Meet My Ebook Team, Learn About Publishing, and Vote on My Ebook Cover!

Votes

As many of you know, I’m in the process of trying to publish an ebook.

Writing a book is one small component of the publishing process, especially if you’re going to self-publish, which I am going to do with my first ebook, Terri’s Tales (tentative title).

During this process, there are a ton of decisions to be made, many steps that have to be followed, and numerous people to thank along the way. As it turns out, I need a whole team to publish my ebook, even though I am choosing to self-publish it.

I want you to meet my team, and do me one more little favour: vote on the cover I should use.

Before I introduce you to my team, the first person I need to thank is YOU.  Read More

Learn To Be A Better Tweeter (and grow your followers!)

Twitter is one of the most widely used social media networks, and I’m learning to be a better, more frequent Tweeter, thanks to Joanna Penn, who encouraged me to use SocialOomph, and Max Christian Hansen, who put together an ebook that’s super-helpful.
I more than doubled my followers in less than two weeks using Max’s guide, and even tried used the free version of SocialOomph to schedule some my tweets. (The free version runs on a two-week trial period.) I didn’t particularly like scheduling my tweets, but I thought I’d try it. I discovered that I much prefer tweeting on my own, although I can see some benefit to scheduling SOME tweets.

I have also used Ashley Faulkes’ advice, which is to improve the quality of your tweets, and I used  ManageFlitter to help “unfollow” people who have no interest in following you back. These strategies should be used in conjunction with Max’s guide.

The results: Read More

My Online Journey

easelly_visual

 

When I first got a laptop in January 2013, I never imagined that I would be where I am today, doing the things I am doing.

The online community may reach worldwide, but the internet brings us closer. The technological advances that have been made while I was raising my son, going to school, and teaching are simply astounding. They boggle my mind.

In addition to trying to put together an ebook of short stories, I started writing a book about my life. I have a timeline created, and a few chapters written. My short stories are currently being re-worked, as I needed to make some improvements (according to the people I chose to be my “beta readers”).

In my quest for learning how to do new things, I’ve also been trying to learn how to create infographics.

As you can see from my personal “infographic”, I’ve met a lot of great people online.

The famous Carol Tice is one of the people I have met. I have been reading her blog, Make A Living Writing, for many months. A few weeks ago, she was asking for guest posts. She is one of the many bloggers who pay for guest posts, too, so I was excited to see this – it was a great opportunity for me! Normally she only invites people who have taken Jon Morrow’s class OR are members of her “Freelance Writers Den.” Since I fall into neither of these groups, I never thought that I’d have the opportunity to guest post for her. However, when she decided to “break her own rule” and seek guest posts from (almost) “anyone,” I decided to give it a shot.

I thought I had a pretty good chance at being accepted since I have actually crossed paths with her on a few occasions. I also comment on her blog on occasion (when I have something noteworthy to say). I’ve entered two of my posts into her linky contests, too. (The last one was during this one, in early September. I placed 23rd out of 46 entries. Since the post I entered had nothing to do with freelancing, I’m surprised I was not last!)

Anyway, when I submitted an email to Carol Tice with my idea for a guest post, it was rejected. I wasn’t very surprised; it was not the greatest of ideas. (I can see that now!) Not letting this rejection get me down, I decided to persevere. I then spent an evening thinking of three more ideas – better ones! – to pitch to her. I was thrilled when she accepted one of them. Oddly enough, it was not the one that I thought she would select.

However, I wrote the post she requested, but not well enough to meet her standards. I had to re-write the opening paragraph, and alter things a bit. I wanted it to be perfect. When I thought it was, I sent my re-write to her. A week later, I was told that she sent it to her editor. YAY!

I have guest posted on other sites before (look at my Services page) but never for pay! Since I will be paid upon publication, I haven’t made any money yet…but I’m told that it will happen within the next few months. (She schedules her posts months ahead of time.)

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to being “featured” on her site! I’ll be sure to keep you informed of my post’s publication date, too.

To wrap things up for now, let me say that I love learning. There are so many other things that I have learned during my time online. Some of them are outlined in my post “21 Things I Learned From My 21 Days In The Scavenger Hunt”. I am adding to my list weekly, and am loving my journey.

But, enough about me…

I want to know more about YOU.

What are some of YOUR online accomplishments? Share in the comments, please!

True Tales Tuesday: My Best Friend

Terri

THIS IS A ‘TRUE TALES TUESDAYS’ POST

A Short Story, Written by Lorraine Reguly, in 1998.

Intended audience: preteens and teenagers

Title: My Best Friend

Snoopy was her name, and I loved her immensely. She was a tiny, grey dog; part Chihuahua, part Poodle, and part mutt. She belonged to my grandparents, who lived next door, but I always thought of her as my dog, because I was the one who took care of her, especially when my grandparents went on vacation.

Snoopy and I were best friends. We were almost the same age; in human years, she was one year older than me. I fed Snoopy, played with her, made her do tricks, took her for walks, and even changed her dirty, stinky newspapers that she used for a toilet. (I didn’t particularly enjoy doing this, but I wanted to show everyone how grown-up and responsible I could be. So I did it almost everyday, holding my breath until the acrid smell was safely contained in a garbage bag.) It was during these times that I felt special; loved, wanted and needed. The bond between us grew stronger until she loved me as much as I loved her. She was always there for me, and always would be. Or so I thought. Read More

Relay for Life 2013

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I thought I’d try my hand at a slideshow. (You can watch it or click to flip from one slide to the next…)

I had a lot of pictures of Baby Sam, now 1.5 years old, from the Relay For Life, a cancer research and awareness event that was held in June 2013. I made a video of her, too. You might have missed it, so I included it below. It’s inspiring, and Sam even says “Good Girl” (her version of it) in it, repeating me, as she was walking her lap! She’s so awesome; you gotta love this little trooper! But now she’s not really a baby anymore… *weeping*…  She’s now “Sam” or “Sammi” and is beginning to learn how to talk. She says “tuck” for truck, “dink” for drink, and “Bub” for Bubble Guppies. She’s adorable! 🙂 Read More