Writers' Blogs - To Use or Not To Use

With the number of social media outlets available, many writers have started some chatter about how useful blogs are in their networking and promotion efforts. I can see the appeal of tools such as Facebook and Twitter -- they offer quick and immediate ways to spread information and, in the era of the sound bite and the short attention span, some 140 well-placed characters can do as much for an author as a well-honed media kit.

But I think there is a place for blogs, too -- it just depends on why and how the author chooses to use it. As an avid reader, I love reading author blogs where the authors truly try to build a community. Where the author not only shares the ups and downs of the writing life but some of her personal ups and downs as well. I respect a person's right to privacy so I appreciate it when an author chooses to share a little more than the usual. A writer who writes her blog in deep POV is a writer whose books I am sure to love.

What about you guys? Do you think there's a place for writers' blogs when there are so many other ways to network, promote, and connect? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,
bex

Writing A. D .D.

Does anyone else feel like they suffer from writing A.D.D.? I love to read and I savor so many different kinds of books but this passion often undermines my writing. Every time I finish a good book and I set it down, I tend to want to write one just like it.

I am working on a Young Adult book right now (really psyched about it) but as soon as I finish it I want to start something completely different. A romantic suspense, a women's fiction piece, a category romance. I want to do it all, but my business sense tells me that such a varying degree of interests, at least at the outset, is probably not the best way to build a career. I do have a few more YA ideas in the hopper, all with voices vying to be heard, so it's not as though I want to abandon those stories. I just wish there was more time in the day, more energy in my reserves, and more skills behind my craft so that I could write tighter and faster and evolve into the prolific writer I truly want to be.

I know if I stick to it, things will happen in their own time. For now, I need to keep up the good fight each day and hone that focus.

What about you guys? Any of you out there suffering from writing A.D.D.? Inquiring minds want to know!

xoxo,

bex