Linked In

Okay, I’m gonna share a secret. My secret is LinkedIn. I’ve been secretly lurking on this site for some time now. I go, I read, I gain. I’m sure Linked In is more than just writers communing and discussing the business but it is all I use it for, gleaning info about the writing business. It is a professional network, not a social scene.

I lurk around many sites, meaning I visit them, learn and grow in my writing. I think my friend told me about Linked In many many years ago and I had no use for it because I was so busy with ‘schoolwork’ and teaching folks about writing that I didn’t see this site for the immense amount of information that it held.

It is really a site where writers link up or any professional field of interest. I’m sure if you’re an astronaut they have groups to link you up, or if you’re a librarian, yup link ups to other librarians. But to me, this is a source to link up to other writer’s, publishers and editors.

You join the group of people that are in your field of interest, and join in the discussions of others in your field. That simple. It’s a professional site, unlike facebook where you throw things out and friends connected to you throw things back. No this place isn’t a place to show your immature silly side loaded with pics. It’s all forums and sometimes the sharing of your work. Notice I say WORK; a place to share your professionalism.

Also on LinkedIn, friends can endorse your work. Other professionals see your profile, and find interest in your work. Some will even hire you for a job. You know, a job where you get money for your work?

LinkedIn is not the immature looney bin palace of MySpace or Facebook or other social networks where socializing with the world becomes a laughing stock. I didn’t list Twitter because all that that place is good for is PROMOTING your work. To socialize on Twitter is creepy!! No, Linked In is the place for the professional, where you AS the professional, put on your intelligence cap and let your light shine!

Another place I like to lurk is Faith Writers. That is a place for writers of faith, to share their work. Granted it has benefits when you pay for their membership. There is a no-fee way to post but all the benefits come from the ‘paid’ subscription. BUT it is an excellent place worth mentioning to my writing friends. I haven’t bought into the site yet, maybe one day.

I lurk on the sites, drinking in words like a warm cup of coffee. I’m not an obsessive person (unless it is cleaning the house) or a stalker but I do lurk and see who is watching and who is obsessing, and WHO is learning from me.

My hope is that as you follow me, you’re learning from me and not abusing the situation to suit your needs. I have a lot to offer. Use my info wisely. Thank you!

How to Help a Writer

 Our Pumpkins from our Garden

In my many years of mentoring writers I’ve learned what it takes to really help a writer. I’m here to give you some tips on a writer helping writers.

1) Encourage: This one should be a given, but there are some writers out there who think it is their task to bombard a writer with malicious critique. Which only disillusions a writer and makes them run for the door. My mother always told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say it at all.” I think my mother, along with many others are right on this one.

2) Support: This is also a given. A writer that doesn’t have the support she needs to get through writing say her novel or short story, may never make it through 500 words nevertheless 50,000 words.  Stand by the writer in the family, group, or friend who only needs your support to get them through.

3) Critique: This is one where you tread lightly. While all of us love an honest critique, I have never met a writer who welcomed harsh critique. That goes against a writer helping a writer.

4) Be nice: What? You need ME to tell you to be nice? That’s sad. But I have ran into quite a few mean-spirited people in my day who want to claim to be a writer, but they go against EVERYTHING in this list of how-to’s, who target one writer, and tries everything in their power to take a person down. Shame on you! And you call yourself a writer?

5) Befriend: Befriending a writer is a good thing. If you surround yourself with like-minded folk, then it can only benefit your journey and keep you moving forward instead of backward.

6) Respect: Respect others opinion and take it with a grain of salt. That has helped me the most in writing. Not all people are going to be positive but even the negative, when turned into a positive, can be beneficial.

7) Network: Yes sir, you’re going to need a network of writers to help you especially when it comes promotion time of your work.

8) Gentle criticism: This is needed for all writers. Yes we want to hear our work is good but we also might need assistance in the grammar department or punctuation rules. Be gentle in offering assistance. Don’t throw your hands up in the air when someone misses a comma, or has lousy punctuation skills! Be gentle with your words. You KNOW the affect words have on people.

9) Motivate: Motivating a writer is essential. When you see someone not getting the encouragement he or she needs, they lose their ability to be motivated in continuing their writing journey. A lot of times writers block will set in and it is hard to get out of that slump. With the proper motivation, they can be led back to their writing, thus fulfilling their desired destiny.

10) Be there: Be there to see them through all ten of these steps. You do realize that it is you that is going to make or break this writer. I never met a writer who did not benefit from all of what I’m saying.

Networking

Just the word sounds important as it stands alone up there.
 
Networking is defined as: the practice of making contact and exchanging information with other people, groups or institutions. Usually, networking occurs with other people who have interests in similar areas. The goal of the networking relationship may be to further your personal employment opportunities or to cultivate new clients or the expansion of business relationships. Networking is also a term of art used in the computer industry.
 
Monday we figured out that we have the procrastination bug, and I devised tricks to get that little thing nipped in the bud! Then on Tuesday, I gave a few tips on how to Prioritize your schedule so that you’ll have the time to write and take action instead of putting things on the back burner and making all your time about playing on facebook.
 
Now today I’m here to tell you, to GO to facebook. But I’m also here to tell you that you will not be going for fun and games. You’re not going to visit your friends, wink, hug, LIKE, and pretend you’re in the worldwide playground of the internet. You my friend, are going to NETWORK! If you want to do all that stuff, go ahead, but if you’re a writer and trying to NETWORK, I would not advise making Facebook a Farmville of a place with animals popping up, crops of people on your list (unless they are writers), and the abundance of games absorbing your wall.
 
Networking with like minds takes a certain finesse. When my friend from Finland told me about facebook and how I should network to jump start my writing career, facebook was the place to do it. Another writer friend, M.D. , introduced me to things like Twitter and Weebly, and Ping! All in my arsenal of networking my way into my writing career.
 
Someone had briefly mentioned MySpace but I quickly learned that place should have been name MySmut! So I quickly blocked that place and all the trash it carried with it. Facebook quickly became my virtual world for networking. But I  was new to the scene and did all the wrong things that got me nowhere in my writing. I played game upon game,  I poked, preached, ranted and raved, hugged and ignored, only to realize, I’ve lost the Networking battle.
 
Or did I? Something happened a few months back; I realized I was NOT prioritizing and making my writing come first. While I was off mentoring and facilitating, helping out other writers, editing and whatnot, I lost my love... of writing. I got so caught up in being self-righteous, I lost something along the way and only recently found again. Something I’m not letting go this time in my pursuit of Networking.
 
My list of five things to propel you into NETWORKING on facebook?
 
1. Accept friends of like minded ability. Not the ones who want to play; the ones who are as serious and professionally minded as you!
 
2. Make a separate account for family, games and the playground mentality.
 
3. LIKE, everything Writing related!!!  Then your HOME wall will be filled with vital info, instead of game updates or who went to pee and felt you needed to know this.
 
4. Participate! Actively participate in your writing pages that you have LIKED. These people are professional, welcoming, and they love sharing.
 
5. If you want to rant, rave, preach, and stand on a pedestal, either make a blog for just that, or make sure your network of friends is of the like mind, or surely you will lose some portion of your networking capabilities.
 
Maybe this warrants another post...at another time. :)
 
SUPPORT YOUR FELLOW WRITER and THEY’LL SUPPORT YOU!