Do as I say... not as I don't

So what do you do when someone asks for your advice on something, you give it, and then you realize that you yourself do almost NONE of the things you have just advised this person to do?


That's exactly what is happening to me at this very moment. Last night, I was invited to the house of a friend to talk with her father, a wonderful writer, about how to enhance his online profile, to improve the presentation of his existing blog and to attract more readers to his beautiful prose.


We had a wonderful discussion and I believe both my friend and her father felt they got good value for the time they invested in speaking with me.


The problem is, although I believe very firmly in every suggestion I made to them, I have come to the realization that I personally implement almost none of these excellent suggestions in my own work. It's really quite amazing: do as I say, not as I do.


In preparation for the discussion, I had read over most of the entries on his existing blog site, which has not been updated in some time. I was impressed with just how beautifully this man writes, how broad and creative is his vocabulary, how vivid his descriptions and how expansive his literary knowledge. This is wonderful writing and well worthy of a broader audience.


I also studied the site itself and how his work was presented. And I came away with a deep respect for his work as well as a number of suggestions on how to present it more effectively.


Among my comments and suggestions:

• Don't change your writing style to attempt to attract a larger audience -- write what and how you love and have faith in the quality of your writing to attract the right audience, an audience that can appreciate what you already do so beautifully;
• Include more images -- several of his posts include photographs and others include simply wonderful examples of his wife's creative endeavours (sketches and pastels) to complement the subject matter of his post. I think it is no coincidence that these posts, in general, attract the most attention and the most comments so I recommended that he try to include visuals consistently with each post, especially at the top of each entry;
• Add new entries on a consistent basis, at least once per week, so that, as readers find and enjoy the blog, they can get into a pattern of visiting on a regular basis, confident in the knowledge that they will find something new to read on each visit;
• Create an email list, to which he can send the link to each new entry as it is posted, and ask people to add their name to that list when they first visit the site;
• Be active on Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media in order to build a network, make more contacts and give himself more avenues to promote his blog;
• Use the front page of the blog site to promote the fact that he hopes someday to produce a book of his writings -- create interest in that project early and see if it helps propel the book into reality;
• Promote himself (and his artist wife), both on the blog site and in social media, since people will often want to read your work if they feel they know, like and/or respect you.

I think theses are all good suggestions. I just wish I myself followed more of them.

Being a writer isn't always about writing

Busy times can also be frustrating times for a writer.


I have been run off my feet lately, mostly with every day life stuff but also with tasks associated with my Abigail Massey at McAdam Station historical fiction project.


Here's a list of what's going on with regard to Abigail right now:

• I held a book signing event last week here in New Brunswick;
• I have another promotional event scheduled for next week in Ontario;
• We have just completed the challenging process of preparing Volume 4 of the stories for the printers, including everything from writing cover blurbs to carrying out final proof reading and editing;
• We are now planning the release of Volume 4, which includes arranging appearances, delivering books, drafting and sending out press releases, doing media interviews, and planning the book launch event to be held at the Station itself;
• We spent Saturday morning at the Station filming material for use in the creation of a promotional trailer for the Abigail web TV series we are hoping to produce; and
• I've been planning the work necessary to convert the Abigail Christmas novella into a stage play (for performance, if we're lucky, in late 2016).

See? Busy busy.


It's all great. And exciting. But how much of it involves actually writing creatively? I mean, I'm an author and I miss the writing part right now.


It doesn't help that, as a result of recent events, I am now anxious to get down to working on no fewer than four different creative writing projects: the aforementioned stage play, a new Middle-Grade fantasy novel, a revision of a mystery court-room-drama novel I wrote several years ago and the completion of a Harry Potter fan fiction novel that I haven't worked on in several years.


I have discussed the stage play and the Middle-Grade novel in this space before so I won't go in to any detail now. The play represents a huge challenge for me but one that could add a significant new dimension to the Abigail project. The novel is one of the more exciting ideas I have had in a long time, a project that was given new life by the enthusiastic response of a young colleague.


The mystery book is something that I wrote about 10 years ago and that went all the way to the end of the professional publishing review process before being finally rejected. I have some ideas on how to revise and improve it and I'm looking forward to putting those ideas into action.


And the Harry Potter fan fiction project just recently jumped back into the forefront. Several years ago, I wrote five pretty solid chapters of a novel that follows some of the minor characters from the original seven novels as they attempt to deal with the aftermath of the "Battle of Hogwarts" that brings J.K. Rowling's series to a close. I have posted the five chapters on my own personal website as well as on my Harry Potter blog.


Last week, a colleague at my work approached me to tell me that she had discovered the chapters on line and had decided to read the first one just for something to do. She very kindly told me that she was soon "hooked" and had to read all five chapters. Now she wants me to write more.


Very kind, exciting sentiments, to be sure. And I very much enjoyed writing those first five chapters in the first place, before moving on to other writing projects (the Abigail project for one). Now I find myself wanting to go back and pick up the story.


I certainly am not complaining about how much time I am currently spending on Abigail -- it's great fun to be so involved in a fairly successful project. But I would really love to get back to writing soon!