Guest Blogging, Good News, Derrick Barnes, and Lois Lowry

Guest Blogging

For the month of April, I have been participating in Robert Lee Brewer's "April Platform Challenge" posted on his blog My Name Is Not Bob. Sunday's challenge (Day 22) was to pitch a guest blog post to another author. Robert provides some fantastic blogs for writers to consider that should also become part of every writer's resource library. I am making my pitch to a few of these blogs, but I would like to invite you to become a guest blogger on mine. Find the details HERE.

Even though there is only a week left in the challenge, there is still time to complete many of these tasks. Today's assignment is to participate in a Twitter chat tonight. It starts at 8pm Eastern time, but if you can't make it, just use the hash tag #MNINB to follow the stream.


Good News!

Last week, I interviewed a very talented artist named Tamara Ramsay about her Kyooms project. Kyooms is a collection of positive artwork and postcards for children. Tamara used Kickstarter in an effort to finance her project. As of Monday, April 23rd, she reached her goal! Thanks to everyone who shared her post, left a comment, or made a donation. Congratulations, Tamara!

Derrick Barnes

On Wednesday, The Writer's Block will feature YA author of the Ruby and the Booker Boys series (one of my daughter's favorites~who also happens to think that this interview is quite a coup!) Derrick Barnes. He will talk about the importance of family, his road to publication, and his latest release, We Could Be Brothers. Be sure to tune in tomorrow!

Lois Lowry

On Thursday, The Writer's Block will be chatting with author Lois Lowry author of The Anastasia Series (again, one of Halima's favorites), The Gooney Bird Books, and her latest novel, SON. She is very accomplished as a writer and offers this advice to new authors: "They should spend less time talking about writing and more time sitting alone in a room and doing it." Gotta' love that. Tune in Thursday for more!

In case you missed it!

Here is yesterday's blog post, "3 Lessons from A Young Author".

Keep your pen to the paper! Remember, inspiration is everywhere...

Great Blogs for Authors and Illustrators!

There is a lot of great information about the world of publishing in cyberspace if you know where to look. I would like to make your quest for knowledge a bit easier, so I am sharing a couple of blogs that I find extremely valuable. Feel free to add to this list in the comments below!

Inkygirl by Debbie Ohi http://inkygirl.com/

My Name Is Not Bob by Robert Lee Brewer http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.com/

Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner http://www.rachellegardner.com/

Raychelle Writes by Raychelle Muhammad http://www.Raychelle-Writes.blogspot.com (I hear this one is pretty good. :) )

Keep your pen to the paper! Remember, inspiration is everywhere...

25 Ways to Increase Blog Traffic by Robert Lee Brewer, Plus This Week's Line-Up on The Writer's Block

Robert Lee Brewer ("My Name Is Not Bob" blog) offers 25 tips for increasing traffic to your blog. I found these to be especially helpful, so I am passing them along to you. Enjoy!


"I won't bore you with numbers, but I now consistently have as much traffic in one day on this blog as I used to receive in two months! It didn't all happen at once, and there were some ups and downs along the way, but I've found that the 25 steps below can help any blog increase traffic, whether it's brand new or been around a while.

Here are my 25 ways to increase blog traffic:

1. Post consistently. When I first started blogging, I'd have months of 6 posts here and months of 2 posts there--with no rhyme or reason. The smart blogger will at least post once a week--usually on the same day of the week. The benefit to a consistent schedule is that readers know when to "tune in" to your blog.
2. Encourage comments. Some bloggers recommend turning the comments off when the traffic is low, because conditions are favorable for zero comments. However, I think it's a smarter strategy to expect zero comments, but encourage them from the very beginning. The best blogs will get a conversation going, and that helps build traffic. I know it can feel lonely waiting for that conversation to start, but just keep plugging away.
3. Tag content. Most blogging interfaces (like Blogger and WordPress) have ways to tag posts with keywords that you may use multiple times. For instance, I know this post will have a "blogging" tag at the very least, though there will probably be some others as well. And this enables readers to click on the tag to see all the content on your blog that is related to that topic. Plus, it helps with SEO (more on that below)."

To read the entire post, visit this link.

This Week on The Writer's Block:

Monday, February 13, 2012~ Freelance Illustrator, Daniela Frongia

Tuesday, February 14, 2012~ Founder of Storiad, Ramzi Hajj

Wednesday, February 15, 2012~ Meet The Alphabet Kids

Thursday, February 16, 2012~ Author of Hope Road, John Barlow

Friday, February 17, 2012~ Author of Natasha Lands Down Under, Katherine McCaughan






Stop by my health and fitness blog Journeys Fitness starting Monday, February 13, 2012, and check out my nutrition series, "What's Eating You?"

Keep the pen to the paper! Remember, inspiration is everywhere...