I didn’t think enough ahead to find a poem for Poetry Friday this week but I will point you to this week’s roundup at Sara Lewis Holmes’ Read Write Believe.
So instead of poetry, I’ll try a Five on Friday before it turns into Six on Saturday.
1. Tomorrow I am teaching (with the talented Lynn Hazen) an in-person hands-on (bring your laptops) intensive class in social media. Then I need to decide if I am going to do another group class online or perhaps switch it to an individual, one-on-one email type of class. At the same time I am balancing my own potential online frustrations, wondering if I should keep just this blog going, start (restart) a writing only one elsewhere and keep LJ for community chit-chat? I am feeling unfocused in my own blog and, okay I’ll admit it, jealous of people who have a more single focused blog so they can pull everything together under one umbrella and it works for them. I don’t know that where the blog is hosted makes any difference in getting readers, I think it is all about the content. But still there are things that other blog sites offer more easily that are not available here on LJ.
2. I am making progress on Flyboy. I think the partial needs just one more chapter before I can go back and tear it all apart to see what’s missing, work on the synopsis, and get it out to my critique pals to read for me. Of course the degree of personal interest in working on Flyboy today is in direct opposition to the amount of stuff I have left to do for #1.
3. Speaking of critique pals, I am thinking about expanding my circle. I’m looking for a few novelists to maybe swap stories with in the future – contemporary YA or MG. This would be online/virtual exchanges. If you are interested, leave a note in the comments and I’ll get back to you with more details. If you write other stuff that’s fine but this group would be strictly for YA/MG contemporary novels.
4. There’s still time to leave your questions for Bonny Becker who will be writing a guest blog next week on writing picture books. Post your questions for Bonny here: http://susanwrites.livejournal.com/237583.html
5. I am trying to talk myself into or out of buying this.
I’m curious what you think other sites offer that LJ doesn’t.
Yah for your progress on Flyboy!
Javascript is the main thing. You can’t use widgets here and you can’t install Google analytics because it uses JS. Also lately I am having people tell me they can’t post Anonymously for some reason and leave it pretty open.
I am also trying to figure out if having all my blog thoughts mooshed together in one place is good or if I should have a focused one about writing and then use this one for the water cooler.
But I’m basically lazy and can’t see myslf moving everything…thou now I wonder if my blog design is too much me…heck, maybe the whole blog is. Grrr.
Re #5 – wow! That’s a beauty 🙂
Congrats for Flyboy.
Yeah, alas I fear now that my body is saying no to much coffee so I can’t rationalize it at all. I got out the coffee pot a few weeks ago and was trying coffee again (I so need help waking up in the morning) and my stomach is a mess and I started getting these bumps back on my fingers. So I guess I need to find a new morning routine. Bleck.
Congrats on your progress with Flyboy! I’m so glad to hear that his story is taking shape.
Good luck on the social networking workshop. I have so many conflicting feelings about this social networking stuff. While I’m comfortable with technology overall, some of this stuff leaves me feeling like a gawky, nerdy junior high student all over again. I’m very interested in hearing how things turn out for you and your class!
It is progress but of the VERY slow kind. Makes me wonder why I am working on it when Plant Kid is calling so strongly.
The social networking stuff is odd and I have a love/hate relationship with it all. I still, especially here on the blogs, feel like the gawky unpopular kid that people only talk to when they have to…that people don’t seek out because they want to spend time with, you know?
Some people in the class got a lot out of it. Some people still don’t think it’s for them and that’s okay, at least they know what’s avaialble.
#6 sure looks like a tax deduction to me! 🙂
LOL, alas, as I replied above to mirtlemist, I think I have to give up coffee. Not happy.