Cate Russell-Cole's Blog, page 13

To the Sunburnt Ear

Our homeland was carved out by the bushman

Been defended by our heroes at war

We’re lucky to have both … no … they’re the same

See our heroes were bushmen before.

And the women whose hearts grew beside them

Who stood by them … over here and over there

Have since inspired a nation

That has since given birth to their heirs.

The price that we paid for our freedom

Was the best that we had to give

The cream of a young generation

Were buried … so the unborn could yet live.

The blood and bone that’s been shed for the southland

Has raised a crop like none else on earth

A people of heart … an invincible spirit

A people of immeasurable worth.

Little wonder our enemies hated

The sight of the one sided hat

They knew wherever they saw it

Was not the place to be at.

Because even if both sides had run out of bullets

They had learned … there was one left to fear

The digger … with the heart of the bushman

A bayonet … and a sunburnt left ear.

He may have come from the city

Or milked cows … or dagged sheep for a quid

Been a tradesman … or managed a business

It mattered not what he did.

You see … if you’re born a son or daughter … of this southland

In a hospital bed … or out back o’ the bar

The bush is not something you live in

The bush … is just something you are.

As long as there’s dust at the base of the rock

There’ll be those who are willing to die

For the right of every Australian

To walk free under clear southern skies.

And those who go forth to defend it

This land … this people of such infinite worth

Will always be without doubt

The finest soldiers on earth.

And others will ask … what quality makes them so different?

They didn’t win every fight

They were rough and not as respectful

Or as well equipped as they might.

We’ll never satisfy their questions

Because the answer only we’ll understand.

They never left home for the battle

With an intention … or a desire … to hate

They went to war with the mind of a soldier

But the heart and soul of a mate.

So when they ask from over the ocean

By what writing … high tribute … or honour

Should we mark the graves of your dead.

Know what I’d tell em … I’d tell ‘em

If you just mark ‘em … Australian.

No greater tribute … no higher honour … could ever be

Thought of … written … or said

Because to those who know … who have stood at the wall

To those who know … one word … one word says it all.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Poem by Tony Gunter, source: http://www.anzacday.org.au/anzacservices/poetry/sunburnt_ear.htm

Hat image source: please click on image to visit it.

Filed under: What's On Tagged: ANZAC Day, Australia

How to Avoid “Dead” #Triberr Tribes and Easily Manage Yours: The Missing Manual

This post is pretty much the Triberr user manual which desperately needs to be written and I often see asked for! Triberr is the best blog traffic and network booster I have come across (click on link above to learn about it.) Handled well, it is gold! These are the lessons I’ve learnt, which I often see questions on.

The most important one is “think community.” This is about give and take, not all about you!

Joining Tribes

If you are looking to join new tribes, or receive an invitation, always look at the member list. Avoid or leave them if:

1. There are many followers who haven’t been made into members. That is a sign the Chief is on the free Triberr plan and there is no room. You will see and be able to share everyone’s posts, they will never see or be sharing yours. If you have never been admitted to a tribe as a member, you can go into the list of tribe members and remove yourself.

2. The Chief hasn’t logged in for several months: no free-loading, or inactive members will be removed. Again, you will be sharing their posts, they won’t give a fig about yours. Don’t forget, people try Triberr and forget it or don’t like it. Each tribe has old members who have stopped blogging or moved on. They need weeding out. (It’s not a sign of a mean Chief, just a smart one!)

3. Look at how recently a majority of members shared. If there are quite a number of members who haven’t been sharing in around three months or more, that will be a very low value tribe. I have culled 20 tribes from my stream on that alone and it made no difference to the number of shares I received. Anyone who I would miss, was invited to my tribe.

4. If you hate certain kinds of posts, such as SEO, social media how-to, constant product promotion posts, or erotica, check out how much of that sort of content is in the tribal stream. You can mute individual members, but that may be the wrong tribe for you.

5. Tribes with fewer members in them can be more faithful than the giant ones. Don’t let the head count swing your decision. Look for activity.

6. I have always found that the best Chiefs are paying, Prime members. As we pay for the service, we make sure our tribes function! You can tell who they are as they will have tribes with over 20 full members in them.

7. Don’t feel pressured to share everyone’s posts, all the time and don’t expect the same from them. If, like me, you have a topic specific blog, as long as you share as many as you can and support members by following them on Twitter and visiting their blog, you are ok. One concern I see is members worrying about filling their social media streams too much with shares. You can set share frequency to combat that problem. Be generous, but discerning.

For best effect, join as many tribes as you can handle and use autoshare for your favourites. Consider paying the $10 a month for Triberr Prime. I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for Triberr.

Remember this service is not supported by advertising, so pay for use is fair. I appreciate their Paypal option.

Did you know you can also follow individual members? If you know people who you just love to read and share, whether they are in a tribe with you or not, you can still stay in contact with them. Moving tribes won’t affect you.

How to Maintain a Tribe Effectively and Quickly

Chiefs, it takes very little time to maintain your tribe. New followers asking to be members I check out and add or reject as the notices arrive. Other than that, it is very low maintenance. Every few months, I see who is inactive, check and see what’s happening with them (in case their activity stats are wrong, as new Triberr features are added, some areas do become buggy); remove the “dead wood” and invite any new actively sharing members I now have the space for.

Set a specific goal or theme for your tribe. People will try and join without reading it, but if someone joins just to swell their numbers and not add value for everyone, you have good reason to refuse membership.

Sorry, you do have to keep a check on all those damn emails! I have learnt to skim them and just attend to the ones which apply to my three tribes. Also, crack down on members who use the message screens to further promote themselves in a spammy manner. You can delete those posts as Chief.

If your tribe is full, turn the settings to “Protect My Tribe” so you don’t get masses of frustrated followers you just can’t add. Sure, they may share your posts, but they soon lose interest as they realise they are being used.

If you start a new tribe, invite new active sharers. I have found no one wants to be a founding member in an empty tribe. It takes little time.

Lastly, if you want to stop using Triberr, don’t leave a dying, hanging tribe. Ask who wants it and then under the membership setting for that person, promote them to Chief. You can then opt to leave Triberr altogether, or stay in that tribe without worrying about it’s future.

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

Filed under: Writing Resources Tagged: blogging, goals, growth, promotion, resource, social media, support, Triberr, writer, writing

Indie Authors: Should You Bow to Search Engine Demands?

My sincere apologies for this post coming out again, but my WordPress feed just stopped working, so promotion through Triberr and my blog just died. Some readers are accepting my RSS, others aren’t and I have no idea why. This post is being sent out again as I am desperately trying to fix the system myself. Feedburner appears to be working… Fingers crossed.

If it breaks again, ALL posts will cease until it is fixed and Support An Author Month will be moved from May to June. Please stick with me, I am working on it… despite the fact that I am supposed to be on holidays…

Hell hath no fury like technology.

Cate

 

There are many bloggers out there who still don’t know what SEO is. That is and isn’t a good thing. SEO is Search Engine Optimisation and for best practice, it is supposed to have a very large say in how you write book titles, web pages and blog posts. (There is an infographic explaining it at the base of this page.) A great idea? Yes, if kept in balance. There is one major worry with getting too carried away with it: you stop writing as yourself and allow yourself to be told what to do by a robot. Think about it…

Digital computations determine how easy it is for us to have our books found on Amazon, our Page posts read on Facebook, our web site or blog found on Google… They are awfully frustrating and if you want to claw your way to the top of the pile, you have to work – hard! You must sprinkle your keywords through your post, use meta tags on web pages, sprinkle matching keywords through your web pages, tweet, status update, Like, Plus 1, retweet, share and comment until your fingers fall off and your brain goes numb.

I did this asiduously throughout 2013 and got to the end of September and simply burnt out! I wasn’t tired of blogging, writing and people. It was those robotic demands that did me in. So I spent far less time on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. After reading a massive, endless stream of SEO and social media how-to posts, I came to the conclusion that as writers, we are possibly far better off writing in the attic, away from the computer and all this “wonderfully good advice.” Any available time I had in my week, was spent assuaging the gods of rank. So I quit! I’ve noticed that since I began to pull back in September, my visit stats and book sales didn’t drop much. They are growing.

So here is how I am now surviving online. I hope it inspires you and if you have further suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

I will automate as many blog posts and shares as I can, so I can take time to see the sunshine and not be spending hours manually on social media. “I’m sorry Hal, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
I will not read any more SEO and social media how-to posts or books: instead I will be myself and stay tapped into my innate creativity identity.
I will not get trapped in worrying about my statistics. If I get 2 Likes on a post and someone was inspired: I aced it! That is my main goal: encourage, equip, empower. Not rack up fat numbers.
I will write the blog posts which are close to my heart, regardless of what posts pull in the greatest number of readers.
I will market my books with titles that make sense to the content of the book and are not used elsewhere. I will not calculate words on what sells.

In business, if something does not pull in sales, you stop doing it. Yet online, many of us tend to jump feet first into the latest and greatest next thing, perhaps in the hope it will propel us to stardom? That doesn’t work. It simply chews away more of our time and sanity.

It is all about sanity. If I have to mutiny against binary calculations, the numbers game and everyone’s marvellous advice, then I will. Join me… your creative soul is worth more than this.

If you want to know more about SEO, check this infographic from nerdyface.com

This article / blog post is Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2013 and adapted in 2014. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without Cate’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-using her work if it is for a commercial venture. Link sharing and Pinterest pins are most welcome as long as Cate is the attributed Author.

Filed under: Author First Aid Tagged: author, blog, books, burnout, challenge, conflict, discovery, encouragement, Facebook, failure, Google Plus, growth, inspiration, mutiny, problem solving, ranking, sanity, search engines, SEO, SEO optimisation, social media, stress management, success, time management, Twitter, web site, writer, writing

Thinking Inside the Frame: Using Photographs to Tell Your Story

When I teach memoir writing, my students are mostly women. Whenever we have a male in the classroom, the whole dynamic changes. Often, they don’t want to get too touchy-feely or pour their souls out for a public audience. That’s fine. There are as many types of memoir, as there are memoir writers.

The exhibition.

In 2004 the Queensland Art Gallery purchased a collection of photographic images by the Australian society photographer, William Yang. These photos are a striking contrast to the gilt framed oils and quirky modern works throughout the gallery. They are a series of 30 black and white photographs, with one short paragraph hand-written under each photo: memoir in a new form… and even better, memoir in a strikingly simple and non-judgemental form. I took my class to view it, including our not so touchy-feely male (who was actually very warm and pleasant off paper.) Everyone walked out of the gallery inspired, considering how they could communicate conflicts and complex issues as easily.

William’s exhibition highlighted where his family had lived, their beliefs, their morals and their values. At no time was he ever judgemental about a family member or situation. He did release some skeletons from the family closet, but they were all his skeletons to set free. Out of respect, he waited until his close relatives were deceased before he did so. The picture he painted was realistic, but sensitive. I noticed that he honored his late mother in a simple and special way.

I was able to attend William’s lecture at the gallery. He is inspirational in many ways.

As the Art Gallery owns the collection, they allowed me to take the photo shown above; but due to copyright, I cannot reproduce the works in an easier to see form. You can view their page on William here. Below is some of the text which was with the photos.

“In 1979 I had a bad case of hepatitis and I came back to the house of my mother to recuperate. My mother liked having me at home under her control. But I felt the life I had chosen to lead was not in Brisbane, and when I was half better, I went back to Sydney.”

“In his day your father was a very dashing man. He played saxophone in a dance band, and he wore silk shirts. He wouldn’t let me iron them, he did them himself. I couldn’t iron them good enough” I stared at my mother in disbelief. “He wasn’t like you know him.” She said.”

“Frances was my father’s favorite. She was the apple of his eye. I was my mother’s favorite child. There was a friction between my mother and my sister. They were both strong women.”

You can see how simple, but strong the message is. There are no angst-ridden emotional dissections, or lengthy one-sided speeches that could cause family arguments to erupt, or lose your interest amid the details. William got straight to the point. He chose the most important aspects of his family life and how they had affected him. That is always a safe place to focus on controversial topics: how they affected you, rather than who committed what sin.

So when you are writing, whatever your gender, use your freedom to be creative and original. Memoir doesn’t have to be a series of dates or plain paragraphs in a book. You can communicate through art, scrapbooking, photos, story quilts, music etc: it’s up to you. Any form of memoir should reflect your personality and interests in life. It should be representative of the main character: you.

It is your story to tell. Tell it your way.

This work, created and Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2014 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Filed under: Memoir / Autobiography / Life Story Writing Tagged: autobiography, characterisation, creativity, ideas, inspiration, life story, memoir, Queensland Art Gallery, William Yang, writer, writing

#Search Engine Optimisation for #Indie Authors: How Far Should You Go?

Sculpture by Jeremy Mayer. Source: http://technabob.com/blog/2008/10/04/jeremy-mayers-typewriter-robots-will-blow-your-mind/

There are many bloggers out there who still don’t know what SEO is. That is and isn’t a good thing. SEO is Search Engine Optimisation and for best practice, it is supposed to have a very large say in how you write book titles, web pages and blog posts. (There is an infographic explaining it at the base of this page.) A great idea? Yes, if kept in balance. There is one major worry with getting too carried away with it: you stop writing as yourself and allow yourself to be told what to do by a robot. Think about it…

Digital computations determine how easy it is for us to have our books found on Amazon, our Page posts read on Facebook, our web site or blog found on Google… They are awfully frustrating and if you want to claw your way to the top of the pile, you have to work – hard! You must sprinkle your keywords through your post, use meta tags on web pages, sprinkle matching keywords through your web pages, tweet, status update, Like, Plus 1, retweet, share and comment until your fingers fall off and your brain goes numb.

I did this asiduously throughout 2013 and got to the end of September and simply burnt out! I wasn’t tired of blogging, writing and people. It was those robotic demands that did me in. So I spent far less time on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. After reading a massive, endless stream of SEO and social media how-to posts, I came to the conclusion that as writers, we are possibly far better off writing in the attic, away from the computer and all this “wonderfully good advice.” Any available time I had in my week, was spent assuaging the gods of rank. So I quit! I’ve noticed that since I began to pull back in September, my visit stats and book sales didn’t drop much. They are growing.

So here is how I am now surviving online. I hope it inspires you and if you have further suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

I will automate as many blog posts and shares as I can, so I can take time to see the sunshine and not be spending hours manually on social media. “I’m sorry Hal, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
I will not read any more SEO and social media how-to posts or books: instead I will be myself and stay tapped into my innate creativity identity.
I will not get trapped in worrying about my statistics. If I get 2 Likes on a post and someone was inspired: I aced it! That is my main goal: encourage, equip, empower. Not rack up fat numbers.
I will write the blog posts which are close to my heart, regardless of what posts pull in the greatest number of readers.
I will market my books with titles that make sense to the content of the book and are not used elsewhere. I will not calculate words on what sells.

In business, if something does not pull in sales, you stop doing it. Yet online, many of us tend to jump feet first into the latest and greatest next thing, perhaps in the hope it will propel us to stardom? That doesn’t work. It simply chews away more of our time and sanity.

It is all about sanity. If I have to mutiny against binary calculations, the numbers game and everyone’s marvellous advice, then I will. Join me… your creative soul is worth more than this.

If you want to know more about SEO, check this infographic from nerdyface.com

Note from Cate: this post was published last year under a different title, but there was a technical glitch and it never got proper promotion. As it received great comments from those who did read it, I have updated, improved and published it again.

This article / blog post is Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2013 and adapted in 2014. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without Cate’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-using her work if it is for a commercial venture. Link sharing and Pinterest pins are most welcome as long as Cate is the attributed Author.

Filed under: Author First Aid, Blog Building and Promotion, Book Marketing, Writing Resources Tagged: author, blog, books, burnout, challenge, conflict, discovery, encouragement, Facebook, failure, Google Plus, growth, inspiration, mutiny, problem solving, ranking, sanity, search engines, SEO, SEO optimisation, social media, stress management, success, time management, Twitter, web site, writer, writing

TRUTH BOMB: Sometimes (okay, lots of times) I Want To Quit

Cate Russell-Cole:

We have all been there… thanks Myndi for giving us reasons NOT to quit.

(Yes, I know I am on holidays, but this was too good not to log in and share!)

Originally posted on Myndi Shafer:

Lately I’ve been asking myself this question:

What would happen if I were to quit writing?

I think every writer gets to this point eventually (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). The new shiny has worn off. The over-the-moon-I’m-so-in-love-with-what-I’m-doing feeling goes away. Inspiration dries up to nothing more than a brittle bag of bones that if you shake together real hard might amount to a paragraph or two. And we’re not talking Hemingwayesqe brilliance that makes up for the scant word-count. We’re talking shaky drivel that makes I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGR look like soul-stealing genius.  

And so I ask myself, what would happen if I were to quit?

Life would immediately become simpler. I wouldn’t have to structure my days so intensely. Family time wouldn’t feel so urgent because writing wouldn’t be putting any demands on our schedule. I could cook and clean and play when I want…

View original 523 more words

Filed under: Author First Aid, Awesome Posts by Other Writers Tagged: author, blogging, challenge, creativity, encouragement, inspiration, motivation, problem solving, stress management, success, support, writer, writing

#Romance University for Writers: A Gold Class #Writing Site

http://romanceuniversity.org

“Purpose: Dedicated to helping writers establish and advance their careers, introducing readers to a variety of authors, and delving into the ever-inscrutable male mind.

Monday: Crafting Your Career

Most writers begin writing because they love the process–using just the right word, crafting the perfect sentence, giving life to imaginary people. However satisfying the writing process, many writers begin to want more. The want people to read about and love those imaginary folks. Okay–they want people to pay to read about those imaginary folks. Join us each Monday at RU where we’ll discuss the business of writing or career topic. Visiting Professors (guest bloggers) often stop by the school to offer advice.

Wednesday: Anatomy of the Mind

This is the day we explore every facet of writing, reading, and men.

Friday: Chaos Theory of Writing

On Fridays, RU Faculty along with industry professionals and established authors will focus on the elements of manuscript writing. Tips to help you hone your craft and write a damn fine book. After all, it will be your writing that will catch (and retain) the interest of a lucky agent or editor.We’ll tap into our own experiences, share what’s working and what isn’t as we chase our dreams of becoming published authors. We’ll also discuss advice from our favorite writing reference books and websites. So join us each Friday to experience the chaos of writing.”

Filed under: Writing Resources Tagged: characterisation, encouragement, goals, Gold Class Writing Sites, ideas, Indie Author, Indie publishing, inspiration, marketing, novel, plot, problem solving, resource, Romance University, success, support, writer, writing

Unplugging to Recharge

Wishing you all a restful, safe and blessed Easter.

My husband’s work schedule is going to be nuts for the next three months, so I am going to take a break over the Easter period and following ANZAC day long weekend to get in some quality family time. Scheduled posts will still come out on this blog and myTwitter feed will continue to autoshare posts from the best writing coaches out there.

Blog comments on all posts are switched off. I will resume post continue sharing on Triberr and be back online interacting around May 1st.

Thank you for your support.

Cate

Filed under: What's On

Sanity Saving Blogging Resources

Life flies by at an insane pace… I constantly miss or have to dash past blog posts I want to and need to read. In case you missed it, here are the resources I shared during Blog Taming Month in February. A few extras are thrown in, just because I can… Happy scribing and remember, forget the musts, the have-tos and the myriad of experts. Your best success comes by being yourself!

Micro-Blogging: An Idea to Experiment With

Blogging Survival: Get Ahead by Scheduling

Services Which Make Your Blog Easy to Follow

Surviving BIG Blogging Mistakes

Blog Sidebars: Easy Ways to Add Whatever You Want

Are Your Blogging Goals Slipping? Help to Get Focussed Using Planners and Organisers

Building Community Spirit in the Blogosphere

Is Your Blog Trapping You or Helping You Fly?

If you want even more… and why wouldn’t you? All blog maintenance and promotion posts here on CommuniCATE can be accessed by this category link. Or you can save yourself the trouble and download the free .pdf ebook, which saves you scrolling and reading through all those posts online. This is the download link. It is safe, with no strings attached and comes from my web site.

Chapters Include:

Blog Treasures Hidden in Plain Sight
Get Yourself A Second Brain
Slack, Fake and Egocentric Followers: How to Pick Them!
Blog Post Promotion on Social Media: Instantly Hooking Reader Attention
Sometimes, It Just Goes Wrong: When to Ditch!
The Best Kept Editing Secret
10% On Top: Being a More Efficient Writer
Professional, Effective Author Sites: The Problems With Using Blogs
Cleaning the Cobwebs Out of Blogs: Reader Engagement and Content Value
Guest Posting as Advertising: How To Be Professional and Be Asked Back
Your Individuality is Your Greatest Asset: Writing and Marketing as You
Faulty-Tasking
The Road to Success is Paved by Free-Sharing

Have fun!

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

Filed under: Blog Building and Promotion Tagged: blog, blog maintenance, blogging, books, creativity, encouragement, exposure, failure, goals, ideas, motivation, organisation, passion, planner, planning, promotion, resolutions, stress management, success, support, survival, tasks, writer, writing

A Needed Reminder on the Rewards of Writing

We all stress as writers: bad reviews, low blog stats, poor interaction with readers, horrible sales figures, word counts not met, trolls and idiots, technological hassles… there are so many issues. For some reason we tend to focus heavily on them. Maybe the creative process just brings our insecurities to the fore?

While wandering around Twitter I found this profile which gave me a much-needed jerk back to reality.

Guess which is more fun: it’s not hard. It’s the writing. That is why we got into it in the first place!

I decided to follow Mervat. I like her attitude and on bad days, I hope it rubs off on me.

Go have some fun.

 

N.B. This image was used without her permission, but Twitter is public. Please follow and support @miminov70

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

Filed under: Author First Aid Tagged: author, blogging, challenge, creativity, encouragement, Indie publishing, stress management, support, Twitter, writer, writing