First, a long overdue update per The Writer’s Rebel Creed 2014.

 

Very quickly:

1.  Regular writing:  well, I tend to be an irregular writer.  Since my last update, I have a draft poem in one of my notebooks, a concept for a blog post, an as yet unpublished blog post, as well as my Monday jests with John W. Howell of Fiction Favorites.  None of this occurred by writing every day, but whatever.

2.  Belief in my abilities:  I’ll be struggling with that until the day I die, so let’s move on.

3.  Write something new:  Gee, I actually have something to say here.  I was invited to guest post on www.goodpeopledoinggreatthings.com and wrote an essay on Children and Compassion.  I do like writing nonfiction and, actually, most of my blog is nonfiction :)  But I’ve never really tried to publish nonfiction.  Children and Compassion has made me feel a little more open to that.

4.  Marketing skills:  Huh?

5.  Give back to my writing community:  The most fun part of blogging is giving back.   I love promoting the work of other writers.  If you’re a regular reader of my blog, then you know that.

6.  Support other writers:  The best way to support other writers is by buying their work and reviewing.  I’m pretty good about buying, but I’m a slow reader and so my reviews take a long time to emerge.  And I take reviews very seriously.  I could just say, “Hey, I loved this book.  It’s funny, sad, blah blah blah.”  As a reader, I need more than a review that is so general it could be applied to any book.  I want to know why the reader loved (or didn’t love) the book.  So I try to write the kind of reviews that I find the most useful.

OK, that’s it for now …  back to procrastinating :)