Cate Russell-Cole's Blog, page 27

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast cancer has affected my family. Even when the treatments are over, the emotional ramifications of serious illness still leave their mark. There is never that same sense of security; self-esteems have been altered and family members have either been bought closer together, or driven apart.

In honour of this month being Breast Cancer Awareness Month across the world, I would like to highlight two resources which are close to my heart. The first is my favourite Australian breast cancer charity.

The McGrath Foundation raises money to place McGrath breast cancer nurses in communities across Australia and to increase breast awareness. “Breast cancer affects women of all ages, so being breast aware is very important to all women, including young women….

Breast care nurses are specially trained registered nurses who act as patient advocates, coordinating care for women experiencing breast cancer, their families and their carers. They provide accurate information, support and referral to services. It costs approximately $350,000 to employ each full-time McGrath Breast Care Nurse over a minimum three year period.”For more information, please visit their web Site:www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au; Facebook:www.facebook.com/McGrathFoundation; Twitter:@McGrathFdn

If you are interested in hearing about cancer from a far more personal point of view, Diana M Raab has written about her own journey with cancer in her multi-award winning book, “Healing With Words.”

“Healing With Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey” is a unique, compassionate story written by a nurse, author, and mother of three, who at the age of forty-seven found her life shattered by a diagnosis with DCIS with invasion. Five years later she was diagnosed once again to yet another, seemingly unrelated and incurable blood cancer— multiple myeloma. The book includes the author’s experiences, reflections, poetry, journal entries, in addition to writing prompts for readers to express their own personal story.”

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: What's On Tagged: breast cancer, breast cancer nurses, diana m raab, McGrath Foundation

Poetry Authors Get Listed Here

This initiative was only supposed to last through September, but as October is October Poetry Writing Month, I decided to leave the poets list until October. There will be no more lists after this one. Below is the Linky List where you can link directly to your books, author pages or blog so other authors and readers can find you. You can also use these lists as a blog hop to further promote yourself and gain traffic.

A different genre has appeared for each post, so please, check the blog for your genre and don’t spam the list. I will remove entries which do not belong. Plus please note: this is only for Indie authors: any work you have published through a publishing company which sells through book shops, chains or other traditional routes will not be eligible. Authors who have published multiple works through both traditional and Indie sources can list only their Indie works.

This is also a blog hop. You can place the links on your own blog to keep the goodwill flowing.

The rules are as follows: you only get to list two sites per author. Please visit three or more authors on the Linky List, leave a supportive comment and buy a book if you can. I will also say it again, wait for your genre and don’t spam the list. I will remove entries which do not belong. You can always write a blog post listing your books, blogs, social media links etc. and post that. The lists will close as of 31st December, 2013.

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Filed under: Independent Author Promotion Month, What's On Tagged: author, blog, blog hop, encouragement, goals, Indie Author, Indie publishing, novel, OctPoWriMo, poet, poetry, promotion, publishing, writer

Achieving Rapid Growth: Promoting with Pinterest

In December 2012 I re-assessed what was the best and worst, in as far as the time I was putting in on social media. I decided to make my pin boards fit genres of writing and make them community boards, so people I invited could pin to them (less wasted time and work for me)… then they could invite others and voila!

My Pinterest followers went from a long stagnant 93 to 495 in a month… without me pinning more than a few pins. So if you want to break through on Pinterest, try it. It works. (Two months later than that, I was up to 900 followers and it still grows steadily, months later with 1173 followers today.)

http://pinterest.com/cateartios/

If you are looking for inspiration board for your work, please follow me.

~ Fantasy Writers Board: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/fantasy-inspiration-for-writers/

~ Steampunk Inspiration for Writers and Steam Enthusiasts: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/steampunk-inspiration-for-writers/

~ Celtic Fantasy Writing Inspiration: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/celtic-fantasy-writing-inspiration/

~ Romance Writer’s Board: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/romance-writers-inspiration/

~ Memoir Writing: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/memoir-writing/

~ Amazing Book Cover Design: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/amazing-book-cover-design/

~ Book and Blog Design Inspiration: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/book-and-blog-design-inspiration/

~ For Writers and Journalers: Inspiration / Motivation board: http://pinterest.com/cateartios/for-writers-journallers/

Filed under: Writing Resources Tagged: books, goals, growth, Indie publishing, marketing, Pinterest, promotion, writer, writing

Can YOU Write Your Life Story in 100 Words?

Reblogged from Jenny Hansen's Blog:

A few weeks back I read a piece by one of my favorite bloggers, Cate Russell-Cole.  The post, Your Life Story in 100 Words, shared six life stories from a magazine feature done for International Women's Day.

It's stunning how much these women got across in 100 tiny words.

Below is my favorite of the six:

Najeeba Wazefadost, Aged 20 Former refugee.

Read more… 386 more words

Jenny Hansen has shared a great writing exercise on her blog More Cowbell, which I posted on Write Your Life Story. If you like short writing challenge, you will love this one. For those of you who are interested in the Memoir Memory Prompt Challenge, please visit our blog (Jenny links to it here) and see what we're up to. The twice weekly blog posts will equip you with the tools you need for the challenge; plus writing down you life story will help you build the essential fiction writing skills of character and plot development. It's not just charity that begins at home!

The Road to Success is Paved by Free-Sharing

I have accidentally discovered an under-promoted formula for getting new followers and being seen online. I came across it when trying to reduce my workload. It’s simple. I call it “free-sharing.”

I’m not talking about social media sharing, blog post promotion, Stumble Upon and those methods. I am talking about letting other writers in on my territory, so they can use what I have, build a community and promote themselves.

Hang on, I am a business. That’s against the rules, right? You set yourself up, work like crazy and never give the competitor an inch. You know what? I tried that. It doesn’t work. Growth started to happen when I began to share other people’s work on Triberr. Then I started to retweet other’s work more generously. More of your tweets get shared than my own promo. That is my rule.

I opened up most of my boards on Pinterest as community boards: in a few months, have gone from 90 followers to over 900… THEN I opened up my Facebook business page which I have spent considerable advertising money on to other contributors. (I hope my bank manager isn’t reading this. That is a huge business no no!) I gave away a good portion of eighteen months of hard work for free. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Seven of us manage Write Your Life Story now, and it’s much lower stress and the content is far better!

I love seeing people ask for guest bloggers to come and display their wares. I do that too and I’ve had awesome posts on this blog. I created an Award to encourage others and have gotten my socks blessed off! I’ve made friends, my follower count has blossomed and I enjoy what I am doing so much more.

Being a Star Wars fan of old, I always remember that line Princess Leia delivered to Tarkin. In essence, the tighter you try and control something, the more it will slip through your fingers and you will lose it.

Open the doors to your world and work collaboratively with other writers. You will experience a satisfying difference.

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: Independent Author Promotion Month, Writing Resources Tagged: author, blog, free, free-sharing, inspiration, marketing, share, success, writer, writing

Independent Author Promotion Month: Non-Fiction Authors Get Listed Here

This post we are supporting the authors of non-fiction books such as self-help, text books, cookery, arts and crafts, psychology, sport, technology, travel guides and other how-to books. (Memoir and biography were covered in the 19th September post.) Below is the Linky List where you can link directly to your books, author pages or blog so other authors and readers can find you. You can also use these lists as a blog hop to further promote yourself and gain traffic.

A different genre will appear each post, so please, wait for your genre and don’t spam the list. I will remove entries which do not belong. Plus please note: this is only for Indie authors: any work you have published through a publishing company which sells through book shops, chains or other traditional routes will not be eligible. Authors who have published multiple works through both traditional and Indie sources can list only their Indie works.

This is also a blog hop. You can place the links on your own blog to keep the goodwill flowing.

The rules are as follows: you only get to list two sites per author. Please visit three or more authors on the Linky List, leave a supportive comment and buy a book if you can. I will also say it again, wait for your genre and don’t spam the list. I will remove entries which do not belong. You can always write a blog post listing your books, blogs, social media links etc. and post that. The lists will close as of 31st December, 2013.

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Filed under: Independent Author Promotion Month, What's On Tagged: art, author, blog, blog hop, cooking, craft, encouragement, goals, how-to, Indie Author, Indie publishing, non-fiction, novel, promotion, psychology, publishing, self-help, sport, technology, textbooks, travel, writer

Google Plus Communities for Indie Authors

Not all these groups are Indie specific. Try searching under #Indie, #Author and #Writer on to find more. #Writer has the most and that search will lead you to genre specific groups.

I am not involved with many of these groups, as I simply don’t have enough time: so please use at your own discretion. I have left the full web address here so this page can be printed.

Indie Readers & Writers

A home for supporters of all things indie and literary! https://plus.google.com/communities/113896050662378734315

Indie Authors & Readers https://plus.google.com/communities/112914005290632069728

Christian Authors

Plan, Prepare, Publish, & Promote https://plus.google.com/communities/110918232797252832266

Readers Meet Authors And Bloggers

A place for authors and bloggers to share their work with readers. One on one communication with the writers of your favourite books. https://plus.google.com/communities/115573021758683598908

Authors & Marketing

Passionate about marketing your message in the digital era https://plus.google.com/communities/100578202792138946820

Author Marketing Club

Share your books & book marketing discussion. https://plus.google.com/communities/104010264927724735620

Self promotion for Authors

Author sharing platform https://plus.google.com/communities/107050296846429733516

Writers’ Market, Tools, Tips, Showcase and Support https://plus.google.com/communities/110218523644459882783

Kindle & eBook Writers And Reviewers https://plus.google.com/communities/115033069731883932764

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: Independent Author Promotion Month Tagged: author, communities, Google Plus, hashtag, Indie, marketing, promotion, social media, writer

Getting Real About Writer’s Burn Out and Social Media Demands

The Scream by Munch

I was going through my Triberr stream today and someone had blogged on people who are too “big for their britches” to say thank you for retweets, comments etc. I shared the post as they do have a point. However, there can more behind this issue than mere rude behaviour: it may be overwhelm and silently suffering burn out.

Lack of response can come down to time availability, overload, required response numbers… and the need for a balanced life which includes family, recreation and rest. Those of us who have the sense to balance our time, or step away from “must-do to succeed” tasks, can pay a price in public criticism and the god called search engine rankings. It’s time for technology and all writers to stop cracking the whip and set better standards. Our online culture needs to allow people to lead balanced lives! We are creating our own hell… but we can create a way out of it, by changing our expectations and what we pressure other writers to do.

As my blog and business have grown, I have had increasing issues with time. I cannot comment on all the visited blog posts I would dearly love to respond to, which makes me feel very guilty. Thanks to Triberr, I have more RTs than I can keep up with. Add on the demands of marketing, networking, supporting other writers, time for writing, home life, book keeping, bills, health challenges and the many, many social media must-dos which I am supposed to follow… it all becomes physically and mentally impossible to keep up with.

For the last few years, I have worked my butt off trying to do it all the right way and it has slowly and surely led to me balancing on the edge of total burn out. So I chosen to step back from much of my prior workload for a time. Does that mean you will judge me as “too big for my britches,” as I need to switch comments off for a time, or because I am not on Twitter saying thanks every day?

I see so many writers say every week. “I am out of ideas.” “I want forget all the social media: I am forcing myself, as I am told I have to.” “My book isn’t working any more, I am going to ditch it. I don’t know what to do.” Guess what, like me, you’re over-tired. If you’re stats are low on blog visits or followers, maybe your content is bad as you’re too tired to think straight and good ideas have stopped flowing. If you’re stuck on a plot problem, maybe you need to let your mental muscles rest and regenerate.

Technically burn out is: “the condition of someone who has become very physically and emotionally tired after doing a difficult job for a long time.” There is a fallacy that if you are doing what you love, you can’t burn out. Yes, you can. Burn out advances faster when you feel trapped, stuck, frustrated or are doing a task you don’t enjoy: but it can still quietly sneak up on you when you are doing what you love. It comes from being out of balance.

It comes from not getting away from your desk and taking “you” time; from giving into the online peer pressure to be so involved in everything, you are too busy for your creative brain to rest and for your stress level to reduce. Long term, those two don’t just lead to writer’s block, increased stress hormones will make your body sick. If you over-rev a car, the motor will burn out. We are no different.

There is an answer: rest, reduce your workload and balance out your time.

Until I feel better, my Triberr shares will automatically appear on Twitter, but I will rarely be doing my usual sharing; I won’t be on Facebook much; my time on Pinterest and Google Plus will be the barest minimum if at all; and I will be rarely reading blog posts I have subscribed to. I am not going to be stupid with my mental and physical health. I have to take time out, now.

According to SEO and all the good advice on success, this is suicide. According to Jeff Goins and his Slow Down Challenge, it is wisdom. For me, it is necessity. I am going to stop and quietly repair.

I challenge you to join me in re-assessing what you’re doing:

Look at your stats and see what social media/promotion doesn’t work, and have the courage to radically reduce your time on it, or stop using it.
Limit the number of days a week you post so you don’t run out of ideas, energy or overload your audience.
Get out of Facebook and Google communities and groups that are unresponsive, spam attractors or criticism ridden. (I exited 17 last week so pull my work load down to a controllable level.)
Stay away from Blogging challenges that are demanding more than 3-4 posts a week, or modify your involvement to what you can handle without stress, regardless of the rules. (I dropped out of two last week. I feel free! I’ll stash away the prompts I like and do them in my own time, for me, when I am ready.)
If you know NaNoWriMo and challenges like it are unrealistic and will scorch your sanity and stress you, don’t do it! Give yourself a longer time frame.
Reduce word counts to a level you know you can achieve and be patience. Just because it takes longer to get there, doesn’t mean you won’t!
Reduce extensive goal lists to the most important and work on no more than three at a time.
Stop being a type A and enjoy your family, friends, fresh air, fun and the good parts of life which involve no computer connection.

Take very good care of yourselves.

Filed under: "Writing Lessons from the Writing Life" Tagged: author, blog, blogging, burn out, failure, marketing, motivation, problem solving, stress management, writer, writing

Enter the Monthly Carnival of the Indies

This opportunity will take you into October. It is an initiative by Joel Friedlander from The Book Designer. As the site says, “The Carnival of the Indies is for the enjoyment of a new generation of bloggers and readers who are looking for information on the rapidly growing field of self-publishing and the indie publishing life. The carnival is a regular monthly blog post… It will feature links to blog posts in the following subject areas:

Indie Author
Writing Tools & Tips
Book Design & Production
Marketing & Selling Your Books
EBooks and EBook Readers
Self-Publishing Success”

“Blog Carnivals are great for readers and for bloggers:

Readers get hand-selected content guaranteed to be the best of the month from the best bloggers in the field.
Bloggers get to put their best work in front of a larger universe of readers, get a link back to their site, and get to display the awesome “Carnival of the Indies” participant badges on their blog.”

How Do You Get Into the Carnival of the Indies?

Just use this link to go to the submissions page. “Fill out the simple form to submit your blog post. It takes about a minute. Pick the category from the drop down list and, if you like, add a note to readers in the “Remarks” box.” Once all submissions are received, several will be picked as the blog post of the month.

Joel plans “to include any articles with real value that don’t duplicate other blog posts the same month. In addition, keep in mind:

Your post should be relevant to self-publishers. For instance, posts on manuscript preparation could be useful, but posts on how to pursue a literary agent would not be on topic.
It should be original, and published within the last 90 days.
Please no landing pages, squeeze pages, sneeze pages, or other commercial sales pages. We want to focus on the best and most useful articles we can find.”

“Submissions for The Carnival of the Indies are accepted until the 20th of each month for that month’s edition. The Carnival of the Indies is published on the last Sunday of the month. Your blog post should have been published within the last 90 days before submission.”

Filed under: Independent Author Promotion Month, What's On Tagged: author, blog, blogging, books, Carnival of the Indies, ideas, Indie publishing, Joe Friedlander, marketing, networking, opportunity, promotion, resource, writer, writing

Independent Author Promotion Month: Science Fiction / Fantasy Authors Get Listed Here

Today we are supporting the authors of science fiction and/or fantasy works! Below is the Linky List where you can link directly to your books, author pages or blog so other authors and readers can find you. You can also use these lists as a blog hop to further promote yourself and gain traffic.

A different genre will appear each post, so please, wait for your genre and don’t spam the list. I will remove entries which do not belong. Plus please note: this is only for Indie authors: any work you have published through a publishing company which sells through book shops, chains or other traditional routes will not be eligible. Authors who have published multiple works through both traditional and Indie sources can list only their Indie works.

This is also a blog hop. You can place the links on your own blog to keep the goodwill flowing.

The rules are as follows: you only get to list two sites per author. Please visit three or more authors on the Linky List, leave a supportive comment and buy a book if you can. I will also say it again, wait for your genre and don’t spam the list. I will remove entries which do not belong. You can always write a blog post listing your books, blogs, social media links etc. and post that. The lists will close as of 31st December, 2013.

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Filed under: Independent Author Promotion Month, What's On Tagged: author, blog, blog hop, encouragement, fantasy, goals, Indie Author, Indie publishing, novel, promotion, publishing, science fiction, writer