My Critique Group: A Gift from Heaven

Writing used to be a lonely occupation. Not anymore! Networking, giving and receiving reviews, supporting each other and socializing, all these things are important for a writer of the twenty-first century.

I found all this and more five years ago, when I joined my online critique group on writing.com, called the YA Novel Workshop. Our group comprised writers from all over the world (US, Australia, New Zealand, England, Egypt, Canada, you name it!), some experienced and some very new, all with a common purpose: turning our manuscripts into publishable novels, ranging from MG to YA to Christian to anything that didn't fit other categories and was rated 13+ or less.

Today, I want to give something back to all the wonderful people in my critique group who've helped me become the writer that I am today. Without their help and support, it would have taken me a lot longer to reach my goal of becoming a published author.

Sadly, our online critique group is no longer active, but with good reason: many of us got published! And that's what we were together for, right? I was curious to find out what everyone is up to now, so I did some research.

Dawné Dominique is an amazing cover designer. Just look at my book! :) You can see more of her covers on her site, DusktilDawn Designs. She is also a multi-published and award-nominated author of Paranormal Erotic Romance and Fantasy. Her latest novel, THE TEARS OF SAN'FERATH, has just been released, under the author name D. Thomas-Jerlo. Dawné was the moderator of our critique group for many years.

Frankie (S.M.) Blooding, author of New Adult Steampunk, Fairytale Romance, and Adult Paranormal Thriller novels, is also the founder of our critique group. She is a multi-published author and wrote more books than I can count. I had the chance to read book one of her Devices of War trilogy, FALL OF SKY CITY, and I can tell you, she is a talented author. Book 2, KNIGHTS OF WAND, has also been published. She offers cover design and editing services, reviews, and interviews on her other site, Frankie's Bookshelf.

Kurt Chambers, MG Fantasy author, self-published two books of his Truth Teller series, TRUTH TELLER and THE WRATH OF SIREN, and is working on the third one, FAVIAN'S LAW. Actually, he's waiting for me to do a round of edits for him, so I'd better get to work!

Rachel Lim (Emerin) is a university student. She's the one who introduced me to the critique group. I can never thank her enough! I'm not sure if she's still writing. Does anyone know?

Hailey Briggs is also a university student. I guess studying takes up so much time and energy that there is not much time left for writing and blogging.

Ralene Burke, Christian writer, became a copyeditor and social media consultant. Ralene was the co-moderator of our critique group with Dawné for several years before handing Kurt and me the baton. She threw awesome Christmas parties every year, organizing contests and games for all of us during the holidays. Ah, good memories!

Mireyah Wolfe is an aspiring author of Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance. In the critique group, she was our YA member who wrote non-YA novels. She is also rumored to be killing puppies. ;)

Jay Eckert self-published his MG Fantasy novel, CHILDREN OF MIDIAN, and his YA Urban Fantasy novel, URBAN MYTHOS. Then he took a two-year break from writing to go to school for an MBA at night and on weekends, which he completed. That was in June 2013, his last blog post. Where is he now? *putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat* To be continued ...

Alex Lidell, YA Fantasy author, published her debut novel, THE CADET OF TILDOR with Penguin, after becoming an ABNA finalist. She is represented by Leigh Feldman.

Desiree Shear ... Where is Dezzie? Has anyone seen Dezzie?

Richard Hartnett (MoW) was an active member, until Kurt posted a little heart on his Facebook page by mistake during the holidays. Then he disappeared! Hmm ... Strange.

Cheree Smith's YA Paranormal novel, SHADOW EMBRACED, has been published. Her next novel, SHINIGAMI EYES, co-authored with her brother, will be released this month.

Tamara Hart Heiner is the author of the Perilous YA Suspense series, PERILOUS, ALTERCATION, and INEVITABLE. She also wrote DELIVERER, a companion novel to the Perilous series. Her nonfiction book about the Joplin tornado, TORNADO WARNING, came out in April 2014.

Kate Larkindale's first book, AN UNSTILL LIFE, is available now from Musa Publishing. She is represented by Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary. She has six ideas for new books, but she hasn't decided yet which one she will tackle first. Stay tuned!

Lexa Cain is a Horror and Dark Fantasy author represented by Michelle L. Johnson of Inklings Literary. Her YA Horror/Romance novel, SOUL CUTTER, was published in December 2013 by MuseItUp Publishing.

Tania Walsh writes Fantasy, Paranormal and Steampunk for both young adult and adults. Her debut novel, CLOAKED IN FUR, a Paranormal Romance with strong suspense, is now available from Crimson Romance. She is currently working on the sequel.

Louisa Clarkson self-published the first book of her Master Mind Academy series, THE SILVER STRAND, a MG Fantasy. She is now working on the sequel. She founded the site Indicated (which I'm a member of) to help self-published authors build visibility and exposure.

Chris Denton was also a very active member of our group until Kurt ... okay, I'll stop blaming him for everything. :D But isn't it weird that the very few male members of our forum disappeared one by one? I think Kurt loved all the attention of being the only male member of our group.

Janeal Falor is a YA Fantasy author who recently published her Mine series: MINE TO TARNISH (prequel), YOU ARE MINE, and MINE TO SPELL. She is now working on Book 3.

Vicky Skinner got married! She was known to us as Vicky Blaylock. She's still writing and querying, but no agent yet. *keeping my fingers crossed for her*

I don't know where Bree and Rema (Riham Adley) are. I'll have to do some research.

Lilly the Pink, our fictive member, has not been seen since everyone left.

Did I forget anyone?

Wow, we were quite a group! I miss everyone dearly, but I honestly wouldn't have time to give detailed, chapter-by-chapter reviews like we used to do.

I thank you all for helping me improve my writing skills and develop my novel to the point where I could publish it!

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Author Pictures

I'm fortunate enough to have a photographer as a daughter. Elissa is only seventeen, but she already has a lot of experience in photography. When I asked her to take my author pictures for the release of my book, she accepted right away! We drove to Garret Mountain, where my story was born, and set to work. Here is the result of our photo shoot. I only had the Kindle version of my book back then, so I brought my Kindle with me.

We hired a few geese for effect.

My story is finally published!

Hakuna Matata!

Cradling my new baby :)

Enjoying the sunny day

The gazebo where I was sitting when I came up with the idea for my book

What an adventure!

Twitter Hashtags I Use

If you're using Twitter to connect with other writers or readers, you may want to consider using hashtags (but not more than two or three per tweet, or it gets difficult to read). Below is a list of the ones I use, or consider using.

What Are Hashtags?
Hashtags are words or expressions preceded with a # symbol. When used in a tweet, they become a link, or a search word, which leads to a list of all the tweets using the same hashtag. This is very useful to connect with like-minded people or to follow a conversation.

For example, if you want to connect with other writers in the process of writing, you may use the hashtag #amwriting (my personal favorite; try it now!); if you want to connect with other self-published authors, you may use #IndieAuthor, and so on. Every Tuesday at 9 p.m., children's writers use the tag #kidlitchat to talk about a specific topic related to children's literature. To be part of the conversation, just use the same tag in your replies.

Hashtags are not case sensitive, but capital letters may be used to make them easier to read, especially long ones (compare #bookreview with #BookReview).

Using Hashtags.org
I made a list of hashtags I consider using, then I went on www.hashtags.org to test how often they are used in a twenty-four-hour period and noted the maximum number of uses per hour (approximately) next to each hashtag.

This website is extremely useful in deciding which hashtag to use, as some are very similar but return different results. For example, when I tested #IndieAuthor, it returned a maximum of 50 per hour, as opposed to just #Indie, which returned 340. Of course, #IndieAuthor is more specific. #Indie could refer to musicians, artists, authors, etc. Sometimes it's better to reach a smaller but more specific audience. And the results may vary every day, but it gives an idea.

I started with a very long list, but I eliminated the ones that hardly anyone uses (according to hashtags.org).

So here is my final list!

Children’s Writers
#KidLit - 120
#MGLit - 55

Indie Publishing
#IndieAuthor - 50
#Publishing - 100
#SelfPub - 40
#ePub - 40
#Indie - 340

Am ... Doing Something
#AmEditing - 70
#AmWriting - 700
#AmReading - 300

Reading/Marketing/Reviewing
#BookReview - 50
#BookWorm - 300
#eBook - 500
#Goodreads - 90
#MustRead - 350
#Review - 500

Freebies/Discounts
#99cents - 200
#FreeBook - 150
#Giveaway - 4600
#BookGiveaway - 50

Days of the Week
#MondayBlogs - 1000
#KidLitChat (Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST) - 100
#WriterWednesday - 50
#IndieThursday - 40
#FictionFriday - 35
#FreebieFriday - 8200
#FridayReads - 400

Other
#Quote - 2800
#Author - 300
#Writer - 240
#Writing - 600
#WritingTips - 120
#WriteTip - 170
#Grammar - 80
#CR4U (only for members of Clean Indie Reads) - 350

What hashtags are you using, and why?

Ten Influential MG Writers on Twitter

This is the second installment of the People Who've Helped Me series I started in August. It seems appropriate, since the holiday season is a good time to think of all the things we are grateful for and appreciate them.

Here is a list of ten influential middle grade writers I found on twitter. These beautiful people are using their writing talents and passion to offer something valuable to other writers. They are a source of inspiration for me and many others.


1. Shannon Messenger - blog meme and writer's conference

MMGM stands for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday. What is it? She explains it on her site: "I'd noticed that middle grade books didn't seem to get a lot of love in the blogosphere, so I created the meme to shine a bit of a spotlight on them, in the hopes that others would do the same. I LOVE when other bloggers join in." Shannon displays a list of all MMGM posts every Monday. To join is simple: write a post about a MG book or author you want to highlight, and e-mail Shannon your link by Sunday night.

WriteOnCon is a free online children’s writers conference (main characters under 18 only) created by writers, for writers. I had a chance to participate (a lot in 2010 when it all started, and a little the following years) and I was impressed! Everyone can join, for free, from anywhere around the globe. Shannon is one of the founders and does a great job co-hosting the event every year. I would highlight all the masterminds behind that awesome event, but this post focuses on MG writers only. Maybe on the next post.

Shannon has recently published her first MG novel, KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES. The cover and the title make me want to read it so much. I was thrilled to see it displayed at Barnes and Noble. Looks awesome!


2. Elissa Cruz - twitter chat and group blog

Elissa initiated #MGlitchat, a twitter event that takes place every Thursday on twitter. Join in if you love MG books! Twitter chats make my head spin so I don't normally join in, but I'm often lurking to see what the topic is and what great tweets are being retweeted. I also use this hash tag to add participants to my MG Writers twitter list.

Elissa also runs a successful group blog. In her words, "From the Mixed Up Files is the group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers. For anyone with a passion for children’s literature—teachers, librarians, parents, kids, writers, industry professionals— we offer regularly updated book lists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a children's book from writing to publishing to promoting."


3. Hilary Wagner - group blog

Project Mayhem is a group blog of about a dozen MG writers who are either traditionally published, agented, or established book reviewers or bloggers. This blog is packed with writing tips, MG novel reviews, and industry news.

The first two MG novels in Hilary's series, NIGHTSHADE CHRONICLES, have been published.


4. Kate Messner - online auction and appearances

Soon after Hurricane Sandy hit us hard, Kate organized KidLit Cares, an online talent auction to benefit the Red Cross relief effort for Sandy. Agents, editors, authors, and illustrators have donated various services to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with donations being made directly to the Red Cross disaster relief fund. Great cause!

Kate also does a whole lot of other things. She offers both in-person and virtual visits to schools, libraries, book clubs, conferences, and business and educational meetings. She also speaks at SCBWI and other writing conferences and gives professional development workshops for educators. She has published picture books, chapter books, and MG novels.

Her latest MG novel, SUGAR AND ICE, is on my to-read list for 2013.


5. Jess Keating - twitter meme

#KeatingCreature is a Twitter feature where Jess posts a knowledge bite about an amazing animal. You can also find a list of all the amazing creatures on her blog. Informative and entertaining. Love it! Besides being a MG writer, Jess is also a zoologist, and her passion for animals is evident. Nice to see something on twitter other than promotion links and articles about writing. Those are good too, but I'm always looking forward to discovering the next strange animal Jess will feature. I hope her agent finds her a contract soon. I imagine I'll find the same passion, the same love for animals, the same wit in her MG book. I want to read it!!


6. Brenda Drake - cool contest

Brenda holds a contest called Pitch Wars, in which writers have a chance to find a mentor that will help them fine tune their first pages and pitch to get them ready for the agent round. This contest is a wonderful opportunity for writers to network and have fun, and possibly find a mentor ... and an agent! I didn't get picked by a mentor, but I loved the concept. Brenda was one of the mentors for MG writers, and I received valuable feedback from her and another mentor I submitted to.


7. Riley Carney - nonprofit, young author, appearances

I'm so impressed by Riley. At fourteen, she founded a non-profit called Breaking the Chain to eliminate poverty for children through education and sustainable development, both within the United States and internationally. Breaking the Chain places new books in high-risk, high-need elementary and middle schools. It seeks to increase literacy rates by providing opportunity. What a wonderful cause! And reading the testimonies on the website, a very successful one as well.

Riley is a young author at 19, and published five books in a fantasy series for ages nine and up, THE REIGN OF THE ELEMENTS. She wrote the first three books when she was 15, the other two when she was 16. Some of her profits go toward her literacy program for children.

Riley does a lot of speaking engagements. She visits schools, speaks at writer's conferences and library events, has offered writing workshops for kids and teens, and is also available for Skype chats. She talks to kids about her books and how important reading and writing have been in her life, about Breaking the Chain, about taking ownership over their own education, and about risking failure to achieve their dreams. What a powerful message! Oh, and her tweets are awesome. You should absolutely follow her.

The moral of the story: we are never too young (or too old) to make a difference and to achieve our dreams.


8&9. Ellen Potter and Anne Mazer - resources for young writers

Ellen and Anne co-authored SPILLING INK, a book that teaches writing skills to young writers. Their website is packed with resources for both teachers and young writers, a book club, and writing contests for kids age 8-12. What a great way to encourage young writers to develop their skills!

Anne Mazer's books include the MG series of twenty books, THE AMAZING DAYS OF ABBY HAYES.

Ellen Potter wrote SLOB (which I absolutely loved) among many other MG novels, including THE HUMMING ROOM, released earlier this year.


10. Eric DelaBarre - positive message, coaching

When I read Eric's book, SALTWATER TAFFY, I was impressed by its positive message. Eric uses this book to teach his young fans (affectionately called Taffy Heads) to believe in themselves and in their unique qualities. He conveys his message through book club and school visits (in person or through Skype), YouTube videos, an essay contest for kids on his website, and a workbook that complements his novel.

He also offers coaching sessions to other writers at a reasonable price.



The world is filled with awesome people. Do you know of any other MG writers who made a difference?

30 Best #literaryrestaurants Tweets

If you're on twitter, you probably noticed the #literaryrestaurants trend these last few days, started by @S___Elliott.

Some of them made me laugh so hard! Here are my thirty favorites:

1)  Lord of the Fries (@HardRockAtlanta)
2)  To Grill A Mocking Bird (@AdeleKonyndyk)
3)  The Crepes of Wrath (@TheHutchReport)
4)  The Sound and the Curry (@bclark7)
5)  Where the Wild Wings Are (@ThatDylanMurray)
6)  For Whom the Taco Bell Tolls (@TacoBell)
7)  The Bun Also Rises (@SoxOnTheBrain)
8)  ‏The Old Man & The Seafood (@RetroDoctor)
9)  Anatomy of a Burger (@SuebethSays)
10) Harry Potter and the Side-order of the Phoenix (@dermotmagee)
11) The Life of Pie (@TheCultureur)
12) Anne of Clean Tables (@DanielEBurke)
13) Harry Potter and the Giblets of Fire (@BauerOutage)
14) Portrait of an Artist as a Young Ham (@UncleJago)
15) Charlie and the Cheesecake Factory (@DonnaDiva)
16) 100 Years of Solid Food (@XtnIsNotABoy)
17) The Da Vinci Cake (@paganmeghan)
18) A Midsummer's Ice Cream (@AlinaK47)
19) The Red Lobster of Courage (@avengingbrooke)
20) Clifford the Big Red Hot Dog (@SkinnyNiggaTRaw)
21) 50 Shades of Gravy (@MustacheMitch)
22) Walk Two Spoons (@Splash0fKiera)
23) Love in the Time of Cauliflower (@ItsMikeMackey)
24) As I Lay Frying (@dan_z123)
25) Tequila Mocking Bird (@softballerrrr17)
26) Peter Pancakes (@psychofish77)
27) Peter Flan (@WhettedWilliam)
28) Lord of the Wings (@Quintaine)
29) Winnie the Stew (@genben9)
30) The Things They Curried (@HousingWorksBks)

Okay, just a few extras, because they're too good to ignore:
Beauty and the Yeast (@HardRockAtlanta)
Diary of a Blimpie Kid (@sweetonbooks)
The Ketchup in the Fry (@Whataburger)
A Tale of Two Zitis (@aspeed)
Nineteen Eighty-Fork (@stuartbthompson)

My daughter and I came up with a few of our own:
Mysterious Eggs Benedict Society
Anne of Green Bagel
Uncle Tom's Cabbage

If you had a literary restaurant, what would you call it?

100th Post! People Who've Helped Me, Part 1

This is my 100th blog post! I thought I'd do something special for the occasion. I wanted to list 100 people who've helped me throughout the years I've been blogging, but that would take too long. Instead, I'll start a series of posts listing them a few at a time.

For my first post, I want to mention 21 people from my critique group who have reviewed my chapters and given me constructive feedback over the last three years.

1. Tamara Heiner - Published YA thriller author. I read her novel, PERILOUS,  and can't wait to read the recently released sequel, ALTERCATIONS. She also offers copy editing services.

2. Kate Larkindale - YA contemporary writer and cinema manager from New Zealand. She has written several novels and is now seeking representation. She also writes short stories. Her blog lists the ones that have been published.

3. Janeal Falor - YA fantasy writer, the newest member of our critique group. Welcome aboard! She loves chocolate, like me. I think we'll get along very well.

4. Lexa Cain - American writer living in Egypt, and the most consistent reviewer on our group (affectionately called Laura on our forum). She writes horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. Several of her short stories were published in magazines. She has amazing writing skills. Can't wait for her YA book set in Egypt to be released.

5. Tania Walsh - Australian YA fantasy writer who made me discover Tim Tams one Christmas. She loves to bake, but I still won the snickerdoodle contest against her. Her blog features a mythology manual. Great resource!

6. Cheree Smith - YA urban fantasy, sci fi, and horror writer from Australia. She recently became a teacher and is loving it. Right, Cheree? ;-)

7. Kurt Chambers - MG fantasy author from England who recently published his first book, TRUTH TELLER (which I absolutely love). He has helped me more than anyone with my book by shredding each chapter to pieces and teaching me how to make it better. I can't thank him enough! Kurt and I are the current moderators for our critique group.

8. Ralene Burke - Christian fiction writer who moved to Hawaii and just recently came back to mainland. I learned about voice by reading her novel, one of those a-ha moments that helped me a lot with my own book. Her book is excellent. I hope she gets published soon! She used to be the moderator of our critique group, and was known for organizing fun Christmas parties and intense review frenzies.

9. Jay Eckert - His MG novel, CHILDREN OF MIDIAN, has recently been released and I read it on my kindle. Awesome read! Review coming soon on my blog. He is now studying and put writing on hold, but he's a writer at heart. He'll be back. He maintains a list of MG/YA publishers and agents on his blog.

10. Alex Lidell - YA fantasy author, whose first novel, THE CADET OF TILDOR, will be released by Penguin in January 2013. Her cover is very appealing, and so is her writing.

11. S.M. Blooding - Also known as Frankie, she's the founder of our forum, the one who started it all. She writes Paranormal Thriller, Urban Fantasy Romance, Paranormal Sci-Fi Erotica, Young Adult Urban Fantasy and New Adult Steampunk. Whew! Talk about diverse!  She's written numerous novels, several of them published (YA/Adult). I'm a cameo character in one of them! *grin*

12. Louisa Clarkson - MG fantasy writer from Australia. I still have to finish reviewing her chapters, which I was avidly doing before she got kidnapped by a certain Astro Bot and vanished from our forum for a while. Ah, love! But now she's back so I can finally find out how the story ends. Awesome read involving toads, magic, and a very vain cat. She's also the founder of the Blonde Award, even though she's not really a blonde.

13. Dawne Dominique - Published author of paranormal romance and fantasy. She's also an amazing cover artist, who designed the covers for Kurt and Frankie (listed above). She was the moderator of our group when I joined, and she helped me with very helpful, detailed reviews. Oh, and she's Canadian, like me!

14. Desiree Shear - Known as Dezzie on our forum, she writes YA novels and goes to college (which is why we haven't seen her around lately). She once competed in a review frenzy against Richard (below) and managed to review over 100 chapters in a month! Amazing! Also a recipient of the Blonde Award initiated by Louisa. Being from the Philippines, she is constantly teased about eating dogs.

15. Richard Hartnett - MG writer and professional chef. He competed against Dezzie in a review frenzy, also reviewing over 100 chapters in a month. Dezzie won, though, unfortunately for him. He was good at finding all the repeated words in my chapters. All of them. Now he's doing more cooking than writing so we don't see him around.

16. Mireyah Wolfe - Urban fantasy writer. I called her the YA writer that doesn't write YA, being under 18 and writing adult novels. I can't call her that now since she's not a YA anymore. She doesn't eat dogs like Dezzie, but she is rumored to have killed puppies, which explains her lengthy absence on our forum. Kurt even wrote a poem about it. She never really reviewed any of my chapters, but she made me laugh, so that counts as helping, right?

17. Rachel Lim - YA writer who introduced me to our critique group. She got busy with college at some point and vanished from our forum. She is now in South Korea. Miss you, Rachel!

18. Chris Denton - MG writer from England. He was in our group for just a short time. Funny guy! I hope he finishes his novel. It was a good beginning.

19. Bree C. - Canadian writer of YA fantasy and supernatural. She's very dedicated to her work and has already revised her first few chapters several times, based on our feedback. Her passion for writing will get her far. I love how she's eager to learn and get better at her skills.

20. Riham Adly (Rema) - Aspiring writer from Egypt. She's also a dentist and a busy mother. She was on our forum for just a short time, but we're still in touch through Facebook.

21. Hailey - YA fantasy writer. She was known to give cute and cuddly reviews. They always made me smile. Not sure where she is now. I haven't heard from her in a long time.

Wow, I never realized so many people have helped me with my novels! I hope I'm not forgetting anyone.

My Top Five Websites for Writers

In my search for agents, I recently tumbled upon a list of useful websites and blogs for writers on The Jennifer DeChiara literary agency website.

Another list of sites for writers worth looking into:  Best Social Networking Sites for Writers, by Kurt Chambers. Very comprehensive list.

Instead of making my own extensive list of great websites for writers, I decided to link the ones I've found (which are already pretty good), and just highlight my very top five favorite sites in this post.


My Personal Favorites

Twitter is a great place to annoy connect with other writers, stalk get to know agents, and discover new trends and future bestsellers. On my twitter account, I have a list of MG writers, a list of agents and publishers, and several other lists. Feel free to browse and follow these lists or individual people from the lists. That's a good way to get started if you're new on twitter.

Writing.com is where my MG/YA novel critique group lives, and where most of my short stories were born. Here, you can upload your poems, short stories, chapters, or any other writing-related items in your portfolio, for people to read and review. You can join specific groups, participate in contests, enroll in writing challenges, and get gift points for reviews you give. The basic membership is free, but I would recommend you get an upgraded membership for $50 per year, which allows you to post more items and gives you access to more functions, like hosting your own group or contest and starting a blog.

Squidoo is a good place to post articles and get paid for them month after month if they become popular. An informative blog post could easily become a Squidoo article and generate more exposure and possibly some cash. Not much, I must admit, unless your article becomes widely popular, but it's still better than nothing! And if you know a little bit of HTML, you can customize your article to make it stand out. There's also a member forum where we can exchange tips, ask each other questions, or just hang out.


The Free Dictionary is a site I use a lot while writing, reviewing, or editing. It shows word definitions from various dictionaries, pronunciation, synonyms, translation in various languages, and much more.

WriteOnCon is a free online conference held once a year, during the summer. The event is focused on kidlit (picture books, MG/YA) writers, but a lot of the information can be used by any other writers as well. The conference includes interactive panels with agents and writing professionals, a forum for participants to interact and review each other's sample pages (with possibly a few agents lurking around), articles and lectures about the different aspects of writing, and contests and prizes. The best thing ever! And it's totally free!


Other Sites Worth Mentioning

There are other sites I'm member of but don't use as much as I would like. As an extra, I'll give a brief list here.

SCBWI - a society for children's writers, offering conferences, writing resources, local groups, and discussion forums
AbsoluteWrite Water Cooler - a forum where writers mingle and have ongoing conversations
Book-in-a-Week - a writing challenge where participants decide their own writing goals for the week and aim to reach it
Goodreads - a place to share about the books you read or are planning to read
LinkedIn - a networking site especially useful for freelancers to connect with people in the same industry


What's your favorite site for writers?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday Meme

Every Monday, several bloggers post reviews of a MG book they've read. Some of the posts may occasionally be about an author interview or offer giveaways.  I've won a few books just by leaving comments!

If you're a middle grade writer like me, you should definitely take advantage of this wonderful meme.  It's a great way to connect with other MG writers and to discover new books to add to your to-read list. So far, I've only been reading other people's reviews without participating, but I'm thinking about posting my book reviews on Mondays and join in the fun.

To join, simply e-mail Shannon Messenger a link to your blog and the title of the book you're featuring at SWMessenger (at) hotmail (dot) com. Make sure you put MMGM in the subject line and that you e-mail her by Sunday night, so she can feature it on her Monday post. Check out Shannon's blog for more details and for a weekly list of participants with links to their posts. Thank, Shannon, for doing this! You're a star!

MMGM Participants:
(I'll add to the list as I find new ones)

Akoss
Andrea Mack
Barbara Ann Watson
Brooke Favero
Dorine White
Gina Carey

Jennifer Rumberger

Joanne Fritz
Karen Yingling

Laurisa Reyes
Marsh and Emiline

Michael G.G.
Michelle Isenhoff

Mundie Kids

Natalie Aguirre

Pam Torres

Shannon Messenger

Shannon O'Donnell

Susan Olson

Tricia Conway
Vicki Tremper

Let me know if you think of any other blogs I should add to this list.

Quick Twitter Tips

Twitter Tools & Apps

Use TweetDeck to see your favorite lists, mentions, and search results in different columns, all on one screen.

TweetDeck auto-completes user names. Type "@" and the first few letters and it suggests names that match. No more misspelling!

untweeps.com lists people that haven't posted in 30 days (or any period you choose). You decide which ones to unfollow.

Use manageflitter.com to clean up and manage who you follow. See who is not following your back and who has been inactive.

HootSuite lets you schedule tweets ahead of time.


Lists, Hashtags, and User Names

Twitter lists help group tweeps with similar interests. 2 of mine: MG Writers, Agents & Publishers

To follow tweeps with similar interests, look at the lists you've been added to and follow other members of that list.

Click on a hashtag to see all the tweets using the same hashtag. Try it now: #askagent

On TweetDeck, clicking on a hashtag creates a new column with search results. Very useful for following chats such as #MGLitChat.

If you start a tweet with a username, only that user and people following you both will be able to see it in their stream.


The Art of Tweeting

Instead of posting lists of names for #FF, name just a few and a reason people should follow them.

Don't ask people to check out your site. Be helpful. Interact. Promote their site first and they might return the favor.


Following Limits

Twitter won't let you follow more than 2000 people unless you have the same amount of followers. More details here.

Once you follow over 2000 people, twitter only lets you follow 10% more people than your # of followers (followers X 1.1).

When I reach a following limit on twitter, the first thing I do is unfollow inactive tweeps using untweeps.com.

If that's still not enough, I also unfollow some of the tweeps that are not following me back using manageflitter.com.

Add people you don't follow to lists - useful when you reach following limits & want to remember whom to follow later.


Other Articles About Twitter

People I Follow on Twitter and Why

People I Follow on Twitter and Why

I don't auto-follow back. I pick and choose each and every person I follow on Twitter. Based on what? Read on to find out.

Based on Your Profile
I'm using Twitter mainly to connect with other writers and people in the writing industry, such as agents, publishers, book reviewers, and editors. I occasionally follow other people based on common interest or because they have interesting tweets.

If what you tweet about doesn't interest me, if' you're a real estate agent, a football player, a young man looking for love, a grandma ranting about her aches and pains, a get-rich-quick-scheme type of guy, or if all your bio says is "Follow me, I'll follow you", I may not be interested. Nothing personal.

If you have no bio or your bio doesn't say anything about you, I typically don't follow.

A swear word in a bio is definitely a no-follow. Not very common, but I've seen it. Not classy.

If your bio is intriguing or makes me laugh, I'll most likely follow, just because.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Tweets

I love omelets and meringue, but I don't follow eggs on twitter.  They usually mean bot, and who wants to follow a tweep that's not human?  If people can't make the effort to update their picture, I can't expect to read outstanding tweets from them anyway.

Please keep your clothes on.  Not only will I not follow you, but I may also block and report you if I find your picture offensive.

I really prefer to see your face as opposed to a random image, a character from a book, a baby, a dog, or members of your family.

Tweets I Like

• Links to blog posts or websites that are useful to me, that could help me in my writing career;
• Inspirational or funny quotes from famous people or even better, an original quote from you! - especially one I can add to my treasure chest of quotes about writing;
• Tweets praising someone's achievements or success - a new book release, for example;
• Useful tips or stand-alone tweets with no link, that can easily be retweeted (not too long);
• Funny, witty comments;
• Tweets mentioning someone I know - I like seeing my favorite tweeps mentioned;
• Tweets mentioning me (of course!) or retweeting me - makes me feel appreciated;
• Any tweets from my favorite tweeps or people I know personally - I have a special column on TweetDeck with all my favorites, so I don't miss anything they say. I don't always retweet, but I read them all;
• Interesting, funny or inspiring picture or video;
• Twitter Art - I love those, but I can't see them on TweetDeck or on my phone. I have to go on Twitter to see all the symbols.

Tweets I Don't Like

• Endless list of names (#FF type) and no substantial content. Even worse - retweeted lists of names with no substantial content. Except if I'm mentioned in it, then I might tolerate;
• Tweets individually inviting each follower to visit a site, follow back, buy something, download a free book, or check out a video;
• Daily tweets about your own products or services; I might follow for a while, but I'll get tired of hearing the title of your book every day and eventually unfollow;
• Rude or inappropriate comments, or endless ranting;
• Same tweet over and over and over again;
• Only retweets and no original tweets;
• Long tweets - it kind of defies the purpose of twitter, which is to write something in 140 characters or less - and I don't usually bother clicking on links to see the whole tweet;
• Tweets that span over several tweets - for the same reason as above. Also it makes it hard to retweet. If it's too long to fit on one tweet, write a short blog post about it and link it;
• Tweets with #too #many #hashtags and links. I normally just skip over those. One hashtag is enough, preferably short and easy to read;
• Tweets with too many words abbreviated. My attention span on twitter is about 1 second. If it doesn't read well, I just skip it.

About DMs...
If you thank me for following you by sending a DM asking me to visit your website, it makes me want to automatically unfollow you. You don't walk to someone you've just met and say, "Do you want to be my friend?" That would be a bit strange, right? That's not how relationships are created.  I never click on a link sent to me by DM, asking me to visit your blog or check out your book. Out of principle.

Here's how twitter works for me.  I follow you and read your tweets, among many others.  If one of your tweets stands out, if I find it useful or interesting, I'll retweet it and check out who's behind that awesome tweet by reading your profile and visiting your website.

If someone retweets me or mentions me, I always check their profile, read their recent tweets, and very often visit their website. That's a much more effective way to promote yourself than sending DMs.

You want people to visit your website or buy your product? Tweet something useful or entertaining, interact with people, help them promote their stuff.  Give of yourself first, unconditionally.

Another type of DM I absolutely, positively, strongly despise is one asking me to validate myself on TrueTwit so you know I'm not a bot. Um... excuse me?  I find it absolutely aggravating to be asked, "Are you a real person?"  A bot wouldn't interact with people on a personal way like I do. A quick look at my tweets would tell you that I'm clearly a human. Really, I am!

A Final Word
Following someone is not a favor. I don't follow you just because you follow me, and I won't unfollow you or feel offended if you don't follow me back. Your tweets are interesting? I follow you. My tweets are not for you? That's okay to unfollow me. I won't get mad.  This whole "Follow me, I'll follow you" thing doesn't work for me.

Let go of who follows you or not.  Just tweet your best tweets and followers will automatically come.  It's like my favorite quote from Field of Dreams: "If you build it, they will come." Be interesting, different, intriguing. Be yourself. Be someone people will want to follow.