Month: June 2019

APODS – Organization: Advice from the Experts by Amanda Cabot

Welcome back to APODS. Are you ready to talk about organization? I hope so, because I want to share some precepts from experts in time management and organization.

This month’s post focuses on ideas from Marilyn Paul, whose It’s Hard to Make a Difference When You Can’t Find Your Keys is one of my favorite books on the subject.

Although the entire book is worth reading, I found four of her points particularly useful.


APODS, organization, Marilyn Paul, writers, KISS principal, schedule, task
APODS – Organization
1. Have a place for everything and everything in its place

This should be self-evident, since it’s almost the definition of organization, but the simple fact is, if you can’t find a critical writing tool or even the new ream of paper you need for your printer, the time you spend looking for it is time you could have been writing. On the other hand, if you establish a place for everything you need to write and then ensure that everything is returned to that place as soon as you’ve finished using it, you’ll reduce wasted time and the frustration of having to search for something.

2. Establish your own filing/organizational system, using the KISS principle

There are two key parts to this. The first is that a filing system that works for someone else may not work for you. You need to determine what makes sense to you. After all, each of us is unique, and what seems logical for someone else may be confusing to us. Don’t be fooled into believing that just because a writer you admire uses a system means that it will be the right one for you.

The second part is the KISS principle. You’re probably familiar with it, but in case you aren’t, the acronym stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. While I don’t particularly like the “stupid” part of it, the call for simplicity resonates with me. Why create a system that’s more complex than it needs to be? You’re setting yourself up for frustration if you do that. Save your creativity for writing itself, not filing or organizing.

These two principles have as their goal avoiding wasted time. The next two focus on minimizing frustration.

KISS Principle
3. Learn how much time each task takes, allowing for transition time

Remember back in the Analysis phase when we charted our use of time? Among other things, that taught us how long it takes to do specific things. What we didn’t factor into the equation was transition time. It’s unrealistic to expect to finish eating dinner and go directly to writing a chapter. If you set up a schedule without including transition time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Don’t do it.

4. Schedule “unscheduled time”

Does this sound counterintuitive? After all, if we’re scheduling our time, shouldn’t we schedule all of it? Marilyn Paul says we should, but that one of the things we need to include in our daily schedule is some time without any task associated with it. Why? Life happens. Things that you didn’t expect will demand your time. If you’ve scheduled every minute, when the unexpected occurs and you’re forced to deal with it, you’ll be behind schedule.

Furthermore, no matter how carefully you schedule, there will be times when a task takes longer than you planned. If you have no free time in your schedule, once again you’ll fail to meet your goals, and that will be frustrating. You want to ensure success, not failure, so give yourself a break … literally. Schedule “unscheduled time.”

Think about Paul’s precepts. Do they make sense to you? Can/will you implement them? I hope so. I also hope you’ll come back in August when we explore two other experts’ advice on how to organize.

(C) 2019 Amanda Cabot

Amanda Cabot

Amanda Cabot is no stranger to getting to “The End.” She juggled a sixty-hour a week job with nonnegotiable deadlines and building a house long-distance at the same time that she wrote two books a year. Whether or not she kept her sanity during that time is debatable. Amanda is the best-selling author of over thirty novels, eight novellas, four non-fiction books, and what she describes as enough technical articles to cure insomnia in a medium-sized city.

Her most recent release is A Tender Hope, the third in the Cimarron Creek trilogy.

Amanda Cabot, Cimarron Creek Trilogy
A Tender Hope, by Amanda Cabot

You can find Amanda at:

www.amandacabot.com
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.j.cabot
https://twitter

Writers Beware of the Legal Pitfalls – Copyright Basics Part 3

This is the last in the Copyright Basics portion of Writers Beware of the Legal Pitfalls series, but not the end of the series. This article addresses some important issues for writers, and bloggers in particular. As a reminder, every article in this series is to be used as a general educational resource only, NOT as legal advice.

Creative Commons License

Provides a standard way for authors to declare their works as “some rights reserved” (instead of “all rights”). When you are quoting from a source that has a Creative Commons license or public domain dedication, you may have extra rights to use the content. For example, the attribution license allow you to copy, distribute, and display a work as long as you name the original author. Share-alike lets you make derivative works as long as you use the same license for the re-mix. If a work is in the public domain, it’s no longer under copyright protection so you may use it any way you want.

Creative Commons License, copyright
A Note to Bloggers
Of Particular Note to Bloggers

Comments: Comments entered on a blog for public display is most likely giving an implied license at least for that display and the incidental copying that goes with it. To assure clarity, add a creative Commons license to your blog’s comment post page and a statement that says by posting comments, writers agree to license them under it.

“Deep Link”: Most are happy when other websites link to them. One of the features that have helped blogs take off are the “permalink” features to which others can link directly. Some website owners complain that deep links “steal” traffic to the homepage or disrupt the intended flow of the website. So far, courts have found that deep links to web pages are neither trespass nor copyright infringement.

bloggers, writers, copyright
Writers Beware of the Legal Pitfalls

Images: Subject to same copyright and fair use laws. Check for Creative Commons licensed images. The safest images are the ones you take yourself — you own them.

If you don’t have one you need, you can buy them or search for sites that offer Creative Commons Zero (CCO).

This means that you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial products without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer and/or designer.

To read the definitions of all the different Creative Commons Licenses, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.

Songs: You may quote the title to a song, but none of the words to a song.

Book Covers: You can post a picture of a book cover you are recommending or reviewing — it’s fair use.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC Sec. 512: Provides service providers who “respond expeditiously” to notices claiming they are hosting or linking to infringing material a “safe harbor” immunity from copyright liability. Sips are not liable if they do not remove content, but the DMCA gives them a strong incentive to take the content down. In turn, that gives anyone who wants your material removed from the internet a strong incentive to make claims of copyright infringement.

If your ISP sends you a DMCA takedown notice and you believe the material you posted does not infringe copyright, you have the option to counter-notify. An ISP is able to put the material back up after a counter-notification and still keep its immunity from liability. You can even use the DMCa’s sec 512 (f) to sue back if you are harmed by an erroneous takedown demand.

Hope this helped. Next month we address disclosures.

(C) 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer

Why Authors Use Pseudonyms

Have you ever wondered why authors use pseudonyms? There are a wide variety of very good reasons that we’ll explore in this two part series, starting with the first two which affect me.

The Name Is:

Too Common

When your name is too common, it not only gets lost in the crowd, but chances are that there are other authors with the same name. Hence, the reason I chose not to write as Karen Fischer. There is another. I chose to write under my maiden name, Karen Van Den Heuvel, which is a pseudonym since it is no longer my legal name. It is unique, I could find no other author with the same name, and I actually like my given name. But alas, this brings us to the second reason.

Too Long and Difficult to Spell

What I did not consider was the fact that not only is Karen Van Den Heuvel a long name, but it is difficult to pronounce and spell — the reason I chose another name for my website (I had one too many people being taken to someone else’s website by mistake when trying to come to mine). Although you can still find me at www.KarenVanDenHeuvel.com, it redirects to something everyone can spell, www.LoveBooksandBling.com. I recently made the decision, to continue to write my romantic suspense under a new pseudonym. As my readers, I’d love your input, so I’ll share my thoughts at the end of this article.

Gender

Unfortunately, sexist views on gender still exist. There are men who write romance, but in order to sell their books, they need to write under a female pseudonym. The same goes for women who venture into an area typically controlled by men. They need to either write under a pseudonym or use initials to mask their gender.

L.A. Sartor, Christmas, Best-Selling Author, job, goal, burnout, Prince of Granola, The Chunky Method Handbook, Thyme for Writers
L.A. Sartor

A writer I personally know, won the contract to write, Cry of the Dove. ABC studios thought that she shouldn’t be immediately identifiable as a woman writer due to the intense scenes of prison and war. They felt as a woman, she would be dismissed. She used her initials to mask the fact that she was a woman. Fortunately her initials worked well with her last name, L.A. Sartor. If you haven’t read one of her books, I highly recommend you check her out at https://lesliesartor.com. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop.

In closing, I will bring you back to the use of a new pseudonym for my fiction. I need a pseudonym I can:

  • relate to
  • answer to (in public signings, author gatherings, etc.)
  • won’t get lost in the crowd,
  • is easy to spell,
  • short in length, and
  • bold to attract my readers.

For me, this was a struggle, so I brought my predicament to my writers group. Leslie Sartor made the initial suggestion, followed by the buy-in of others, but as my readers, I would love your thoughts on this potential pseudonym: Karen Vann

writing, inspiration, time, events, characters, Thyme for Writers, books, articles, short stories, graduation, Washington, D.C., Georgetown School of Medicine, army, residency, neurosurgery, radiation, Radiological Health Sciences
Hooding of Victoria by Her Grandfather

It is an abbreviated part of my name used by my father’s patients for decades so I can relate to it and will answer to it, and there are no other authors with that name.

What do you think about the name, Karen Vann?

© 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer

SEO: Make Your Content Stand Out

The idea is to increase your ranking. The more hits the better. In addition to using the right key words, make your content stand out. After all, it’s your content that will make or break you.

Be appealing and useful

Ask yourself this question — What value will your viewers receive from viewing your content?

Be Appealing and Useful
Purpose

Content should have a purpose and plan. If it doesn’t, it will be confusing, bland, and redundant. Once you have an understanding of why you are creating your content, it will be far easier for you to write, video tape or photograph.

Value

Content should offer something valuable to its readers/viewer. For example, if you can make someone laugh from a video, it has value. If people learn something new from a blog, it has value. If a tweet breaks news, it has value.
Be unique. If you can provide your niche with a perspective no one else has offered, your content will stand out. It’s different, not the same old, same old.

Answer a Question
SEO, value, quesiton
Answer A Question

Your content needs to answer a question, even if it’s “Why am I here?” If a person is searching the world wide web for information and so happens to land on your article, will they quickly move on or stay to read your article?

Relate

Your readers like to relate to a video or blog post where they can nod their head in agreement. For example, a video that shows what kids might do in the back seat on a long ride might cause the parents to share the content because they can relate.

Variety

Add variety to your content – mix it up! Experiment with videos, photos, and written content. Remember, variety is the spice of life.

Entertain

Consumers enjoy interesting, educational, intriguing content. If your reader is entertained, they will want to see even more content from you and may even want to buy your book or services.

Visual

Catchy, vibrant, intriguing photos will grab your readers’ eye and they’ll be interested in seeing how it relates to the content.

writing, journey, publishing, Thyme for Writers
Inspire
Inspire

You want your content to encourage a reaction, whether it’s a link to additional information, a call to action, an invitation to share or comment. Your creative content should inspire your readers to take some type of action.

Scannable

Most people do not have much of an attention span on the web (unlike paper print) so make sure your content is broken up into small chunks that is easily consumed replete with headings, images, subheadings, numbered lists, and bullet points. It’s easier for your audience to take away something valuable.

Compatible

Your content should view and read well across all types of mobile platforms.

Wedding Planner, decorations, creative, artists, reception, Hidden Bloodlines, bookclub, Stanley Hotel, Black Friday
Karen & Joni
Shareable

You not only want your readers to enjoy your content, but you want them to love it so much they want to share it with their friends. The more people who share, the more people get exposed to your brand.

Regular Publication

You don’t have to publish daily, but when you are consistent with your posts, people have something to look forward to. For example, if you post your blog every Thursday, like I do, your readers will visit your site every Thursday to check out your new content. Marketing research shows that blogging twice a week is best for marketing your book. Again, consistency is important and if you can manage twice that’d be great.

What value do readers receive from your content? Next month we’ll take a look at four more points to increase your hits!

(C) 2019 Karen Van Den Heuvel