My Blogging Tips...

I decided, as I haven't blogged in over a week, that I would share what I have learnt over my years of blogging.

1) Keep blog posts short. 

Tom Hiddleston! Phwarrrr! 

I know for a fact that if I visit a blog and the post is too long, I won't read it.

2) Always have a picture or a photo. 

It breaks up the text and is a bit like 'white space' on the internet. Easier on the eye... Here's an example --->

And Tom Hiddleston is always going to be easy on the eye, let's face it.

3) Always reply to comments. 

It's just common courtesy.  If you want these readers to leave more comments on more blog posts, then reply to them. They might be asking a question. Blogging is another form of social media and requires networking after all.

4) If you feature on a blog, always reply to comments. 

See above (Point 3). The easiest way to monitor comments on a blog you're featuring on is to actually go in and leave a comment (thanking the host for having you, like you'd thank someone for having you if you'd gone to dinner etc) and tick the 'let me know when someone else comments' box.

5) Presentation is key.

A bit like with point 2, on the internet the eye needs some white space. Short paragraphs, and put a gap between them. I think I learnt this from posting fan-fiction on the internet long ago and so it's stuck. But preview your blog post before publishing - make sure you're happy with it. If a blog post looks too busy, point 1 is taken, and it won't be read.

6) Also use hyper-links. 

It's good to share links of whatever you're talking about. It makes it easier for the reader, and the website/blog you're sharing will be grateful too. i.e. I would like to share that I am over on the Romantic Novelists' Association's blog... Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: Plus One is a Lucky Number for Teresa F Morgan Come say hello to me over there, too! I'm talking about how I was published by Harper Impulse.

See, easy!

7) Always try to leave a question at the end to get your readers to comment... 

I hope you find these tips useful! If I've forgotten anything important, then please leave a comment below. Is there things you hate or love seeing on a blog?

8) Always leave a random hotty picture... 

Okay, that's not essential but it does help ;-) And Henry was getting jealous that I'd posted yet another picture of Tom.

I Have To Share This Editing Tip

I have to share this! Possibly you already know it, but if you don't, you'll love it.

Morton Gray, bless her, gave me this link to Serenity Wood's blog post about Editing. It's great! You must read it. (That's my other tip - my tip is below!)

To be honest, in my editing, I've already been highlighting my 'was' words and then trying to remove some. You can't always remove them all, but sometimes you realise you can make stronger text by thinking about it a bit longer than you probably would have done while bashing out your first draft.

Anyway, I've just realised, looking harder at the 'find and replace' function in Word, that you can find words, and replace them in font.  So I have now changed all my black 'was' and 'that' words, to red ones!

e.g. put 'was' in find, and 'was' in replace, then click on 'more' so you have all of your options showing, and click on at the bottom (find) 'font'. Now change the font colour! And replace all! Genius! 

I kept doing the 'find', 'highlight all' but it would remove the high lights once you'd edited a bit. And frustrated the hell out of me! Now I can see all the words I need to search out and destroy.  Will now do the same for 'just', too.

And later, upon editing my second, third or fourth draft and needing remove some words I like to use a bit too often, I will use this function again!

This means my editing isn't finished until all words are the colour black.