Why I won't do A-Z, but you probably should.

I'm not actually a participant this year, but I couldn't find an A-Z silent-supporter badge.

A-Z is a popular blogfest held every year in April. It started out as writers joining together to support and follow each other in 2010, but has now expanded to include bloggers of many topics. The idea: You are challenged to blog 26 times in one month, starting with an A theme for your post and moving though until you hit Z. Here's some good reasons to sign up:

• This gives a sense of deadline, you be amazed at how productive you can be with your blogposts when you know you have to get one up almost every day.
• For new bloggers, you'll gain a LOT of new followers. Back in 2010 I gained at least 100 new followers in the month of April. This was a big deal for me, I think I only had about 60 followers at the time.
• You'll discover new blogs that you'll want to come back and visit again and again.
• You'll improve your writing skills from all that practice.
• It's a great sense of community.

Now you're probably thinking, if it's so good, why don't I join up this year? Fair question. I thought it over and here are my reasons for not participating in the A-Z for 2013:

• Rules and me don't mix. I'm a bit of a hippie and want to feel free to post on Sunday and miss Tuesday, I might also mix up the letters. This seems to irritate others.
• I don't sign up for bloghops that stick to one time zone. I live in Australia and post my Monday post when it's Monday here. I can't be bothered checking the time difference and adjusting. And I don't like to schedule posts. I like to write them and click send.
• While I LOVE getting new followers, I don't want people to feel obligated to follow because I stopped by their blog. Also, last year I found myself following a lot of blogs that were not on topics I'm interested just because it seemed the right thing to do.
• But mostly - I have a lot of writing to do. I'm rewriting two novels, working on short stories for submission, and participating in an anthology. I'm also putting together all my activities for the children's writing workshops I run. In the past I've found I get no writing done while I try to keep up with all the posts. It's not just writing the posts, but visiting the hundreds and hundreds of blogs.

So there's my wrap-up. I'll just blog once a week as normal during April, but I will cheer you all on from the sidelines and get to as many blogs as I can. Good luck! To sign up for A-Z, click the link below:

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/2012-to-z-challenge-sign-up-list.html

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Writers have a lot of balls

Wait, what did you think I meant?

With the popularity of authors breaking out on their own and publishing their own works, the role of author is expanding. I know many authors who are also their own publishers, editors, marketers, promotors, sales coordinator and graphic artist. Phew! It's a lot of work, for sometimes very little return. 

Through my small press publishing house, Hot Doggy Digital Press, I produce my own books and ebooks, but I definitely am not a one-woman show. I rely on lots of beta-readers (including avid readers, writers and my target market which is usually kids), employ professional editors, work with graphic artists and book designers and enlist various marketing programs. This costs money, but produces much more professional results than I could ever achieve alone.

Right now I'm sending out the final draft of Dognapped? A Dog Show Detective Novel to beta-readers. I'm also playing with cover designs. I like to do mock-ups, so when I talk to my book designer I have a clear idea of what I'm after. While this is going on I'm beginning edits on Undead Kev, writing short stories for submission, designing writing workshops for kids, attending my writer's group and undertaking masterclasses for editing. Soon I'll be designing and ordering promotional material for Dognapped (bookmarks, postcards, magnets, etc) and planning a book launch.

It's not easy juggling all those writer's balls (you thought I was going in a different direction with that post title, didn't you?). To be honest I find it easier to label all my balls, but only toss one in the air at a time. How are you going with time-managment and multi-tasking? Got a lot of balls?

Here's some of the very rough drafts of cover ideas for Dognapped? Feel free to be opinionated!

 

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