ingermanson's ezine through his website advancedfictionwriting.com. Through quantcast, you can get a visitor breakdown on gender, age group, income, and more stats that are not commonly available through site trackers.

Start simple. If you only have time to do one thing online, I recommend setup one blog, feedburn it, and setup statcounter to monitor the results. That's what I did, and it is a great learning experience. If I ever get to the point of being a published author, the idea is to have already mastered the online marketing world so I don't have to hire it all out to others.

Because if there is one thing I have learned from the experts online, as the author, you are the one that will be most responsible for marketing your book.

And for my writing update, I only finished one scene this week. I'm a self-declared slacker, but I'll make up for it.

Until next time, let's keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

Marketing my book online... before the book is finished?

In case you are not sure from my title, I have not completed even the first draft of my novel. And yet I brazenly state that I should be marketing now. Am I completely insane? Possibly, but I will explain why I think that regardless of where you are in the writing process, your marketing should already be in the works.

There are many facets to marketing: advertising (print/TV/online), interviews, podcasts, blogs, book signings, etc. I only know a little about marketing because I am unpublished, but I am convinced that the earlier you begin one portion of marketing, the better off you will be. What is this portion?

Your online presence!

You don't need a published book or even published articles to begin establishing an online presence. You just need some time and the will to explore your options. Here are a few of the areas that I am exploring during my writing process.

1) Buy your domain name. In today's world, this is a no-brainer because it is cheap and expected. Most importantly, it takes time for your domain name to be crawled by all the search engines, linked to by other websites, blogged about, etc. This time translates into quick and easy search results when you do get published and someone is Googling your name. Which leads to point number two.

2) Choose your author name wisely. May sound silly, but in my opinion, this is a big one. I go by Hugh but I choose to use J Hugh Thomas as my author name in part because the domain name jhughtomas.com was available. In addition, when I Google Hugh Thomas, I get many results for a history writer named Hugh Thomas. To prove my point, Google the name "j hugh thomas" and you will see my website and this blog right at the top. That is what you want... to be easily found if someone is looking. Not to mention, many people will start by typing in the URL of the person's name before they even Google. Every advantage counts.

3) Write a blog. Since they are free to run, this is another given. What do you blog about? I'll answer with the question, what are you interested in? What is important is that you are writing regularly in a communicative way, not in fiction style, and you are establishing more of a web presence with every post. Don't forget to link back to your domain name in every post which also helps boost the ranking of your primary site. Have many interests? Write several blogs. But make sure you can post at least once a week. If you post less than that, you will loose any loyal readers. I recommend blogger.com because it is what I use, but I'm sure the other free services are just as good.

4) Feedburn your blogs. If you don't know what this is, go to feedburner.com and read all about it. Bottom line is you have a distribution option for people to subscribe by email or RSS feed to your blog, you can track your subscribers, see when your blog is web crawled, tell the service to notify the search engines every time you post a new entry, etc. It is a free marketing and management plug-in to your blog, and all it costs is your time to set it up.

5) Social Networking. If you don't already have them, setup Facebook and MySpace accounts at a bare minimum. Once again, you will link between your blog/domain/facebook/myspace which helps your web presence. More importantly, you can join writers groups for support and reading groups for future marketing opportunities. The more friends you add over time, the more people you can directly market to once you are finished with your book. One important note here. DO NOT OVER MARKET TO YOUR FRIENDS OR GROUPS!!! This is a big no-no and you will be shunned if you take advantage. However, an email/message blast when your book is launched is perfectly acceptable. You would also be surprised how many professionals are lurking in these groups... agents, marketers, editors... so you may end up with a great support network to boot.

That's enough to start with, but it is just the tip of the ice burg. Don't get overwhelmed by it all. Just do something now so you aren't rushing to appear online after your book is on the shelves.

Resources:
Writing Excuses is a fun podcast that is entertaining and informative on the writing process. It holds to a short 15 minute format which is perfect on the go. You'll find yourself laughing and learning in the process.

Here's an article on How to get your first novel published by Jackie French. Since she is a published author many times over, better to follow her advice than mine.

Oh, and I forgot my weekly writing update last time. Over the last two weeks, I have finished another three scenes for the screenplay. The story is coming along nicely and I think I have reached the half-way mark. I believe that by the end of the year this will be done and I will be back full-time on the novel.

Until next time, lets keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

How would your characters vote?

Don't worry, I'm not getting political. This is, and will remain, a writing blog. However, I think it can be a fun exercise to take each of your main characters and imagine them debating the issues and choosing a candidate. To some, this may be the fun equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard, but the point of the exercise is to know your characters better.

Maybe write a short dinner party scene in which your characters take their sides and defend their positions. In the process, make sure you are being true to the character you have written thus far in your book (assuming it is an unfinished novel). Or perhaps you will learn something new about your character that you had never considered before, maybe even some back story. Anyway, have fun with it and strengthen your characters in the process.

Here's my latest true confessions in writing. I finished two more scenes this week in my screenplay. Slowly but surely, I'm finishing the movie so I can get back to the novel.

RESOURCES:
I found an interesting article titled "The literary web" that talks about the habits and tools of readers using web resources.

Another reminder that this is NaNoWriMo month, where thousands of people try to write a novel in a month. If you are interested in getting a late start, here's an article on it.

Think you'll never finish your novel? That you will never be published? Take encouragement from someone who has just finished the journey, Alice J. Wisler with her book Rain Song. Reading about how she made it may be the push you need to continue writing.

Last but not least, here is an interview on query letters and pitches.

That's all for this week. Until next time, lets keep on writing.

www.jhughthomas.com
www.myspace.com/jhughthomas

Resource: How other writers write

Just thought this was an interesting short video, less than four minutes, of other authors explaining their writing routine. Bottom line, what works for you is the only right answer.

http://www.thegoldenpencil.com/2008/08/10/how-they-get-the-writing-done-videos-for-writers/

Resource: Social Networking for Writers

I'll quickly skip over the obvious "big two" but it is a good idea to have both a myspace and a facebook profile. And these are things you should start NOW. Why? Because you can join many groups of writers, readers, friends, and family. When you launch your book, you can directly market to all the friends you have accumulated over time. You don't want to overdo marketing to these people, but it is a perfect place to push your book launch.
http://www.myspace.com/
http://www.facebook.com/

Another great site is http://www.nothingbinding.com/. It is a social networking site built exclusively for writers. Take advantage of free book reviews, writer's forums, and you can even embed book trailers and audio into your profile on the site.

Social networking can help you meet publishers, promoters, industry insiders, and other writers. Hard to beat. Now start signing up and add your friends and family. Then move on to writing groups. See what happens.