Everyone Complains but Nobody Does Anything

Confession time. I love to talk about the weather. And not just when there's nothing else to talk about. I listen to people complain "I don't understand why it's so hot (or cold) (or rainy) (or dry)." Well I do understand. I listen to forecasters talk about fronts and cells and air flow, and I soak it all in. I love watching storm footage, radar coverage, 3-D Doeppler images with color and jagged lightning graphics and all that cool stuff.

But I don't usually share my font of weather knowledge with others because I've learned something. People don't care. No really, they don't. People would rather complain to other people and then shake their heads and say, "Well, that's Michigan for ya." When I do try to insert my weather knowledge into the conversation, I have their attention for an average of 37 seconds before their eyes glaze over and they start nodding and saying "uh huh."

Kind of like when a writer talks characterization with a non-writer. Or when a baseball fan starts talking about batting averages. Or when a cook discusses the benefits and drawbacks of cooking with cilantro.

What makes your eyes glaze over? Let's start a lively discussion. No glazed eyes allowed.

Weirdness Welcome

So after a long hiatus I'm going to start blogging about the weirdness in my life again. This is part of an exercise through my writing group Deadwood Writers. Blogging is still new to me, and this blog is a work in progress. Feel free to comment and critique. I admit I haven't spent a lot of time following other people's blogs. Once in a while I read my Facebook friend Doranna Durgin's blog http://www.networkedblogs.com/blog/wordplay_347129. She posts interesting stuff about her dogs and their agility work and about her horse,  Duncan. Sometimes her beagle, Connery, will post entries that I read because they are "bawhsome"! And I'm one of those goofy pet people who say "awwww" and tear up at the thought of a beagle sharing his blog thoughts with humans.

I'm keeping this entry short cause I'm going to try to go "public" with it, and I don't want to get bogged down in a long entry today. My life being what it is, something weird is sure to happen soon, and I'll post it right away. Cause sometimes you just need to share the weird in life. Please join me.

Writer Thing 2 and the Future of Things to Come

I'm with everyone else, or at least Wendi, who said that setting up the blog was easy enough. I've hesitated to do a blog before now because I didn't really think I had anything to say. No, more accurately, I think what I have to say is better said in book form.

Some of the lists I'm on discuss the value of blogs as a marketing tool, but the jury's still out on whether they're effective or not. I subscribed to a couple of blogs as part of this Writer Thing. One is called The Graveyard Shift by Lee Lofland. Lee blogs about various and sundried law enforcement things, which I find interesting even though my sleuth is an amateur. The other blog is called Jungle Red Writers, and it's posted by a group of mystery writers. I think group blogs are covered in an upcoming Writer Thing.

How to use a blog to ensnare readers? Ya got me. I'm told you should have a hook like cool law enforcement stuff or a groovy group of writers. Right now I have a messy table, two awsomely cute doggies, and one spouse (currently asleep in front of the TV). Something to blog about? I'm thinkin' not.

Future things to consider blogging about? Well my book has an actor for a main character, so I could do some research about things that might appeal to actors or acting students. My story is set in the motion picture industry and my MC runs a small studio-two more possible hooks. My characters live in a mansion in LA that's been converted to apartments (or condos). Maybe Southern California architecture? Some of my supplemental characters are involved in cultural pasttimes. Some are even into counterculture. More hooks? I have one character who works on film restoration when he's not on set. Also, I understand there are a couple of fairly good sized universities in LA. Could be there's something interesting going on at one of them.

Will some poor soul out in cyberspace be even remotely interested in anything I have to say about these or other subjects? Stay tuned.

Harness Racing? Writer's Thing 1

Q. How can we as writers harness the power of these new technologies to develop a presence and use the tools to create, communicate, collaborate?

Well, that's the question. It seems like the writers (mostly midlisters) who post on my listservs are all asking this same question. There are experts and marketers galore who love to share their advice. Some even think that most of this Web 2.0 isn't useful to marketing (or developing a presence).

The general wisdom seems to be that a writer should pick a few technologies and use them well, rather than use all technologies in a half-assed way. They (is that the royal they?) say to be sure to measure your responses, so you can track what works and what you should put aside. The downside is that every minute you spend updating your blog or your wiki or creating your YouTube video or posting new pics to your website is a minute you aren't writing. For those trying to make some sort of living at writing, it becomes a balancing act. How much time do I spend at what marketing activities to sell enough books so that I can keep writing for a living without starving to death. Most of the writers I know agree that publishers aren't going to market for you unless you happen to make the bestseller list regularly.

And, tying in my title, there are statistics that show we're all in a race against time before people give up reading for pleasure entirely. So I've decided to formally change my name in order to help market my work more effectively.

Henceforward, I shall forever (or at least for now) be writing under the name . . .

Victoria Sue Janet Clancy King Evanovich Grafton Wright

Hello World

So I'm setting up this blog as part of a study group project for Deadwood Writers. We're talking and blogging about 23 things we can do on the web these days. We'll see if I keep it after the project is completed. They say a writer should have blog to keep in touch with readers and find new readers. Well I don't have anything published right now, so I'm not sure how much that applies to me.

More to come.