This year I am going to write in the NaNoWriMo contest again. I know there are people who love and hate this writing contest, but I think it’s kind of interesting. Some kind of accountability is always a good thing. Here’s to a successful NaNoWriMo.

My profile: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/214284

• Kindle Is Convenient But Not Always The Best Choice
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book
• Joining A Writing Group

Today I wanted to share what I think are important parts of a writers website. Whether its a  blog or a static site, I fell like these pages will give you the biggest return.

1. About Me One of the first things I look for when I visit a new site is an About Me page, especially if I’ve never met the person. Some things you may want to include are:

• Personal background
• Writing background
• Accomplishments
• Favorite things to do

Make it personal. Connect with the person reading. People want to relate.

2. Contact Me Give your visitors an easy way to contact you. Whether it’s a form they fill out, a simply email address, or phone number (or all of these), I think the most important piece is to have somewhere for the person to leave you a message.

3. My Books/Writings Give people a page they can see all of your writing. You can break it out into books, published articles, anthologies, poetry, what ever you are writing.

4. Writing Samples Give everyone a look at your style. It’s also a great option to have when someone wants you give them an example of your writing. If you write books, and have several published, create links for people actually buy your books. Yay! Make some money.

5. Tools One thing I really appreciate from a veteran writer is a list of tools that you have used, or you find useful. These can be software tools, writing tools, links to web sites, books to read, and other resource links. This can actually be an active part of your site if you update it regularly, and share what you find along the way.

6. Bonus: Blog Bonus page, is not really a page. But you should really have a blog. If you’re reading this blog post, you probably have a blog. If you don’t have a blog, let me know, I’d love to help you get started. It’s easier than you think. I believe its an invaluable resource and tool for every writer.

I need to incorporate 3, 4 and 5 better on this site. I have the pages, but they need a lot of work.

Thanks for taking time to read what I think are very important parts of a web site. Tell us what pages you think are important for writers to have in their web site.

• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• A Tribute To Wayman Tisdale
• Pushing Your Blog Post Above The Noise
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book

Today starts a 31 day writing challenge from the ProBlogger Darren Rowse. I did this a few years ago, and one of the post, Writing Catchy Blog Titles, is my all time number two for traffic coming into my blog. To learn more or to get started, visit this link.

Today’s challenge is to crate an elevator pitch for your business, service or blog. Since this is a blog, not a business or service, my pitch isn’t going to entice you buy something, but rather keep coming back to read what I hope are funny, emotional and informative posts.

My elevator pitch for this blog is “Programmer by day, Writer by night. It’s my take on writing as a moonlight career.”

I originally started this blog to document my writing journey. I got caught up in a mountain of excuses why I stopped posting, and why I haven’t complete, or even finished, and of my prose writing.

It comes down to priorities. You have to look at them constantly, at least I do. Priorities change, and I need to change with them. Some times that means not writing, or taking pictures. But it doesn’t mean I have given up.

Honestly, I wish the writers in my area were as willing to share as the group of photographers I’ve come to know. Photowalking Utah, and the recent PhotoCamp, has really helped in building a great community. Maybe I should put on a Utah WritersCamp.

Back to the subject at hand, teh elevator pitch. Everyone should have an elevator pitch for their blog or business.

• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• Pushing Your Blog Post Above The Noise
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book
• Joining A Writing Group

As all of you know, there are a large number of challenges when it comes to writing a book. There are so many I’m not even going to list them.

A month or so ago, my friend Jason Alba challenged us to write our book this year. Doesn’t matter the subject, only to get started writing. He has a lot of great points. I’m up to the challenge of writing my book, because I have several that I’m working on. And that’s the problem. Completing one project before starting another.

I guess you could say I have multi-tasking disease. I like to have more than one fire burning at a time. Generally this isn’t a problem, but I can definitely tell when I have too many fires, I feel the heat. This is also true for my writing. Which is a problem, because I start on projects, then never finish them, or it takes me a long time to find me way back.

I’ve come up with a writing plan, sort of a To-Do list, or Next Action plan, and I keep track of these projects in Evernote. I want my list of unfinished projects to be staring at me all the time. This isn’t the same as writing something and letting it simmer for a while. This is starting and then moving on before finishing.

How do you manage your writing projects?

• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• Joining A Writing Group
• Add Value In All You Write

Earlier in the week I attended the first meeting of what will become a local writers group. The group meets close tony house so that makes it real easy to attend.

Everyone shared the reason they were there, and I was surprised at the varied responses. Most were what I would call typical, and one was a little mystifying.

What I want out of the group is the occasional critique, how to write query letters and pitch stories, and the marketing of your books.

I think we will have a good time, but we will need some experienced published authors to join our group. I think it’s critical to our groups success.

So here’s to an interesting and exciting new journey.

Do you belong to a writing group? What are thevthings you like about your group?

• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book
• Add Value In All You Write

Today I put out a message on Twitter asking what people thought I should focus on with this new blog. The majority of comments suggested I have a focus and stay with it. Having a focus will allow visitors to know what to expect. And I couldn’t agree more.

My original intent with this blog was to document my journey as a writer, and I’ll still do that. But I also want to add some value to the readers.

While watching the streaming video of WordCamp Las Vegas this morning, Chris Brogan, someone who has a pretty good handle on social media and marketing, said something that was very prolific. His advice, quit writing about the tools (i.e. Twitter, FriendFeed), and start using them to enhance your world. Basically, get out from behind the wall and smell the roses.

I’m guilty of talking about the tools instead of using them to enhance my world. In fact, I deleted about 10 posts I had already started that were tool based. I thought telling you why writers should use Twitter or FriendFeed was the right thing too do. But I don’t think that way anymore. Rather than telling you about tools (which may happen from time to time), what I really want to do is talk about my experiences and how I got there.

For example, I’m a Twitter user. If you don’t know what Twitter is, I suggest reading this blog post. I use a tool called TweetDeck which monitors all of Twitters communications, and allows me to find information based on search criteria. I’m currently finding a lot of new writers, books, and websites via Twitter. The reason this has value to me is the information I’m tracking is relevant at this moment.

How is this going to help my writing? How can this help your writing? These are some great questions. I want to use the different streams of information to augment my life experiences, not be the experience. I think I spend more time than is necessary reading all this information. I’m not sure I really need that much.

• Do I Need A Sales Page To Succeed?
• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book

My focus for a long time has been writing fiction. I’ve never really thought about writing a non-fiction piece. But several months ago I was brain storming with a friend on a story I’ve wanted to tell for 20 years. Yeah I know, we all have a story that takes us 20 years to tell. But mine really did happen 20 years ago.

I have been hesitant to write this story only because I wasn’t comfortable with the writing style. And I wasn’t sure of all the facts 20 years later. However, my friend gave me a great idea. Take the elements of the story and write a fictional piece. And that was the answer. Right in front me this whole time.

I started putting the layout together:

1. Characters
2. Place
3. Time
4. Problem
5. Action
6. Results

I think over the next several days I’ll talk about these aspects of my story. Maybe you can help me along the way. Let’s tackle Characters first.

There are over twenty five people in the original story. Obviously thats too many for me to manage in this story. What I’m going to do instead is create one character who is the focal point, the protagonist. In reality it’s me, I’m the main character. But I’ll put my character in a situation I was never in. That will be the twist to the story, and allow me to write a fictional piece.

The next is my antagonist. In the real life story this character doesn’t exist. But I’m going to create one. Actually, it’s a group of characters with a very psychotic leader.

Next are the supporting characters. One is a very close friend of mine. Someone I work with, and trust. There are three or four more characters like my close friend only they aren’t in the story as much. My boss, who at times I think is playing both sides of the fence, but we’ll see. I thought about throwing in a love interest, but I’m not sure it would work in this story.

Some time ago I read that if you are not sure of the middle, but you have the beginning and the end already figured out, write those, then figure out the plumbing. That’s how this story will be written. I know the beginning, and I know the end. It’s the middle part that is made up and I still need to map out. Chris Brogan is a mind mapping Ninja. Learn more about it. It will make a huge difference in how you write.

• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book
• Joining A Writing Group

This is a poem I write a few years ago for a writing competition. I didn’t place, but it was a fun exercise. When I was in high school, I wrote a lot of poetry, mostly for my wife. Let me know what you think:

I’m always amazed at this time of year
Nature, slowing down, sleeping
Color dictates the mood, then falls to the wayside
In an ever eternal cycle
Breath seems to take form and float away
The flowers are gone and the leaves fallen
The birds are on a southern path
It’s only a short time, a pause if you will
Before a soft winter coat slowly falls and covers the ground

I know there are many different types of poetry. I’ve been working on a series of poems based on the music of Metallica. I know, it should be interesting. While I don’t consider myself a poet, writing poetry gives me an emotional outlet. I really like that.

Do you write poetry? If so, give us a link to your work. Thanks.

• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book
• Joining A Writing Group

The more I journey around the Internet, getting to know other writers, and reading posts on social network services like Twitter, the more I see links for sales landing pages. These are sites that usually have just one page calling you into action to buy a product or service. I’m amazed at the number of people selling programs that will help freelance writers make a gazillion dollars.

My focus is not the freelance market, but I almost feel left out of the loop. Is there that much money to be made as a freelance copywriter?

So here’s my point; I hear that literary markets are saturated and no one is making any money, but freelance markets are making six figures a year.

The question is, should I have a sales page for my stories and books? Is that type of marketing better than the traditional distribution system of putting a book on the shelf (which is a topic I want to discuss later)? I’m serious, maybe I’ve been doing it all wrong. Maybe all authors have been doing it all wrong. Hell, I’ll take a six figure income over a few thousand any day. If the sales page marketing solution works, we should all embrace it.

What do you think? What methods do you use to sell your prose?

• Add Value In All You Write
• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book

Every time I read the statement “the market is flooded with that genre of writing” I just want to throw up. I personally think people who make statements like that are trying to protect some kind of market share they feel is only theirs. I firmly believe it’s the reason a lot of good, or even great, potential writers stay in the closet.

I write what I want to write. Some of it’s for my own reading, or close friends, and some if for commercial use. I don’t have time to believe in statements that discourage what someone is trying to do. For example, I love to write Star Trek fan fiction. It’s more for me to explore the what-if scenarios I noted during the series. I don’t care if anyone ever reads them, but it helps me hone my skill, and I have fun writing about a subject that is exciting to me.

From a guy who’s just starting out, and wants to explore a lot of different subjects, I suggest you write what you like. I’ve wasted so much time worrying about what people will think, that I could have already written several novels.

Just write it. Write what you want. If you’re looking to make some money, do research and write what people are paying for. But don’t stop writing what excites you. I won’t.

What genre or types of stories do you write, and what excites you about it?

• Participating In NaNoWriMo 2009
• 5 Pages Every Writer Should Consider
• The Galactic Writer Elevator Pitch
• The Challenge Of Writing A Book
• Joining A Writing Group