Today marks, yet, another milestone in my life. This is my 300th blog post.
I began blogging in November of 2005. That averages out to a blog post just about every 4 days over the last 2 ¾ years.
Add this to the number of articles I’ve written throughout my career and the count is likely in the thousands. Remember, I earned my living writing articles for magazines for quite a few years.
A question I get often from writers and non-writers alike is, “How do you come up with all of those ideas?” And my response: “I pay attention.” There are article, blog and book ideas all around you. If you spend time participating, studying, discussing, reading, working, volunteering, observing and contemplating in your area of writing interest, you have access to limitless ideas. If you have a knack for tweaking those ideas and molding them into different shapes for different purposes, you can develop numerous new articles from a single concept.
And this is what prolific bloggers do. Where, specifically, do my blog topics come from? Well, I strive to make them all about writing and/or publishing. That’s my primary focus. I develop blog posts by listening to other writers and authors—what are their questions and concerns? I pay attention to what’s going on within the industry. I tap into the wisdom and activities of professionals in this field. I subscribe to and read around two dozen newsletters and participate in related forums. And, of course, I visit other blog sites.
From the feedback I’ve received so far, it seems that I am providing what writers and authors want. And I am open to suggestions.
Book Proposal Course Starting Soon
Do you have a book proposal to write? Are you dragging your feet and making excuses not to do it? Would you like help with it, but you can’t afford the rates? Is the whole book proposal thing just way too overwhelming?
Let me help. I’ll be teaching my 8-week online Book Proposal course starting September 15, 2008. Check it out at http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm
Be sure to click on the link explaining how an online course works.
Have a completed, professional book proposal ready to send to agents and publishers by Halloween.
Or maybe you want help promoting your book or establishing your own publishing company or starting an article-writing career. I offer courses in each of these topics, too. http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm
I was quite surprised how similar in design your web site and mine are! If you recall I made a comment about your blog on the authorboard site sometime ago, since then I have managed to get my own web site and blog up and running. I’m not sure if the blog is getting much action, its hard to tell but I keep plugging away. I’ve had over 2000 visitors on the web site since it began just over two months ago, and it has sold at least six copies of my book “Lily & Me” Its great fun checking each day to see if there is any activity!!
Best Wishes Ben (irishrover)