Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
“Sit down and start blogging your book. Write one post at a time
or many posts at a time. Create a manuscript. Create a book. Write it with all
your heart and soul and all the passion you can muster. Let your readers know
who you are, and they will come to read your blog.” Nina Amir
Threads =Where and What.
Blogging your articles can open up several
threads. One can link back to the feedback in the previous section as you
broaden your readership. The questions and discussion that follow can open up
ways to expend your topics and/or discover unexplored sub-topics to include.
Blogging helps you discern your writing goals
and output, as well as the time required to complete an entire segment from
idea to polish. And then what is required to blend all the pieces into a
finished project.
It can also establish a bridge with other
readers in your field that then threads to potential markets that we’ll look at
next week. It helps to focus where your main audience is and what they are most
interested in discovering or challenging. Either response can then build up
more dialogue and conversation and readers.
Another benefit is helping to develop your
personal ‘voice’. Often we hear that we need to find our voice as writers, or
the industry is looking for new voices. But even quality writing books rarely
explain how to discover our own. Especially when we are entering into a
specified genre and know we need to stand out, or at least not imitate another.
It takes time. Writing on a regular basis gives us the practice. By sharing
with others we can find and develop our voice.
If you’re not sure of the overall benefits
and commitments required by keeping a blog I recommend starting with How To Blog A Book, by Nina Amir. She
covers all the basic how-to questions of blogging in general, both for fiction
and non-fiction, and how to promote and profit from that outreach in your
field.
Action Steps:
1.
Make
a list of blogs that are in your particular topics or expertise.
2.
What
do you consider the strengths and weaknesses in each?
3.
Do
you see any holes that aren’t being addressed on a regular basis that you have
material to share? Or your own interest in discovering?
4.
If
there are any are highly academic articles can you trim a particular portion
into smaller pieces that would interest your particular age category in a more
sharing format with language that is more understandable?
Share: Which blogs do you read on a
regular basis? What draws you to them?
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