Happy First Birthday WANA 1011

WANA - We Are Not Alone

WANA Blogging Class of October 2011 celebrates year one!

 

In October and November 2011 I took Kristen Lamb's Blogging for Author Brand class.

Kristen is the best selling author of  We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media 

and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer .  

She's not only knowledgeable about social media, search engine optimization, effective topics to blog about, and managing our time so we can focus on writing our books, but she's funny as heck.    

 I learned to hang loose, be my zany self, and have fun with blogging. 

Graphic designed by Rachel Funk Heller

My blog gets more traffic since I took this class, but that's not all. I also made new and long-lasting friendships. Our class has stayed in touch and morphed into a team that shares knowledge on writing, marketing, technical problems, and any other concerns we have. 

When one of us is going through a rough patch, we turn into a pep squad and offer our support.     

WANA Tribe is a new social media site for creatives of all types. It's similar to FaceBook. 

Join WANA Tribe, 

new social media site for 

writers, artists, any creatives.

Kristen's online blogging class is now offered on the WANA International site, 

along with a host of other classes you might be interested in. 

Kristen Lamb recently started WANA Commons on Flickr 

a photo reservoir for WANAs to share images for free use by other WANAs 

without worrying about copyright infringement. 

To join, just sign up and agree to the terms.

To join in the conversation on Twitter, use the hashtag #MyWANA

WANA Party at Jenny Hansen's house the day after the RWA Conference in Anaheim, California.
 Karen McFarland, Jenny Hansen, Ingrid Schaffenburg, Lynn Kelley,
Kate Wood, Tameri Etherton, Kristin Lamb, Debri Kristi

 WANA Mama Kristin Lamb - July 2012

Despite a gash in her head and a mild concussion,
Kristin managed to speak at the Romance Writers of America conference,
then socialize with WANA peeps at Jenny Hansen's.

Steve and Jenny Hansen - Awesome Host & Hostess
Baby girl had been sick all week. They were sleep deprived, but still threw
an amazing party with a spread of delicious gluten free food. 

WANA peeps took turns in the bounce house!

Follow Kristen Lamb's Blog here.

Cheers to all my blogging buddies. If you'd like to join WANA, we'll welcome you with open arms!

"Coming together is a beginning. 

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success."

~ Henry Ford

Do you prefer to go at it alone, or do you like working with a team of supportive peeps? 

Are you part of any online communities?

Blogoversary - First Post Revisited - A Call For Help!

One year ago I tried my hand at blogging.

I sent out a call for tips on blogging etiquette.

Setting up my blog was a killer. I couldn't figure out why the text wouldn't show up. Turned out I had white font on a white background! I've learned tons about blogging since then and still have much to learn. 

Lots of good advice poured in from the bloggiverse, as Wen Baragrey calls it. I've made some life-long friends online. When I first started out, I decided I'd keep on blogging only if it was fun. It turned out to be more than fun. I love learning about my blogger buddies, about places, interesting people, good books, movies, and more. It's a gas and I'm having a blast. 


However, I miss reading many of the blogs I used to follow consistently. You see, everything changed in the past six months. We had to move, downsize, and I now babysit my 8-month-old grandbaby nine hours a day. He's the best medicine in the world, makes me smile and laugh all the time, and he comes first before blogging, tweeting, MyFace SpaceBook Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, or making Youtube videos. Oh, and then there's writing books, too! Oh my.

Punkin always puts a smile on my face.

He's wearing his football helmet. JK!

It's nothing serious. I'll write a post about it soon.

So, dear friends, I haven't neglected your sites intentionally. I'm pressed for time and some days am completely drained. Please know that I miss keeping up with you. I'm committed to visiting the blogs of my commenters first, and if I can visit other blogs after that, it's the icing on the cake.


Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who take the time to read my posts and leave a comment. You don't know how much it brightens my days!


Okay, enough rambling. Let's get on with revisiting my very first post. Below the post are some comments and links I received that you might find helpful. So, here's my first attempt at blogging:


Help! Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone – Can You Share Some Blogging Etiquette?

How silly is this, writing my very first blog post and I don’t have a single follower?

I might as well be writing to a black hole in cyberspace or talkin’ to an invisible wall. I’ve been following 

a few blogs to see what it’s all about. A bit overwhelming, to say the least.

There are millions of you out there. I’m but a tiny speck, smaller than the itsy bitsy spider on your local  

web. It reminds me of one of my favorite Dr. Zeuss books, “Horton Hears a Who.” Hello, hello, is anyone 

there? Can you hear me?

I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective, and one should keep in mind, after all, that a blogger’s a blogger no matter how small!

Anyhoo, if you’re there, anyone, anywhere in the 
worldwide blogosphere, before getting my feet 

wet, I need help from you. The last thing I want 

to do is to start off on the wrong foot, step on your 

web toes, and be written off as a cyberspace case 

who's throwing a party, but nobuddy comes. So, 

do you have any tips for good etiquette in 

blogging? 

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Here are some of the comments I received and some links you might want to visit:

Heather Kelly said...LynNerd--Thanks for stopping by my blog, and congrats on your first blog post. I hope you find the blogging community to be a supportive and kind one--I certainly have. As far as etiquette goes--I think the saying do unto others works pretty well. Although Elana Johnson has some straightforward advice on blog building here: http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/p/building-better-blog.html
I'm glad you're here!
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Susan Kaye Quinn said...Welcome to the fun-land! Blogging is great, but you have to find your groove with it. The only way to do that is to wade in and start - which you're doing! So, go you!
I might have to do a post on blogging etiquette, but Lisa Gail Green just did one and it's awesome. Best of luck to you!

(The next day, Susan left another comment with a link to an awesome post she wrote titled "How to Blog for the Long Haul.")

Susan Kaye Quinn said...Hey, I blogged about you today! :)
http://www.susankayequinn.com/2011/05/how-to-blog-for-long-haul.html


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Margo Berendsen said...Oh come on join the adventure! Get your feet wet! Lisa Gail Green posted an awesome blogging etiquette post today at http://paranormalpointofview.blogspot.com/2011/05/blogging-etiquette.html

I also HIGHLY recommend the Online Persona Workshop at http://shrinkingvioletpromotions.blogspot.com/

May 9, 2011 11:08 AM 
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Chantele Sedgwick said...The only advice I can give you, is to just be yourself. And don't rant about huge topics on your blog. It makes for nasty comments from anonymous people! :)


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J.L. Campbell said...I added myself as a follower. Generally, I try to return visits and reply to comments. That's worked so far. :)

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Tommy Kovac said...Even if nobody comments on a particular post, that certainly doesn't mean nobody's reading it. You should always assume more people are following your writing than you think, because that's usually the case, and that's a good thing!


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Alana said...Hi Lynn - Good luck with the launch...I found this site really helpful for etiquette and launch tips and techniques, so I wanted to pass it along to you. Hope you glean something great off of it! http://www.avivadirectory.com/successful-blog-launch/

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Gene Pool Diva said...Etiquette, was I suppose to have etiquette?

Sigh. Slinking back to my blog now. Thanks goodness I have an alias. :)

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Those are a few of the great comments I received. If you want to read all of them, here's the link to my first post.

One more thing, I was fortunate to hear about social media geru Kristen Lamb's Blog soon after I started blogging. If you want to get the real skinny on social media and marketing specifically geared for writers, visit her site. It's full of invaluable info.

She's the author of  We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer .   "Both are recommended by the hottest agents and biggest authors in the biz." She states her methods teach you how to make building your author platform FUN. "Build a platform and still have time left to write great books."
I've read both and her common sense methods are right on target, in my opinion.  What I love about Kristen is that she's funny as heck. How many nonfiction books make you laugh out loud, plus teach in easy, no-nonsense language?
She started the Twitter hashtag #MyWANA. WANA stands for We Are Not Alone. Here's her post about it, Join the Love Revolution #MyWANA 


And now there's a WANA site similar to FB! I love it! Join us.

I took her blogging class in October and it's well worth $40 for a two-month online class. The next class will start in June. 


I hope this post has been helpful. If you have any advice on blogging for newbies or a link you'd like to share, please leave it in the comments.  
Happy Blogging!