Camp NaNoWriMo 2019

Happy Monday and thanks for stopping by. 👋

Jumping right in to today's subject, Camp NaNoWriMo.

"Camp NaNoWriMo is a virtual writer’s retreat, designed for maximum flexibility and creativity. We have Camp sessions in both April and July, and we welcome word-count goals between 30 and 1,000,000. In addition, writers can tackle any project they’d like, including new novel drafts, revision, poetry, scripts, and short stories." 

Last year in April I participated in my first Camp NaNoWriMo. My goal was 25,000 words. I met that goal and in the process finished the first draft of my novel Hope for Charity. Since then, I have been working on editing that manuscript. I have to say, I never dreamed it would take me this long. I didn't know back then how much I still had to learn. Two beta readers went over my first three chapters, which is what I hope to be sending as part of my proposal soon. I learned even more from their thorough inspection of my work. I never realized what a comma lover I am. 😃 Even though I love to read, I never enjoyed my grammar classes in school. Well, I sure wish I had paid more attention! I do believe the things I am learning now will help me in my future books, though.

My first three chapters are ready to be sent off. I have perfected them as much as I am able. I'm hoping to send my proposal out before the end of this month. 

While my proposal is in the hands of the Literary Agents and Editor, who requested it, I hope to spend Camp NaNoWriMo in April perfecting the remaining chapters in my novel. My goal for the month is 50 hours. That means 50 dedicated hours of revising the remaining chapters in my book. I'll plan to give you updates throughout the month.  

Because of my busy schedule next month, I won't have a new Read & Review book for  April. I plan to have my March Read & Review done and posted on my website by March 31st, so make sure to check that out. If you haven't heard about the Read & Review for this month and you would like to participate, go to my website to find out more. Don't forget to subscribe while you're there!

Last time I talked about the need for us to have friends that have common goals and jobs. One of the things I like about Camp NaNoWriMo, is that I am in a virtual "cabin" with a group of writers that are all working on their current writing projects. There are many "cabins" filled with many types of writers. My cabin is filled with women Christian fiction writers. Since the last Camp NaNoWriMo, we have stayed in touch through a facebook message chat and were able to sign up for the same cabin again this time. It's nice to go into the camp with people I am familiar with this time. 

Camp NaNoWriMo is different from NaNoWriMo, in that you have the choice of what part of your writing project you want to work on. NaNoWriMo is in November each year and there is a set goal of 50,000 words for everyone. I didn't do that this year, because I needed to work on editing. I am hoping to do it this next November and maybe finish my second novel during that time, if I haven't finished before then. There is also a Camp NaNoWriMo each July. Camp NaNoWriMo gives writers a great opportunity 3 months in the year, to have some dedicated time to work on their projects, while also building friendships with other writers.

Whatever kind of writing you do, if you do write, you can find a cabin that fits your style. It's a great way to form friendships with other writers. I encourage you to check it out. 

Proposal Update:

As I said, I have my first three chapters ready to go. I am also supposed to send my synopsis, author bio, information about other writing projects and information about my platform building. The platform building part is the part that worries me most. Even though I have tried to be diligent in my efforts in several different areas ie. facebook, instagram, twitter, blogger and my website, I can't control who subscribes, follows, shares, likes, joins, etc., etc.. I just hope my numbers aren't too low. From everything I have read and learned, my platform performance is one of the main things publishers look for. If you are a writer and you haven't started to build your platform, you may want to start learning about it, especially if you want to be published traditionally. Even though I started the platform building process because I was told I needed to, I have really enjoyed the process. I have "met" new people. I have had to learn and grow. I have had to break out of my shell and be more outgoing. I feel that through this process, I have really learned to spread my wings and it feels good. 

*I took a break after writing this post and listened to this short sermon. I think it was just what I needed to hear. God knows what I need for this proposal to be excepted. If He wants one of these Literary Agents or this Editor to choose to work with me, then I can trust that He will handle the details and give me wisdom to do what I need to do. 

Thanks again for coming. Remember to follow, subscribe, share and join my email list so you don't miss anything. Also, take a trip to my website. I try to add at least a couple new things there each week. May God bless you and your family. Have a great week!

In Christ,
Sandy

The Friendship of Tolkien and Lewis

Hello everyone and Happy Monday! If you are taking the time to read this, thank you for giving me part of your day. 😊 

A few weeks ago, I attended a play. Two of the three actors played the parts of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but my son was so excited about it and wanted us to go. So, several of us made the trip. 

As I sat in the audience and the play was about to begin, I realized that I should take notes. After all, two actors were about to "become" two famous authors right in front of me. The two older actors (at least they looked older), sat in chairs in front of the audience for most of the play and talked with each other as if they were indeed Tolkien and Lewis having one of their yearly visits. The play is called Lewis&Tolkien/Of Wardrobes and Rings. Maybe one day you will see them on a college campus near you.

One thing that struck me is the amount of knowledge these two men had to have in order to carry this off for an hour...two, I'm not sure, but there was no way my note taking could capture the amount of information these men shared.

The setting: two chairs, a couple of small tables, some food and tea on the tables. A talkative "waitress" came out every now and then. Simple, to say the least. The two main actors were portraying Tolkien and Lewis in their older years, bringing to life their longtime friendship. 

Tolkien and Lewis 

Tolkien and Lewis - Actors

I knew that Tolkien and Lewis had been friends, but I never put much thought into it before this play. They had so many differences as people and writers, but they still had a camaraderie that I think was something special. They corresponded, shared poems, quotes and had deep religious and political discussions. C.S. Lewis is the one who encouraged J.R.R. Tolkien to finish The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. Tolkien wasn't even a big fan of Lewis' novels, but being able to agree or disagree gave them a freedom of expression in their friendship, that made it even stronger, in my opinion. 

       
 

      

                    

   
Tolkien and Lewis were both well educated authors. They were Christians, although Lewis wasn't when they met. It was through a series of discussions, letters and poems with/from Tolkien, that Lewis eventually embraced Christianity and became a believer. The first poem Tolkien sent is called "Mythopoeia". 

"Mythopoeia" was created as a reaction to C.S. Lewis' statement that myths were "lies breathed through silver." The poem takes a position opposed to rationalism and materialism, referring to the creative human author as "the little maker" wielding his "own small golden sceptre" ruling his Sub-creation (understood as genuine Creation within God's primary Creation)."

The friendship between Tolkien and Lewis remained steadfast until Lewis died November 22, 1963. His death didn't receive the recognition it should have, because it was also the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I am sure, though, that at least one man did not fail to mourn the passing of that great author. 

New York Times Obituary

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.” 

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Why am I focusing on this friendship of theirs instead of their amazing novels? Because recently I have talked about writers needing interaction with other writers. I talked about going to writers conferences and I have mentioned becoming part of a local group of writers. I started attending a new writers group in October of '18. Usually it's just 4 of us. We share some of the writing we have done, even if it's just a journal entry. We don't write the same way and I'm the only fiction writer in the group. We are all Christians, but have different backgrounds and histories. Even though we are different in many ways, I feel so at home in that group. Maybe because even though we are different, we are similar in many ways, too. The feeling of kinship I get when I am around other writers is inexplicable. Maybe that's the feeling that caused Tolkien and Lewis to form their bond of friendship.

Just as Tolkien and Lewis inspired, encouraged and critiqued each other, we can also, with our own writing friendships. Maybe you aren't a writer. You can still be an encouragement to someone, who can also be an encouragement to you in whatever your life's work. Remember, I'm not only a writer, but a homemaker.  Friendships that encourage me in that area are also important. Making friends has never been my strong suit, though. Believe it or not, I'm a shy introvert. Unless I really feel comfortable in a situation, I will be the quiet one who goes unnoticed. The older I get, the more I'm trying to fight those natural inclinations to hide. I realize more and more how much I need friendships with people that know more than me. Friendships with people that have already learned things I still need to learn. 

Samwise Gamgee, The Fellowship of the Ring

Maybe I'm the only one who came away from that play with this message, but it has made me appreciate more the writing friendships I am forging and those I hope to forge in the future. 

I hope you will think about the friendships you not only have, but need. May God bless you with good friends.

In Christ,

Sandy

A Beginner's Look at SEO

A beginner's look at WHAT?

Happy Monday to everyone who found their way onto my site today! So glad you came and I hope you make my blog and website a regular part of your week. Don't forget to subscribe and join my email list, so you don't miss a thing. 

Now, to answer the question, "A beginner's look at WHAT?".  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. If you are an expert in SEO, I'm sure you won't learn anything new from me today, but you could probably comment with some helpful information for us who are totally new or very new to this concept.

I first stumbled onto this whole SEO thing, when I started creating my website recently. Now, it seems I am seeing "SEO" just about everywhere I look, as I am working to improve my blog and my website. Finally, over the last couple of weeks I decided I better try to figure out what this whole SEO information overload is all about. Information overload is an understatement. To top that off, most of what I read is WAY over my head. 

I tried to glean at least some information that may help those of us that want to improve our Search Engine Optimization. Basically, very basically, that means you are easier to find on Google searches. Some of you may be wondering what this all has to do with you. Well, it may not have anything to do with you, but if you do one of the following, you may want to start thinking about your SEO.

-Business Owner

-Author

-Writer

-Blogger

-YouTuber

-Representative for: Avon, Norwex, Thirty-one, Mary Kay Cosmetics, etc.

-Etsy

-Ebay

That, I am sure, is only a drop in the bucket. If you are going to do the work and take the time it takes to build your business or build a following, you need to do what will draw in those who will be most interested in what you are offering.  The competition for the time of each "consumer" is real. SEO is the competition between every online presence for drawing in viewers to their sites, pages, blogs, channels and so on.

Like I said, the amount of information out there is overwhelming and mind boggling. So, for myself and you I tried to pick some of the simplest tips to help us get started.

1. Write Unique and Consistent Content- You may or may not know this, but last month I celebrated the one-year anniversary of the start of my blog. 🎉 Through this past year, I have tried to consistently post every Monday or if I couldn't post, let people know I couldn't post that Monday and when I planned to return. I guess I have been doing this consistent SEO tip pretty well, without even knowing it. 😁 As far as unique content goes, I basically write about my Homemaker/Writer life and how I am learning to balance life. Since it is my life and my personal journey I am trying to document, it is unique to me. 💯

2. Link to other sites. Encourage other trustworthy sites to link to you- I do link to other sites, but I have not asked other sites to link to me. I'm not sure how to go about this, but it does seem like one of the more doable SEO tips for someone with limited techno skills. Here is an example for linking to someone else's site: These first two tips were learned from Neil Patel. To see more click here. 

3. Content is King, back linking is Queen and Video may be the spawn of the two- This came from the article, 101 Quick&Actionable SEO Tips that are HUGE by Anna Crowe. This article was written in 2017, but still manages to pop up as one of the first choices given when searching for SEO information for beginners. She did something right, obviously. 

4. Create long, engaging content- I've got the long content down pat. In fact I have been trying to make my content shorter, but evidently people actually visit sites that have more content. The question is...is it engaging enough? I have had over 5,000 views to my blog, which doesn't seem too shabby for my first year, but only a handful of people ever comment or follow. So, what does that mean? 

What brought you to my site? If you are a return visitor, what made you come back? What could I do to improve and make you not only want to come back, but also follow, join my email list, comment, share and so on. I can read what other people say I should do, but the opinions that really matter to me are yours. I have never made a secret of my inexperience, but if you have read me very long, you know that I am trying to learn and grow, as a Writer, Blogger, Wife, Mother, Nana, Christian......, so do you have any helpful tips that will help me with my SEO or make me a more engaging blogger?

5.Page Titles and Meta Description- Page titles is self-explanatory. You want your title to make the reader curious enough to click on your site. Sometimes the title comes easily for me and seems to fit perfectly, but other times, I can't seem to come up with one that really says what I want while being interesting or concise. I guess that too, is a learning process. Meta Description is also a new term to me. From what I can tell, it's the words that come after the .com in the web address. The Blogger site and my Wix website, both do this for me, so I have not had to learn this yet, but when I reach the point that I am buying my own domain, I imagine I will need to learn more about that. The idea though, is that the meta description needs to explain clearly what the article or whatever you are writing, is about. I believe that my blogger site makes my meta description the title of my blog, which seems good to me.

Ok, even those 5 little tips bring with them much more information than I shared, but just take one step at a time and improve. That's all we can do. Learn and improve and you will be heading in the right direction. 

Updates: If you haven't checked out my Website lately, you are missing a few new things. I have a contest going on to give away my book from my first Read Review last month. I also have posted that review. I have emailed out my first Newsletter, so if you want a copy of that, make sure to subscribe and join my email list. 

News: I am sooooo close to finishing the edits for my novel. I am probably within a few weeks of sending out my proposals that were requested of me by two literary agents and one editor. Make sure you join my tribe, so that you will be up-to-date on all the new things I am learning and doing. 

Thanks for stopping by and come again soon! May God bless you and your family. Seek His will for your life and follow Jesus. Desire to bring Him glory and you will be a success. 

In Christ,

Sandy

Updates and News

Good Monday morning! I'm glad you stopped by! Today I have a few things I want to cover, but I don't plan to keep you long.  

February's Book Review was True to You by Becky Wade. Check out my website later this week for my review of her book. It will be my first book to Read&Review. I enjoyed reading the book while also thinking about the different questions I plan to answer on the review. It's all in fun. I am certainly not working for Goodreads. 😀

Funny story...

Comment and fess up if any of you have done this. Ok, for the last several years just about every book I have read has been an ebook. I even read my Bible digitally most of the time. Well, I ordered True to You by Becky Wade as a paperback. I caught myself, at least 3 times, touching the right page to turn it!

Introducing March's Read&Review, The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz. This book won the Cristy Award 2018 in the category of Historical Fiction. No, I don't plan on reading every book this year that won a Cristy Award in 2018, but this is my category, so I couldn't pass it up. Here is the link, if you want to go ahead and get it to read in March with me. I am really looking forward to this one.

How would you like to win my copy of True to You by Becky Wade? If you didn't get to read it, but wanted to, I plan to give you the chance to win my copy. I should have more about that on my website soon. 

Did you get your copy of my very first Newsletter? I sent that out last week! 🎉🎉🎉 If I don't have your email, then you didn't get one, but you can remedy that right now. Look over there ↗ you should see a place to subscribe and a place for your email. So, if you want a way to connect, receive special updates and maybe a few other goodies I have planned, I need your email. No spamming, it is simply a way for me to keep you updated on my journey in a more personal way.

If you have visited my blog before, you may notice, I have been playing around with the layout, theme, font, etc. I've said before, I am definitely a novice on the technological side, but let me know how you like my changes. 

Lastly, if you did read True to You by Becky Wade. I would love to hear your opinions. No spoilers please, but comment below and let us know what you thought. 

Have a great week! I would love to hear from you. 📧😀 May God bless you and your family!

In Christ,

Sandy