Tools of the Writing Trade

One month into the new year! How are you doing with your goals? Are you hitting your deadlines? Is your path as clear as you thought it would be? I set out to accomplish three major projects: a Tarot app for my book "Tarot, Birth Cards, and You", a short book on decision making, and a longer mystery.The app was set to be a year long project ... it is moving along nicely, even though it is not going to be quite what I thought it would be. I had planned to have my decision making book done by the end of January. The introduction is done, and the deadline has been extended to the end of March. My mystery will still be out by the end of the  year.

I found out one very important thing - I am on the right path, taking the right actions, but I need to make more time for myself. I cannot push myself as I always have - I need more down time, to just read a book, take a walk, or even take a drive. My life is going in interesting directions - I want to be grounded, centered, and ready to take on the opportunities that come my way.  

Knowing how to present and promote what I do is very important to m. I am going to share the links to some sites that present tools that helped me make better decisions about how to promote my work. I hope that you find them of interest too!

Theresa Reed, aka The Tarot Lady, has a whole slew of interesting tools of empowerment o n her site, The Tarot Lady. Drop by and take a look!

Katrina Wynn is offering a Professional Tarot Consulting Program with live, online classes, through the Global Spiritual Studies site - Professional Tarot Consulting Program.

Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad) offers coaching aimed at helping an individual build a personalized financial and cash flow plan, discover their mission, passion, and purpose, and map out where you want to go, and what you need to do to get there. Important for all individuals and entrepreneurs.

Need more time? Here are four simple ways to claim back your time!

(c) 2014 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without the written permission of the author.

Entering 2014 With Courage & Conviction

I ended 2013 by taking a respite from blogging for November and December. That was an excellent decision, as it allows me to go into 2014 feeling rested, strong, and surer than I have even been about my path. I will be continuing this blog,my Tarot blog, and my music blog. My astrology blog, and my flash fiction blog I am releasing, as they no longer serve a purpose. I bless them for being a form of communication and growth for me when I needed them.

I am changing how I blog ... from once a week to once a month. I may or may not choose to blog more than that, depending on what is going on in my life. I have just finished a writing project in connection with my Tarot work, and am going into the New Year with three major writing projects: a book on decision making that will be independently published (due out in February of 2014), a Tarot based app for my book "Tarot, Birth Cards, & You" (hopefully out by the end of 2014), and my first mystery novel, also independently published, with a target date of November 2014.

I am doing the promotions for a friend's event in November - Northwest Astrology & Tarot Salon -  which will allow me to meet in person many people that I currently know or have worked with only through the Internet.

I also plan on joining a Tarot organization that I have not been involved in for several years, and to join at least one women mystery writer's group, and one major mystery writer's group. This will allow me to network, and to get to know the world of writing, and the people in that world,better.

My gift to myself for 2014 is to set my sacred boundaries stronger, and to use the "no" word more. As my life evolves, I evolve.

Wishing you all a strong, productive 2014!

(c) 2000 - 2014 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without the written permission of the author.

Change Is In The Air!

 

It is time to change things up! I will not be doing a blog for the next two months. Starting next year, I will be blogging on a monthly, not a weekly basis. This will give me more time for my writing, and hopefully give me better focus on blog topics.

May November and December find you all in good health, and good spirits!

Blessings,

Bonnie

Facebook Apps - Part of Your Future?

 

Thanks to Dee Morrison (LAGirl13), the following article from Social Media Examiner crossed my path - 8 Facebook Apps To Enhance Your Facebook Page. Facebook and I have (somewhat) of an adversarial relationship, and I am not a techie in any sense of the work, so I wasn't sure about this. The one thing that I knew is that Dee provides links to articles with value, so whether I acted on the information, it would be advantageous to at least know what was out there, what was being offered.

Supposedly these little gems add "function and flair" to your Facebook pages. Some of the bling that we can add include storefronts, lead generation, and the ability to promote. That last one sparked my interest - as an author, I have books that I would love toget a better handle on promoting.

One of the first things that this article told me was that Facebook apps are also know as Facebook tabs, and that they appear under the cover photo. If the tab is going togo all the way across the cover photo, then it needs to be created within that width, to prevent the appearance of scroll bars on your tab.

It is also recommended that a custom tab cover photo be designed to draw attention tot he tab. The dimensions of the tab cover photo are 111 pixels wide by 74 pixels tall. 

Some tabs will not appear on mobile devices, There is also something called "like-gating", or "fan-gating". To tell you the truth, I don't understand this concept, but what happens is that when placed on a site, your Facebook content is kept hidden until someone clicks on the"like" button. Sneaky, eh! Perhaps not so, as it is used ot good advantage for contests, sweepstakes and the like.

I am not going to go into the eight specific apps - you can click on the link above and see exactly what tghe article has to say. If you are at all interested, it is time well spent! 

Interesting side note: if a page has more than four apps, click on the arrow on the right side of the cover photo's to have them all appear.

I felt that the article offered both pros and cons ...that it was balanced, and realistic. For anyone who uses Facebook for more than superficial chatting, it is worth reading.

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in all venues without written permission from the author. 

What Do You Want Your You Tube Video To Do For You?

 

Is doing a You Tube video a one time thing for you ... or do you have a plan? I have had a reason for putting up each of my videos ... but I made  he mistake of not connecting them ,,, of not branding myself on You Tube, if you will. So what can You Tube videos do for us, and how can we make best use of them?

First of all, I want to thank Mary Nale, the person behind 99% of my videos. She has great insight, great vision, and can make an awesome video  from just a few keywords and a general theme. If you are doing your own videos ... pat yourself on the back right now! If you are having someone else do them for you, take a moment out to send them thanks!

To make our You Tube videos work for us, we want them to be seen, we want people to connect to them, and we want people to subscribe, How do we do that? As with the written word, we want to provide valuable content ... content that people want and need. Content that they will share. Word of mouth is a tremendous asset in marketing, and in building up a following.

We want our content to be relevant, to appeal to the people that we want as clients/customers/readers. There are all kinds of videos that can be done, from those that talk about your services, to a tutorial on how something can be done (I love tutorials!), to information on a specific product. For authors, our product is our books. 

Something that I did not realize is that we can feature a video at the top of our You Tube channel when non-subscribers visit. I am going to have to look at that, and see which of my videos is something that I want so show there. Or ... I may do a video that defines me, and my work. I am going to need Mary's expertise with that one!

Doing a video that includes stats lets people know where you stand, and that you are doing your research. Numbers mean a lot to me ... I am sure that they do to others also. You could also share a video that gives feedback on your product. For writers, we could do videos that focus on feedback from our reade s. Or do a tutorial ... for writers that might include tutorials on outlining a book, developing characters, or the dreaded editing phase!

Guess what else we can do with videos! We can embed them in our blogs, or on our sites. A whole new world is opening up here!

Take a look at one of the videos that Mary Nale did for me: "Seek Joy ... Toss Confetti". You can contact Mary about her video work at marynale@attunemagazine.com.

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction in any venue prohibited without the written permission of the author.

Kungphoo.com

 

I have been following the blog for kungphoo.com on Google +. Excellent blogs, including the one today entitled "Homey Don't Play That!" It was this blog that made me decide to make this site the topic of my author's blog today. No, this is not a writing site. It is a site where you can market your product by joining different circles (buying, selling, and information are the three headers for the community of circles). They market themselves as a site that brings people together. Through their "circles" concept, you can target your interest,whether you are buying, selling, or gathering information.

With kungphoo.com a user can join a circle, create a circle, and share a circle. It is free to create a circle, and you can speak directly to anyone within the circle. This site can be used by individuals or businesses, to promote and grow whatever they are interested in. This is a free advertising and promotional platform. To become active within the site, you can either register for free, or sign in with Facebook. You can join a circle or leave a circle at any time.

The blogs are quite interesting, and talk about what the site has to offer. I just glanced through the FAQ, and it seems to hit the questions that I might want to ask.  The site is evolving, so I am sure that the FAQ will also. There is also a feature called "stir the pot". When you have a circle, and you are not getting the results that you want or need, Kung Phoo will get involved, and "stir the pot". Very col!

The current Hot Circles include: Free Women In Business Mentoring, Facebook Like Exchange - Free Advertising,Business Pinterest Follower Exchange, Free Friends For Life, Work From Home, Free Advertising Program, and Twitter Follower Exchange.

I was going to sign up through Facebook, but too much information would have been shared: public profile, friend lust, e-mail address and news feed. So, I did the free sign up. Basic information required - name, e-mail addy, user name, and password. I am now a member! I checked out a few keywords for circles, and it is clear that this site is in the beginning stages. This is a good thing! We can grow with it!

I think that I am going to have fun here! You may want to check this out ... you can have fun too! Especially if you want to promote your work!

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without the written permission of the author.

Twitter Founder Ev Williams On Getting Rich Online

This blog is my personal commentary on Twitter Founder Ev Williams comments at the recent XOXO conference in Portland, OR. (All these conferences ... so little time! ;-) ) If you want to see what Ev had to saw, check out this article on Wired.

So, as authors, why do we need to know about what the Internet can do for us? I am an Indie author, which means that I self-publish. Where I self-publish is on the Internet. (Yes, I could go through a local printer, store books in my garage, etc., but that really seems time consuming to me. I want to write books,not spend my time getting them in the market place and out to my readers.) Ev talks about getting rich online ... I perked up a bit at that!

Ev may have a few points to his credit - remember, he is the creative force behind both Twitter and Blogger. (No kick-backs are involved here. ;-) ) His secret - stay with something tried and true, so not attempt to be the next big change on the Internet, do not attempt to reinvent the wheel. I love that thought - find something that works, use it as a template ... only do it better! Writers have wonderful imaginations ... we can do this!

Ev sees the Internet as a problem solver ... people go to it to solve problems, and to give people what they want. As writers, we are giving our readers information, entertainment, and a way to feel good about themselves. No matter what genre we write in, each book, each story, each story line has a message to convey.

So how does Ev see the Internet as we know it today functioning? Through connections - through the follows, and likes, through multiple layers of people reaching out. Whatever we do on the Internet, and however we do it, it has to be convenient for those that we want to connect to us, and it has to be easy for people to understand and use. To quote Ev: "... the key to making a fortune online is to remove the extra steps from common activities", such as he did with Blogger.

It is up to us as writers to make the connection to our potential readership convenient, easy, and strong. However we connect, whatever social media sites we use,however we choose to publish our work, we can take out the unnecessary steps, streamline what we do, and make a comfortable living.

(c) 2000 - 2013 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited in all venues without the written permission of the author.