Wading Through the "Blog"

 A Novel Creation launched the first week of January 2013.

I had no idea what I was doing. I had never blogged.

I knew I wanted to write. I had just finished writing Breathing on Her Own and was anxiously waiting to hear from my publisher about what was expected of me next. I knew the book would go through an editing process and once released, I would be expected to help market the book.

My publisher had asked me about my platform. I was clueless. I did some research on building a platform. The notion of offering an ongoing blog kept popping up. I read a few author blogs and decided blogging was a great way to learn the craft and share what I was learning with other new writers. Since that first week in January 2013, I have posted every Wednesday without fail. Oh sure, I’ve had a few guests posts along the way. That’s part of the fun.

I’ve met some interesting people through the blog and I’m happy to say I’ve had the opportunity to help launch a few new authors through this “platform.”

For today’s post, I took a look at the most popular posts on A Novel Creation. I’ve included live links (click on the red text) to the top six most popular posts. Reading them over tells me what my readers want and need are strong “how-to” writing tips. Here they are:

#6 What's in Your Basket This post became live on September 24, 2014 and quickly launched to the top for the month.  The post explores the self-doubt we sometimes experience as writers. We can only do what we can do. But we must do our best with what we have.

#5 Screenwriting for Novelists This guest post by Michelle Levigne was a huge success when it went live on December 3, 2014. The post is a wonderful reminder that we need to “show” not “tell” what our characters are feeling.

#4 Five Posts I Wish I Had Written This popular post highlights five other blogs by writers, agents and publishers. It is a virtual handbook on writing scenes, point of view, backstory, editing, and dialogue.

#3 Getting Those Crazy Ducks in a Row This post explores the notion of developing a business plan for your writing. It’s popularity led to another guest post and a workshop. I am currently working on a book by the same title. The post still gets views and has been one of the big successes since it came out April 16, 2014.

#2"Close" Third Person Point of View  This post remains a go-to piece for new writers. It looks at the position of writing from the POV of your character that puts the reader in the book. The post came out August 21, 2013 and is still getting hits on a regular basis.

#1 Start Writing Clearly, the single most popular post of A Novel Creation still available, this post offers suggestions about how to set up a novel and gives step-by-step ideas to get started writing. Posted on January 8, 2014, the post remains active today.

However, the most popular post I ever wrote was on January 30, 2013. It featured the prologue to my second book. I’ve submitted the book for possible publication so I deleted the post for now. Say a little prayer that it will soon be available in print!

So What was your favorite post?

As for platform? I’ve decided that's the topic for next week’s blog. See you then!