Blogging 101

Posted on 03/03/2015 by Kim A Howard

This is me!

If you have read any of my previous posts you will know that I am not an experienced blogger. Nor am I confident in my ability to maintain a steady flow of reasonable content without (a) losing interest — mine and my followers, and (b) finding myself spending so much time on this and other social media that my writing and home life get pushed to one side. Now add to that list of real and imagined shortcomings one hard fact – I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!

The timing of an invitation from WordPress to join Blogging 101 couldn’t have come at a better time. As far as I can see it is formed of a week of supported challenges which will teach me many of the basics of blogging whilst also giving some suggestions for content – so here I am on Day 1. It’s actually Day 2, but I was busy yesterday so I’m only just getting round to taking up the challenge, which was to write a “who am I and why am I here” blog. That sounded very deep and philosophical and a bit beyond my capabilities. Fortunately, further down the email, there were some suggestions as to the sort of thing we might include.

1. Why are you blogging publicly rather than keeping a personal journal?

Well, that’s easy – if I did it privately no-one would know when I wimped out and abandoned the project. I’m studying for an MA in Writing for Children with the hope that I will, one day, become a published author. We have been told by tutors, agents, editors and publishers that a strong on-line presence is an important tool in promoting our books and ourselves as a brand, so I’m starting early.

2. What topics do you think you’ll write about?

Anything and everything that takes my fancy, but probably with a bias towards reading and writing – and possibly pets, food, and people who have been to the moon.

3. Who would you love to connect with via your blog?

People who are interested in similar things and can introduce me to books and ideas I’m not familiar with. People who will comment on what I have to say. Someone who will fall in love with my writing style and long to publish my writing.

4. If you blog successfully throughout the year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

A record that family, friends and future fans can look back at – a public memoir, if you like. A habit of recording thoughts and events and an established daily writing routine. Maybe some new friends.

I think I’ve finished my first assignment on Blogging 101. Time to go and find today’s assignment – and if there’s time before I go to work and then to college – to do some of my own writing.

Moon Magic – Send Help!

Posted on 01/03/2015 by Kim A Howard

The moon plays a big part in the life of our household. Whenever we see it, we greet it like an old friend. We have a small telescope in the kitchen so we can take a good look at it on clear nights.

We have met men who stood on the moon’s surface and people who worked to help get them there and bring them home. We have met artists who recorded the events and writers who interviewed the participants. We have photographs and ephemera, artefacts and autographs, books and DVDs. You might say our house has been touched by moon madness.

I am now at that stage of my MA Writing for Children where we have to consider our dissertation. I have a story in mind about a young girl and a magical transformation by (you’ve guessed it!) moonlight. To accompany the story I need to write a rationale and include a bibliography of children’s stories on a similar theme. I know there are hundreds of children’s stories where the moon has magical qualities, but at the moment I am struggling to think of any titles, apart from The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge.

If you have a favourite children’s story where the moon has magical properties or influences, can you let me know? My story will be for a ‘middle grade’ audience, but I’m interested in anything from picture books through to YA. Please add your suggestions in the comments, or send me a Tweet. In the meantime, I’m off to search the library catalogue.

What Happened to the WiFi?

Posted on 27/02/2015 by Kim A Howard

Today I am at a conference for work. My table is beautifully set with an ‘Elmer’ cloth, covered in an array of freebies for delegates to take with them. My display boards have been updated to include information relative to this audience. The laptop is open, ready for me to signpost them to a host of different sites where they can access free information and resources.

Wait a minute – what’s happened to the WiFi? Great signal, but local connection only. We have no internet. Aaaaarrrghh!!!!

I don’t know the web addresses I need to share with all these lovely people, they are in my favourites – not my ordinary internet favourites, but the favourites on my ‘work’ system that I can only access through the internet. A quick scrabble through my diary (yes, I do still use a paper version sometimes), notes and leaflets gets me a short list of places I can ask people to write down and look at when they get home. I’m feeling very frustrated and unprofessional. How did we do exhibitions and conferences in the old days, before the internet? I must remember to produce a paper back-up version to bring out with me, even if it is only screen shots in a display book.

Technology has had such a huge effect on the way we live our lives. I know other people have noticed this – I’ve seen other people’s blogs, posts and tweets about it and thought ‘yes, very interesting’. It’s only when your own technology lets you down that you start to scream.

In a recent blog John Scalzi talked about the reasons he still has a landline at home. I’m with him 100% – I love having a telephone line that is not dependent on electricity, batteries, airwaves or my technological skills to enable me to have a conversation with people. I like having a big chunky handset I can tuck under one ear whilst I make notes during a conversation.

We have a lovely old bakelite telephone in our front room. I really love seeing young children trying to figure out how to make a call using the old dial. They usually poke through the holes, expecting to find buttons. When they realise they need to turn the dial, they struggle against the weight of the mechanism, their fingers slipping and failing to complete the circuit. They marvel at the weight of the handset and don’t understand that they have to stay next to the telephone if they want to talk – you can’t carry it any further than the length of the cable. I suppose any technology that isn’t familiar is difficult to learn at first.

I’m going to hit the ‘publish’ button now. Who knows when this will be visible to the world. Think I’ll take a walk and try to find a WiFi signal.

Blogging with a Butterfly Brain

Posted on 22/02/2015 by Kim A Howard

I was never very good at keeping a journal. As a child I would often ask for a shiny new diary for Christmas and at New Year I would resolve to write in it every day. I thought that, when I was an old lady, I’d be able to look back and marvel at all the wonderful things that happened to me. My resolutions seldom survived into February. Now, as a middle-aged lady, I have a stack of diaries with dates and appointments and few weeks with comments and observations. Take my word for it, there is little of wonder or marvel to be found in those pages.

So, given my history, why am I writing a blog? Believe me – I’m asking the same question. It’s partly because the tutors on our course said it was good to have an on-line presence, but it is more to use as a training tool. I’m a bit of a butterfly brain – I struggle to focus on one thing at a time – so I thought this would give me some discipline. If I can flex my writing muscles on a blog and write something for publication every few days, maybe it will be easier to focus on my work(s) in progress. That’s the plan, but something tells me it may end up as yet another means of procrastination.

Now – what on earth am I meant to write about. Suggestions on a postcard, please. I’m off to check out my Twitter feed!

Playing with the Grown-Ups

Posted on 17/02/2015 by Kim A Howard

I had never been in a mixed critique group with people writing for both adults and children until this month. This was first posted on the Litmus 2015 blog page – you can click through to see the original posting. Why not browse the rest of the blog whilst you are there?

Litmus 2015

Last week we were divided into groups to workshop some pieces of creative writing. Great! For me, this has been one of the best parts of the Writing for Children course. Receiving support, comments, criticism and suggestions from other people, who are as excited about stories for children as I am, is so helpful. The Publishing Project module, however, mixes children’s writers with Critical & Creative Writers – the grown-ups! I was apprehensive, to say the least.

I needn’t have worried. Of the three C&C writers in our group, one was dramatising a fairy tale and one was writing about dragons. Only one person was writing straight adult literature and her language was so atmospheric it felt almost like another world to me. It made me realise that the thing I love most about stories – any stories – is their ability to whisk you away to another time and place…

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About me as a writer – in eight questions

Posted on 14/02/2015 by Kim A Howard

As part of the MA in Writing for Children I am undertaking at the University of Winchester we are working with the MA Critical & Creative Writing students to produce an anthology of our work. The book will be called Litmus 2015 and is due for publication in May 2015. We are trying very hard to be professional in promoting ourselves as writers and have set up a blog which will, we hope, stir up some interest in our project. As part of this we have all been presented with some questions about our writing. I thought you might like to see what I had to say. Just click on the link – it with take you to the Litmus 2015 blog (and saves me typing it out again).

Kim A Howard.

Ghlaghghee, 2003 – 2015

Posted on 11/02/2015 by Kim A Howard

Whatever

Glaghghee came to us in May of 2003 when my then next-door neighbor Jerry knocked on my door, said, “here’s the kitten your wife said she wanted,” thrust a small, furry thing into my hands, and then walked off. I looked at the small puff of fur, literally no larger than my hand, said “okay” to myself and then took it upstairs with me.

Then I called my wife, who was at work, and the conversation went like this:

Me: You didn’t tell me you ordered a cat.

Krissy: I ordered a what?

Me: A cat.

Krissy: I didn’t order a cat.

Me: Jerry just came over with a kitten that he said you wanted. He mentioned you specifically.

Krissy: Oh, lord. I was talking to him the other day and he said that his cat had had kittens and that he thought that one of them was an albino…

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Once Upon a Time

Posted on 10/02/2015 by Kim A Howard

… I thought I would try blogging. There was no real reason why I should, it just seemed like the thing to do. My heart wasn’t in it and I produced the grand total of ONE blog post. Now I am working through my MA, it seemed appropriate to have another go. To mark this momentous occasion I thought I would include the text of my original first blog. It has nothing to do with writing, but it is a true tale that gives me happy memories.

The 32 Crew in the Garden

Today we decided to spend a bit of time working in the garden. None of us are keen gardeners – we subscribe to the ‘let nature find it’s own way’ school – but we have a free-standing pond and a big wooden planter arriving next week, so we needed to do some tidying up. This included breaking up an old planter and spreading the tired compost over the garden. Nothing very exciting about any of that, except we had some unexpected company.

I was bent over the planter, scooping the old soil into a bucket, when I felt something in the gap between the top of my jeans and the bottom of my t-shirt. I squawked and jumped and disturbed a robin who had perched on my behind to watch the proceedings. It was a juvenile who spent the next couple of hours supervising our work, darting down to collect the odd worm or wood louse, then bouncing back to the fence to sing out encouragement.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, when I lifted a piece of tarpaulin to put in the rubbish I noticed a movement and spotted three frogs – one adult, one youth and one babe. We don’t have a pond yet, but the wildlife seems to be gathering in preparation.

We stopped work just before the heavens opened and we’re both pretty sore from our exertions, but neither of us could stop grinning.