Spring Inspiration
April 30, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Louisa Bacio, May SubmissionsHelp For Those Late Night Fights With Your Blog
April 25, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Blogger, blogging, Blogspot, Jenny Hansen, OCC, OCC Slice of Orange, technology, Wordpressby Jenny Hansen
Technology has been a fluffy happy kitten for some of my friends and a scary jaw-snapping lion for others. Everyone knows it’s here to stay but that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be their Happy Place.
Last week, I saw an email from one of my blogging pals at 3:30 am because she’d set an alarm TO POST A BLOG. After fighting a migraine the day before. I’ll tell you what I told her: I don’t ever want to hear that any of us got up at an obscene time to post a blog!
For the love of your sleep (which is golden to me as a new mom) and your stress level in general, please schedule your posts!
If you are shaking your head and wondering what I’m talking about, read on my happy friend, read on. You’re about to get a whole lot more sleep. 🙂
Below are the instructions for how to do this in the two most popular blog hosting platforms: Blogger/Blogspot (which is what OCC’s blog uses) and WordPress. (If you’ve got great tips or links for any of the others platforms not mentioned here, please post them in the comments.)
Blogger /Blogspot
From the Blogger Dashboard, click the New Post button. You will be on the New Post screen on the Posting tab.
This screen is where you add text, format, insert Hyperlinks (the button with a globe and a chain link). Below is the Hyperlink screen, which I’m including by request.
At the bottom of the New Post window, you will see Post Options underlined in blue. Click this link to show the extra window detail seen below. This is the area where you can schedule your blog (Marianne, our webmistress, is blessing me right now) and label or tag it for search engine optimization. (Think Google results.)
When you are finished with your changes, click the Publish Post button and this blog will be shown in your list of scheduled posts.
All the screenshots above were done on the old post editor for Blogger (since that’s what I use at work). For the new post editor, click this link. There are several improvements, particularly with the handling of images. I might have to lobby for an upgrade…
To enable the new editor, first navigate to your blog’s Settings Basic tab. Near the bottom of the page you will see a field called Select Post Editor, and from there you simply need to select Updated Editor and save your settings.
WordPress
Log in to your site and go to the Dashboard – there’s typically a toolbar at the top of the screen with a button that says, My Blog. When you click it, a dropdown menu appears – the word Dashboard will be at the top. All the magic is in the Dashboard – Settings, Posts, Widgets, etc. – this is a place to spend time exploring.
To schedule a New Post:
In the toolbar above (to the right of Jenny Hansen’s Blog), there is a button that says “New Post†or you can look on the navigation bar on the left side of the screen. You will see the word Posts and below that is Add New (you might have to click Posts to open this menu).
Go to the Add Post button to get to the Add New Post screen (shown left).
On the right side of the screen, just above the Publish button (which changes to say “Update†once you’ve published), you will see the word “Immediately.”
Click the word “Edit†to the right of “Immediately” (it is underlined in blue) and choose the date and time you wish to post your blog. 
Note: If you don’t click OK, this will revert back to “Immediately.”
If you have the Publicize feature turned on in WordPress, an update will be pushed out to the Twitter and Facebook accounts of your choice. You may edit the Twitter/Facebook content by clicking the Edit link next to the accounts that you’re Publicizing. Again, this is just above the Publish button. I also add Tags to my posts to make them come up in more search engine results – this is located down the right side of the screen.
Click the Publish/Update button at the end of all your edits in order to post the blog.
Other cool Techie blogs:
Are You A Learning Addict? by Jami Gold
WordPress Plug-ins at Dear Author – tweeted by Elizabeth Spann Craig (if you are a writer and haven’t found Elizabeth on Twitter yet – @elizabethscraig – you are missing out…her Tweets are legendary!)
Blogger For Dummies – has all sorts of articles for Blogger websites
Keyboard shortcuts while posting in Blogger
Scheduling your posts lets you add three or four posts at a time and get ahead. I think it’s one of the best features available in both these blogging platforms.
What do you love or hate about posting your blog? Tired bloggers want to know! If you aren’t blogging at all, what made you decide to bypass it?
Jenny Hansen fills her nights with humor, writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit and short stories (and walking the floor with her new baby girl). By day, Jenny coordinates training for two accounting firms. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, it’s nice for her to be able to sit down while she works.
Stay tuned each month for Jenny’s blogs on software, computer how-tos, new parenthood and the latest works in progress. The rest of the time you can find her on Twitter at jhansenwrites, over on the Writers In The Storm blog or on her own blog at http://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress.com.
0 0 Read moreCreating the Setting: New Orleans
April 12, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Louisa Bacio, The Vampire, The Witch and The Werewolf: A New Orleans Threesome
5 Job Tips for a great romance novel hero interview
April 11, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Best American Romances, Confessions of a Podcast Goddess, heroine, Interview, job, maid, reporter, romance romance, spies, vampire, Victorian
by Evelyn Q. Darling
Romance Reporter At Large
How well do you know your hero? Is he tall, dark and handsome? Okay, so you don’t want a cookie-cutter hero, but have you really thought about what questions to ask him?
(When you can take your eyes away from his sexy grin among other parts of his anatomy.)
This reporter recently interviewed heroines for a romance gig and got some very interesting answers.
Now, it’s your hero’s turn. Ready, ladies? Start your engines…
Here are my 5 Job Tips for a great romance novel hero interview:
1. Don’t ask him to take off his shirt. Tempting, yes, as you check out his muscular arms, but this is a sexist attitude that will get you nowhere. (But oh the fun you’ll have trying!)
2. Schedule the interview in a locale where you’ll both feel comfortable. Not in a sports bar where he can eyeball the basketball scores and the waitresses with the deep cleavage. Forget tea shops that serve lemon dainties, unless you’re writing a regency and you want to see if he exudes the proper Mr. Darcy-isms.
3. Ask him to show you his…wheels. Yes, I said, wheels. Is he a Harley guy? Jaguar? Or does he drive an old pickup? Does he keep half his “stuff†in his car? Or is he a neatnik? You can tell a lot about a man by his…wheels.
4. What’s his day job? Or if he’s into night work (and what hard-working vampire isn’t?), you’ll want to make sure he’s a good match for your heroine. If she’s a lawyer, a police detective can make her life hectic; if she runs a cake and bake shop, how about interviewing a land developer who wants to tear down her vintage cottage shop? And let’s not forget the city gal who’s just aching to meet up with a real cowboy. Just make sure he can ride…a horse.
5. And finally, don’t ask him if he’s a good kisser. Tell him to show you.
Evelyn Q. Darling is the alter ego of Jina Bacarr.
0 0 Read moreDialogue Tags: How To Kill Off Some Of The Little Buggers
April 10, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Craft, Sharla Rae, writingInstead of: “Stop it!” James said. [He could be angry but then again he could be laughing hard and telling someone to stop it. But if we say: James said, angrily, we’re telling.]
- Try: James sliced the air with his hand. “Stop it!”
- Try: “Stop it!” James held his sides, laughing.
Instead of: “Is she serious?” Amber asked, rolling her eyes.
- Try: “Is she serious?” Amber rolled her eyes and laughed.
Instead of: “Gosh, I love this song,” Jill said, dreamily. [Yikes an ly word]
- Try: “Gosh, I love this song.” Jill closed her eyes and swayed to the music.
Instead of: “Try it, you little weasel,” Jake bellowed. “Just try it.”
- Try: “Jake’s palms slapped the tabletop. “Try it, you little weasel. Just try it.”
Instead of: “You jerk!” Pam screamed, swinging her handbag at him.
- Try: “You jerk!” Pam lashed out at him with her handbag.
The same idea applies to the he or she thought tags.
Example:
Instead of: Can this day get any worse? Jane wondered.
- Try: Jane slumped into the nearest easy chair and kicked off her shoes. Could this day get any worse?
Instead of: If he comes through that door, I’ll brain him, Jill silently vowed.
- Try: If he comes through that door, I’ll brain him. Jill’s fingernails bit into her palms. [Shows determination]
Punctuation can be used to negate tags that indicate strong feelings. To demonstrate what I mean, I’ll use one of my above examples.
“You jerk!” Pam screamed, swinging her handbag at him.
Given there is an exclamation mark after jerk, we know Pam said this with strong feelings. Unless we want her screaming to draw the attention of characters around her, we don’t need to “tell” the reader she screamed. Also, her actions indicate anger and that makes the tag an even bigger overkill. But what if Pam said it under her breath so as not to draw attention? Do we need to say, she whispered? It works. But we could also say: Pam sneered and leaned close, her lips a mere inch from his ear. “Jerk.”
Note: Don’t over use exclamation marks. Again, body language will work just as well.
It must be said, though, that having all the characters on stage constantly nodding, scratching, dancing and throwing things would be just as annoying — not to mention ridiculous — as too many tags. So a few tags are allowed and in some instances they work better for a tight, straight to the point sentence.
I know of no set rules on how many dialogue tags are allowed on a page. The best rule of thumb is to vary your dialogue and cut them when possible. And if you’re still unsure, read the page out loud. Too many tags make the writing sound choppy. They also distract.
The right balance will result in tighter writing that “shows more and “tells” less.
Interesting related websites:
- Three Places Where You Should Tell: http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/2011/02/three-places-where-you-should-tell.html
- From an Editor’s POV: http://theeditorsblog.net/2010/12/25/use-and-abuse-of-dialogue-tags/
- The Use and Abuse of dialogue tags: http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/said.shtml
- Avoid Creative Dialogue Syndrome: http://users.wirefire.com/tritt/tip4.html/
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