Social Networking the LinkedIn Way by Donna McDine

Social Networking the LinkedIn Way

By Donna M. McDine

I know I know I can hear your disgruntled gulp in your throat, “Yikes, another social network to participate in? No way, no how!” I too feel the same way at times, but definitely not with LinkedIn! I don’t want to bore you with boring statistics, but it’s important for you to know…

• There are over 150 million professionals on LinkedIn.*
• With over 1 million professionals joining each week, hence two professional join every second.*
• Members are 2X more confident with information shared on LinkedIn than any other social site.*
• Members use LinkedIn not only for networking, they are reading business news and studying trends.*

*2012 Social Media Examiner, Mario Sundar              

                                       

Please don’t fade away, these statistics matter to you. With the confidence level of information shared between members this provides an arena to build your expertise through varying networks. Oftentimes authors (as well as other professionals) fall into the rut of networking with only their peers, when we truly need to broaden our scope beyond our colleagues. LinkedIn if used correctly goes well beyond this and the thought process of only being an online resume.

First, if you haven’t already signup and setup your LinkedIn profile at www.linkedin.com. It’s easy and they provide step by step directions to provide your information. Once you have your profile setup follow these five points to engage with fellow LinkedIn members:

1. Seek new connections daily and send invites. LinkedIn has a fabulous Advanced People Search broken down into several different categories… keywords, title, location, company, school, first and last name, country, and postal code. (i.e., elementary school teachers, librarians, the list is endless).
2. Don’t forget to reply back directly to your new connection once confirmation is received (i.e., I’m delighted to connect with you at LinkedIn and look forward to learning more about you).
3. Research groups of interest the same way for people connections. Join and become active through conversations, questions and answers.
4. Update your status consistently with a course of action for visitors with either a question or interesting news article (i.e., “New Google table to go against Fire” by Michael Liedtke, Associated Press and include link).
5. Engage with fellow members by sharing and commenting on their status updates, send private emails, etc.).

Automating your blog and twitter handle feed is okay, but if you don’t engage personally connections will not feel compelled to engage with you. I know for myself, the constant automation of customer service lines, doctor offices, etc., frustrates me to no end. I want to talk to a live person that knows what they are talking about.

Don’t fall into robot automation. Let your personality shine through cyberspace through consistent engagement. I’m sure you will be pleased with your results. 

Until next time…

Donna M. McDine

Publicist & Award-winning Children's Author

Donna’s Website: http://www.donnamcdine.com
Write What Inspires You Blog: http://www.donna-mcdine.blogspot.com

Author PR Services: http://www.authorprservices.com

Writers On The Move...Literally!

According to an article in Yahoo Finance, “ Just two hours of sitting reduces good cholesterol by 20 percent, reduces blood flow and raises blood sugar, all of which contribute to obesity and the related chronic, life-shortening diseases.” Well that's not good news for writers, who frequently spend well over two hours sitting while they write. While our words take on a life of their own, we're cutting ours short. What's a scribe to do? Exercise, that's what!

I hear everyone groaning about how there's no time or you hate exercise. I hear you. I agree with you. But I don't want to get sick and die early because I refused to move my butt out of the chair. So I'm giving you a few exercises you can do from the very place you create your prose and poetry. You can thank me later.

From livestrong.com:

In a seated position with both feet flat on the floor, raise both hands high over your head. Grab your left wrist with your right hand and then gently pull the left wrist toward the right side of your body for as far as you are able. Hold the position for a count of at least three, and then return to the starting point. Switch hands and repeat for the other side of the body.  Read more

Sit up tall in your chair, with arms by your side, your back and shoulders straight, and your abdominal muscles engaged. Extend your legs straight in front of you so that they are parallel to the floor. Lower your legs until they are about a foot from the floor and then raise them toward the ceiling, stopping at the height of your chair arm rests. Lower again and repeat for a total of 10 repetitions. Read more

Sit up tall with your feet flat on the floor, and cross your arms in front of your chest. Engage your abdominal muscles and lower your head toward your knees, crunching your abs on the downward movement. Sit back up to starting position and repeat for a total of 10 to 15 repetitions. Read more 

From Webmd: 

Do a football-like drill of running in place for 60 seconds. Get those knees up! (Beginners, march in place.)

Simulate jumping rope for a minute: Hop on alternate feet, or on both feet at once. An easier version is to simulate the arm motion of turning a rope, while alternately tapping the toes of each leg in front.

Do one-legged squats (hold onto a wall or table for support) while waiting for a web page to load

To stretch your back and strengthen your biceps, place your hands on the desk and hang on. Slowly 

push your chair back until your head is between your arms and you're looking at the floor. Then 

slowly pull yourself back in. Do 15 times.

From Forbes:

Stretch your arms back as if you were trying to grab a pencil between your shoulder blades

Touch your ear to your shoulder and hold it there

Stand at your desk, and, arms straight, place your palms on the desk with your fingers pointed toward you. Lower your body slowly until you feel the stretch (you won’t have to go far). Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat as needed through the day.

These are just few ways to “get moving” without really leaving your desk. You are still close to your work. You haven't spent a lot of time, but you got moving. That's the important part. Let's do what we can to combat the sedentary lifestyle of a writer and help keep ourselves healthy.

How about you? Do you have any exercises you do at your desk?

About the Author:

Marietta "Mari" Taylor is the the author of Surviving Unemployment Devotions To Go. She's also a monthly contributor to the Pearl Girls Blog. Find out more about Mari at her blog or her website, www.mariettataylor.net.

Book-in-a-Week Challenge

Last Thursday I posted on my blog about the book-in-a-week challenge. This is a monthly occurrence and is similar to writing during NaNo (national novel writing month) except the goals are different. The goal for BIW is to write at least 10 pages on a story, articles or whatever it is you are working on at the time during the week. You set your goal and then write during the week to meet that goal. The minimum is 10 pages and I believe they have drawings for those participants who meet the goals of the challenge (posting your goals, keeping track of your progress and posting that at least three times a week, et cetera). Although the challenge started this past Monday, I believe you can still participate if you are interested.

So whether you really want to write a lot or a little, this is the perfect challenge for every writer. I've set a goal of 20 pages/week for the next 10 weeks (my weeks are starting on Sunday and ending Saturday) to work on my story, Imogene: Innocense Lost. I honestly don't believe I'll have a completed story by the end of the 10 weeks, but should be pretty close.

If you want to check out the book-in-a-week challenge, you can find more information on their website, and maybe you will take the challenge starting next month.

I'll be keeping tabs of my progress throughout the next 10 weeks during my regular Sunday This and That postings, so stop on over and offer a word of encouragement or congratulations during the next few weeks. I'll need every little bit of feedback that I can get to keep me going.

See you all in the postings, and if you are participating in book-in-a-week, let us know what your goals are for the week and how much writing you get accomplished during the week. E :)

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Ms. Eldering is the award winning author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad (JGDS), 50-state, mystery, trivia series. Her stories "Train of Clues", "The Proposal" (available as an ebook), "Tulip Kiss" (available as an ebook), and "Butterfly Halves", all placed first, second, or runner up in various contests to include two for Armchair Interviews and two for Echelon Press (Fast and ... themed type contests). Her story "Bride-and-Seek" (available as an ebook) was selected for the South Carolina Writers' Workshop (SCWW) anthology, the Petigru Review. Ms. Eldering makes her home in upper state South Carolina and loves to travel, read, cross stitch and crochet. When she's not busy with teenaged children still at home, working her full-time job as a medical transcriptionist or participating in virtual classroom visits, she can be found at various homeschool or book events promoting her writing.

For more information about the JGDS series, please visit the JGDS blog or the JGDS website.

For more information about Elysabeth's other writings, please visit her general writing and family blog at or her website.

Creating Ultra-Engagement: Interview with Danny Iny

Danny Iny is one of those marketing mavens that shares his information so generously, and gets around so prolifically, that audience engagement looks natural when he does it. However it ain't necessarily so.  Danny has worked very hard over the past two years to build up his business Firepole Marketing and he remains distinctively accessible, sharing information through a free e-book  Engagement from Scratch (which I've reviewed here), and above all, and you'll hear about it in our interview below, by answering every email (and he gets a lot of them!).  We also talk about something that's quite relevant to writers (and something I'm always grappling with), which is how you mantain the balance between creativity (writing...) and promotion. Listen in, grab a copy of the book, and let me know what you think in the comments below.  I'd also love to hear your own audience engagement tips, especially as it applies to writers. 

 

Magdalena Ball runs The Compulsive Reader. She is the author of a number of poetry books and novels, including, most recently, Black Cow, an "engrossing, poignant" novel about a family who leave behind the materialism and wealth of their high stress lives to attempt self-sufficiency on a small holding in rural Tasmania.

Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Writing Career: Be Grateful

I often receive emails from young writers asking for advice and help in various aspects of their writing, and I am always delighted to help in any way I can. To be a writer is to be a part of a community, and I am so grateful for all the writers who have offered me advice and encouragement over the years. Being a mentor and cheerleader for other writers is the best way I can think of to "pay it forward" to those people who have bettered my life with their generosity and support.

However, I am not always the quickest to respond to emails, especially when life gets busy. Like this summer: I am in graduate school working on my thesis, taking a summer literature class, and teaching a creative writing class to college students. I feel like I'm barely managing to keep my head above water by trying to write a little of my own work every day, reading and working on papers for the literature class I'm taking, and grading papers and responding to emails from my students!

Most writers I hear from are beyond patient and gracious. But occasionally, I'll receive an email from a young writer that startles me with its rude tone and unprofessionalism. Often the email will include capital "shouting" letters, strings of exclamation points and/or question marks, and phrases like, "are you ever going to get back to me????" or "hellooooo???"

I consider myself to be an advocate for writers, and young writers in particular. I love teaching writing camps and working with mentees through Write On! For Literacy. Publishing Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing is a great source of pride and good feelings for me. So when I get an email from a young writer that perpetuates the negative stereotypes that society foists upon teenagers, it makes my skin crawl.

I believe the very first and most important lesson in regards to being a writer and getting published is this: respect, gratitude and professionalism are a must.

If you send an email with a rude subject line to a publisher, editor or agent, I can guarantee you it would be deleted without even being read. When you send your work to a publisher, it may take six or eight months for them to get back to you about it. That's just the way publishing is -- editors are very busy and they receive hundreds of emails every single day. And if you ever do email them to ask if they have had a chance to read your work, you need to make sure you have a tone of gratitude, graciousness, and respect of their time and busy schedule.

Here's a great article with tips and examples on writing professional emails: http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/email/.

But I think all you really need to remember is just to be respectful and to treat everyone with common decency. When you adopt a rude tone, you send the message that you feel entitled to the person's help, rather than that you are appreciative of any time and help they can give you.

I think it comes down to this, not just in writing but in all areas of life: people will be more eager to help you when you treat them well and are humble and appreciative of their time, knowledge, effort and support.

Dallas Woodburn is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories and editor of Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three years in a row and her nonfiction has appeared in a variety of national publications including Family Circle, Writer's Digest, The Writer, and The Los Angeles Times. She is the founder of Write On! For Literacy and Write On! Books Youth Publishing Company and is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Fiction Writing at Purdue University, where she teaches undergraduate writing courses and serves as Fiction Editor of Sycamore Review. Many of her short stories are compiled online here.

Conflict is Key

OK, you’ve decided to write a story and you’ve created a character. Now you have to give her a problem to solve and put him in some kind of jeopardy.

Life is a series of choices, and every choice implies a conflict. You make one choice and the consequences are _____ or you choose the other option, and the consequences are ______.

For a reader to care about your story, there has to be something at stake—something of value to gain, something of value to lose. One writer terms it “wrestling”—two strong forces meet, one triumphs over the other, for better or for worse.

Conflict can be external: a villain, an opponent, a set of cirucmstances, the environment or landscape. It can be internal: fear, distrust, uncontrollable rage, a number of things. A book can have both. In Lord of the Flies, what’s at stake externally is survival; internally, it’s fear vs courage. Every character should have the potential to conflict with every other character, whether that potential is realized or not.

Is it a fair fight? A motivation against no opposition is boring. A character who always gets everything he wants, succeeds in every task, wins the girl/guy with no problem, has no drama. Remember PLOT is a VERB.

Likewise, pure victimization is not only dull, but depressing. Conflict doesn’t come in oppressing or being oppressed—it comes in the struggle to break free. The reader wants the final outcome to be in doubt. He likes the anticipation of conflict, a situation created where conflict is waiting to happen. (i.e. Character A is a former Nazi and B is a Holocaust survivor. Neither knows this info about the other. They sit in a room & make small talk. All the while, we wait for the conflict to erupt. Maybe it never does. Maye it’s chapters later, after they’ve become friends.)

Which leads us to the next step: Storytelling is not about giving away information, but about withholding it. Why do we prefer to sit down with a 300-page book (or in the case of Harry Potter, 800 pages), rather than just read a 2-3 page synopsis of a story? Because we want suspense, we want to go on this journey, this adventure, with someone we can care about.

Suspense is about anticipation. It is about what we do not have, what has not happened, about what might happen. It’s about the process of watching events unfold. (i.e.While the victim is being stalked, suspense looms. Once the victim is murdered, the suspense disappears.) Waiting to find out builds suspense, drama.

Creating Suspense.
1. The goal. What does the character want to achieve?
2. The stakes. What is at risk for the character?
3. Danger. remember that danger is a matter of perspective—it only needs to exist in a character’s head to create suspense.
4. The Ticking Clock. A time limit heightens suspense.
5. Inablility to take action. For example, in Hitchcock’s The Rear Window, the protagonist has a broken leg, hears the killer approaching, but is helpless to go anywhere.
6. The Unknown. We can bear almost any form of torture as long as we know what it is we are getting into. But keep us in the dark, give us time to think about the possiblities and the suspense will be unbearable.

Kurt Vonegut once said that a hero “should always want something, even if it’s just a glass of water.” An instructor in a writing class told us there should be conflict on every page, even if the character is too hot or cold.

What other ways have you written or read that create tension or conflict?

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A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in Northwest Washington. Her first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, is based on her grandmother, and the sequel, Follow the Dream, has recently won the national WILLA Award. Heidi has a degree in journalism, a certificate in fiction writing, and is a member of Northwest Independent Editors Guild. She teaches writing and edits, blogs, and is working on the next books in her “Dare to Dream” series.  

10 Things to Know About Coffee Drinking

Writers are notorious for drinking coffee as a means to staying energized and productive. But I’ve noticed several issues lately any time I drank coffee at night in order to work late or too much at any given time. I’ve also read several articles recently concerning the health benefits of coffee. So what does this mean for those of us who need its properties or enjoy its flavor?

Liver damage

Apparently excess caffeine causes liver damage because while the enzymes used to break down the caffeine are busy doing so, they are less available for breaking down other chemicals in the bloodstream therefore causing the liver to work less efficiently at detoxifying the body. It has been recommended that anything more than two cups of coffee a day is excessive. And experts recommend replacing additional cups with water.

Hallucinations

According to a recent study reported by the BBC, people who drink too much coffee could start seeing ghosts or hearing strange voices! Students in the study who drank more than seven cups of instant coffee each day were three times more likely to hallucinate than people who drank one cup. “Any stimulant that you’re overdosing on, such as seven cups a day, will stimulate hallucinations,” Dr. Teitelbaum explains.

Pregnancy issues

 A recent study [by Kaiser Permanente Division of Research] found that consuming more than two cups, of coffee a day doubled the risk of miscarriage. Another study published in the British Medical Journal in November 2008 found that more than one cup of caffeine a day while pregnant resulted in a lower birth weight for the baby.

Sleep disruption

We all know we should get eight hours of sleep every night. As writer, often combined with being parents, spouses, children of elderly parents and working other jobs as well, it is rare that we can accomplish this. Combine stress, anxiety AND coffee, those eight hours are impossible. This was my most recent issue which ended up with my being sleepy and unable to focus all day. This defeated any efforts I had made the previous night. According to experts, “We have a natural rise in cortisol in the morning to help us get out of bed and perform our daily tasks. However, if you are drinking coffee all day, then this cycle becomes disrupted, and your higher cortisol and adrenaline levels may interrupt a restful night of sleep.”

Addictive qualities

“When used at more than 12 ounces a day for energy, it becomes an energy ‘loan shark,’ crashing you later and taking more energy than it gives,” says Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D. and Medical Director of the national Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers. He notes coffee consumption becomes problematic when it’s not done in moderation and exceeds two cups each day. Plus, excessive coffee intake in someone who already tends to have anxiety may trigger other problems. It may cause palpitations, more anxiety, irritability, then rebound fatigue, depression and sleepiness once the effects of the caffeine wear off in usually three to three and a half hours.

Dehydration

Caffeine is a mild diuretic, so while many people start their day with a cup of coffee, they are already at a deficit as far as the six to eight glasses of water we need to stay hydrated each day. Drinking excess amounts of coffee, which has a laxative effect, can also aggravate irritable bowel syndrome. Caffeine also promotes potassium depletion; the net effect being that the mineral balance in your body is disrupted.

Adrenal exhaustion

Coffee releases the “stress hormone” cortisol and adrenaline which help us respond to stress and provide us with energy and vitality throughout the day. Heavy coffee drinkers secrete more cortisol and adrenaline than those without a coffee habit, which may ultimately result in fatigue of the adrenal gland. Adrenal fatigue is one of the most common culprits for the feelings of fatigue and exhaustion.

Yellow teeth

According to Jennifer Zartarian, N.D., the Wellness and Research Coordinator at Long Island College Hospital of Brooklyn, coffee is not friendly to teeth. “The dark brown color of coffee that develops when it is roasted via a biochemical reaction, called the Maillard reaction, causes a stubborn stain — which is difficult enough to remove from your clothes or living room rug, so just think of what it is doing to your teeth!”

Got acid?

Caffeinated beverages like coffee have an acidic and astringent effect on the tissues of the body which prevents optimal absorption and assimilation of nutrients and fluids in the digestive tract. In fact, acid interferes with the absorption of magnesium and can cause stomach problems. It can run into the intestine and cause ulcers, burn the tissue, contribute to bowel problems.

Overall health issues

According to a University of Scranton study, while coffee is a top antioxidant in the American diet, it’s most beneficial when people consume a variety of antioxidants, not just coffee. Although there are positive aspects of drinking java, to prevent the negative health risks people should drink the beverage in moderation. Coffee contains volatile oils (seen as a film at the top of each cup), which disturb the function of the blood vessels. It contains a lot of pesticides, which can cause the body to accumulate too many toxins; it damages the immune system; it may cause osteoporosis as it depletes calcium levels in the body; and there’s an overall increased risk of cardiovascular disease.