Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Here are thirteen qualities/characteristics/things required by a writer.

1. Imagination

2. Perseverance

3. Thick skin

4. Determination

5. Patience

6. Business head

7. Flexibility

8. Like reading

9. Networking skills

10. Internet skills

11. Stickibility

12. Critique partners

13. Understanding husband

Can you think of any other qualities that contribute to a good writer?

I’m fairly new to Twitter, and I’m always wondering what to tweet about. I subscribe to The Book Marketing Expert newsletter and this week they included an article covering things for people to tweet about. Here are a few of them.

Thirteen Things For Authors to Tweet About

1. Teach stuff – teach a little mini-lesson on Twitter. Delve into your area of expertise or just talk about book publishing and how to get published.

2. Share sites or blogs that your followers would be interested in. Be their “filter” to new and exciting information.

3. Use Twitter as a news source: you can easily announce news both from your world (as long as it relates to your topic) and from the world of your expertise.

4. Tweet any good reviews your book gets, it’s always fun to share the good stuff!

5. Feed your blog through Twitter using Twitterfeed.com

6. Use YouTube to share helpful videos you think your followers will love.

7. Run a contest.

8. Ask for advice or ask questions that encourage responses.

9. Talk about the latest trends in your industry.

10. Review a product or book on Twitter.

11. Post an inspirational quote or message.

12. Follow big names in your market on Twitter: this will often bring in their followers too, and you want to see what the “big guys” are up to.

13. Widen your network – follow other Twitter folk, this will not only give you some ideas for your own “tweets” but it’s a great way to network with other writers or professionals.

Source: Reprinted from “The Book Marketing Expert newsletter,” a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Are you on Twitter? If so, what is your Twitter handle? (I’m @ShelleyMunro) What do you tweet about?

“The best writing tip…hmmm. I guess it would be keep your head down and get the job done, first of all. You can’t be published if you don’t finish your book. Be ruthless. Pretty good books aren’t going to sell, so dig deep. And have faith in yourself. No one was born published.”

Visit Kristan’s website at www.kristanhiggins.com
Purchase Kristan’s latest release, The Next Best Thing

“Grammar matters. So does punctuation. Seriously, they do, and your future editors don’t exist to fix them for you. Editors reject books that need basic grammatical polishing even if the story’s good.

But here’s the awesome part. The correctness of grammar and mechanics, 95% of the time, isn’t a matter of opinion, unlike so many other aspects of writing. Revel in the security you can at least get that part of your book “right”. Just be careful, and don’t trust Microsoft or anyone who tells you to put a comma where you pause when you read it aloud or that the word “was” means you overused passive voice.”

Visit Jody Wallace’s website at www.jodywallace.com
Purchase Jody’s latest release What She Deserves, now in electrons from Samhain Publishing!

I often come across good articles and posts relating to writing and the writing business when I’m surfing on the net. What? You thought I wrote all the time?

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy both keeping up with the writing market and learning new things. I thought I’d share the bounty and repost some of the links I’ve found.

Bootstrap Book Marketing Co-op has a post on one thing that can really derail a writing career, and that is professional jealousy. We all have times when we feel down or think someone else is getting a better deal than us and the green-eyed monster creeps in. Bootstrap has a post called The Writer’s Other Classic Curse and Four Ways to Deal With It.

Erastes writes some very thought provoking posts at Reviews by Jessewave. A recent post related to horses in historical novels. Neigh…I blame Hollywood talks about horses and mistakes writers making with them. Note Reviews by Jessewave reviews gay romances, but the post on horses relates to all historicals.

Note: There are two posts today. Scroll down…

Have you seen the YouTube featuring Susan Boyle? The judges took one look at Ms. Boyle, listened to her talking and decided she wouldn’t be able to sing. The music started, Ms. Boyle started singing and smashed apart every one of the judges’ preconceptions, showing true talent. The audience loved her. Millions of people have watched the performance on YouTube. I’m one of them, and I smiled the entire way through. Her performance was amazing.

It made me think about stereotypes when it comes to the romance community. Don’t authors lounge around wearing flowing pink dresses (sometimes with ruffles) and eat lots of chocolates while they’re writing about arrogant alpha males and quivering virgin heroines? And don’t romance readers wear thick glasses, fluffy bathrobes and stay at home with their fictional friends on a Saturday night, eating lots of chocolate while they’re reading their chosen genre?

We know these stereotypes are wrong. Lots of people don’t and accept the above descriptions (or something similar) because they don’t know any better. Well, the chocolate part might be right, but you understand what I mean. We’re all individuals who love the written word and reading/writing about love and romance. Stereotypes are wrong, and we should wait before judging anyone. First impressions aren’t always right, but we’re probably all guilty of judging or applying sterotypes at some time or another. I know I have.

A few days ago, Julia tagged me with a meme called Keeping It Real. I had to post a photo of myself taken without primping and doing ordinary things. The photo caught me on a day when I wasn’t wearing pink, but I’m in my second office i.e. my chair with my laptop. As you can see – no stereotypes here.

I’m meant to tag people, so if you’re brave enough, consider yourself tagged. Follow the Keeping it Real link above and scroll down to the bottom of the post. I have to say that Julia takes a great photo.

How would you describe a writer or a reader? (You can have fun making up a stereotype or you can do a truthful description of a writer/reader as you see them)

The following ad for Cadbury appeared on our television just over a week ago. The gorilla caught my attention quickly followed by the music. I watched the entire ad, spellbound, even though I had no idea what it was advertising. I think it was the combination of the lifelike gorilla playing the drums and the awesome Phil Collins soundtrack. I even mentioned the ad to hubby. Whenever it plays, I stop to watch. Here’s the ad from youtube.

Today I went to itunes’ New Zealand store to download a couple of songs. I’d decided to download the Phil Collins song as well. I couldn’t remember the name but figured I’d find it with a search. I didn’t have to search. Other New Zealanders had the same thought as me and the song is currently at #2 on the top ten songs downloaded from itunes. Such is the power of advertising.

This made me think, so here’s a note to the writers of the Grey’s Anatomy series. Don’t you think it’s time to feature something regarding erotic romance in your show? I have the perfect books for your characters to read. Good plot, great characters. Well written. You can use them for free in your show. Email me and we’ll talk…

This week fellow author Christine d’Abo mentioned The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein. It contains all sorts of neat information and inspired by Christine’s post, I dragged it out of my bookcase.

In her book the author mentions traits of writers. Here are some of them:

1. Creates in order to heal old wounds in themselves.

2. Creative thinkers.

3. Sensitive.

4. Often drink alcohol, especially after forty.

5. Depression in younger writers.

6. Problems with anxiety and drug use.

7. Has to tolerate aloneness.

8. Has to let go of work.

9. Families with mental illness and creativity.

10. Higher rates of bisexuality or homosexuality. (there’s a note about a study done for this one)

11. Abstract thinkers.

12. Fear mediocrity.

13. Disregard routine problems.

As a writer I plain disagree with some of these, although it’s good to know I don’t need to feel guilty about drinking wine anymore. I think writers are articulate, imaginative, driven, fear rejection, respond well to chocolate, have great imaginations, are determined, hardworking, good procrastinators (at times) and can suffer from bottom spread.

I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few. What qualities do you think writers have?