down the writer's path

Internet Tools for Writers: Brainstorm a new word

Next time you want to challenge a writer friend, see if they can spell and define the word "susurrus." That's today's offering in the Visual Thesaurus Word of the Day. I signed up for Thinkmap's daily offering not only for the definitions, spelling, and word fun, but also because this tool offers a mindmapping representation of the day's word. But don't stop there. Make use of the "Look up a Word" feature. I'm a big fan and heavy user of mindmapping. Have been ever since Tony Buzan's book came out in the late 70s. I find mindmapping helpful in every aspect of writing and have been known to mindmap an entire novel's structure or a full day's workshop on writing. For example, when I'm working on some aspect of a character I'll look up the word description and see how other things relate. This simple process stimulates further creative thinking and often reveals hidden and wonderfully layered aspects to the work you're doing. Stop all that cyber susurrus and give it a try.

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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK, USING GOOGLE ALERTS, USING GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH,USING THE BLOG READING LEVEL TOOL

Internet Tools for Writers: What's your blog's reading level?

Ever wonder what the reading level is for your blog? Sooner or later someone out in cyberspace comes up with a way to answer all your questions. I ran this Down the Writer's Path's URL through The Blog Readability Test. Not only did I get an answer, I received the code for a rating badge. -- UPDATE 04.09.08: This post made MySpaceNEWS. Please vote. -- -- More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK, USING GOOGLE ALERTS, USING GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH

Internet Tools for Writers: Comb through your computer clutter with Google Desktop Search

Several times lately I've needed to find a bit of information stored away in an old email or lost file. What once sucked up hours of time now happens in a blink. Using Google's Desktop Search tool, I'm able to unearth anything tucked away in some obscure file or buried in a pile inside that nest I call a hard drive. Check out this page for all the features and you'll see how helpful this tool can be. It's a handy tool that sits quietly waiting to help you out at a moment's notice. I don't know about you but anything I can find that will free up time for more writing is a good thing.

--UPDATE 04.09.08: This post made MySpace News. Please vote here.
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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK, USING GOOGLE ALERTS

City Blogging: A new media trend in travel writing

I've resumed posting over at blogHOUSTON, a weblog dedicated to “Houston politics and current events, local media, and thoughts on the city’s cultural and entertainment options.” My niche is primarily arts and entertainment with a strong literary slant, of course. Not being up to date with the local music scene and being that rare individual in today's visual society who does NOT go to films, I generally leave those reports to the others. Thankfully, Houston is a big city with a large appetite for culture and entertainment so there’s plenty of venues and subject matter left. It's nice that all that Houston research for the travel books continues to pave the way for additional writing projects even today. Five years ago I would never have said I'd be part of a group blogging about Houston. I had barely heard mention of writers providing content material for major online corporate sites such as MSN City Guides or Expedia. For me, blogHOUSTON is a great fit. No pressure in posting, and I can share info about places and events that catch my attention.

Kevin Whited, editor and web guru for blogHOUSTON, has done a great job in executing his idea for a blog about the city. He cites the now-defunct LAexaminer.com (run by blogger/journalist/musicians Ken Layne and Matt Welch) and LAobserved.com as inspiration. Of course, Kevin's own highly praised PubliusTx personal blog had to have provided some creative sparks. I ran across his earlier blogs several years ago and we exchanged a few emails prior to the launch of bH. I followed the blog’s early days and appreciated it when he linked to this site and mentioned my work. Eventually he suggested I join them. Trust me, I was flattered. It took a while but eventually it happened. Then life became a bit more complicated and postings everywhere dwindled. But recent events have opened up new writing time and I’ve keyboarded my way back to his blog. Here are the links for last week's posts. Read ‘em and comment if you’ve a mind to.

Surprise! Gas prices are up.
Have a bloomin’ buggy weekend at BUGstravaganza!
Murder by the Book hosts a triple header that ends with Lee Child

The Lavender Grouch Bunny: What's a person to do?

Okay, today I trolled the Internet rather than write--at least so far. And what, you might ask, did I uncover? Well, I I found artist EtherBrian's blog and this little gem. He's free and utterly downloadable.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with him. I'm open to suggestions. Right now I guess I can use him to signal my terribly-terribly grouchy days. Sort of like a skull and cross bones warning label. What say you?

DWP discovers: MyBlogLog

These days I feel like I'm running faster and faster to catch up with the world only to discover I've slipped back a few yards in the process. Somehow I missed the talk about MyBlogLog and hadn't heard about Yahoo's recent acquisition. At the moment I can't even remember who or what tripped me into the MyBlogLog universe; but, after logging in and setting up my own account I spent several hours skimming over a multitude of blogs. MyBlogLog is a social network primarily made up of bloggers.

What's a social network? Well, for the intense meaning, read the entire Wikepedia explanation on social network; but for a quick reference try this:

A social network is a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds. The term was first coined in 1954 by J. A. Barnes (in: Class and Committees in a Norwegian Island Parish, "Human Relations"). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network

I like this short explanation:

The personal or professional set of relationships between individuals. Social networks represent both a collection of ties between people and the strength of those ties. Often used as a measure of social “connectedness”, recognising social networks assists in determining how information moves throughout groups, and how trust can be established and fostered.
www.parliament.vic.gov.au/sarc/E-Democracy/Final_Report/Glossary.htm

MyBlogLog takes the MySpace model and applies it to bloggers. (Look for a future spot on MySpace for authors.) For a writer, this can be a great way to build a community of shared-interest members. I joined Wayne Hurlburt's community when I found his member link. I've been a big fan of his BlogBusinessWorld since my early blogging days so that was an instant connection. I also found Georgeanna over at Writer's Edge, another DWP favorite blogger. But I discovered a number of other blogs well worth reading.

Now check out my MyBlogLog group for DWP. Look to the right and find my DWP cartoon under "Author" and click. That will take you to the member page that shows all three blogs that are featured on MyBlogLog: Down the Writer's Path, Writers Quote Daily, and PowerPOPP. (So far DWP is getting the most hits. I'll have to find out how to get the other two going.) Why not log in, set up your blog or website, and join in the fun. Don't forget to say hello, join my group, and start expanding your social network on the web. Oh, and the "Recent Readers" photo list on the left side is a tie-in to my MyBlogLog membership.
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For more on bloggers and social networking, read Wayne's article Blog introductions: Sharing those you know : Blog Business World.

For a look at Georgeanna's experience, read her short posts on MyBlogLog.

If you're wondering what the "Linked in" button is at the upper right, it's another way, though not blogging specific, to social network on the Internet. Use it to expand your professional network and provide you with contacts and references.

Pack power into your writing life. PowerPOPP!

Okay, I've been working on a new site called PowerPOPP. If you want to pack power into your writing life, practice these four principles: Plan, Organize, Pursue, and Persist. Take a look around. Don't forget to sign up for the mailing list. If you have any ideas, want to contribute a mini-article, or have other suggestions, let me know. Your input is definitely appreciated.

I've added subscription boxes here and on PowerPOPP where you can join my mailing list. (There's some kind of glitch in the text for DWP's mailing list subscription but I'm trying to work that out. I truly wish I had a better handle on all this html and widgets and web whatnot stuff.) 2007 should be a busy year. The hoppers around here are bursting with new ideas, plans, and projects. Of course, that means I'm on an intensive learning curve. Hey, I've even managed to come up with a banner for PowerPOPP's feedburner.

The power and use of blogging continues among the young

Finding young bloggers is easy. The Blogosphere teems with them. Stumbling across those who take their writing seriously is not as common. At 14--when I met him online--Will Hoffacker's treatment of his blog, Youngest of One, as a way to explore his creativity and grow, as he has, into an emerging young writer grabbed my attention. I immediately linked to his blog and mentioned him in a post. On April 18, 2005 I interviewed Will in a series of posts. (Scroll down through April's posts to the 18th to find the beginning entry.)

As a writer I have loved watching how his blogging has evolved from a school project into a daily diary, then into a medium where he realized he had an audience and began to write accordingly. Today I remain impressed and inspired by Will's devotion to his blog and the constant exercise of his creativity through cartooning with The Angry Sugar Bowl, his other blogs and outlets, and now podcasts.

What inspired me to post about Will yet again? Well, I found myself at another blog, Think:lab, and a post in a series that discusses a recent interplay between this former teacher and a 16-year old blogger who had asked to be linked. From that innocent query came a six-part interaction dating from November 21, 2006 and a challenge detailed on Think:lab. The young blogger is Ethan Bodnar.

I confess Will never sought me out. I came across his site due to a link he had established on another writer-blogger's site. I read through his posts and enjoyed them. I remember one where he blogged about a school field trip to Philadelphia. Now, I spent many years in Philly and if you're from Philly you know how many times you had to check out the cracked Liberty Bell and follow in Ben's footsteps down the cobblestones and into the narrow homes of Betsy Ross and others. Forty years later, those early memories welled up as a result of Will's entry about his trip and his reactions to the same places. I laughed; I remembered. A few days later Will blogged about a school function and once more I found myself smiling. Something about Will's writing, his persona, his approach screamed "potential writer" so I put his link on my blog.

Watching his evolution as a blogger and a writer continues to be a lot of fun. My approach has simply been to recognize his potential, to call it out, and to provide encouragement. Aside from that, I love to read Will's blog, so I return regularly.

Bless him, the boy understands reciprocity. Without telling me, he bought my two teen novels. Not only that, he read them. He then graciously mentioned them during his daily posts and--thankfully--enjoyed them and recommended them. He didn't have to do that. At one point during the writing of a story, I asked him some questions and he provided some great tips. He even showed up during an online interview. The interplay between bloggers is one of the unique extras offered by blogosphere. It's so easy to initiate a conversation. Old barriers are blasted away. It's possible to communicate with people that, in the past, might have remained out of reach.

Last week Will's blog, like so many other blogs--mine included--offered thanks. In the midst of his litany I found the following:

I am thankful for my creativity (or, as some would say, my muse), which not only helps me but, as I see it, defines me. --Will Hoffacker, Youngest of One

What struck me? The fact that even now he recognizes and already acknowledges how his creativity defines him. How does your creativity define you?

Plan now: Make a book video and pull up to the Book Trailerpark

In the vein of if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, the book industry has finally embraced film with the introduction of the book video. "Book video?" you say? Yes. Now, in addition to coming up with a "high concept" idea, thinking cinematically in terms of story construction and visual appeal, and plotting to the beat of moviedom, authors might learn they're to "star" in book trailers and videos. Several companies are already on the move, such as Expanded Books:

ExpandedBooks, one of the more recently-founded book video production companies, focuses on author interviews, giving viewers a glimpse into the author’s process and ideas for writing a book.

“To us, a book video is a catch-all term that can be used to describe any one of numerous types of videos,” Skye Van Raalte-Herzog, producer of ExpandedBooks, told The Book Standard. “Specific book videos such as book trailers and viral videos portray an original, vivid and memorable introduction to the book, while book video interviews are more in-depth and offer a portrait of the book and the author. There are other types of book videos as well that portray dramatizations and others that closely resemble ads.” (Kimberly Maul, The Book Standard - 10/12/2006)

This year also saw the beginning of The Book Video Awards Competition held by The Book Standard. The good news is that so far there is an interest in safeguarding the reading experience:

"We try very hard to make VidLits different from movie trailers or television promotions,” Dubelman (Vid Lit, founder) said. “We never show a character unless the author does, because reading is a collaboration between the author’s imagination and the reader’s imagination. We wouldn’t want to take away from the magic of reading.” (Maul, The Book Standard - 10/12/2006)

Learn more from Kimberly Maul's Book Standard article, Book Videos: Where Did they Come From? and of course you'll want to visit the blog Book Trailerpark. So now do I put together a "book vid" for my teen novels...ideas anyone?

Books, blooks and blogs: Do you have a blook in you?

In the old days it was said that everyone had at least one book in them. Not today. Apparently the book has now been replaced by a blook--you just don't know it yet. Blooks are books from blogs. Now we have a new reason to answer the newly-eternal question: Why blog?

Recently Jeffrey Goldfarb reported on the new Blookers, "the world's first literary prize for books based on blogs." The trend has had sufficient growth to generate The Friday Project, a new firm dedicated to combing the Internet in search of blogs with book potential. Want to know more? Check out a blog, of course, that is dedicated to the award: Lulu Blooker Blog.

Meanwhile, authors, reconsider your blogging potential. Instead of blogging about the road to publication and the new-author journey hawking your book through the bookstores, think blook. What can you blog about that might lead to a blook?

And you thought e-books were the most recent writing fad. . . .