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Switching from Blogger to WordPress — Guest: Natalie C. Markey

WordPress logo with text "versus" and Blogger logo

Last week, I announced my two workshops on WordPress for beginners. One workshop is geared toward those ready to invest in a paid website/blog, and one workshop sticks to free resources. Some might wonder why that second workshop focuses only on WordPress. After all, Blogger (also known as Blogspot) is […]

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March 19, 2013

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Do Authors Need a Website and Blog?

Blackboard with http://www and question mark with text: Free? Paid?

Today I’m opening two workshops to help beginners set up websites and blogs. With that in mind, I want to go back to “step one” and review why authors might need a website and blog. Years ago, authors could get away with pounding on their typewriter in seclusion and never interacting […]

March 14, 2013

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Goodbye, Feedburner! Hello, Ownership of Our Platform

Picture of Keys with text "Do You Own All the Pieces of Your Blog"

Months ago, I wrote about the death of Google Friend Connect (GFC). Many people who used the GFC social media and feed reading service couldn’t believe that Google would drop a service used by so many. When it died, people lost blog readers and newsletter subscribers. Rumors are swirling that Google […]

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October 2, 2012

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Goodbye, Google Friend Connect–Now What?

Image of Google Friend Connect badge widget

We’ve all seen the Google Friend Connect (GFC) widgets on websites and blogs we visit.  Some sites have asked us to join GFC to qualify for a contest or giveaway.  On our own blogs, we enjoy seeing the avatars of our readers (and the numbers of our “members” go up). […]

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February 28, 2012

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What Makes You Feel Legitimate?

Sign: Authorized Personnel Only

Last week, we had a great discussion in the comments about whether we call ourselves writers or authors.  In general, we agreed that while we don’t judge others by what they call themselves, we each have our reasons for what we call ourselves.  Many echoed the idea that we want […]

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February 2, 2012

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Do You Call Yourself a Writer or an Author?

Close-up of a man's suit

Recently, the Awesome-Dipped-in-Glitter (TM) Kristen Lamb pointed out that “aspiring is for pansies.”  We are not aspiring writers. Aspiring: to have a plan, desire, or hope for something. Writer: a person who writes. If we put those together, that means an aspiring writer is a person who plans, desires, or hopes […]

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January 24, 2012

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How Tightly Do You Control Your Blog?

Royal castle guard at Stockholm

We’re in the middle of the Pitch Your Shorts pitch session with Entangled Publishing.  If you have a 10-60K word story with strong romantic elements, check out that post for details on how to pitch to six(!) editors. During the pitch session, I’ve had to lock down comments to make sure things […]

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January 12, 2012

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Are Writers Entrepreneurs?

Neon open sign

Have you ever visited a restaurant where the food was fantastic, but the service was atrocious?  I’ve known several places like that.  People who love to cook might dream for years about opening their own place—and then once they do, the restaurant fails. Why?  Because the skill of being a […]

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October 6, 2011

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Are All Distractions Bad?

Most writers have day jobs and families to take care of, so our writing time is precious.  Yet the hour we had set aside for writing instead often goes to…something else. I’m no exception.  I’ve spent too much “writing time” playing on Twitter or reading blog posts, etc. Sometimes I […]

August 30, 2011

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Milestone Contest – Prize: Me! Wait…er, What?

Open gift box with streamers coming out

My one-year blogiversary is coming up on July 12th.  The occasion has me doing something I don’t normally do: math.  Eek! This is my 101st blog post, and during that time, this blog has passed 100 Google Friend Connect followers, 250 RSS subscribers, and 1500 comments (not including mine).  I […]

June 28, 2011

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