When I taught blogging workshops for writers and authors, one thing was predictable. Their eyes would always glaze over when I got to the part about building an author brand. They thought of selling out, of compromising their art, of consumer brainwashing. They had seen too many taglines, too many TV commercials—Coke (“refreshing”) and Apple…
Last weekend I hit the road—and the water—for the Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference. I have been to a bazillion conferences in my day: they were events for teachers, or direct mail copywriters, or bloggers or marketers, depending on what field I was in at the moment. They all blur together in my mind. The thought…
A couple of weeks ago, I found a new blog. New to me—but not to lots of other folks. It is the brainchild of Andrea Hurst of Andrea Hurst & Associates and supported by the talented writer and blogger Katie Flanagan. What I love about Andrea’s blog is that it melds the literary agent’s view…
We have all been there before. We sit down at the keyboard, poised to crank out today’s blog post. We stare at the screen, willing the words to come. We type a bunch of garbage, in hopes that the good stuff will eventually spill out. We fidget. We frown. We try some more. But the…
I’m not a big fan of rant blog posts. They get old fast, especially when every blogger on the block is doing them. But problematic punctuation? Well, that pushes all my buttons. What can I say? I’m a writer. Three months ago, I wondered who the first person was who put an apostrophe in where…
Last summer I broke my wrist in a bizarre gardening accident. I look back on that event now with gratitude and affection. It was June 30, 2011. The day my crazy life stopped long enough so, between the ice packs and painkillers, I had time to ponder why I am on this planet. I mean,…
When I was a teacher, one of the worst things a kid could have, the thing that would hold her back throughout life and beyond, was low self-concept. It was whispered about children, as though they would never get any farther than flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s because they had, you know: a low self-concept Of…
Please give a warm welcome to Krissy Brady, the first guest blogger on the Cat’s Eye blog in 2012. I met Krissy when she began reading and commenting here. I checked out her blog and was impressed by the resources she so freely offers to writers. I encourage you to visit her blog. And if…
Whether you are a writer by profession or not, one thing is true. We are all authors now. Every time we get on Facebook or LinkedIn or Google+ or Twitter, we are publishing something. You might have heard the rumor that Twitter is dumbing us down, making us like teenagers who text on their cell…
I hope you are finding time to refresh and rejuvenate this week between Christmas and New Year’s. I’ve been reading a lot, since Bob, Mr. WordPress, gave me the best Christmas present ever. It was better than the warm, fuzzy socks. Better even than the foaming bath oil and scented candle from L’Occitane. It was…
Writing your blog post is a lot of work. But it’s usually not the part that gives you the most grief. Your toughest task is coming up with the right title. Someone once said, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” But you know what? People do that all the time. Just go to…
Once, before the world was nichified, before online bios—or online anything—existed, I had eight different résumés. I was a freelance writer and my skills and experience were all over the place, so I needed to separate them to appeal to each of my audiences. My husband Bob suspected I had multiple personality disorder, but, actually,…
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