Congratulations to Shannon Lawrence on the recent release of her story in Amazing Monsters Tales, Issue 2: Monster Road Trip. The anthology also features other Pikes Peak Writers – see the list below.
About the Anthology:
Monsters start growling…head out on the
highway!
Ten tales of road trips, vacations, tourist destinations, and pits stops that go horribly, horribly wrong. These monsters are out for adventure! But they may not have filled up the gas tank first. Put on your shades, slather on your sunscreen—especially if you’re a vampire!—and load your swimsuit and your best beach bod in to the car, because it’s time to roll out for the summer—scales, tentacles, and all!
Featuring stories by:
Mark Leslie • Ron Collins • Shannon Lawrence • DeAnna Knippling • Jeff Wood • Rebecca Hodgkins • Jamie Ferguson • Meyari McFarland • Jason Dias • Sharon Kae Reamer
About the Author: A fan of all things fantastical and frightening, Shannon Lawrence writes primarily horror and fantasy. Her stories can be found in over thirty anthologies and magazines, including Space and Time Magazine and Word Horde’s Fright Into Flight, and her short story collection Blue Sludge Blues & Other Abominations is now available. When she’s not writing, she’s hiking through the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings, where, coincidentally, there’s always a place to hide a body or birth a monster. Find her at www.thewarriormuse.com
Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. If you have a Sweet Success to share please contact her via email.
Social media is about
interaction, networking and engagement. If you authentically engage with other
users of a hashtag, you’ll create a genuine experience online. That experience
is why people are on the platform in the first place.
The great marketer Seth
Godin repeatedly says, “People don’t buy products. They buy experiences.”
Think about Jeep owners.
Rugged, athletic, outdoorsy. They’re part of a club.
Patagonia. Subaru. There is
almost a cult following for brands like these.
While I’m not advocating you
build a cult and head to South America, I am definitely telling you that
creating an experience with you, a real person, is important to potential
readers. Readers buy from people they know or think they know. The most common
place for people to do that is on social media. That’s where hashtags come in.
Hashtags are basically categories for posts.
If you click on a hashtag
you see in Tweet or Instagram Post, the system will take you to every tweet or
post that includes that hashtag. It’s a nice way to categorize topics, and it
makes it easier to find information. That’s the basics.
But another reason to use hashtags is to help build your following.
Reach
like-minded folks.
You’ll want to use hashtags in your posts is to
reach like-minded users and hopefully bring them into your author brand online
space.
If you’re looking for readers of paranormal romance,
then you’ll want to scroll through all the posts or tweets with the
#paranormalromance hashtag.
Engage with
them.
Once you see what those readers or writers are
posting, you can like, comment or share their posts, or even follow them. These
actions encourage that person to do the same for you.
Help folks find
you.
You’ll want to use hashtags as well, so people can
find you. If you write #westerns, then use that hashtag to put yourself in
front of readers of westerns.
Make sure whatever you post is interesting and
reflects your brand.
Another very
cool reason to use hashtags is to connect with publishing industry
professionals. #MSWL
is Manuscript Wish List. This is
when literary agents post exactly what stories they are looking for.
But don’t be a stalker.
One thing you’d probably not
want to do is overuse a hashtag.
On Twitter, don’t use more
than 3 hashtags. I really encourage only 2 and put them at the end of your
tweet, so it doesn’t clutter the tweet and make it harder to read.
On Instagram, one or two in
the original caption is best. Then, put up to 30 in first comment. Yes, 30.
So you don’t come across as
a relentless stalker of a particular hashtag, I recommend you create five to
seven different lists of hashtags that you can rotate.
To help you do that, I’ve
compiled a list of hashtags most common for readers and writers at the end of
this post.
Make it easier on everybody.
Hashtags just make life a little easier on social media. Platforms are just so crowded with posts or pics, vids, tweets and other stuff, using hashtags is a way to help break through the noise. For you and for your reader.
Jennifer Lovett is the founder of Writer Nation, a podcast and Facebook group dedicated to helping writers market their work. With 17 years communications experience, she regularly writes on social media, internet marketing and face-to-face publicity. She currently lives in South Korea and travels around Asia for fun. You can find her on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest: @jennylovett
Congratulations to Wendy Terrien on her upcoming release, The Forge of Bonds (Feb. 25, 2020 from Camashea Press).
The latest installment of Wendy’s award-winning YA contemporary fantasy is a coming-of-age story where friendships thrive despite adversity—and ultimate danger. With loyal dogs Shay and Finn, Rampart Guard Jason Lex and Yowie Sadie Callahan continue their quest to protect humankind from the malevolent cryptids among them. Check out the entire series on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers world-wide.
PRAISE FOR THE
BOOK
“The
undeniable strength of Terrien’s writing is not in the action scenes (although
they are exhilarating and adeptly rendered), or in the plot (which is
intelligently designed and skillfully executed), but in her ability to warmly
express the very human nature of her characters as they stumble, grow, and
triumph, always with the genuine support of one another.” — Colorado Book Review
Wendy Terrien
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
International bestselling author Wendy Terrien received her first library
card at age two, and a few years later started writing her own stories. She is
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2017-2018 Independent Writer of the Year.
Her debut novel, The Rampart Guards (February
2016), earned a Kirkus starred review and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best
Books of 2016. The novel is a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist,
a Next Generation Indies Award Finalist, and is the first in her intriguing
urban fantasy series. The next two books in the series are The League of
Governors and The Clan Calling (August 2017). The Clan Calling was a finalist in the 2018
San Francisco Writers contest.
Sweet Success is coordinated by Contributing Editor, Darby Karchut. If you have a Sweet Success to share please contact her via email. Darby is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. Her latest book (lucky number thirteen), DEL TORO MOON, released October 2018 from Owl Hollow Press. Visit the author at her website.11-12-2019 8:20 AMSweet Success
Happy holidays! I hope you’ve gotten through Thanksgiving
without too much trouble, and Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve and
Day are just around the corner. What’s coming up for your writing year next
year? What important dates do you have coming up? Any plans at all?
Start Planning Now
Now is a good time to start planning out your writing year for 2020. What DO you have coming up? Deadlines? Conferences? It’s good to get these things planned out ahead of time so you don’t have any conflicts. I started using a planner this year and it has helped tremendously for deadlines as well as personal events like baby showers.
I use an old school planner notebook to plan out my writing
deadlines and what I want to accomplish for the year, but if you’re techy, you
can use your phone or tablet. I like to get the pretty planners, and a nice
pen, though if you use pencil, you can easily erase if you need to move up or
push back a deadline (which I’ve done a lot in the past).
What to put in your planner?
The obvious is deadlines you have. When you plan to have your book finished, sent to the editor, when you’ll be revising, etc. It may seem like micro-managing, but if you have an open-ended date to get your book finished, will you finish it? I base my deadlines on when the next comic cons are in Colorado Springs, so cons usually go into the planner first. I like to have a new book out for those. Since I self-publish, I need that date so I know when to submit the book and have it printed and sent in time for the Con. Deadlines have a way of sneaking up on you. “Oh, crap, that’s tomorrow?”
Plan for Writing Conferences
Regarding conferences, you’ll want to plan that out to take time off from work if needed, and to make your reservations. It’s helpful, too, if you put reminders in your planner a month or so ahead of time. That way you know what’s coming up. [Don’t forget PPWC2020!]
Don’t Forget Social Media
Do you plan out your social media content? You should! It
keeps you engaged with your readers. I Google holidays and national days for
each month and plan my content around that.
January 1st is National Bloody Mary Day, February 17th
is Random Acts of Kindness Day (I have these in my planner for next year). You
can plan a theme for the month, or just randomly post each day or week. If it
ties into your book or series, all the better! Social media users like to read
about personal things, too, like how you spent your day, or see photos of you
at different events.
Contests
Contest deadlines. If you plan on entering contests
throughout the year, you will need to know when those are. When to start
writing your submission (if needed), the deadline to send it in by, and when
they plan on making the announcement of the winners.
Why Plan?
Why plan out your writing year? It helps you stay on track with deadlines, and keeps you engaged with readers. You may not stick to it religiously, but it helps you to know what’s coming up and you can always make adjustments to it, and you won’t be surprised when the Pikes Peak Writers Conference comes up on April 17-19, 2020, almost a month earlier than 2019. Happy planning!
Margena Adams Holmes was born in Bellflower, CA sometime in the 1960s. She has always had a love for both reading and writing, writing her first song/poem in 1st grade. Margena is a big supporter of indie authors and will read anything that draws her into the story. She is an observer of life, and many everyday things could (and do!) end up in her writings. Her publications are available through her author page. Contact Margena via email: jedi_anegram@hotmail.com.
Darby Karchut, is over the moon to share the news that her latest middle grade fantasy, THE RED CASKET (the sequel to the award-winning DEL TORO MOON) releases January 14from Owl Hollow Press.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Never trust a witch.
For four hundred years, generations of the Family Del Toro and their battle-savvy warhorses have secretly guarded their corner of Colorado from all things creepy. But when a menacing woman with some wicked witch powers shows up at the Del Toro ranch and demands the return of the Red Casket, twelve year old Matt Del Toro must team up with his best friend Perry—along with the warhorses Rigo and Isabel—to out-wit, out-ride, and out-fight one Viking-size sorceress.
“A thoroughly joyful adventure filled with humor, mystery,
and the best group of talking warhorses a kid could ask for!” – Lija Fisher, author of The Cryptid Catcher
Darby Karchut is a multi-award winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby is busy wrangling words. Her thirteenth novel, DEL TORO MOON (Owl Hollow Press) was the 2019 Colorado Book Award Winner for Juvenile Literature. THE RED CASKET (the sequel to DEL TORO MOON) releases January 2020. Visit the author at www.darbykarchut.com
Darby is also PPW’s Sweet Success Coordinator. If you have a Sweet Success to share please contact Darby at: SweetSuccess@pikespeakwriters.com
Congratulations to Sara Gallagher! This Manitou Springs writer has launched Fierce Womxn Writing, a podcast designed to elevate womxn’s voices, ignite creativity, and inspire people to write more. Listen for free on your favorite podcast platform or at www.fiercewomxnwriting and make sure you connect with Sara on Instagram
Sara Gallagher holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Bay Path University. She is a former arts writer at the Colorado Springs Independent, and spent many years grant writing for non-profits in the Pikes Peak region. Sara feels most like herself when she’s helping people access their creativity. Her current project is a cookbook memoir on fruitcake baking.
Sweet Success is coordinated by Contributing Editor, Darby Karchut. If you have a Sweet Success to share please contact her via email. Darby is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. Her latest book (lucky number thirteen), DEL TORO MOON, released October 2018 from Owl Hollow Press. Visit the author at her website.
Today, here in the USA, families and friends will sit down to share a meal surrounded by laughter and love. Today, I too will sit with my family and new friends, and we will share a meal together. I will think of my family who have passed and those who are too far away to wrap my arms around.
I will also be thinking of you. All of you who ever jotted down a poem, wrote a master thesis, published research, slugged out an epic novel, merrily created a song, or quipped a short story. To every writer who ever touched pen to paper, I say THANK YOU.
Thank you for sharing your heart, your talent, your knowledge, your fears, and your love. Not only have your words taught me to be a better writer, but they have also taught me to be a better person.
Thank you for the adventures through Wonderland, Whoville, and The Shire. The visits to Mars, Dune, and The Foundation were amazing. I will always treasure my Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy too. It is because of these, and so much more, that my world is so rich.
Today I say my thanks to you all, but know this…. I am grateful for every word you have shared with me – everyday.
November’s Write Brain event featured Trai Cartwright, a veteran in the entertainment industry, who shared her expertise on how utilize new media to create a personalized marketing campaign. Trai encouraged us to begin thinking of ourselves in terms of being a corporation as we approach this task, and offered key insights into how to effectively find our audience and reach them through a multitude of platforms. I was impressed with how Trai not only offered advice, but also kept a spotlight on the importance of how personal and authentic marketing needs be in order to be successful.
What is Write Brain?
Write Brain sessions are free mini-workshops on the craft of writing, business of writing, and the writer’s life. They are a dynamic part of PPW’s interaction with the writing community, both in Colorado and beyond. We hope you’ll join us! Write Brain is held in Colorado Springs on the third Tuesday of most months. For more information on future Write Brains please visit PPW’s website.
Debbie Lane is your host at Write Brain and provided this recap of Trai’s presentation. Having always been an avid reader, she feels honored to follow in the footsteps of her literary heroes as she now works to become the best writer she can be.
Are you getting FOMO? The Fear of Missing Out by not
being on Instagram? Well if you aren’t using it, you should. It’s the hottest
social media platform out there and the fastest growing. According to Statista,
Instagram now boasts more than 500 million daily active users. That’s daily.
Twitter has only 126 million. It’s
nowhere near Facebook’s 1.5 billion daily users, but it’s gaining, and gaining
fast. And Americans report more engagement on Instagram than on Facebook on a
daily basis these days.
So how do you take advantage of Instagram as part of
your author brand?
Use
Stories!
Hashtags
Galore & Engage!
Your
Feed!
Use Stories.
Stories are showing the most engagement these days.
Since you are a storyteller, this one is a no-brainer. Tell a story with a beginning,
middle and end. Even if you’re doing a story about pizza (the most common food
pic on Instagram), create the story: the search for pizza, the finding of the
pizza, the eating of the pizza. Anything can be a story.
There are several ways to create the story.
Type
Music
Live
Normal
Boomerang
Superzoom
Hands-free
Type is a simple post
with text with creative fonts on fun backgrounds.
Music – add music to
your story by choosing the song on this tab before capturing your video
You can go Live and tell the world what you’re
up to, just like Facebook Live, only this will fade off Instagram after 24
hours.
You can do a Normal story and create it with
photos and/or video. Video is only 15-seconds.
Boomerang is
a burst of photos that repeats over and over. Like a wave or jump in the air or
opening a book.
Superzoom
– really focus on something and zoom in on it Add music to make it sound creepy
or funny.
The Hands-free
feature just allows you to create video without having to keep your finger on
the record button.
Hashtags Galore & Engage!
Hashtags
are super important on Instagram so people can find you. Choosing the right
hashtags will put you in front of potential readers.
For a
regular Instagram post, I recommend only two hashtags in the main caption. Then
add up to 30 in the first comment. Make a list and rotate your hashtags so you
aren’t stalking the hashtag.
For
stories, you can simply add hashtags to the Story so people can see them, or
you can add them and then put a sticker or shape over them to hide them.
Distraction
and engagement are why people are on social media. The more compelling,
interesting, funny and creative your posts, the more people will enjoy them.
It’s important to be a presence on Instagram to make it work. That doesn’t mean
simply posting photos, slapping on a few hashtags, and then ignoring it. This
isn’t a “build it and they will come” scenario. You must engage.
Find the
hashtags that represent your author brand, your community, your interests and
likes. Then start liking and commenting on those. Be a presence.
Your feed!
There is
debate in the Instagram world about the effectiveness of your feed these days
with Stories taking off. Tyler J McCall, Instagram Guru and Coach, recommends
feed posts only every other day or so and to concentrate on your Story.
That being
said, your feed should look like your author brand. What is your brand? What
are your themes? The Instagram feed represents the window in the
window-shopping metaphor of people looking to find others to follow. If your
feed is a jumbled mess, then it’s unclear what you’re offering.
Look at
other authors in your genre and see what they are posting. Do they have a
theme?
Try
celebrities you like. What is their theme?
Sometimes
that’s a certain dominant color. Other times it’s a regular pose, like with a
book reading or playing with the dog. Other times it’s a certain camera angle.
The possibilities are endless, so get creative. Think about your author brand
and the themes and messages in your books. What can you out of those to make
part of your theme?
Instagram
is the fastest growing social media platform out there. If you are considering
social media for your author brand and you like photos, I recommend jumping in
the Instagram deep end. It’s not as overtly political as Facebook. And it’s not
as time-consuming as a YouTube channel. It’s a fun platform and who knows, you
might even find some new friends.
Jennifer Lovett Herbranson is the founder of Writer Nation, a podcast and Facebook group dedicated to helping writers market their work. With 17 years communications experience, she regularly writes on social media, internet marketing and face-to-face publicity. You can find her on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest: @jennylovett
Are you doing NaNo? Do you know what day it is? How are your fingers holding up? Had a shower recently? Where is your family? Are you a Wrimo? Odd questions? Maybe not. Here’s one more: Did you hit 25,000 today?
If you haven’t already heard, NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month) is an event that brings writers together from across the globe in order to write a 50,000 word novel in a single month. Today, November 15, 2019 is the middle. The halfway point. Today you should hit 25,000 words.
Here are a few numbers that you might also like to know:
In 2018:
• There were 403,542 participants (including 108,146 students and educators in the Young Writers Program). If all the participants finished, with an even 50,000 words each, that’s 20,177,100,000 words written in a month!
• 978 volunteer Municipal Liaisons (these are your local organizers and inspiration guides) guided 655 regions on six continents.
• 1,176 libraries, bookstores, and community centers opened their doors to novelists through the Come Write In program.
Who Does NaNo?
Thousands (367,913 to be exact) of NaNoWriMo novels have been completed, and hundreds have been traditionally published as a direct result of NaNo. Here are just a few:
The numbers are amazing to achieve, but the end result is what matters the most. If you write 25,000 words or 75,000 words, or even a simple outline of 200 words, you have started what many people only dream of…you will have drafted a novel. You will have joined the ranks of writers who are doing what they love, not just dreaming about it.
To everyone participating this year… You’re halfway there! KEEP ON WRITING!
Managing Editor, Kathie “KJ” Scrim, is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her inspiration for blogging, flash fiction, short stories, and the long haul of novel writing comes from her many life experiences. When she’s not writing you can find her somewhere in Colorado walking, hiking, or rock climbing at the local gym.
