CornerScribe

Archive for March, 2008

I’m taking a cue from e-Moms at Home and her Monday Motivation. I’m not into the reward (or punishment) like she is, so I’m just going to see how being publicly accountable works out for me.

Here’s what I’m going to do…

1. Announce each Monday what I plan to accomplish for the week.
2. Update by the end of the week and let everyone know how I did.

By Sunday night, I will

1. Go through my e-mail
2. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
3. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
4. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
5. Write one article
6. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
7. Spend two hours on the novel
8. Send one inquiry about guest blogging
9. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard
10. Find at least one new short story market

Wow, that sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Care to join me? List your goals for the week below, or leave a link to your own post.

It looks as if Entrecard has moved the Stumble exchanges into another forum. Since I haven’t seen anything to explain, I’m assuming the moderators are going to enforce the “must be Entrecard related” dictate on the promotions forum.

Will I be participating? I’m not sure, but I probably will from time to time. Will I promote posts that I feel are of low quality? No. When I run across a submission that I don’t feel that I can thumbs up, I usually try to find something else on the site I feel okay about stumbling.

I’m curious, how does everyone else handle this?

Updated to add:

Million Dollar Challenge has an interesting post about a stumble exchange there. Read through the comments to get a clearer view of how it works, and the potential problems of stumbling sites that aren’t “worth” stumbling. I never thought about one point that was made; if someone stumbles one of my posts that’s a bad one, then it makes visitors less likely to come back and view the good posts that I have.

Networking

Originally uploaded by paal

If you’re on Entrecard and have participated in the Stumble Exchanges, you’ve no doubt noticed that those have been shut down in the forums. You’re probably also wondering what you’ll do to promote your site now. Along those lines, I have a couple of suggestions. (more…)

I’m making some theme changes tonight, so if things look odd for a bit, that’s why.

Update:

Things look okay to me so far. The archives work, and that’s been a problem for ages. If you notice any problems, drop me a note or leave a comment here.

I know you’ve heard of social networking (Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.) If you’re like me and haven’t found a place you really like, then you may want to check out this site.

Goodreads

It’s a site for readers to track what they’ve read, are reading, and plan to read. You can find people who’ve read the same things and even compare book lists to see how similar your tastes are. If you’re interested, I’m Cornerscribe there. Look me up.

So far, I’m please with the site’s ease of use, and the ease with which you can find people to talk with about what you’re reading. If you’ve ever wished you had time for a book group, this site may be a good substitute.

I heard about them on NPR, but there are other book lover’s sites out there too. I haven’t tried any others, so I can’t speak to how they work.

LibraryThing

Shelfari

If anyone has others you’re using, post them here. Also, feel free to post your username if interested.

Since I’ve been sick, I’ve been struggling to pull myself back onto schedule. My creativity feels like it’s at an all-time low. It’s amazing how much physically feeling rotten has affected my writing.

So, here are a few tips I’ve come up with to help.

• Don’t be too hard on yourself. After all, when you’re sick, you’re supposed to take it easy, right? This one is hard for me; I want to push myself to get right back into things as soon as possible.
• Take better care of yourself physically. That means sleeping enough, eating right, etc.
• If you’re feeling up to it, get outside. Even if you just sit on the porch for a while, being outdoors can be a big help.
• Take yourself out. Go to dinner, the mall, a bookstore, anywhere you enjoy. Grab a coffee and watch the people. Take a notebook with you and jot down any ideas that come to mind.
• Ask for help. Whether it’s housework or your writing, ask for the help you need so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
• Tackle easier tasks first, if possible. I’ve been spending more time writing than editing, for example.
• Do something creative. This doesn’t have to be writing-related. You can knit, paint, draw, cook, whatever you enjoy. Once you start feeling creative again, it will carry over into your writing.
• Dig into your journal, notes, etc. This is a great time to pull out ideas you’ve been fermenting for a while. Since you’ve already been mulling it over, it will be easier to jump in and get started.
• Take some time to relax and read. Grab a novel, some blogs, a magazine, whatever. The relaxation is as likely to help as the material itself.
• Do something you haven’t done in a while (or ever). Again, this doesn’t have to be writing-related to be helpful.
• Take a nap. The rest will help, but that isn’t the main point. Put a notebook by your bed and tell yourself that you’ll remember, and write down, your dreams. With practice, you’ll find that you do it more and more regularly. I’ve written a couple stories loosely based on dreams I’ve had.
• Watch some television. Think about the basic plot line of the show you’re watching and how it could be changed. What would happen if the characters were moved to another place, time, etc? What if you changed their genders or their ages?
• Check the news. There are usually lots of interesting stories out there, if you avoid the mainstream media. Try news sites that cater to a specific niche, or use Google News to search for news with specific keywords.

If you’re struggling to find that creative spark, then I hope these tips help you. They’ve helped me over the last week!

This is one that I see in writing, and I hear in slang.

Bath is a noun; bathe is a verb. Note that bath has the short “a” sound (like cat), and bathe has the long “a” sound (like rake).
Examples:

1. You need to bathe the dog.
2. He really needs to take a bath.
3. When you bathe, you take a bath.

Well, so much for practicing what I preach.

Yes, I was ready for NaNoEdMo. I had blog ideas lined up so posting would be a breeze. I was all set, except for that little flu thing. So, no posts because I didn’t have a stockpile ready.

It just goes to show, it’s one thing to know what’s a good idea, another to do it.

I’m finally getting back to myself, and I’ll be back to a normal posting schedule too. Thanks for bearing with me.

Sorry about being away so long, but I’ve been down with the worst case of the flu I’ve had since I was a kid. I’m still not feeling particularly well, but I wanted everyone to know I’m still here.

I’ll try to get a post up tomorrow, if my head quits hurting long enough.

I’ve been trying to get better about responding to e-mail, and to do it more quickly. I find that I get a couple hundred messages daily, but most of those are either spam, newsletters, reminders, or other messages that I don’t really need to respond to.

And buried amongst those are the e-mails I DO need to respond to.

Here are a few things I’ve begun doing to help me master my inbox and stay on top of e-mail.

Create filters 

E-mail filters will help you to automatically organize your e-mails into those that you need to handle right away and those that can wait until you have some time. First, take a quick look through your inbox, sorting it by sender. Where are those e-mails coming from?

You can make several folders, one for each sender. If you prefer, put all of your non-critical e-mails into one folder. I prefer the former because it makes it easier for me to clean the folders out periodically.

Click one of the messages. You should have an option to create a filter using that message. In Thunderbird, you’ll find it under the Message menu. Once you’ve created the filter, choose the option to run it on the messages you have in your folder.

Depending on your inbox, you may need a few sessions before you get all the filters set up that you’ll need. Once you start seeing the benefit, you won’t miss the time it takes to get set up.

Yes, it felt great to see my inbox reduced so quickly!

Don’t do e-mail every day

This might seem counterintuitive, but it’s not if you think about it. E-mail takes a lot of time, especially if you try to respond to those who’ve emailed or commented on your blogs. Rather than doing that daily, I find that setting aside one or two days a week is better for me. I can get into the e-mail “mindset” and get a lot done in one sitting.

Another benefit is that I don’t allow myself to get bogged down daily with e-mail and not have time for other writing.

Purge! 

Be ruthless. Do you really read that newsletter? Do you need to get all the e-mail updates you’re subscribed to? Take the time to unsubscribe from as many things as you can. You’ll appreciate the lack of clutter in your inbox.