The power of #WriteMom

If you haven’t read Kristen Lamb’s book, ‘We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media’ then please stop reading this and go read it now. The writing industry in particular is very overwhelming. As Kristen points out in her book, the writing community is alive and well online so use it. Learn from others, network and ask your questions. A fast, easy way to connect is on Twitter through the #MyWANA hashtag. That stands for “My We Are Not Alone” based off Kristen’s book. Here writers meet up and spread the love. Learn more here.

But you have a bubbly toddler and can barely make time for plotting your book during her nap times. How can you make time to chat with some people online? The question is; how can you afford not too?

I’ve been a freelance journalist for ten years. When I decided to add author to my writing credentials I knew that I was going to have to learn a lot. The most important thing I’ve learned in a little over a year is the value of discussion. Of course you must make time to write in order to be an author but you have to also understand what you are doing. Connections are important and it’s those connections that sometimes pull you through that troublesome scene.

You—with the bubbly toddler are not alone. I’m right there by you. I hold multiple National and local freelance contracts, promote my published book, research and write my next non-fiction, submit my young adult, write my middle grade, manage my speaking engagements and online course teaching schedule plus all the other things that come with the job title of “writer” all while caring for my thirteen-month-old daughter. I apologize for the insanely long run-on sentence and that didn’t even include Oscar, my special needs dog that is very high maintenance. The point is we all are busy and juggle a million things regardless what your day is like. As Kristen’s book stresses, you are not alone. This goes for writing moms as well as writers. This is why I’m launching #writemom on Twitter.

When you Tweet, add #writemom to your message. Make sure you do this when you are tweeting about writing progress good and bad. Soon we will have a community of writing moms. We can share the joys of publishing milestones, the stresses of deadlines and the frustrations that being a mom can add to all of this. After having a career in public relations and television prior to writing full-time, I’m convinced that this is the most difficult job. And when you add the pressure and duties of motherhood to your writing role—it can get very overwhelming.

When times are stressful remember that you are not alone. So many writing moms are making it work and look easy everyday. Share your success, advice and stories at #writemom. There is power and strength in community. Use #writemom to celebrate, vent, cry, laugh, rant, etc. Let #writemom refuel you for your next writing sprint and help you reach your goal. I’ll look forward to seeing you in the community. Happy Friday and to the power of #WriteMom!

I’m teaching a Write It Forward Workshop titled, ‘Writing Moms: How to do it all without losing your mind’ online in October. Click here for more information and to sign-up.

I will be hosting a live webinar on September 26 6:30-8 PDT with Farm Dogs USA titled ‘Caring for Special Needs Dogs.’ My lecture will be based off my book, ‘Caring for Your Special Needs Dog’ along with new research. Click here for more information.

I’ve been out of the loop this week. Please share some great blog posts that you’ve seen for this week’s blog mash-up.

Using Twitter for networking and education with hastags

First of all, I'm sorry to the late post. If you follow me, then you know that I always post on Wednesdays and Fridays. I was out of town with no Internet access and had scheduled this post to come out on Friday. However, Blogger apparently didn't like me last week so with out further delay....

As a mom, author and CEO of my household, I’m always looking for ways to maximize and safe time. For me, a groundbreaking discover was Twitter. Of all the professions, I believe that writers have managed to really tap into the power of this networking tool. Writing community hastags are plenty and if you can take a few times a days to follow the Tweet Deck streams of these groups, then you can learn a lot while networking in an easy, fun environment. The wealth of knowledge on Twitter is vast so it is a useful place for continued education and industry discussion.

I love to follow #MyWANA, #WeWrite and #ScriptChat. #MyWANA came about from Kristen Lamb’s ‘We Are Not Alone: The Writers Guide to Social Media’ Her groundbreaking social media book has connected writers through Twitter at the frequently visited hashtag, #MyWANA. This is a group for writers that help writers promote. Whether it is to connect with writers or to look for an article to read and retweet, #MyWANA may be the place for you.

#WeWrite is a great place to learn about the writing process and how writers approach their work. #WeWrite was created by authors Anna DeStefano and Jennifer Talty. Sometimes specific topics are discussed and sometimes people just love to throw questions out there.

Recently, I have found #ScriptChat. It all started when I spent the wise price of $10 to take a pre-conference class on screen writing at the RWA National Conference several weeks ago in NYC. I have studied many forms of writing from journalism to creative structure but I’ve never done anything with screen writing. This seemed like a fun challenge and a learning experience. Bill Pace taught the course and was great. After the class, #ScriptChat founders Jeanne V. Bowerman and Kim Garland ran a panel discussion on social media. I loved hearing their approaches to Twitter and Facebook. They spoke about #ScriptChat and since I loved the screen writing class I made a point to attend the next chat session, which occurs every Sunday evening. It was very informative. Most of the time, I’m guilty of lurking with this group but I highly recommend them.

By targeting specific hashtag groups on Twitter, you can easily accomplish some continuing education and valued networking. Twitter can become an addiction. I recommend scheduling times to check Twitter and use it for brief breaks. You are the only one who can discover what works for you.

Announcements:

If you know me, then you probably know that next to dogs my favorite animal is a shark. I love diving with them and studying them, therefore one of my favorite weeks of the year is Shark Week on Discovery Channel. It starts July 31 this year. As a lead up to the festivities, the largest shark tank in the world at the Atlanta, GA Aquarium has set up a live streaming video from inside the tank. They have Whale Sharks in there guys and this is my new addiction. Enjoy it on this Monday.

Thanks for all the well wishes for Oscar, my dog who has been in and out of the hospital. He is going to be fine. It turns out that Oscar is just stressed and may have to go on a tranquilizer. We are not surprised. He feels the need to run everything and puts so much responsibility on himself. He is the best dog and I am feeling so much better knowing that he is fine. You can read my book that he inspired, ‘CARING FOR YOUR SPECIAL NEEDS DOG.’