WritingThoughts

Tuesday I started a series discussing the value of forum participation for writers. The posts in this series include:

• Why forum participation is helpful to writers
• Writer’s forums that I have checked out
• Blogger’s forums that I have checked out (today’s post)

Today, I am going to share some of my favorite blogger’s forums with you.

Here are my favorite blogger’s forums:

• BlogMommas.com. This is a warm, friendly forum where bloggers can come in and take a break. Enjoy the discussions on real-life issues such as Music, Books, Movies, and Fun and Games. I really love the fact that the forum has a spiritual center.
• Momgadget.com. [Updated 2015: This forum appears to no longer be available.] This forum is run by a talented group of blogging moms who cheerfully help new bloggers learn the ropes. This forum was particularly instrumental in helping me set up this blog. Forum discussions include topics like Group Writing Projects, Featured Blogger, Lessons in Blogging 101, and How to Make Money. There is a wealth of information here!
• About: Web Logs Forum. This forum is part of the About: Web Logs site run by veteran writer and blogger, Deb Ng. Deb has just taken on the role as the About.com guide for Web blogs, but with her knowledge and experience I expect great things from this site.
• BloggerTalk. I’ve just started to lurk at this forum, but it looks like a great source of information. I see there’s a blog directory here too.

Don’t hesitate to submit additional blogger’s forums that you have personal experience with in a comment or email. I’d love to discover some great new forums.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

There’s a meme going around the blogosphere with a serious purpose. I was actually tagged by Paula Mooney last Saturday, but I’ve put off writing about this meme.

Why have I put off writing this meme? There are a couple of reasons. First of all, the topic of this meme is so serious that it’s something I actually find painful to think about it. Secondly, Paula expressed what is needed better than I could hope to.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The topic of the meme is Safeguarding the Web for Children. You can also read more about it here.

As I understand it, the purpose of the meme is to urge those who run adult sites to require a password before graphic and explicit materials can be viewed. The text of the meme is here:

Please require a password-protected login before allowing even free access to explicit adult content. We understand that selling porn is your business and we respect your right to make a legal living. But understand our legitimate concerns and work with us. You already have the warning adult content on your websites. Yet kids, who are not legal customers of your product, ignore the warning. So to prevent them from having direct access to explicit images, texts and sounds, the simplest way is to have a password-protected login. No more free tours before a visitor supplies basic information.

Is this enough? Will this campaign truly protect our kids?

I hope that this campaign is enough, but I’m afraid that it might not be.

Just yesterday I heard about the latest in adult materials on the news–films of children being attacked. How sick has our culture gotten?

I’m with Paula on this subject; I feel a change of heart is what is truly needed. That change can only come from God. Let’s all pray!

Back when I was a student taking Social Studies in a public school I remember a teacher explaining to our class that our freedoms ended where another citizen’s health and safety began. In other words, we had freedoms AS LONG AS WE DID NOT HARM OTHERS.

Do teachers even bother to explain this to their students any more? I wonder.

If your teacher didn’t tell you in school, I’m going to tell you now.

No amount of profit, pleasure, or perceived pleasure is worth harming another human being.

Did you get that?

NO AMOUNT OF PROFIT, PLEASURE, OR PERCEIVED PLEASURE IS WORTH HARMING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING!!

I’m supposed to tag other bloggers for this meme, so I’m tagging the writing mothers:

• Angela
• Becky
• Christina
• Courtney
• Donna
• Gayla
• Heather
• Rachel
• Randa

The meme doesn’t need to stop with these folks, though. If you’re reading this and you want to write about this topic, consider yourself tagged. Right here, right now, by me.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Yesterday I started a series discussing the value of forum participation for writers. The posts in this series include:

• Why forum participation is helpful to writers
• Writer’s forums that I have checked out (today’s post)
• Blogger’s forums that I have checked out

As I indicated in my earlier post, I have benefited greatly from participating in various forums. Today, I am going to share some of my favorite writer’s forums with you.

Here are my favorite writer’s forums:

• WAHMs Who Write at the WAHM message boards. When I look back over my blog statistics, this forum is always one of the top referral links. This particular forum is geared towards work-at-home moms (WAHMs) who write either part-time or full-time. (There are some work-at-home dads there too.) There is always something new happening in this forum. Topics range from job leads to questions about jobs to just plain venting. I find the WAHMs to be a friendly and passionate group.
• Absolute Write Water Cooler. This forum has a massive amount of information. Everything from Writing Novels to Story Research to Historical Writing has its own folder. According to the forum statistics there are 13, 681 registered members. I lurked here for months, overwhelmed at the vast number of topics. If I had been active in this forum sooner I probably would have more traffic coming to my blog from this site.
• The Writer’s Forum at the popular Writer’s Digest. I have to admit that joining this forum is still on my to do list. However, I’ve lurked there and found lots of good writing tips. It looks like a great place to go and talk shop.
• Forums related to websites where you can submit writing. Typically, you have to register to view these forums. Constant Content also has a forum for their authors. If you submit to a large site regularly, consider asking if they have a writer’s forum–It could.

Don’t hesitate to submit additional writer’s forums that you have personal experience with in a comment or email. I’d love to discover some great new forums.

Who knows? If enough people submit their favorite writing forums I might even have enough for a post on reader-recommended writer forums.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s post on forums for bloggers.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

My topic today was inspired by a post from Angela’s Work at Home Blog. Some time ago Angela wrote “Forums I Have Checked Out” where she lists some of her favorite forums (Link no longer available). For several weeks that post has been running through the back of my mind, and for the next few days I’ve decided to address how forums can help writers.

Basically, I’ll be discussing the following (I’ll add links as they become available):

• Why forum participation is helpful to writers (today’s post)
• Writer’s forums that I have checked out
• Blogger’s forums that I have checked out

As a writer (and especially as a work-at-home writer) it’s tempting to either ignore forums altogether, or to lurk silently at forums without ever actively participating. However, there are benefits to active forum participation that you should know about. (As a habitual forum lurker, I’m preaching to myself here.)

Some benefits to participating in forums include the following:

• Get your questions answered free of charge. If you can discern good advice from bad advice, forum participation can save you money. Career coaches and technical support lines often charge top dollar to answer your questions. Forum participants usually don’t charge for their help.
• Get your questions answered before you ask them. Another writer’s problem this week may be your problem next week. Learn from the questions that other writers ask. In addition, forums can introduce you to innovations, resources, classes, books, and other tools that can help you in your career.
• Find jobs. People regularly post job leads in forums, especially writing forums. While every job lead that is posted might not be legitimate, usually forum participants will react quickly if a job lead post is a known dead-end.
• Get help meeting your deadlines. If your contract allows you to use subcontractors and you find yourself with more work than time, you can sometimes post a plea for help on a writer’s forum. I, myself, have helped a writer out in this way.
• Help others. Did you just learn something neat about your work and now want to share it with someone else? If you work at home that can be tough to do. Writer’s forums and blogger’s forums can provide an outlet for your excitement.
• Find camaraderie. In-house workers enjoy sharing experiences at the water cooler, in the lunchroom, or some other common meeting ground. At-home workers don’t have that water cooler group to share workplace frustrations and triumphs with. Forums can meet your need to interact with others who are going through the same, or similar, experiences.
• Drive traffic to your blog. It’s true. After checking my stats, I discovered that most of my traffic comes from a forum where I am an active participant. This is consistently true despite my being listed in several blog directories, MyBlogLog, Technorati, and so on. Many forums will allow you to post links in your signature line. If you have a blog make sure your link is in your signature if the forum allows it.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

I’ve decided to make “Of Note” a regular Saturday feature.

For one thing, there are tons of blogs out there with great information that I’d like to pass on to you. For another thing, who am I kidding? I’m probably always going to have family commitments on the weekends.

This Saturday, I’d like to feature Tom Chandler of The Copywriter Underground for his post of a six-point plan on how to break into lucrative writing markets.

I wish I’d had Tom’s information from this featured post about four years ago when I started freelancing. I didn’t though, and I had to learn some of it the hard way — through trial and error.

For you readers just starting their business, as well as for those who have been freelancing for a while, I hope Tom’s article helps you.

Note: If you’re consistently posting great information and haven’t seen your blog featured in “Of Note” yet, I apologize. I’ll probably find you soon. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there, I discover more new ones each day. (So many blogs, so little time…)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

I always chuckle to myself when I see the blog posts and forum posts to freelance writers recommending that they have someone else proofread their writing.

It’s not that having someone else proofread your copy is a bad idea. It’s not. It’s a very good idea. Many companies hire full-time editors to proofread their documents for that very reason.

It’s just that, as a freelance writer and as a WAHM, there’s no one else here. (Well, no one except the dog, that is. The dog can’t read, so she’s out of the question.) The kids are at school and hubby is at work. It’s just me and my computer (well, it’s me, the computer, and the illiterate dog).

Even if the family was here, it’s hard to say how much help they’d be. You see, since I’m a writer I’m also the proofreader in the family. They give their letters and papers to me so that I can check them over for mistakes.

So, if you have access to an editor, then great!! For the rest of us here are five real life proofreading tips that you can do when you’re all by yourself:

1. Read your writing aloud. You’d surprised at how well this works. You will tend to pause where there should be pauses. Painfully long sentences will become painfully obvious.
2. Proofread your writing on paper. In this electronic age it’s tempting to do all your proofreading online. Don’t do it! Sometimes it’s better to see a hard copy. So, grab your favorite red pen and print that document out.
3. Pause and come back to your writing. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in what you are writing that you miss obvious mistakes. If your deadline allows, put the document aside and do something else for at least a half hour. When you return, you’ll have a much fresher proofreading eye.
4. Proofread the document backwards. Reading out of sequence helps you look at what you actually put on the paper instead of what you think you put on the paper.
5. Use that spellchecker. Always take advantage of the electronic tools that come with your writing software. Sure, they’re not always correct, but sometimes they are correct. Don’t miss fixing obvious mistakes that your spellchecker would have caught.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

What makes readers hang on every word? What makes them eager for new writing? What makes readers return, time and again, to the same writing.

These are questions that I have been asking myself lately. I’ve been looking for that je ne sais quoi that distinguishes great writing from merely adequate writing.

In my search, I’ve been examining two areas: what I read and what others read. I pretty much know what I read. To determine what others read I’ve turned to The New York Times Best Seller List and SOYOUWANNA.com‘s list of the most popular books of all time.

I’ve discovered that writing that gets read falls into some categories:

• Escapism. This is a fiction category that people read to get away from the cares of everyday life. The Harry Potter series of books is probably the most well known recent example of this type of writing. It also includes drama, romance, action, and adventure stories.
• Gossip. People love to read about others and those others that they love to read about are celebrities. It’s no accident that People magazine and people.com are so popular. Gossip blogs abound.
• How To’s or Advice. Of course, the most read book of all time is the Bible. That’s not the only how to book people are reading, though. A quick glance at the best-seller list shows books on everything from how to lose weight to how to make money to how to save your marriage. (This is probably the category that I tend to write most often.)
• Reference. To be good, a reference has to be reliable. If it’s reliable I’ll use it again and again. If it’s not reliable, it’s no better than trash. The dictionary by my desk is an example of this type of writing. Wikipedia is a well-known online example.
• Informational. This is the news. To tell you the truth, I almost hesitated to put this category on the list because people don’t usually return to read a news piece again and again. News writing can be compelling, though. Timeliness is the key here. Nobody wants yesterday’s news.

The above list should give some interesting clues as to how to get (or how to write) compelling copy.

• Clue number one. What category of writing do you need? Do you need advice? Are your readers looking for escape? Or, is gossip pulling your readers in?
• Clue number two. Once you know what category of writing you need, you can also determine what that category requires. If you need reference material, you’ll need a reliable expert. If you need news material, you’ll need timely material.
• Clue number three. There’s a little of bad stuff in each category. Really, if just writing in those categories were enough, everyone would be doing it. (And anyway, what’s worse than a celebrity story about a non-celebrity?)

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

I did something difficult today. For the first time in nearly two months, I went back to the gym.

You see, I’ve been skipping my regular workout since Dad got sick. After he died and the funeral was over I really had no excuse not to start going to the gym again, but I kept right on skipping those workouts.

First it was one excuse, then another. The truth is, I just don’t like to exercise. Never mind that there’s a ton of data out there showing how exercise improves overall health. I’ve even seen studies linking mental acuity and physical fitness.

Waaaay back in January Diane Penna and Deb Ng issued a weight loss challenge for writers. I rightfully chose not to participate at that time because my dad was in the hospital.

However, there is no reason for me not to work hard to get back in shape now. I probably can’t/won’t add a Joe’s widget to my blog space, but I’ll be following along with the spirit of Diane’s challenge otherwise.

So, YEAY ME for finally getting myself back to the gym!!!

I’m sure my writing and my health will both benefit.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

As a writer I love it when a client asks, “can you write according to my style guide?” It usually means that some of my questions about what the client wants are already thought of and answered. It usually means that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It also usually means the project will go more quickly and need fewer revisions.

When I was in the corporate documentation world, virtually every company that I wrote for had a corporate style guide. (This is where I get to blow my own horn and tell you that I even helped develop style guides for some of those companies.)

You might wonder why those large corporations would go to the trouble and expense of creating a document that basically does nothing more than describe their documents. If you own a business, even a small business, you might be especially interested in the benefits a company style guide can bring to your documents.

Here are four quick advantages that companies, even small companies, can expect to gain from using a company style guide:

Unified Voice

Unless a company only hires a single writer and that writer creates all the company’s documentation, there are going to be variations in writing style. As a company, you don’t want those variations to be obvious to the casual reader. In other words, you don’t want the end user of your documents to pick up your manual, your annual report, your proposal, or whatever it is, and say: “Look! Right here is where Susie stopped writing and Johnny started writing.”

Even worse, you don’t want the audience for your document getting confused by constant changes in the writing style of your documents. If it’s a proposal, they may just wind up tossing it and giving their business to someone else.

Product Branding

Using a company style guide can help protect your trademarks and product name registrations.

“How can a style guide help protect my trademarks?” You wonder.

Let’s imagine for a minute that my blog is a product and that I am hiring a writer to create press releases for it. (No, this is just an illustration. Don’t, I repeat don’t, contact me wanting to create press releases for me. It’s just an illustration.)

Anyway, for purposes of the illustration, how should the hypothetical writer refer to the name of my blog? Would they call it Writing Thoughts or WritingThoughts? Maybe they would call it The Writing Thoughts Blog or Laura Spencer’s WritingThoughts. Would they use upper case, lower case, or initial caps? WRITINGTHOUGHTS, writingthoughts, or WritingThoughts?

There are many variations. The truth is that, unless I give the writer specific instructions, they’re not sure how to refer to my product. If I’ve trademarked my product, it’s also very likely that there is a correct and an incorrect way to refer to it.

Now, multiply this confusion by a product line of, say ten products. You can see how misuse of trademarks and product registrations can easily creep into your documents.

If you own a business, save yourself the trouble of having to give specific instructions for each and every product each and every time it is documented. Include the information in your company style guide.

Company Image

You have a certain way you want to portray your company in your documents. This can include how documentation formatting questions like:

• Font size and style
• Paper type
• Corporate colors
• Use of graphics
• Logos and slogans

Your company image may even include how the company is referred to in your documents. Do you refer to it and include a brief business description each time it’s used.
Your writers may, or may not understand these things. Yes, they should ask. Will they ask? Maybe, they will or maybe they won’t. If it’s me, I will definitely ask. Not all writers will think to ask, however. Save yourself a lot of time and worry.

Legal Issues

There may be warnings attached to some of your products. The phrases “keep out of reach of children” and “product may contain peanut pieces” are two warnings that come to mind.

The failure to put a warning on even a single piece of product documentation could lead to lawsuits and to the loss of real money for your company.

Save yourself a lot of worry. Include a requirement for these legal disclaimers in your company style guide.

So, now that we know about style guides, I challenge those of you who have companies to create a style guide for your documents.

For those of you who are writers, this information gives you another question to ask clients and potential clients: “do you use a company style guide?” If the client or potential client answers, “yes, we do have a style guide,” then great. You know that some things about the project will be spelled out for you. If their answer is “no,” you might just try asking them if they would like you to develop one for them.

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.

Boy am I behind on my blogging!!

There’s a new meme going around the blogosphere–it asks bloggers to list five reasons why they blog. I was tagged to participate by Randa Clay over at Lumps of Clay.

While I’m flattered to participate, I have to admit that this exercise was a little challenging for me. I’m a fairly new to blogging, so it is all kind of a grand experiment for me. Where can I take it? What can I achieve? In some ways, only time will tell.

I did manage to come up with five reasons, but some of them are more along the lines of a future vision for the blog than reasons why I blog right now.

So, without further ado, five reasons why I blog:

1. To help people. Actually, this is the reason that I began writing, many years ago. Over the years, I’ve received help from many writers and I’ve appreciated that help very much. I try to live according to the Golden Rule (“Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”). Since I know how much others help has meant to me, blogging enables me to give some of that help back to others.
2. To attract potential customers to my writing business. Admittedly, this isn’t happening and it’s completely my fault. As you can see by clicking the tabs above, this site is a work in progress. I envision a place on this site where potential customers can look and see samples of my writing style and view my writing experience. So far, I haven’t finished putting that information onto the site, but I will.
3. To be part of a community. Blogging has allowed me to get to know other writers, other WAHMs, and a whole variety of other bloggers with whom I would otherwise never interact. I can think of several bloggers that I would probably never have gotten to know had I not gotten involved in blogging.
4. To experiment. It’s kind of fun being in control of a website. As a writer, most of the work I do is assigned to me. That means someone else tells me what to write, describes how to write it, and gives me a deadline. With my blog, I’m in control of the whole process. If I wake up one day and decide to post in white letters on a black background (ugh and double ugh!!!), well who’s going to stop me? Not only that, I get access to all the cool website stats (and I’m one of those who thinks that’s interesting).
5. To make money. Alright, I’m obviously not making any money right now. I have one affiliate, but no one has purchased from them. I’ve gone back and forth about putting Google Adsense and Amazon on the site. Frankly, I don’t see the downside. Yeah, I know that I probably won’t be able to retire on what that brings in, but it’s bound to be a little more than I am earning from the blog right now.

Now, I am supposed to tag some other bloggers to participate. I tag

• Phil Nash of Unintentionally Blank
• Carson Brackney
• Yuwanda Black of InkwellEditorial

Have fun guys!

Contents (c) Copyright 2007, Laura Spencer. All rights reserved.