Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 234

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...

18 Things I've Learned About Book Marketing

For most of us, promo is the least favorite part of the writing process, even ranking under revision and agent pitches. For me, there's really nothing that comes naturally about selling—so I've had to work at it. Publishers expect it, and with the competitive nature of the book market today, it's really a necessity if you want to keep your books on the shelf.

I've promoted books from tiny publishers to very large ones. For a list of tips, please pop over to Hart Johnson's blog...

On a Writer's Memory

The inspiration of this post comes from the fact that I got up this morning and looked at my calendar, thinking, "Okay. It's Wednesday.  Where am I blog touring today?"

And today was a day I hadn't scheduled a tour stop. :)

My calendar is in the picture. It's a disaster area.  It has to-do lists and the entire agenda for the family—whether it's the kids' scouting stuff, dental appointments,  manuscript deadlines, the dog's heartworm pill reminder—whatever.

I'd like to say that my memory ...

Got an Uncooperative Muse? Working Around Her

Hope y'all will pop over and visit me at Terry's Place where I'm posting on working around an uncooperative muse.

I was also interviewed for a Memphis food blog, Hungry Memphis, about Delicious and Suspicious if you're interested at taking a peek. :)

Starting Out With Your Blog

Lately, I've gotten a few emails asking me the best way to launch a blog.

I think there must be a lot of different ways to do it and I'm not sure mine is the best approach.  In fact, my blog had been launched for about five months before I decided to try and accelerate growth in number of readers.

Here's what I did:

First of all, I joined Dani's Blog Book Tour, which is a free class run through Yahoo Groups.  You may not have the time for this (and she's just started a brand new...

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.

Don't forget to revise your...

Focusing On Our Strengths

I'd admit right away that I don't know how to dress.

I've never cared about clothes.  I wear a sort of uniform every day during the summer: a v-neck cotton tee-shirt (I have them in every color), shorts, and flip flops. They're…comfortable.

Then I have dresses. When I go to book signings or conferences (or church), I wear these very pretty dresses—because it's either the dresses or the shorts and v-necks! 

I have nothing in-between. Dinner out at a nice restaurant, but not a fancy one...

Some Basics to Remember When Writing Your Mystery

Today I'm going to be genre-specific and talk a little about writing mysteries. Mysteries aren't only my favorite genre to read, they're my favorite to write, too. Hope you'll join me on Roni Griffin's Fiction Groupie blog to learn more about writing mysteries.