And the Liebster goes to...

I don't usually post on Thursdays, but today is an exception because I've just received my first blog award! The Liebster is mine!Yeah, the crowd goes wild.

 

 

I was nominated by Laurie Meyers for "doing so well managing social media". If Laurie says it, it must be true. Of course, I owe all my new found knowledge to the wonderful Robert Lee Brewer for all his sage advice during April's Platform Challenge.

 

So what is a Liebster? This is an award given to small blogs for being generally awesome at something. Yep, pretty vague. I tried to search for how the whole thing got started, but apparently even Google doesn't know. Here's what we do know. "Liebster" is German meaning favorite or dearest, and it's used to showcase up and coming bloggers.

 

Here are the Liebster rules:

* Thank the person who nominated you by linking back to them. (See Laurie's link above)

* Nominate up to five blogs with less than 200 followers.

* Let the nominees know they rock by leaving a comment on one of their blog posts.

* Add the Liebster image below so all your readers can know how awesome you are.

 

So here are my Liebster nominees. All these folks have one thing in common. They all rocked to the end in Robert's April Platform Challenge. So congrats to the following blogs for having the perseverance to fight to the finish:

 

Susan P Dumpy Grace Writes a Novel 

Michelle Reynoso My Writing Life

Lynn Daue Rhymes with Tao

Melanie Cole The Writing Life of Melanie Cole

Alvarado Frazier Alvarado Frazier

Now go check them out!

What I learned from the #MNINB Platform Challenge

So today is the last day of Robert Lee Brewer's April Platform Challenge. If you haven't heard of it, every day Robert posted a challenge action item to help us writerly folks improve our platforms. While there have been days I fantasized about killing Brewer in his sleep, the challenge has been extremely helpful. For those of you playing along at home, here are my top five take-aways from the month.

I stole/borrowed this from Robert's website

1. Social Media will eat you alive...
 If you let it. Between blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Goodreads, Pinterest, etc. you could spend all day updating posts, pinning articles and tweeting. You've got to set limits. Everyone will be different. For me, I check all my social media in the morning and then again at lunch. If I've been good (i.e. I wrote something that wasn't garbage) I check it again in the evening. Without these rules I would spend all day reading blogs, updating Twitter and stalking the gossip pages to see if Jessica Simpson has had that baby yet.

2. Social Media is hard.
 If you want a quality product (blog post, twitter following, Pinterest board) you have to be willing to put in the time. No one wants to read a blog about all the places you find cat hair every morning. Well, someone might, but it won't be me. If you want people to read your stuff, it needs to be interesting, informative, and/or entertaining. If it's all three you get a gold star for the day.

3. Social Media is not that hard.
 Sure, you have to do the leg work, but there are a million people willing to help you. Do you need guest bloggers to help cover a two-week visit from your in-laws? There are tons of people willing to write guest posts and who might also send you copious amounts of liquor. Are you looking for interesting people to interview? Just ask those interesting people. You'll be surprise by how many will say yes and be honored that you asked. Do you need a flying unicorn? OK, you could be out of luck on that one.

4. There is no magic wand.
 Having a successful social media platform is a combination of hard work, a bit of luck, and that special sauce that makes you uniquely you. While there are plenty of things you can do to improve your platform, you will not find an easy button that instantly turns all your Tweets to solid gold and causes followers to fall from the sky like manna.

5. There is a magic wand.
 Well, no, not really. But if there was, it wouldn't shoot sparkly fairy dust out the end. Instead it would spout words of wisdom from the rest of the writing community. This place is filled to the brim with crazy geniuses. So if you don't know something, just ask. Because no matter how awesome you are at blogging, or twitter, or whatever, there is someone else who has been awesome for longer, and that person has something to teach you.

So there you have it. Five wonderful lessons and a month worth of insight. If you aren't familiar with Robert Lee Brewer, I would encourage you to go check out his website right now. My Name Is Not Bob is chock full of sage advice and savvy wisdom.

Managing Social Media

If you haven't heard about the My Name is Not Bob April platform challenge yet, please stop right now and go check it out. Robert Lee Brewer is dishing out sage advice on a daily basis to help us writerly folks improve and grow our platforms.  In a previous post, I mentioned my dismay with my blog's poor showing on a recent Google search. I retract any previous grumblings.

Not Bob is a genius and my cup now overfloweth. So now I have a new problem. How do I keep up with the social media of it all and still be a productive writer? We all know how addictive these sites can be. By the time I check Twitter, FB, post to my blog, and check out my favorite blogs/websites half the day is gone. Plus, with new content going up all the time, it's hard not to double or triple check some of these sites.

Now add in to that being courteous to my fellow writers. Now that I am getting new followers daily, lots of blog comments and RTs I need to thank folks. And not just in a hey-thanks kind of way, but in a meaningful way that opens a dialogue for growth.

I think I need to set up a schedule. And not just a vague 'in the morning' schedule, but a real honest stick to it schedule. I don't have one and it shows in my productivity this last week. So here's where you come in. What schedule do you use to keep from spending all day on the internet? How do you keep things running and still find time to write (and shower, cook, clean, watch kids and all the other stuff we have to do)? Let me know. Please!