Comments on: Does Your Content Suck? 20 Ways To Tell

By: jennifer blanchard

jennifer blanchard — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:29:39 +0000

@David C Thank you so much for your encouraging words. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts!!

By: David C

David C — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:11:49 +0000

I am a regular lurker and your blog is one of the first that i read regulary , i always find something here that inspire me and keep me going, i think you are doing a great job, thank you.
David C

By: jennifer blanchard

jennifer blanchard — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:01:53 +0000

@Laura Lee Bloor Good. I’m glad to hear you’re ready to get back into it. I’ve missed reading your posts! I think I’m where you were at a few weeks ago right now—needing a serious break. I’m actually taking one, too. From now ’til the end of August, I am officially “off” from the blog. I’m still running my weekly newsletter and Twitter feed, of course, but no blogging. I have lots of fab guest bloggers filling in for me while I’m out. But even though I’m on a “break,” I’m doing a lot of planning, rethinking and working on some other projects that I’ve neglected over the last few months.

By: Laura Lee Bloor

Laura Lee Bloor — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:46:36 +0000

Thanks for this Jennifer. Yep, I’m falling short, which I knew. But blogging, just like anything else has learning curves and pitfalls. As you know, I needed a big, long break from blogging for a bit. I’m glad I did that. I’m ready to get back to it now. Thanks for all your help and support in keeping me writing!

By: Andrew Toynbee

Andrew Toynbee — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:46:46 +0000

Jennifer B. – Thanks for the tip – I managed to retrieve posts from the past month that were of particular interest (i’ve been off ill and needed to catch up a bit).

AJ Best…I’ve discovered a useful cure for writer’s block – Google Street Maps! For the full story, visit my blog, but here’s the gist of it;

I needed to get a character uncomfortably close to her (feared) Step father so she would have to drive past his street where the danger of running into him was a real risk.
I worked out , using the satellite view, that since she would want to live as far away from him as possible (within financial reason) when she’d run away from home, she’d take up residence on the opposite side of the city. So, with her town being on the North-West side of the city, his would logicaly be located on the South-East. I found a nice little town close to the city that I decided would be suitable.

Enter Google maps…and that marvellous tool for writers – the Street view!

So, I drove (virtually) around the streets of the Step-Father’s town, looking for the ideal site for an emergency situation that Sarah could attend. The residential areas were nice, but dull for all practical purposes. My (virtual) driving uncovered a small university, a venue that I’d had in my early notes but hadn’t (yet) worked into the First Draft. Right beside the University was a very, very tall tower that looked like it dated back to the 1960′s. Hmm…I thought. What if some Students from the nearby University had decided to spend their nights strapped to the top of the tower? What if one of the students had overdosed/fitted/gone comatose and needed the emergency services to get them down (it’s a very tall tower) and my character was called in to assist?

I could see that the tower was opposite a well-known Brand factory, where, I suddenly thought, her Step-Father would work. Never mind having her drive near his house (boring!). Have him in the crowd whilst she’s busy rescuing students. If she saw him, he’d be a major distraction and a conflict between her fear and her professionalism. If he saw her, he’d try to control her actions and create mental (and physical?) conflict yet again.
Without Google Street Maps I’d never have been able to create this scene as I’d never have known about the dramatic tower, nor its proximity to a university and the well-known factory.

By: jblan

jblan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:56:19 +0000

@Jeff Brunson I will definitely think about doing that. What would you like to hear about specifically?

By: Jeff Brunson

Jeff Brunson — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:39:57 +0000

Jennifer, write to us (at some point) about your journey in these 2-3 weeks. I do believe people would love to read about that. Thanks for taking it so seriously.

By: Rabia Gale » Blog Archive » happy blogoversary to me

Rabia Gale » Blog Archive » happy blogoversary to me — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:26:57 +0000

[...] (I’m a writer. Words matter more). This provocative post on Copyblogger that I discovered via Procrastinating Writers has gotten me thinking about what I put on here. You can go read it now. I’ll wait for [...]

By: AJ Best

AJ Best — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 07:17:35 +0000

I want to hear more about how to get out of a brain fart. You know – the deathly writer’s block. I seem to get in a giant rut, and take it out on my writing and I want to stop doing that.

You can maybe post things about writing groups, and exercises they can do. Or exercises that you can do to get your mind flowing.

Just some thoughts!

By: jennifer blanchard

jennifer blanchard — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:01:35 +0000

@Missives From Suburbia You know, it’s interesting that you point that out. I guess when I read other blogs (esp. those considered to be “top blogs”) I just assume that they have a lot of traffic. But I also recently discovered that some of the blogs I love and read and look up to don’t have nearly the subscribers I have. So you’re right–I think it’s most important to know that people are reading than it is to have comments.

@Fikriyyah Thank you for the amazing compliment! I’m so happy to hear that this blog has helped you move past your procrastination. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s that my advice all along has been so helpful that people have overcome their procrastination issues and moved on, so they no longer really need advice like this.

You have given me a lot of things to think about, so thank you!