Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 232

Social Media—What's the Point?

Hi everyone! Hope you'll pop by and join me today at Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room where I talk a little about social media—how different forms of social media differ from each other and how we can keep track of and limit the amount of time we spend online.

And today at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, my funny mystery writing friend Deb Sharp (who guest posted here a couple of weeks ago) is sharing her recipe for Mama's Nuptial Nectar Punch—and a really interesting picture of...

Twitterific

Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past week.  If you're looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top left-hand corner of the blog (on the black header right above my blog name…next to the Blogger symbol…the small search window is next to the magnifying glass) and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject, and hit enter.

I'm running Twitterific a...

Headshots

I'm choosing "headshot" and sticking with it, since the phrase is turning into a word, apparently. Don't you love it when language morphs? :)

I'd decided that I'd get an updated headshot every year and keep things fresh. Then maybe I can animate the pictures and we can watch me age over the years. :)

This particular picture appointment was cursed from the very start. Two days before I'd originally planned on having it done, I had a horrible haircut. Then, a week later, I got a really...

Every Author's Path to Publication is Different

Hi everybody! Today I'm on action and suspense writer Stephen Tremp's Breakthrough Blogs, talking a little about my own path to publication. If you're frustrated with your progress finding an agent or editor and think that there's a certain order of events to the publication process--think again! Sometimes we end up getting published by a series of flukes and accidents... and slush piles. :)

I also wanted to mention that we're throwing an anniversary party at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen ...

Writing to the Market?

Hi everybody! Today I'm at fellow Midnight Ink author Alan Orloff's A Million Blogging Monkeys blog with some thoughts about writing to the market. Should we do it? Does it compromise our artistic side? Hope you'll pop over and join the discussion. :)

It's Tuesday! Where's Elizabeth?

First up, I'm at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen, celebrating our 1-year anniversary with a cookout. Each day we're cooking a different course—and I'm in charge of the ribs (go figure!) :)

If your tastes run to humor today, I've written a post for the Midnight Ink blog—8 Things No One Told Me About Being a Writer. Hope you'll pop by!

Homework Time: by Terry Odell

Thanks to Terry Odell for guest posting for me today! Terry's books straddle the mystery and romance genres and you can find out more about them here.

Thanks to Elizabeth for inviting me to usurp her blog today. Although my books are considered romantic suspense, I write them like mysteries, with a little more emphasis on the relationship. If there was such a category, I'd call them mystery-romances. To be honest, I thought I was writing a mystery when I wrote my first book, "Finding...

Twitterific

Here are writing links that I've posted to Twitter for the past week. If you're looking for a particular topic, just plug in your keyword into the search box at the top left-hand corner of the blog (on the black header right above my blog name…next to the Blogger symbol…the small search window is next to the magnifying glass) and the roundup with your subject will come up. To narrow your search down on the page, do a CTRL+F, type your subject, and hit enter.

How to Protect Your...

Top Retweets

Tomorrow I'm running my Twitterific post, as usual, but I thought I'd run a post that has my top retweets listed.

For non—Twitterers, followers retweet tweets that they find interesting to their followers, who sometimes retweet the link to their followers. Clear as mud, right? :) Basically, the link or the tweet goes viral.

And it's interesting to me when it happens—some posts are clearly excellent and they get retweeted right away. Some of the links that have a lot of retweets really s...

Paying Attention to a Problem

I went, reluctantly, to Walmart this morning. It's possibly my most un-favorite place on Earth, but there are some things I've just got to get there.

One of those things is sunflower seeds for the birdfeeders in our back yard. I can get one huge bag there and it'll last for nearly a season.

Usually I get a 30ish pound bag but today I got greedy and pulled out—with some difficulty—a 50 pound bag. I could barely move it off the shelf! Finally I just shoved it onto the bottom of the...