blogging

Writers wondering what goes on in the minds of other writers

beccakinla authors, how to write, writer, writing, writing process Tags: , , , , , , , , , 14 Comments

A couple weeks back, Kristen M. Ploetz posted several questions she wished she could have answered by other writers. The post has generated a bit of buzz, with replies by two bloggers I admire, Nina Badzin and Rivki Silver (which is where I first heard of it).

(And then Rivki made me cry happy tears by saying she admired my work. I love her site, so the feeling is mutual.)

I found both the original post and the follow-ups fascinating. A lot of what all three bloggers had to say was about self-identification as a writer. At what point does a person who writes become a “writer?” Another theme was how the writer — whose job is by nature often solitary — interacts with their social milieu, both in their personal lives and in their professional ones.

Here are the original questions in bold. I’ll add my responses below each of them.

1. Do you share your work with your partner or spouse? Does it matter if it’s been published yet? Continue reading →

When the trolls try to drag those you love under the bridge.

beccakinla blogger, blogging, blogs, family, tznius, tzniut Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment
knight fights troll

“Take that, you nasty troll! Maybe you’ll think twice before saying mean things about my sister again!”

I hate trolls.

Not the fictional kind. The internet kind. I’ve blogged about it before.

But now, my sister has published her first piece on Tablet. And the very first comment she got was from a troll. A mean, nasty one who called her names.

If getting mean-spirited comments from random strangers is bad, having your sister get them is worse. I’m irate! I’m disgusted.

I have commented.

Fair readers: go read my sister’s essay — and say something nice in the comments. (Even if it means you have to learn how to use Discus.)

K?

Fans, friends, and trolls–publishing my first piece on Tablet

beccakinla authors, magazines, online, publishing, respect, review, reviews, secular, words, writer, writing, writing process Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 11 Comments

So, Tablet published a piece of mine this week. It’s been a crazy experience.

In the first place, writing the piece was a bit out of my comfort zone. While I usually write fiction, this is a personal essay. In brief, the story is about confronting my inner teenager as I’m approaching 40 and relates an episode where I thought a younger man was checking me out in a cafe.

Troll

Trolls don’t only live under bridges.

The subject matter was outside the editorial policies of the chareidi magazines that comprise my usual stomping grounds, so I had to find an alternative publisher. Afraid I might embarrass my husband, I almost decided not to publish it at all, but he assured me that he didn’t mind. And when I shared an early draft with writing friends, the strongly positive reaction encouraged me further.

Tablet accepted my query, then the completed essay. They had it up in a matter of days. Whoa. It didn’t leave me much time to prepare myself. And, boy, did I have to prepare myself.

You see, there’s a lot of differences between a Jewish, but broad-spectrum, online magazine like Tablet and print magazines in the chareidi world. The biggest difference is the comments section.

In a print magazine, there is no comments section. Continue reading →

The Writing for Pay-Writing for Blog Balance

beccakinla advice, authors, blogger, blogging, blogs, writer, writing, writing process Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Lately, I’ve been neglecting my blog. I’m not being delinquent; I’m just being practical. Thank G-d, I’ve been doing a lot of writing in the last couple weeks, writing that is both fun and paying (my favorite combination). G-d willing, I’ll be publishing a short 5-part serial in Binyan in the next few weeks, as well as a few other exciting projects that have been time-consuming.

It’s true that blogging is not independent of my work–I maintain my site largely to create an audience for my writing, promote it when published, and help others overcome some of the professional hurdles I’ve come across (sometimes stumbling along the way). However, writing a decent post that I don’t mind having my name attached to takes time. Lately, for good reasons, I’ve felt my time has to be spent elsewhere. But posting regularly is key to maintaining a good blog.

How do the readers out there strike the right balance between blogging and other professional activities?

Try this wacky avatar hack!

beccakinla advice, art, art project, authors, blogger, blogging, blogs Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

As part of a course I’m taking through Carol Tice’s amazing website Make a Living Writing, I received the following homework assignment: put an avatar up on Gravatar to pop up whenever I comment on blogs, etc. Now, I could use a photo, but that would just be no fun, so I decided to create my own Gravatar.

avatar

Me, in black and white and nothing on my head to cover my hair. For shame!

I started off by googling “free avatar tools” and discovered a lot of nifty links to different programs to help you make your avatar. The best site I found was Digibody. The results of a picture created with their Avatar-Maker tools look much nicer and more professional than those created with other programs, I found.

However, that left me with a small problem. Or rather three:

  1. The pic was black and white. I thought color might be more eye-catching and engaging.
  2. I don’t leave my house without a hat or headscarf on my head. There was no way to put a hat or headscarf on the picture using Digibody’s tools.
  3. I don’t leave my bed without my glasses. (2 a.m. trips to the bathroom don’t count.) No one would recognize me without some glasses on my face.

Here’s what I did:

becca avatar with color

Thanks to Microsoft Paint, I added my headscarf, glasses, and a touch of color.

  1. I saved the image to as a jpeg onto my computer.
  2. Then I pulled it up in Microsoft Paint (how I wish I had Adobe InDesign or something fancier, but alas, no) and started sprucing up my avatar.

This is my DIY avatar. It’s recognizably me.

What do you think of the end product? I’d love some reviews in the comments.

Abandoned but not forgotten: My startling discovery about the websites of my past

beccakinla authors, blogger, blogging, blogs, marketing, success, wordpress, writer, writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
surprised man

“No, really?”

This past weekend, I visited a couple of websites/blogs that I designed in the past but that I had stopped maintaining because they simply zapped too much of my time. One is about running “mommy camp” for your family over the summer, the other is about finding cheap, “kosher” fun around Southern California for families and date nights. I was curious to know how they are doing, because ever since the local day schools went on Chanukah vacation last week, I’d been receiving emails and phone calls for activity recommendations. I wondered how many people had headed to my website instead of to the phone.

Lo and behold! The sites are actually doing quite well. Continue reading →