Getting Started: Becoming a Blogger

I never imagined myself as a blogger. In my mind, when I decided I wanted to be an author (longer ago than I'd like to admit) I saw myself writing novels and living off of my royalties. There are a lot of people out there that do that. Sadly, I am not one of them. I'm that guy who is living plan B.

Plan B

Don't get me wrong, plan B ain't all that bad. I'm a high school English teacher in a small town, so I get to work with language and immerse myself in the great writers from around the world. I even push the envelope a little now and then by including contemporary authors without approval . . . I know, I'm a rebel.

To be honest, as great as plan B had been for me, it's time I reach back to plan A and make something of it. I need to feel fulfilled in life; I need to feel like I have done something I can be deliriously proud of. Teaching is a noble profession, and as teachers we are constantly shaping minds and changing lives. I'm not even being hyperbolic with that. As much as I love doing it, I want to change my life.

Becoming an Author: Step 1 - Blog

Everything I read about becoming an author talks about setting up mailing lists and getting your name out there. One of the best ways to do that in the current digital age is to begin blogging. Scratch that, one of the best ways to do that in the current digital work is to develop your platform, and a part of that is blogging. 

In my reading, I've been able to determine 3 Starting Blocks to Blogging:

1. Add Value
2. Predictable Schedule
3. Easy Formatting

This is by no means a comprehensive list, I'll be going into more detail as my research continues but here's an overview of someplace to start.

#1 Add Value

I put this as number one because it seems to be the most common piece of advice for anything that is put out there in the world, particularly writing. If you want someone to give you their time, be sure that they're going to get something out of it. Value your reader's time as much as you value your own. No matter the content, make the five or ten minutes that they've generously given you worth it.

For me, I'm going to become published, and I'm going to have people read what I write. I know this is going to happen for me because I'm going to make this happen. I also know I'm going to fail a few times. You can use my failures to avoid the same mistakes yourself. Save your own heartache by experiencing mine.

#2 Predictable Schedule

This one I've already failed at. Oops. My last post, was a lot longer ago that I had intended, but in my defense a lot has happened. Still, keeping a standard schedule is always recommended, although in this world it can be very difficult to accomplish. I recommend that you start slow, try once a month once every other month, but keep it consistent.

I had dreams of doing a weekly blog, that clearly is not my thing. My last post was what, back in April . . . Well, chalk that up to foible #1.

So here is my claim: I will try to get this blog going at least once a month.

I should really decide on a day (first Monday, second Tuesday sort of thing), but I'm going to start with just trying to get one a month done.

What I've read is a good rule of thumb, is to write several blogs at once, save them, schedule the releases (most blog sites let you automate that if you want). Once you have a back-log or three posts worth (which I do not) you're set to let the blog go live. Those three give you a buffer if you have a tough week.

#3 Easy Formatting

Make things easy for your reader. Large blocks of text can be difficult to scan through for your modern reader. Know your readership, Reddit users mark things with TL;DR if they get too long. I know from teaching that while teens are capable of reading long stuff, they shy away from it.

If you're writing for a professional audience, things will be different, but for mass consumption follow the KISS principal . . . Keep It Simple Stupid.

Use headings, images with captions, proper spacing. Most of all, don't just blather on.

In honor of being brief . . .

I'm going to end things here for now. There is more I've found on marketing a new book since I made my declaration back in April, and it seems to point away from blogging and social media for best results. I'll get into that next time. 

Until then . . .

Keep Writing!

Time to get serious about blogging - Developing a Writer's Platform.

Hey there, I know I've been away from this for quite some time. Turns out I'd fallen down the dark and wordless hole of life . . . some good, some bad, some just me screwing around. My lovely wife and I have been developing our family: two beautiful kids, a dog, a house that is *STILL* under construction, and plans upon plans of a world free of debt, worrying about bills, and living paycheck to paycheck.

Her plan to get out of this is to keep plugging along. We're both public school teachers. She has a masters; I have a doctorate (and the student loans to match). I'm not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel using her method. So there's my method . . .

Lottery Tickets . . .

except I have really friggin' bad luck, so that's not really panning out either. Plan B . . . I've always wanted to be an author. Like the type that can make a living from his writing. I'm not going to be the next Steven King or anything, but I'd happily settle for . . . well one of those people you can remember title of the book, but can't place the authors name . . . I know, I have big goals. So I fire up the computer, open a document file and type away. There's a problem though . . .

I have come to a realization lately . . .

I don't know the first thing about becoming an author.

Sure I can write, words on the page aren't that hard after all. I've developed a habit of writing at least twice a week. I'm hoping to carve out another day, but with two small kids, that's not all that easy to do. I'm sitting on a 100k word manuscript (which is crap and will probably never see the light of day) and, as of posting this, 65k works into my second manuscript. So the words come without much of a problem, but everything I've read or listened to lately about publishing and being an author has talked about marketing, not writing.

I'm not a marketing expert . . . 

I never wanted to be one, and I'm willing to guess if you're reading this neither did you. I don't have an answers for you . . . not yet anyway. I will however invite you to come on this journey with me while I figure out how the heck to make this writing thing pay off. 

Every time I read about one of those "5 Strategies" posts or the "Make Money With Writing" posts, they're always from people who have figured this stuff out, and honestly a lot of them are people who have been in or studied business. I studied Literature and Teaching, neither of these talk about how to sell stuff. 

What I haven't found yet is the person who is going through it now, trying to figure it out now (probably because people like me don't even have the questions to ask yet). 

Here's my promise:

I'm going to figure this marketing thing out. This developing a platform thing. This publishing thing. And this writing thing. I'm going to do it because I want to do it, more than I want to do just about anything (except hug my kids). 

When I was eleven, I joined the Boy Scouts and decided I wanted to become an Eagle Scout. I had my Eagle Ceremony back in 1997. When I was in high school, I said I wanted my doctorate before I turned 30. I earned my Doctorate in Educational Leadership with a focus of Curriculum Design and Instruction back in 2011 (same year I got married), only one year shy of my goal. Now I'm saying that I want to be a published author with a readership by the time I'm 45 . . . That gives me seven years to figure this out.

I will do it. If you want to join me on this journey, I'll do what I can to help you do it too. Ask me questions, challenge me, and tell me your challenges. Put my research skills to use while I, a novice who doesn't even know what I don't know yet, explore and win at this whole getting published thing.

Developing Effective Interview Questions

Photo credit: asgw / Foter / CC BY

While I was still in college (eons ago), I worked for the college paper first as a reporter, then a section editor, advertising manager, and finally as the editor in chief. During that time I interviewed everyone from the police chief (because he wouldn't let his officers talk to me) to the Dean of the college. I learned a ton about developing interview questions while I was there, but as I approached the next evolution in this blog, I found myself stymied.

I want to begin a series of author interviews, but, given that I went to school (as I said) eons ago and haven't interviewed anyone for anything other than a job for quite some time, I was at a bit of a loss as to where to begin.

Being a part of the 2015 #platchal, Robert Brewer's blog pushing us in the direction of interviews was a huge help (check it out), but I felt that I wanted a little more.

I hit the web for a little down and dirty researching and here is the basics of what I found.

1: Simple

My high school English teacher used to always tell us that when we wrote stories we needed to kiss (not kiss as in smoochy-smoochy, but KISS as in the acronym Keep It Simple Stupid). In honor of her, I'll keep this list simple too . . . just three things to keep in mind.

We're not talking ask stupidly simple questions like "What did you have for breakfast this morning?"

(Well, I guess if you're a fitness blog that could be a solid question . . . but I'm not, so for me that'd be pointless)

When I say simple, I mean you need to make sure that you're interview questions are specific, meaningful, and few. Yup, don't ask a ton of pointless questions unless you want to be annoying, then I guess ask all the pointless questions you want . . . just don't ask me to be interviewed.

Most places I've read say to keep the interviews between 5 and 10 questions long. Remember that the people you're interviewing have lives and work too. They can't spend all day dealing with your questions despite the fact that you know all 55 questions are interview gold . . . like the Best! Questions! Ever! Keep in mind you might be just a little bias.

Five fine tuned, pointed questions are so much better than a slue of slop spooned out of the google fueled internet interview question generating machine.

Which leads me to my next point . . . 

2: Interactive

Not like full contact interviewing on the gridiron or chasing them down the street like some demented track star interviewer as they flee from you and your crazy notepad. People don't like that . . . How do I know? . . . eh, er . . . let's not go there right now . . . where was I?

Oh yah, interacting with people is important. *News Flash* Right?

Too often you see interview questions that are stock questions sitting in the little bag of interview tricks (especially in this day and age of internet interviewing). Email the interview questions, the other person types out their answers, then you just put that slop up there.

I have nothing against interviewing online. Email and the web have allowed us to connect and contact so many more people. That's awesome, really truly awesome. Just because the interview can't happen face to face doesn't mean it has to sound that way. Make your interview questions conversational. Provide a little of the reason, as if you were sitting down in a bar or coffee shop somewhere talking face to face. This can help you interviewee feel more at ease with the process and lead to longer, more involved answers.

You're setting a tone for the interview. Make it a comfortable one. Also, that opens up for a follow-up question or two down the line if needed.

3: Purposeful

Have a direct purpose in mind when asking for an interview. Even better, have questions already developed (or at least drafted) before asking for the interview. 

What I mean by have a direct purpose is simply know why you're interviewing who you're interviewing. If you're interviewing an author for a writing blog (as is my goal), then you want to focus on . . . *spoiler alert* writing! 

Shocking I know, but it's not always that simple. You could interview someone on their writing, writing in general, advice to writers, a specific book or series, a specific aspect of their writing . . . the list goes on. 

What you don't want to do is ask all of it (that simplicity thing again) or ask about something wicked controversial . . . like say their stance on the upcoming presidential election. You may be curious, but it has nothing to do with your blog (unless you blog about politics or some weird blog about random people's political leanings)

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Photo credit: m_shipp22 / Foter / CC BY

Looks like I accidentally I made the list into an acronym, SIP (Simple, Interactive, Purposeful). How many bad puns can I make out of that . . . let's see . . .

SIP with your interviews.
Take a SIP from the knowledge of experts.
Dip into the pool of experience and SIP.
Drink coffee, SIP your interviews.

Okay, okay . . . that's enough. I'm done. 

(Minor confession: I rearranged the list after I wrote the post to get it get the acronym, so it was kinda by accident)

Update on the Writer's Digest: Platform Challenge.

So five days into the challenge and I'll say the last two haven't been that great for me personally.

Day 4: Claim your domain 

While in theory it's a great idea, in practice it's not where I'm at currently for two reasons:
<p>#1: I have, probably, one of the most common names out there. One that I share with an already famous guitarist who, not surprisingly, already owns the domain. There is also a </p>
<p>#2: Because my name is so common (middle name included) I need to find some way of differentiating myself and getting a domain that can really connect with an audience and make it easy for people to find me. That's going to take some time . . . </p>

Ultimately, I need to work on this one, but that doesn't mean that you do.

I understand the importance of a domain in the modern world where blogs are ubiquitous and easily overlooked without a solid domain connection.

Day 5: Join Facebook

Facebook is another conundrum for me. I am on facebook . . . but as a public high school teacher, setting my profile to public is a no go. 

As a happy medium, I do make several of my posts public, that way I at least have some presence there for people to find.

Just popping up a little update on the challenge . . . day 5 and still going strong, that's unusual for me.

Let's Get Started!

The toddler and puppy

It's time for me to get started becoming a writer. Well, I write already, mater of fact I even teach writing already, but for some unknown reason I've never started a blog for writing. So here it is.

I'm going to thank Robert Lee Brewer for running his October Platform Challenge which gave me the ass in the rear to get going with this. 

So far, we're on day three of this challenge, and I've actually kept up with it (despite being insane enough to have both a toddler and a puppy who both happen to be teething at the same time). 

I'll post my first three parts here so anyone that wants to can follow along as I develop my platform. Who knows, This could be fun!

Day 1: Define yourself as a writer.

He provided a basic format to allow people an easy way to go about their self-definition. I chose to follow the format for simplicities sake. 

Here is my self definition:

Name (as used in byline): Eric Johnson

Position(s): English Teacher, high school; Creative Writing Teacher, high school; Theater Arts Teacher, high school; Curriculum Developer; Published Author as Poet; Blogger; Game Developer, Founder & Owner of Broken Table Games

Skill(s): Editing; creative writing (poetry and fiction); blogging; copywriting; problem solving; conceptualizing; public speaking; teaching; mentoring; game designing and developing; 

Social media platforms (active): Facebook; Google+

URL(s): www.borkentablegames.com; www.forestwords.blogspot.com

My daughter and I on the
merry-go-round at the town fair.

Accomplishments: HS letters in Acting; Eagle Scout; undergraduate award-winner in journalism at Western New England College; BS in English Literature from Western New England College with certificates in Secondary Education; MA in English Literature from University of Massachusetts, Amherst; EdD in Educational Leadership with a focus in Curriculum Design and Instruction from University of Phoenix; Published several poems in various online and print magazines;

Interests: Family (a top priority), writing (poetry, horror, & essays primarily); reading; travel; remodeling houses; hiking; camping; adventure; game design & development

In one sentence, who am I? Eric Johnson is an accidental poet living with his wife, daughter, and dog near the edge of a nature reserve, working as a high school English and writing teacher while trying to find the words (and time) to become a novelist.

Day 2: Setting your goals

Short-Term Goals:

1. Begin publishing poetry in journals again.
2. Develop and publish a book length (or chapbook length) collection of poems.
3. Publish 3 short story in journals by the beginning of next summer.
4. Finish editing my first novel The Beholder by the end of next summer.
5. Write a creative writing textbook for my creative writing class by the start of the next school year.

Long-Term Goals:

1. Publish The Beholder through traditional publishing channels.
2. Finish the rough draft of Keeper of the Truths.
3. Publish Keeper of the Truths.
4. Develop and write a textbook for Theater Arts.
5. Become an educational consultant on curriculum and instruction.

Day 3: Start Blogging

Well, if you've gotten to here, I guess you've found me. 

Welcome to my journey, and if you're in the same place . . . come along and start your own! Share it with me in the comments if you do!

Until then, remember . . . If you're writing, then you're a writer (publishing is another creature altogether). Don't be afraid to say it . . . sometimes that's all it takes to make it to the next step.