C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Insecure Writer’s Support Group and The Guide to Publishing and Beyond

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ALEX J CAVANAUGH

Awesome co-hosts for the December 3 posting of the IWSG are Heather Gardner, T. Drecker from Kidbits, Eva E. Solar at Lilicasplace, and Patsy Collins!

I can’t believe it’s December. 

I knew my break would end, but so fast? 

Didn’t I just say hasta la vista yesterday? 
Didn’t I just write my  Insecure Writers Support Group post for November? 
Didn’t I just visit the land of ten thousand stupas and a million Buddhas? 
Then there was that holiday that flashed past at warp speed.
 Thanksgiving?
 Yes.
 That was it.
Stop the World. I Want to Get Off.
I should write a play by that title. 
Wait! 
Too late. 
Someone already did. 

Maybe it’s the speed that’s dredging up all of these insecurities. But I don’t have time to wallow in my insecure puddle. I’m off to visit others who are sharing their thoughts on this affliction today. Join me and say hi to a lot of writers and read about their INSECURITIES.

AVAILABLE on AMAZON

Don’t forget to get your copy of this collaboration by writers who share their writing experience. 

Insecure Writers Support Group & Burma

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ALEX CAVANAUGH
I’m not here. 
Nope. 
I’m in Burma (AKA Myranmar). I like Burma better and it’s easier to spell. 

Credit: https://www.gipom.com

However, I’ve packed my Insecurities, some of them. I’m only allowed something like 40 lbs., so taking all of them would make my bag too heavy. Here’s the insecure feelings I took with me. 

While I’m gone, 

  • no one will notice
  • everyone will disappear from my blogging life. “So long. Farewell. Been good to know you.”
  • I’ll forget how to blog.
  • I’ll forget why I blog.
  • I’ll miss a writing opportunity of a lifetime, never to be repeated.
Credit: https://www.gipom.com
I’ll be back to Blogging December 1. Hope to see you here then. 

Insecure Writers Support Group

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ALEX CAVANAUGH
Seven Things I’d Do Before I Published a Book 
(if I had it to do over again)
by C. Lee McKenzie
1. Have a professional website and/or blog designed. 
  • Be sure the navigation is easy and the pages are easy to read.
  • Buy a domain name. Mine’s cleemckenziebooks. I wish it were simply cleemckenzie.  The simpler the better. 

  • Don’t use music. People often browse in public places and music isn’t always appreciated.

  • Be sure people can pull up your site on all their mobile devices.

Your website/blog is going to be a major marketing tool. It’s going to reveal who you are and what you write. You’re unique, so this is where you show that uniqueness.

2. Write short pieces and get them published. Ezines are a great market. 

Having samples of your writing published gives people a chance to become familiar with your style. It gives you credits to add to those query letters. It gives you a boost and, there’s nothing like practice to improve your craft. You can begin your email list with these short publications.

3. Become visible on the Social Networking Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Goodreads
  • Shelfari
  • LinkedIn
  • Amazon (Especially, become familiar with Authors Central)

There are more, but these are ones I’ve chosen to focus on. You’ll have to choose the ones that work best for you.

The Social Networking sites are all a bit different, and there’s a learning curve for each one. That takes time, and after you’re published, you really don’t have much of that anymore. Learn how to use each of these or ones you find most comfortable using.

If you only have time for two, go with fb and twitter. Add goodreads if you have time to manage three. Why?

  • facebook claims to have over 500 million active users, average age 38
  • twitter has over 75 million accounts, average age 39
  • goodreads is about books and reading; their ads are targeted at people who buy and read books.

4. Build a relationship with well-respected and highly visible reviewers/bloggers.

When you build a relationship with a reviewer/blogger you’re doing double duty. You’re learning what they like and how they respond to different types of books. They’re also reading your comments and learning a bit about you. You’ve established a relationship before you ask for a review. I think that’s important. 

5. Build an email list of people who know you and know your work. (Short pieces, remember? )

Email is a powerful marketing tool. Just be sure you know the people you’re contacting and they know you. Don’t be a spammer.  

6. Find bloggers with a large following and similar interests: books, hobbies, lifestyle. Build a relationship with them.

Bloggers are amazing. First, they love content, so if you know what they want, you can give it to them. Second, they’re pretty cool people who like to help others because they know others will help them when the time comes. It’s a very symbiotic relationship, and it’s effective for writers who are marketing books.

7. Create an image for yourself. Answer these questions: Who are you? What are your interests? What will you share with your readers on your website/blog, fb, twitter?

Blowing your own horn is not effective marketing, so you have to have something to contribute on social media. You have to provide interesting/informative content, and you have to do it in your unique way.

About me: I write stories about people who overcome adversity and rebuild their lives.
My books: Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative and Alligators Overhead (my one leap into fantasy-adventure.)
My webpage: CLEEMCKENZIEBOOKS
(Permission to publish under “Publishing” in Insecure Writers Support Group, A Guide to Publishing and Beyond.)

Insecure Writers’ Support Group & WeWrite4U_Lit

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ALEX CAVANAUGH

Last week Southpaw posted a very informative piece about what you should have on your website and how it should be organized if you want people to follow and interact with you. 

It reminded me that I should neaten things up a bit on this blog. It also reminded me that I’d posted about my concern that The Write Game lacked a certain. . .je ne sais quoi. . .panache?

“Insecure Much?” 

“Oh, no. Only since I started writing.”

It turns out that I’d put that post up in 2008, and I’ve been thrashing about insecurely since then. After reading Southpaw’s post I decided it was time to do something, so I cleaned and reorganized a bit. Did you notice? 

Here’s that original post of mine. 


My Glob

My blog is a glob. I am not cut out to be a blogette. Every time I start to write here, I think, “Who cares that I have writer’s cramp this morning?” I need blogspiration, so where do I find that in the blogosphere? What makes some bloggers blog masters and others blog flops? It must have to do with blogattitude. So I’m sending my glob out for a blogadjustment, and when I’ve been unglobbed, I know The Write Game will sparkle with true blogginess.

******

WeWrite4U_Lit has a logo. Thanks to Yvonne Ventresca. Please join and support Literacy this month. All it takes is Tweeting and ReTweeting.

Here’s The Way to Say, “I’m In.”

******

My quote for the day: “There is no such thing as perfect security, only varying levels of insecurity.”

Salman Rushdie

Insecure Writer Support Group

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The NINJA ALEX’s Brainchild
I remember when I was waiting to hear back from a publisher about the first book I’d written.  Like all writers who have researched, written, and re-written their manuscripts,  I really wanted to have it published. That would mean I’d succeeded in doing something and doing it well enough that someone besides my husband, my kids, and the family dog would let me read to them. 
When I finally heard back, and they wanted a full, I did my little dance and sent that book off into the big world. Then I waited. And if you’re a writer, you understand waiting. The house sparkled from all my energy and angst. The dog smelled perfumy from too many baths. Dinners at our house during that time are still legend and longed for. 
Then I had a call. Back in those days, editors sometimes called. Mine did. She offered me a contract. I, of course, told her I had to think about it. Naawt! 
The book came out the next year. I went to New York to meet the real published peeps and the want-to-be-published peeps, and  I wallowed in my publishedness. The reality of what being published meant hadn’t hit me yet. It soon did.
I discovered that not everyone thought my book was as fabulous as my dog had. I discovered not many people even knew I’d written a book. I discovered I had to do something called “blogging” and create a Facebook account, then there were 140 character challenges on Twitter to master. And that’s when Insecurity arrived at my door with its luggage. It took over the guest room and is quite comfy there. However, if I feed it, do its laundry and tuck it in at night, we co-exist, especially since I found that I was not the only writer who had one of these guests.
So that’s my story. I’m an insecure writer. I’ve accepted that, and I’ve moved on to go through several different publishing experiences. It has been a odd route, but interesting. 
If you haven’t joined IWSG, then here’s your chance. Find the bottom of the Linky (that will take a while), and sign up. 

IWSG Wednesday and UncommonYA Gives Sliding on the Edge a Shout Out

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ALEX CAVANAUGH
Visit more of the GROUP
Co-Host for Today
L.G. KELTNER
MELANIE SCHULZ
TRACY JO
Therese J. Borchard offers help to getting you over that Insecurity Hump. She’s the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes, and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit, so I think I can point to her as an expert on these matters. Here’s one of her steps that I found particularly appealing and wanted to share with you on this Wednesday.
Consider it beautiful.
If you believe what Saint Augustine did, that the origin of “sin” is pride, then it’s easy to consider the opposite, humility, as a supreme virtue. And follow that logic to insecurity=vulnerability of spirit=humility. Borchard points out, “With insecurity, we admit that it’s not all about us, and that philosophy in this world of self-centeredness is quite lovely.”
Now that I’m thinking of insecurity as something positive I can move right along with my day. I’m co-hosting IWSG today and since this is my first co-host gig, I was a bit insecure about it. Now I think I see a halo just over my head.
The group called UNCOMMONYA is giving my first young adult novel a bit of a boost with what they call THE BLAST. So today is full of possibilities for all kinds of insecure moments. That’s why I was particularly happy when I found Borchard’s information.
Even my characters are INSECURE and, therefore, BEAUTIFUL!
“Though one may conquer a thousand times a thousand men in battle, yet he indeed is the noblest victor who conquers himself.”
How does this philosophy and the logic I’ve proposed sit with you? How do you deal with insecurity?

How To Write Books, Market Them and Not Go Mad

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TICK TOCK

For me sanity is all about scheduling and coffee/wine (depending on the time of day). Those are the only things holding this writer together. I’m not offering these solutions for everyone, just saying that so far these are working for me.

My Schedule for today:

04AM Drink Coffee and Write new book (just kidding about the book)
05AM Visit my Blogger Friends (not kidding) fb and Twitter
06AM Do Line Edits (serious business)
07AM Find more coffee. (absolutely necessary)
08AM See husband, get his plan for the day, eat something.
09AM Work on book (not kidding)
10AM Hike up some trail.
11AM Set plan for week.
12 PM Meet husband at designated place for lunch-this time of year that would be our deck.
01PM  Write
02PM Organize publicity for Library, posters and website, talk to sons on phone, make plans with friends for tomorrow.
03PM Check garden. Pick lettuce for dinner. Go to meeting for library.
04:30PM fb and more Twitter. 🙁
05PM Think about dinner. Consider wine, then write instead.
06PM Pour wine. Find husband and hand him marinated chicken for bar-b-que.
07PM Pour more wine. Toss the salad and feel smug. (planted it, grew it, harvested it).
08PM 30 minutes of a Netflix something, decafe and maybe something like a salted caramel treat.
09PM Kindle in bed, read someone else’s writing. Make notes for review.
10PM Face in pillow.

NOW FOR WEDNESDAY.

If you’ve followed me for a while,  you know I don’t usually blog on Wednesdays, except for the first Wednesday of each month. And this week is special in a couple of ways. I’m going to co-host the IWSG (Insecure Writers Group) while ALEX takes a well-deserved break. Oh, you might know it as I Was Searching for Gary. Please placate him and tell him you know the real meaning of IWSG. It makes him happy.

And, the UncommonYA group, which has some amazing authors, is going to BLAST me. That means, it’s going to feature Sliding on the Edge. That poor book needs a boosts if ever a book did, so, of course, I’ll blog on Wednesday with some glee.

The Write Club is underway.  Read. Vote. Enjoy!

SEE YOU WEDNESDAY!
What’s your schedule? Do have one? How’s that working. Do you IWSG much?  Hugs to my followers. UR Amazing and I appreciate y’all. (Is that the right spelling? People from the South, weigh in please)

IWSG

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I’m late! 
I overslept. 
I forgot to be INSECURE TODAY.

Thanks ALEX

Actually, I’m not Insecure today. I’ve decided that for the month of May I’m going to refuse to allow my nail biting,  stomach-churing, headache-producing self-doubts to creep in. 

Nope not once.

“How does she do it?” You ask, wringing your hands and leaning in for my bit of wise advice.

Here’s my answer-actually three answers. . .and all pictorial. 

One Sniff and Poof Go the Insecurities
Insecure? What’s that?

Yumm. Can’t be Insecure and eat blackberries at the same time.

A to Z Blog Challenge: The Letter B and IWSG

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The Write Game’s Theme 
AtoZ Blog Challenge
2014

Stuff I Learned or Laughed at from Bloggers in the 2013 A to Z Challenge .

All you gots to do is identify the Mystery Blogger each day. I’ll give you hints when I can. I’ll post the answers and the winner each Monday.
Four visitors (one each week) can win: 
Week 1) an ebook of Alligators Overhead 
Week 2)an ebook of Sliding On The Edge 
Week 3) an ebook of The Princess of Las Pulgas 
Week 4) a $10 gift certificate from Amazon 
 (If you already have one of the prizes, I’ll figure something else out!)
BY
1) identifying the most bloggers correctly=2 points.  
2) leaving witty comments=1 point or more depending on glibness
3) adding to the information and making it more valuable=2 points 

TIES WILL BE BROKEN BY MY CAT. SHE’S FAIR AND IMPARTIAL.UNLESS CATNIP IS INVOLVED, THEN SHE GOES WITH THE BEST SUPPLIER.
Plan Ahead

Mystery Blogger B’s 2013 theme: ” I’ll be sharing what I learned on a month-long blog tour I did last year for one of my novels and what I’ve discovered since.”
B  is for Blog Tour

  • Plan in advance. Further than you think you should.
Decide on length of tour and frequency of posts.
Contact possible hosts, who are a good fit for your novel.
Write posts in advance. Seriously.
Send posts early and make them easy to manage.
Prepare badges and order giveaways.
Decide on a giveaway/freebie day early and include in your post for each blog.
Use all promotional opportunities available.
Gift your hosts with a copy of your book.
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/845380
  • Just before the tour.
Change your blog header (optional, but an immediate indicator that you have something special happening on your blog).
Continue to update your blog, so visitors will be aware of your promo/marketing efforts and where you will be on what days. 
Contact tour hosts a few days in advance to be sure they remember when to post.
Ensure book links, Rafflecopter widgets and online freebies are in place and ready to roll out on day one.
Who was it? HINT: This blogger loves Jamaica and “Joy” is her name.
SIGN UP or VISIT the others who are on this AtoZ Challenge and check out the HOSTS:

Arlee Bird @ Tossing it Out

Tina @ Life is Good

Damyanti @ Amlokiblogs

Jeremy @ Being Retro

Nicole Ayers - The Madlab Post

M. J. Joachim’s Writing Tips

Pam @ An Unconventional Librarian

ALEX CAVANAUGH

How do I have time to be insecure in April? I don’t know, but I am. Here’s what I mean.

Will the posts I’ve scheduled actually publish? 
Get up at 3AM to be sure. 
Go to bed. 

Did I have any typos or grammar mistakes? 
Get up at #:3:30AM to be sure. 
Go to bed. 

Did I get that writer’s name correct? How about those links, did I check them? 
Get up at 4AM to be sure. 
Forget bed.

Insecure Writers’ Support Group and Some Gratitude and I’m Totally Blitzed

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THANKS TO NINJA ALEX CAVANAUGH
Just a touch of Insecurity
Might detract from my Maturity.
Some days my prose soars to the sky.
Then on others it might well die.
If I could only surely say 
That the muse was here to stay,
You would never hear my childish screams,
And I would sleep in bundled dreams.
THANKS TO SHERI LARSON

It has taken me over three months to come back to a center where I feel somewhat stable. My mom’s death and my son’s accident coming at the same time, threw me off in many ways. First, I didn’t have time to think about my mom not being here. I was so steeped in making trips to the hospital to see my son and talking to doctors that I often forgot my mom entirely. Then one evening, when I usually called to check in with her, I picked up the phone to say hi. Only to tell myself I couldn’t call her because I’d have to tell her about her grandson, and that would upset her. It a few moments before I knew that wasn’t reason I couldn’t call her.

  • My gratitude is that my son has improved and that doctors feel he will continue to do so. 
  • My gratitude is that I have a caring supportive family and friends. 
  • My gratitude is that I can appreciate what I have and not dwell on what I do not.
THANKS DL HAMMONS
Yesterday we BLITZED Bish Denham and Nicole Olea. Are you next?