Crayon Writer

One of the blogging trends I’d like to implement is treating my blog like a newspaper or magazine. Both have regular features, which helps keep the publication current, and helps the publisher think of what to write next.

I’ll be featuring websites or links that I find during my internet travels, and hopefully you’ll check them out and let us know what you think.

This week I found out about the Japanese American Citizens League. This non-profit civil rights organization is based out of Los Angeles, California, and began before World War II. I particularly like that the group honors a Woman of the Year, pays homage to its elders, and even offers a scholarships to at-risk youth.

The JACL is dedicated to promoting and preserving the values and culture of Japanese Americans, and they do so much for the community as a whole.

Even more impressive, the Downtown Los Angeles JACL fought for, and won, compensation for Japanese Americans that were wrongfully put in U.S. concentration camps during WWII. At the same time, tens of thousands of Japanese Americans volunteered their services as soldiers during the war. The JACL is hoping to get the U.S. Postal Service to honor these brave men with a commemorative stamp.

Take a look at the Downtown Los Angeles Japanese American Citizens League site to learn more. The history of this group of Americans is rich, and as I always say, you can never learn too much. My thanks to George for telling me about this amazing organization.

Stay tuned for next week’s website or link of the week. Please let us know what you enjoyed about this one.

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If you’ve been around the blogging block, you’ve probably seen those lists of things blogger should never do. For instance:

1. Don’t fail to respond to your comments

2. Don’t fail to write regularly

3. Don’t stray off topic

4. Never apologize for, or explain, an absence.

Well I’m not one for following rules if they don’t fit my situation (unless they’re rules or laws handed down by the powers-that-be).

I do respond to many comments, but I don’t have time to answer every single one (thanks for being a talkative bunch!) But I definitely appreciate them all, and I look forward to them a lot. So keep commenting so I know you’re out there, and feel free to talk amongst yourselves sometimes. Conversations are a good thing.

Writing regularly is also something I aim for, but life gets in the way a lot. Luckily I have some faithful commenters who give me a kick in the rear if  I take too long between posts.

Staying on-topic is important, but it helps when you actually have just one topic. Crayon Writer is loosely about my journey as a freelance writer and single mother working from home, so there are a lot of topics I can safely cover (parenting, mothering, children, writing, working from home, blogging, and a whole lot more).

Finally, the one rule I think I haven’t “broken” is not apologizing for or explaining a long absence. Or at least I try to weave it into another blog post, like this one. I’ve been gone for a long time getting over my first (and hopefully last) bout of the stomach flu, and it really knocked me down for the count. Coupled with moving, I’ve gotten really behind with everything.

So, thanks for your patience, thanks for still reading, and enjoy my apologetic flurry of posts-to-come.

Do you follow all the blogging rules? Why or why not?

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Is your blog a business? Would you like it to be?

If you answered “Yes” to either question, then you’ve probably heard about Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind program.

I haven’t joined it yet, but I did read his free Blog Profits Blueprint (chock full of lots of useful, practical information–a must read).

What is Blog Mastermind, and how does it work?

See for yourself. The Blog Mastermind program is focused on marketing. What I like most about Yaro’s style is that he’s not just writing to fill up space. He isn’t just saying, “Marketing is great. It’s important. You’ve really got to do it. Yep. Marketing. I love marketing.”

Yaro’s program actually gives an action plan, and includes specific steps to take (homework), gives real life examples, and even tells you what he doesn’t have much experience with.

I’ve bought an ebook or two that filled up pages with useless, obvious information that was clearly hypothetical. The free Blog Profits Blueprint is more than just theory and ideas.

If you’re serious about making good money from your blog, read the Blog Profits Blueprint. If it resonates with you, then the Blog Mastermind program may be just what you’re looking for too.

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Somewhere in the blogosphere I read a post about the origin of blog names.

I thought I’d share with you how I came up with Crayon Writer.

It was pretty difficult at first, since so many good domains are taken. But I knew I wanted to talk about writing in the title, and I knew that my being a mother was important too.

Even though it was difficult to come up with, the concept is actually pretty simple.

I’m a writer who’s the mother of a toddler. When I need to write something in a hurry, I can never find a pen that works. So what do I reach for? A crayon. They’re everywhere. If I stick my hand in the couch, I’m sure to find one quickly.

So there you go. I write with crayons because my toddler uses crayons. I’m a crayon writer. And proud of it. The only problem is that my daughter gets upset when I use her crayons. “That’s MY crayon!”

Sigh…. Maybe I should change the name to Imaginary Pen Writer (LOL!).

How did you come up with your blog’s name?

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Crayon Writer is more than one year old, and I don’t think I’ve ever participated in a “meme.” I’ve always wanted to, though, and I’ve finally gotten my chance. Thanks for thinking of me Mrs. M. from New York Renovator!

This meme is supposed to be 7 useful things about me. Here goes!

1. I have a degree in biology, but my first job after college was as an assistant editor.

2. My favorite books to read are fantasy/sci-fi, and I love those kinds of movies too.

3. I am a single mother by choice, and I am an attachment parent for the most part.

4. I went to law school for almost a year (the year I was pregnant, actually).

5. I can identify more than 100 bird species by sight and/or sound. Comes in handy when I’m watching a TV show and they claim to be in city X and I know the bird call in the distance doesn’t live anywhere near that part of the country or in that habitat.

6. I am passionate and knowledgeable about preventing domestic violence and changing laws to more strongly prosecute the criminals who commit domestic violence crimes.

7. This probably isn’t news to anyone who reads my blog regularly, but I want to homeschool my daughter as long as she wants me to.

Well, that’s all I could think of. Hopefully you learned something new and interesting about me.

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As you know, I just started a temporary full-time job a couple of weeks ago. Stay tuned for more on that. The temp job is over this week, so I’ll post a bit about the promotions I’ve done and how they work (generally).

Wow. I found out that when you’re used to being able to blog anytime, any place, it’s a huge adjustment to have full-time work that takes you away from your computer.

So here’s a quick question for you.

If you have a full-time job and you also have a frequently updated blog, how do you do it? Do you write all your posts for the week on the weekends? Do you carve out time during the week when you get home?

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Daycare is work, let me tell you!

After just three part-time days a couple of weeks ago, my daughter got a knock-out cold. Not wanting to stress her out (being in a new place while sick), and not wanting to expose her to more germs while her immune system was compromised, and not wanting to get others sick, I kept her home.

Week one came and went. The doctor said she had a sinus infection. So I’m stuck home another week with not only a busy, play-with-me-all-the-time toddler, but a sick one too. On top of that, I got the lovely cold the second week. It knocked me out for the count too. Lovely.

On the bright side, I did land a temporary gig that will allow me to focus on getting a permanent “day job” without worrying about money for a minute. If you’re a freelancer looking for a part-time or temporary thing, try promotions work. The gigs are usually pretty easy, and if you go through the main company (rather than where they outsource), they can pay pretty well. I’m working on a promotion with AMP Agency.

So things are looking up. And I have enough energy to blog again, now that my cold is on its way out.

Oh, and I finally upgraded to WordPress 2.5. Not bad. I got my visual editor back, and I get to play with a new toy. I love new programs. They keep me on my toes.

Do you blog well when you’ve got a cold? Have you upgraded to 2.5 yet?

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Writing a blog on a regular basis can be difficult. You have to think of something to write about constantly, and every so often you get blogger’s block.

I recently read a wonderful post by Graham Jones that is really going to make my blogging life much easier (if I make myself take his advice, that is).

Basically, Graham likens blogging to being the publisher/editor of a major publication like a newspaper or magazine. You have certain columns that are written on a regular basis. You know what I’m talking about. Like “Dear Abby,” letter to the editor, horoscopes, etc.

To translate this for your blog, you come up with the type of story you want to write each day for a week, month, 2 months, or whatever timeframe you like. I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers have “Wordless Wednesdays” where they post only a picture for that day. Or Thursday 13. Perhaps you’ll save Fridays to announce your projects for the week. You get the idea.

What makes this appealing to me is that I won’t have to come up with a topic all the time. It’ll be mapped out for me in advance, even if I don’t have the actual post written. I’ll just know that today is Copywriting Tip day, or that tomorrow is New Poll day.

Do you have a blogging schedule? How does it work for you? Or do you write by the seat of your pants, like I tend to do? What’s your preference if you’ve tried both methods?

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When you write a blog post or a marketing piece for a client, do you write like you talk?

Generally, I write Crayon Writer the way I think and speak. You may notice the words “so”, “but”, and “and” a lot, for instance.

I also write like a writer (or maybe I think like a writer). When I talk or think, I see the commas, periods, hyphens, and apostrophes in my head. Weird, huh?

Is it a good idea to write like you talk? I think it depends on how correctly you speak or think. If you know that you’re prone to mixing up the subjective and objective tenses, or you know that you don’t spell while you’re thinking, you might want to take a step back after you write something down. A second pair of eyes might be a good idea, even.

But if you know the basic rules of grammar and punctuation , there’s nothing wrong with sounding like a normal, everyday human when you write. Complete with sentence fragments, run-on thoughts, and even colloquial errors.

Above all, have fun when you write. If you spend too much time nitpicking you may sound like a robot. At the same time, make sure others can understand what you mean in your writing.

Here’s an example of a writing faux pas. I saw a truck the other day, driven, I presume, by a woman. There was a cute message written on the window that took me quite a while to figure out. The layout and the missing punctuation were hard to decipher.

Silly boys trucks

are for girls.

Huh?

First I thought, “What are silly boys’ trucks? I guess she’s driving a silly boy’s truck. Interesting. But why are silly boys’ trucks for girls? Why are the trucks silly?”

Finally it dawned on me that she was mimicking the Trix commercial, “Silly rabbit! Tricks are for kids!”

So she did two things wrong. There should have been some punctuation after the word “boys” and the “trucks are for girls” should have been on a line by themselves at the least.

So (didn’t I tell you I use that word a lot?), be careful when you write like you talk, but have fun! You won’t be getting a grade on your blog, but your clients may have something to say about it if you get it wrong.

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What do you do? I’m having problems with WordPress, so I’m not blogging. That’s my solution. Maybe it’s not the best, but it’s no fun writing a blog post when the visual rich editor isn’t working.

Any WordPress 2.3.3 or 2.3.1 experts out there who might be able to help? Everything was working fine one day, and then it stopped the next, with nothing changed on my end (as far as I know).

So, stay tuned. I’ll be writing again when I can indent my posts, switch between code and WYSIWYG, etc. Thanks for your patience.

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