Brilliant Blog Award Winners Announced!

This post first appeared on Karla Akins' blog.

As you may know if you read any of my posts last week, I've launched a new contest this year. I'm recognizing outstanding blogs. Blogs that catch my eye. Blogs that I love.

In choosing blogs for this award, I follow the rubric below. Now, keep in mind, anytime there's a contest that pits one thing against the other, a judge's opinion is extremely subjective. Also, as this is my first time doing this type of thing, this rubric is subject to change. As I learn more about what works and what doesn't in creating a great blog, and as I scrutinize blogs more carefully this year, I'm certain to figure out other important or not-so-important elements.

But I also go with a gut reaction when I'm at the blog site. If there's a quick intake of air, if I feel that my time has been well-spent, if I feel butterflies -- chances are it's a blog that even lines up with the rubric I've created.

By the way, I'm not comparing blogs with over 1000 subscribers to blogs under 1000 subscribers. All blogs are considered in this contest as separate entities apart from their popularity. I don't choose a blog simply because it's more popular. There are a lot of popular blogs I don't read or don't like. I choose them for how they appeal to me or meet my needs as a Christian writer.

Now. On to the awards! Drum roll please!

My first pick is in the Secular Travel Blog category. I've chosen Camels and Chocolate by Kristen Luna. I've followed Kristen for quite a few years now. But when she gave her blog and website a makeover, I was mesmerized. There's really nothing I don't like about this blog. Copious pictures. An engaging writing style. Useful information. Not to mention the aesthetics of this blog are second to none. Congratulations, Kristen! Giving you this award is a no-brainer. Readers, if you want to know how to do a blog in an engaging way, study this one!

Food category -- The Miss Nini Blog.  Full disclosure: "Miss Nini" is a friend of mine from way back when I lived in Iowa. But we haven't seen one another in person for more than 20 years! And we just recently (about a year ago) got back in touch via Facebook. She and her husband, a very successful sheep farmer, attended our little storefront church in Anita, Iowa years ago. And now she's a famous baker! She's won tons of awards at the Iowa State Fair, been a contestant on Shark Tank, and got her picture in the New York Times.

But that's not why I love her blog. First, who doesn't love baked goods, right? But I also love Miss Nini's writing style. You have no idea how thrilled I was to learn she is writing a book now.  Her turns of phrase are as delicious as your kitchen concoctions, I assure you.

My next two picks are in the Christian writing category. These go to:

Zoe M. McCarthy and Karen Wingate's, Grace on Parade Blog

I have fallen in love with Zoe M. McCarthy's writing advice. One of the reasons I like it so much is that it's worthy of my time and the posts are usually moderate in length. I get a lot of info without spending a lot of time. Several of her posts I've bookmarked. The information is so worthy. I never delete a post that shows up in my mailbox.

Karen Wingate's blog, Grace on Parade, contains rich content. And I absolutely love the daisies! Her web design is lovely. But it's the content that's impressive. Each post is well-thought-out. Each post conveys a message. I like that.

So, tell me, Dear Reader, what are your favorite blogs so far this year? Weigh in!

And congratulations to January's winners! Write on, ladies! I'll be in touch with the secret code for posting the button to your blog (if I haven't given it to you before now).

What do our winners get? Winners get to display the Brilliant Blog Button on their website. Readers can click on the button to vote for them for Blog of the Year. Fun, right?

Tweet this: January's Brilliant Blog Awards announced!

Do you have an award-worthy blog or know of one? Let me know in the comments below. And take time to congratulate January's winners!

Karla is the author of several history books for

homeschoolers including O Canada Her Story,Sacagawea and Jacques Cartier. Her first novel, The Pastor's Wife Wears Biker Boots features a homeschool mom. Her work has also been published in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Splickety Magazine, and she currently writes for Happy Sis Magazine. You can find more information about her life and ministry atKarlaAkins.com.

Happy Labor Day -- Win a $25 Gift Certificate from Amazon!

Click to enter!

 I'm hosting a Back to School Giveaway on my blog. No, I'm not launching a new book. I like to treat my readers to unexpected surprises now and then. I also hope to acquire new readership. This is one reason authors hold contests.

Click for a chance to win!

 Contests are a fun way to help build your on-line platform. I've held several and they are tons of fun. My favorite contests were when I was launching my first novel, The Pastor's Wife Wears Biker Boots. I held a Facebook Party and gave away gifts all throughout the evening to those attending. It's fun to go back to the transcript of the party and read it! If you want to know how to do it for yourself, feel free to explore the page for yourself.

Click to view Facebook launch party

Online platforms are becoming an important part of the author package writers must present to prospective publishers. The first thing a publishing committee will do when introduced to a new author, or even a published one, is Google the author's name. Does your name bring up any social media results? Do you have a website? Some publishers won't publish authors who don't have a healthy online-presence.

Karla's website header

I'm like a lot of authors in that social media isn't my favorite thing to spend time on. I'd rather not have the distraction. But, I look at it this way--it's beats digging ditches. And it's basically painless. Like scrubbing toilets, it must be done, and it won't kill me.

If you don't know where to start, here are the basics:

• Build a website. It doesn't have to be fancy. I used Wix.com when I first started and later I used Weebly.com. There are other free platforms out there. Use the one that is the most user-friendly for you. I didn't spend money to have someone design one for me until after I had my first novel published.

This blog interacts with the history books I write

• Blog. You don't have to blog every day but it makes sense that the more you blog the more people will visit. What to blog about? Do a Google search for blog topics and you'll have more than you'll ever have time to write. Also, I started my first blogs on Blogger, but now I use WordPress because that's what my web designer used to design my site. There's a learning curve to WordPress, but I love it. However, if you're new to finding your way around the Internet, I recommend Blogger. Many successful authors use it and it's what I use for my interactive ebooks.

Click to follow!

• Facebook: I have a "friends" page with about 3300+ followers, an author page with a little over 500, a page for my book and several groups. But really, you don't have to do all that. You can simply use your friends page if you wish. However, once you reach 5000 followers, you have to stop accepting them and direct them to your author page. So it's a good idea to go ahead and build your author page. The nice thing about an author page is that you can host your giveaways on it.  

Facebook Author Page Giveaway Tab

• Twitter: for me, this is the hardest platform to build relationships on. But I am learning!

Click to follow me!

• Pinterest: I have almost 3,000 followers on Pinterest and it was super easy to build that following. Pick a popular subject and start pinning! (To keep numbers in perspective, most best-selling authors have followers in the five digits. I'm still working toward that!)

Click to follow me!

• Google+: I'm fairly new to Google+ but as more people learn to use it, I'm gaining more experience and developing relationships.

Click to follow me!

• LinkedIn: I post here every time I have a blog post. 

Click to follow me!

• tumblr: I have about 800 followers on tumblr. I admit that tumblr is one of my guilty pleasures. I enjoy the people I follow there and I actually get the news before it's published in most other forums. It's a lot like twitter that way.

Click to view

• Goodreads: I have about 1300 followers on Goodreads. I'm not very good at checking in there, but while I was promoting my book, I did give books away and I believe it was well worth the expense and time. 

Click to follow!

Those are the basic platforms/applications that most writers use to build their online presence. Many do not use all of them. Others use more. I have my twitter and tumblr hooked together so that when I post on tumblr it posts on twitter. It helps me build relationships on tumblr, but it doesn't help much on twitter because to build relationships on twitter you need to interact and respond to other people's posts. 

As you can see, I'm not yet in the mega-following status and I'm still learning. A platform isn't built in a day, or week or month. It takes time to build relationships, and that's what successful authors do. No one likes to be bombarded with "buy my book" all the time. People want to connect with people, not products. If you build relationships, you'll gain a faithful tribe. And making friends, loving one another, and caring about others is what life's all about in the first place.

Click to tweet: What are you doing to build your online platform?

Don't forget to go to my website and enter the giveaway! Today's the last day! Have fun!

Leave me a message below and let me know how you're building your online platform!

Goblins Spamming Your Blog Posts?

by Rick Barry

For months I experienced a daily nuisance. Maybe you have, too--spam comments on blog posts. And not the more recent posts. The goblins' comments always targeted my first couple of  posts of 2014.  But how to block them?

The spam messages might have been less irksome if they at least stated something connected to my post. Instead, I received pointless comments stating, for instance:

When most gamers found out about the i – OS App Store (along with the various other stores for mobile devices), many of them thought the games on the store would never amount to anything substantial.

Other comments arrived in horrendous English:

"Hi mates, how is everything, and what you wish for to say concerning this article, in my view its actually remarkable designed for me. Here is my blog post...."


Yes, I had taken security precautions, and Blogger never actually allowed these junk messages to appear. Yet, it sent me daily email copies of each new message, giving me the option of manually moderating and permitting the message, if I so chose.

Friends offered suggestions. One said her solution is passive resignation, which wasn't good enough for me. Another author explained that she chose to moderate ALL comments, which an additional chore for her, and which slowed the posting of comments by readers.

But my kudos go to author Sarah Sundin for sharing a simple solution. Sarah said, "Blogger actually makes it easy. If they're targeting one particular post, edit that post and click on the box to not allow comments." I had forgotten that Blogger offers that option right on the page where you compose blog posts. Here's what it looks like:

Options

Reader comments

Allow

Don't allow, show existing

Don't allow, hide existing

I clicked the option to keep the previous comments but to block all further comments on my two targeted victims. Sure enough, no more spam.

If you have a blog and have been receiving spam, maybe this option will work for you, too. If the goblins have not noticed your blog yet, beware! You could need these solutions sooner than you think.

Perhaps you have additional insights on blog spam? If so, please share below. I promise not to block you!

Rick Barry has freelanced hundreds of articles and short stories, had two novels published, and has more projects in the pipeline.

Interview With Jeff Reynolds

By Jeff Reynolds

I guess I'm running out of people to interview. Or everybody was too busy Christmas shopping. Still, there may be another reason for the interview. So here goes -- 

Q. Jeff, welcome to Hoosier Ink, though I think you're not a stranger here. How did you get into the ACFW?

A. Thanks for the welcome, Jeff. (Is there an echo in here?) I wrote a novel in 2007-2008 (technically, my second, though the previous one from '84 never was published nor should it have been), was signed by a local self-publishing company which closed in '10 with coverage on the Star's front page and at least three of the four stations without my book getting to the press. I read The Complete Idiot's Guide To Writing Christian Fiction by Ron Benrey, which mentioned the ACFW. I joined, got involved with the local chapter and several loops including the critique group. As yet, this novel is still unpublished but it is much better than the edition that would have been published.

Q. In what ways did the book improve?

A. I originally had an idea of having a half dozen friends solve a mystery, so I had six main characters figuring it out and sharing POV. Even on the rough draft, I noticed three levels emerge among the six. Then, I thought about doing it in the first person, using one of the two characters most important to the story.

Q. It's not unusual for me ... er, you to be asking interview questions. Any particular reason why your posts here have been primarily interviews the last two years?

A. It just happened. I was impressed by a book I read -- You Are What You See by Scott Nehring. So I posted a review one month and interviewed him the next. Then, I thought of interviewing authors where there was a theological element, such as Donna Fletcher Crow's Monastery Murders or Eric Wilson's Jerusalem's Undead. Not surprising, I've had either referals (e.g. Christine Hunt via Scott Nehring) or requests by the author. As a result, most months I have at least one person to interview.

Q. What would you say were the highlights among your interviews?

A. In other words, which of my children are my favorites? Actually, Randy Singer made a similar comment to one of my questions. If I had a top favorite, it was that interview -- it's fun interviewing your favorite author. Another good memory was when my scheduled interviewee and I had a hard time connecting, so with about three days before posting time I contacted Kerry Nietz whose latest release Amish Vampires In Space just came out. Hopefully, each interview had spoken to and/or inspired somebody.

Q. I've noticed you've gotten comments from people you've interviewed on your questions. How do you approach the interview?

A. If I have time and opportunity, I'll read at least one novel by the author. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. So I'll check out the author's web page and read the Amazon reviews of their books. I look for things that catch my attention and for items that would not be in every interview. For a couple of interviews I did that weren't posted on Hoosier Ink, I read other interviews by that author to get ideas for questions and note what everybody else asks so I can be different.

Q. That's interesting. Let's use you for an example. What questions would you ask yourself if you were going to do an interview with you?

A. Trying to make your job easy, aren't you? Well, many people know my wife and I have been to about forty different zoos, so I might ask if there were any animals that inspired characters. In my case, I came up with a character in a novel I started (not the one above) named Cappie Berra after observing a capybara, the world's largest rodent. There are other trivial items in my life like getting to ask Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater a question at an assembly during my freshman year at high school or putting together a Christmas music program in Nashville, TN with several local songwriter friends.

Q. I have the impression that you are considering leaving the ACFW. If so, why? What's the future of your writing, and what will you be doing?

A. Where would you get an idea like that? However, yes, I'm probably going to leave this group. My national membership ends in March, so I don't see much of a point for renewing in the Chapter for three months. It has been a matter of prayer most of this year. The best answer is that I feel the Lord might be leading a different direction and I'm freeing myself for the future. Becky and I have thought of taking a mission trip, and I've debated running for public office, as well as several other things. 

Even though I've had an interest in writing since being a teenager, I've had other interests as well: Ceramics, songwriting, and ministry for example. I will be polishing my book and seeking some way to publish, be it traditional or e-book. It's possible in the future I might rejoin ACFW. I do appreciate everyone's prayers.


Q. Since this your last blog on Hoosier Ink, is there anything you want to add? And if some of the readers want to follow you, where would they go?

A. Thank me for interviewing you ... wait, did that come out right? I'd like to thank the people I've met (via the internet) through the ACFW in general, and especially the Indiana Chapter. I had the pleasure of serving in '12 as Chapter Secretary with Rich Barry, Darren Kehrer, and Ronda Wells. 

I'd also like to thank my victims -- er, interviewees: Scott Nehring, Donna Fletcher Crow, Julie Cave, Cynthia Simmons, Janalyn Voigt, H. L. Wegley, Christine Hunt, Eric Wilson, Stephanie Guerrero, Laura Popp, Mary Elizabeth Hall, Randy Singer, Amy Wallace, Pamela S. Meyers, Lynette Eason, former Indiana Chapter member Morgan Busse, Heidi Glick, Deanna Dodson (aka Julianna Deering), Kerry Nietz, Suzanne Hartmann, Adam and Andrea Graham, Wanda Dyson, Debbie Malone, Karla Akins, Jayne Self, Janet Sketchley (the last five were posted on a different blog but not Hoosier Ink), critique partners Ellen Parker and Donna Benson, and especially Rick Barry, Darren Kehrer, Dawn Crandall, and Suzie Bixler.

I mentioned another blog I do interviews. I'm part of a four person rotation for Sleuths and Suspects (http://sleuthsandsuspects.blogspot.com), and will be continuing with them. I interviewed one of my other S&S contributors, Heidi Glick, on Hoosier Ink, and another, Debbie Malone, for S&S. Of course, you can also keep up with me on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.c.reynolds

Thank you for letting me part of this blog the past three years, and I hope I encouraged some of you through those blogs.

Participate in Blog Link-Ups to Grow Your Audience

So, you’ve spent what feels like too much time brainstorming, writing, and editing your blog post. You’ve clicked Publish and then sat back with your choice of caffeinated beverage to watch the page views add up. Right?

Congrats if that’s your blog!

As for mine, in the early days I might have had twenty page views on a single post. And that was a high. No amount of caffeinated beverage could make me enthusiastic over that.

Enter blog link-ups, a chance to share my blog post on someone else’s blog.

What is a link-up? Any blogger can use a link tool to allow others bloggers to link-up their own individual blog post permalinks, often with a photo. Many link-ups are offered weekly or monthly, allowing you, as a blogger, to link-up your week’s blog posts.

Where to link up?

Making a Living Writing hosts a link-up for writers on the first Friday of every month. So far as I can tell, it’s not a *Christian* blog, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t see an increase in traffic from it. I’m planning on linking up this blog post there in July.

Lisa Jo Baker hosts Five Minute Friday every…wait for it…Friday. She describes it as a flash mob of writers all writing about the same one word. At midnight on Thursday, she posts that one word for that Friday’s writing. Then, you write for five minutes about that word, without editing, and post it on your blog. Once yours is posted, you link it up on her blog.

If you keep a journal, you might want to participate in Random Journal Day at Beneath the Surface on the first Friday of every month. I haven’t participated in this, but you open an old journal of yours to anywhere and then post a bit of it and write about it. Be sure to include a picture of the journal. See the site for further guidelines.

Reading List hosts Cozy Book Hop to link up your posts about books you’ve been reading. This is where I link up my book reviews.

My blog genre is primarily homeschooling mom. There are many link-ups available for that type of blog post. I’ve listed only a few. Just be sure to check the host blogger’s guidelines or requirements.

The Better Mom

Time-Warp Wife “Titus 2sdays”

Growing Home “Teach Me Tuesdays”

Women Living Well 

One more idea for you! If you homeschool and want to post a weekly wrap-up, you could start with iHomeschool Network and the Homeschool Journal link-up. As always, be sure to read the guidelines.

Happy blogging!


Q4U: Do you participate in blog link-ups? Which ones would you add?

Meghan Carver is a 2013 ACFW Genesis semi-finalist and the author of several articles and short stories. After achieving a Juris Doctorate from Indiana University and Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Millikin University and completing a brief stint in immigration law, Meghan heard God calling her to be at home. Now homeschooling her six children with her college professor husband, Meghan has returned to her first love of writing. She blogs about homeschooling and homemaking at www.MeghanCarver.blogspot.com.

Beware of Blog Overload

Writers have always faced obstacles. Lack of skill with grammar. Lack of inspiration. Lack of technique. Lack of knowledge concerning the publishing process. Lack of a literary agent. The list goes on, but so often the barriers seem to be a lack of one item or another. In an effort to solve these deficits, some would-be authors get bogged down in a massive, new quagmire: blog overload.

Yes, blogs can be great. By following the blogs of experienced agents, editors, and fellow writers, any aspiring author can tap into unlimited knowledge concerning the publishing biz. Without visiting the library or even subscribing to Writer's Digest, you can receive a wealth of advice and insider information for free! All you need is a computer, a mouse, and one finger for clicking.

There's the danger. Free insider tips can become intoxicating. You want to write better, right now, so why be stingy on yourself when the info comes gratis? Your finger goes to work clicking and subscribing to blog after blog. Some of these web logs are more helpful than others, but hey, since they're free, what's the harm in following them, right? Besides, your fellow writers appreciate it when you subscribe. They're delighted when you leave comments on what they've written.

Before you know it, you've clicked your way into a veritable Niagara of writing lore. Your craft gets swamped by endless cascades of tips, questions, answers, pet peeves, query letters, good proposals, lousy proposals, success stories, horror stories, examples to imitate and bad examples to shun. If finding time to write was hard before, now it becomes nearly impossible because the multitude of blogs consumes all your spare minutes. Worse, each blog that gushes about yet another writer's new contract for a 20-book series paralyzes you.

"Why don't I get offers like that?" you wonder. "What do they know that I don't?" So you plunge back into the endless current of blogs in search of the ever-elusive secrets to success.

Don't. Blog overload can smother your writing career. Whittle down that list of blogs you follow. Pick three, maybe four, that deliver the most precious nuggets of gold and stick to them. Don't worry about that new friend from the conference being offended if you stop commenting. Don't fret about not having your name and avatar plastered in daily comments all across the web.

Now, use those freed-up minutes to add new sentences and paragraphs to push your manuscript forward each day. This way, you'll still be learning, but you'll also be applying that new knowledge and creating manuscripts of your own.

Happy writing!

Rick Barry has been freelancing articles and short stories for over twenty years. His two novels to date are Gunner's Run and Kiriath's Quest.

Why I need you to keep writing

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Monday, March 26, was the worst day of my life.

And on Monday, March 26, I came home from a traumatic experience, opened up my email and found a blog post by Greg Johnson on the ACFW Blog entitled "My Day in Prison."

I couldn't believe what I was reading.

God is into details. His timing is perfect. It amazes me how our Lord orchestrates the logistics of our lives to give us exactly what we need when we need it. I don't know why I marvel. He says He takes care of the little sparrow so why wouldn't He tell Greg Johnson to write what I needed and post it on the day I needed it?

And why wouldn’t He give the idea of ACFW to someone because He knew that Karla Akins would need Greg Johnson to post on the ACFW organization's blog?

That’s just like Him. He is faithful. And I’m grateful.

In that post on March 26, Greg Johnson talks about how very much prisoners need what we write. He interviewed a prisoner who said that books get passed around in prison. “Books communicate, through story, God’s grace and the love of Jesus in a form that women can grasp. A woman can get swept away into the love of God through a story, well told."

  

When I came home that day I wanted to crawl into bed, curl up in a fetal position and plead with God to just let me die. I wanted to wallow in self-pity and sorrow.

But the ACFW blog post was the first thing I read when I opened my email so I couldn't. I knew God had His eye on me and was carrying me, bloody, wounded and bruised because I barely had the will to breathe or the strength to pray or the resolve to stand.

This was the day the vivid colors in my life disappeared and my world became shades of gray.

Because you see, on this day, Monday, March 26, my oldest son went to prison.

My 27-year-old golden boy, born on Easter Sunday, father of three beautiful little girls, is addicted to meth.

I write this, five days after my son's sentencing, not in a fetal position in my bed, but from a small writing conference where Dave Lambert is one of our anointed speakers. He said something profound yesterday I just have to share with you (part of this quote is attributed to Eugene Petersen):

 "Once upon a time there was a great truth teller named Jesus. Because He knew the Truths He decided to be a great story teller. Why did Jesus teach in stories?  Jesus was a master of subversion. His favorite speech form, the parable, was subversive. The [parables] sounded ordinary; secular; of his 40 parables only one has a setting in church and only a couple mention the name of God. Nothing in them threatened their own sovereignty. Like a time bomb they would explode in their unprotected hearts.  Jesus continually threw odd stories along ordinary lives and walked away without explanation or altar call."

Will you follow in Jesus' footsteps and keep writing so that the lost, like my darling boy, will hear His Voice? There's a blindness that only God's grace can heal.

Please don't give up. I need you. The world needs to hear what God has to say through you. God gave you the dream for a reason, and it's not all about you.

Someone's life depends on your perseverance.

“Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. 2 Chronicles 15:7”

 

 Karla Akins is a pastor's wife, mother of five, grandma to five beautiful little girls and author of O Canada! Her Story. She lives in North Manchester with her husband, twin teenage boys with autism, and three rambunctious dogs. Her favorite color is purple, favorite hobby is book-hoarding, and favorite food group is cupcakes.

What God Did

He took me by surprise. That's what He did.

Several weeks ago, an idea began noodling around in my head. Create a blog especially for kids, those middle-graders who will be my readers if I ever get pubbed. I gave a lot of thought to the blog title, settling on Quirky Quill, and came up with the logo. That was it. I slammed it into "Park" and did nothing else. Then.

This past Saturday morning, as I checked email and waited for Says You on NPR, an idea dropped through the ceiling of my room and landed smack-dab on top of my noggin. My eyebrows slammed into my hairline. An index finger shot into the air. And I hollered out (very quietly, since others were still sleeping), "THAT'S IT!

You see, before that moment, Quirky Quill had been a generic concept: do a blog for kids. But after the near-fatal collision with the IDEA I knew exactly what the site would be like. It would be for kids, 'tweens who love books--reading them and writing them. Okay, so they may not be actually writing whole novels (though I was surprised at how many do), but they are crafting stories, baby-stepping toward longer works.

The site includes writing hints, book reviews, author interviews; a page I call "Bookshelf," where I feature fiction that doesn't violate the Christian world view; a "Writer's Nudge" feature, and a "Dear Miz Sharon" page where readers can ask me questions.

I've included below an article that is Part One of a series I call "Fiction in Baby Bites"

 

Hook 'em! Hook 'em good!

Your BFF loves your story idea. Your dad's convinced you're a literary protégé. Grandma's boring her friends at the senior center with stories of your prowess with a pen. You have a plot. You know what's going to happen in the story--kinda, sorta. Now it's time to put that golden pen to the paper (or, more likely, those pink little fingertips to the pc keyboard) and write.

Where to begin. That's the real question. Some smart aleck might say, "At the beginning." That's not the best answer, Mr. Aleck. The beginning can be really boring, full of back-story explanation and description. You can work that in bit by bit later on, but first  hook that reader. Make 'em care. Propel them to read on.

One way to get the job done
 is to plunk them down smack-dab in the middle of the action. (The fancy, writerly term for that is in medias res. That means "in the middle of things. It's Latin.) In other words, something important already has happened. Something so big, the life of the main character (MC) will never be the same.

"How do I write something like that?" you ask. I heard you. Check out first lines and first paragraphs of good books, books that have won awards, books that you really like.

Consider these:

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Now, that one's from my all-time favorite author: God, a.k.a. Yahweh, etc. Doesn't that line just grab you by the throat? It's simple, easy to understand, and to the point. It makes readers ask, "Then what?" He goes on to tell the then what. The Book is hundreds of pages long, but it's so captivating that we have to read on. What big thing happens? Everything is created by the Book's MC, and nothing will ever be...nothing again.

Here's another:

"Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids." In medias res. The world's at war. The children are in danger from air-borne bombs, and they have to leave all they've ever known, all that's familiar. 

And another:

"That morning, after he discovered the tiger, Rob went and stood under the Kentucky Star Motel sign and waited for the school bus just like it was any other day." We guess that Rob is the MC, and though the line is delivered in a mundane way, a boy's discovering a tiger somewhere near a school bus stop is extraordinary. So then what happens? As a reader, that line hooked me--hooked me good. The book lived up to the promise delivered in that first line. BTW, the author's work has won many awards. 

And:

"'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' grumbled Jo, lying on the rug." What has happened? We don't know yet, except that this Jo is facing a giftless Christmas. (Can she ever endure such horror?)

Finally: 

"My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog." Is there a big change in the MC's life? Oh, yeah! Will anything ever be the same? Probably not. Is it a good hook line? Uh-huh. Good enough to entice some film producers to turn the award-winning book into one of my favorite movies. Do you know what it is?

It's your turn. 

• Check out the hook lines of some of your favorite books. Choose the three you like the best, click "Comments," and tell us all.
• You know the first Book I've mentioned above is the Bible. The others are from what books? If you think you know, click "Comments," and show how brilliant you are.

Write on!
Because of Christ,
Sharon

Everything You Need to Know about Blogging You Already Learned in Kindergarten

You have a blog, but you’re wondering why the only comments are from your mother and an occasional spammer.

photo credit: flickr creative commons

It’s not that you don’t have fabulous content, nice photos, or beautiful thoughts. Perhaps it’s just that you need to revisit some simple kindergarten rules.

In fact, I’m realizing that the rules of blogging are akin to those first golden rules you learned while sitting in circle time listening to your teacher with shiny hair and glossy lips. Can you picture her now, friend? She's on the swivel chair beside the flip chart with a permanent marker in her right hand and a painted smile on her face. She's asks a question about classroom rules, and your hand bounces up.

"Oh, oh." You say. "I know."

You want to be the first to answer her query, but she picks the student who has her hand raised properly. And it's the first time you realize there are rules to being picked.

It's the first time you discover the secrets to a happy school year, life, and blog.

• Do to others as you would have them do to you- Your teacher told you this golden rule from Jesus' sermon on the mount (Luke 6:31). It's a reminder to treat others the way you want to be treated. If you desire comments on your blog, leave comments on others. If you desire others to promote your work, promote theirs. If a new person leaves a comment on your blog, go leave one on theirs. It's that simple. (Did you read Nikki Studebaker Barcus' post titled "You've Got the Power"? It's a great discussion on technology.) 

• Share- You always wanted to keep the blocks to yourself, didn't you (I know I did)? But your teacher reminded you that when you share, you make friends. Bingo. When you share other people's posts on your blog or facebook page, you develop friendships. Do you spend all of your energy in self-promotion? Philippians 2:3 says, "value others above yourselves." I know I long to focus on lifting up others this year. It's always more joyful, isn't it? (Check out Sharon Clifton's interesting article on how you can use Pinterest to promote other writers.)

• Be Polite- Your kindergarten teacher told you the words thank-you and please are the magic keys. Indeed, they open up doors to wonderful friendships. Remember the leper who thanked Jesus after he was healed (Luke 17:11-17)? I wonder if that leper had a deeper relationship with the Savior? Thank those who visit your blog by leaving a note on theirs. Write positive and kind blog posts. Is your blog an encouraging place? Is it a welcoming place?

• Don't take things that don't belong to you- You were taught not to steal your neighbor's fancy mechanical pencil, or his answers on the test. The same applies to blogging. Are you stealing content from others, or are you giving credit where it's due? Your readers want to hear your thoughts, not long blocks of quotes, or regurgitated material. And if you do borrow thoughts, make sure you site it.

•  If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it- This is age old advice from your teacher and mother, and it still holds true for blogging. Don't clog up the web with unnecessary words. Ask yourself, is this post beneficial?

• Say sorry if you've wronged someone- You know how your teacher made you look into the eyes of the person you hurt and say, "I'm sorry." It was so hard to do, but it made you feel better, didn't it? If you've hurt someone through one of your posts, apologize. We all need grace.

Kindergarten was a positive experience when you followed the rules, wasn't it? It's the same for blogging. Follow the above guidelines, and you'll begin to see comments from a few strangers who may just become close friends.

And when that happens, be sure to thank your teacher.

*I got the idea for this post from the book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

Melanie N. Brasher is a full time mama of two boys and wife to an incredible husband who understands her bicultural background. She moonlights as a fiction and freelance writer, crafting stories and articles toward justice and change. She's a member of American Christian Fiction writers and a contributing blogger for Ungrind. Though she's an aspiring author, she'll never quit her day job.

Blowing Off Steam: Opinion v. Allegation

Last month I talked about a case discussing whether bloggers are journalists, and I concluded that the answer is: sometimes. That particular case involved a woman who claimed to be an investigative journalist, and the judge tailored his decision to that category.

But investigative journalists aren't the only people who write for newspapers and other recognized media. What about columnists, for instance? They often deal with opinion rather than fact. And what happens if you use opinion to blow off steam in your blog?

The law says that pure opinion can't libel anyone. But if the opinion implies that it is based on facts and those facts are untrue, the writer could be liable for defamation.

So how do you know when something is an opinion rather than an allegation? The test is how a reasonable reader would interpret the statements, and a reasonable reader considers the context.

Genre or subgenre is a major component of context. When you read a book review, don't you assume you are reading the reviewer's opinion? That's what an appeals court said when Dan Moldea sued the New York Times over a review of his non-fiction book on organized crime influences in professional football.* The review said the book contained "too much sloppy journalism" and gave a number of examples. The court found that the statements were opinion and the paper was not guilty of libel, but the court's written decision implied that the result might have been different if the reviewer had not included the examples.

Context also includes the writing's tone. When Boston Magazine printed an article on the best and worst in local sports, it chose James Myers as the worst sportscaster and described him as "The only newscaster in town who is enrolled in a course for remedial speaking."** Since Myers wasn't taking remedial speaking classes, he sued. The state's highest court described the article as loaded with one-liners that were obvious attempts at humor. Given the tone of the article, the court held that a reasonable reader would understand the remedial speaking remark as an opinion (that Myers should be enrolled in a course for remedial speaking) rather than as a fact (that Myers was actually enrolled).

But labeling something as opinion is not enough if the statement implies knowledge of untrue facts. Thomas Diadiun's newspaper column suggested that a former high school wrestling coach had perjured himself.*** The column used the words "Diadiun says" and "TD says" to describe its content, and the paper claimed that the statements in the column were opinion.

The United States Supreme Court disagreed. According to the Court, if a reasonable jury could conclude that the statements implied the coach had actually committed perjury, then the newspaper could be liable for defamation if the allegation was not true. So the Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court for trial.

While these cases deal with media defendants, the basic principal that an opinion can't defame anyone is true for all bloggers. Still, it must be a pure opinion and not a factual allegation.

So watch your words when blowing off steam.

Kathryn Page Camp

* Moldea v. New York Times Co., 22 F.3d 310 (D.C. Cir. 1994).
** Myers v. Boston Magazine Co., 403 N.E.2d 376 (Mass. 1980).
*** Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990).

Are Bloggers Journalists?

The Internet raises some interesting legal questions, including whether bloggers are journalists. The November 30, 2011 ruling in Obsidian Finance Group v. Cox answered that question about one particular blogger.* The case has generated a number of comments and, after reading the judge's opinion, I am ready to add my observations to the heap.

The judge did not say that bloggers can't be journalists. He did say that they are not automatically journalists, and his finding that Cox did not qualify was based on the specific facts in the case.

So why did the judge conclude that Cox was not a journalist? Here is his analysis.

Defendant fails to bring forth any evidence suggestive of her status as a journalist. For example, there is no evidence of (1) any education in journalism; (2) any credentials or proof of any affiliation with any recognized news entity; (3) proof of adherence to journalistic standards such as editing, fact-checking, or disclosures of conflicts of interest; (4) keeping notes of conversations and interviews conducted; (5) mutual understanding or agreement of confidentiality between the defendant and his/her sources; (6) creation of an independent product rather than assembling writings and postings of others; or (7) contacting "the other side" to get both sides of a story. Without evidence of this nature, defendant is not "media."

The judge classified these as examples of the evidence a blogger could produce and did not raise them to the level of factors to be considered in every case. Furthermore, the written decision does not suggest a blogger must produce all seven types of evidence or that some are more important than others are.

The good news is that any blogger who acts with journalistic integrity is capable of producing the last five types of evidence. And although the answer to the question isn't as simple as counting numbers, five out of seven sounds pretty good.

If a court held that a blogger couldn't be a journalist without journalism classes or affiliation with a recognized news entity, I would be concerned. But that is not this case.

The judge's ruling is simply this: if you want to be treated like a journalist, act like one.

And who can argue with that?

Kathryn Page Camp

*Obsidian Finance Group, LLC v. Cox, No. CV-11-57-HZ (D. Or. Nov. 30, 2011).

A Poll For Your Thoughts..

Well, since we do not have a post today, I thought I would take this opportunity to point out that we will be running a poll each month here on Hoosier Ink (usually located in the right column of this blog). As long as we have good questions, I will post a new poll and watch the results come in.  It's always nice to see what your other members are thinking about on a particular topic.

This month is about the kind of technological device you do your writing on. Also note, it may be possible to select multiple options should the question have a multiple choice answer (like this month).  We will post the results via the Yahoo Mailing List. If you have suggestions on polling topics, please let me know.  Just make it something to do with writing and be sure it is a short question and tell me what choices you want listed to select from....

The polls will usually run for one month. Send me your ideas OR just use the comments section here to let me know what you would like to see.

Future questions:

• Favorite writing beverage?
• Favorite internet browser?
• Do you find it more difficult to start or finish a story?
• Your Favorite communicator: Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Your favorite place to write (coffee shop, fast food, library, home, etc)
• Ketchup or Catsup? :)

You get the idea....