As part of the April Platform Challenge my task today is to ask you to do two things: Please click on the share buttons - they are big and prominent at the top of the right side bar on this page Please sign-up for my email feed see the little box just under the share buttons. It has room for you to type in your email address. Please click Submit when you've finished. And one more thing that is not part of my assignment: Please join me at the LA Times Festival of Books on the University of California campus either or both Saturday and Sunday June 21 and 22, from 12 noon until 2:00 pm. I'll be at the Greater Los Angeles Writer's Society booth number 970. Hopefully I'll be signing lots of copies of my book: Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide (Lucky Press, 2011). You can't miss me. I'm the one with the long gray hair. … [Read more...]
April poem a day challenge
In honor of National Poetry Month, Robert Lee Brewer, editor at Writer's Digest and creator of Poetic Asides, holds a poem a day challenge. I love to take the challenge because his prompts are always fun. He also provides his examples to help get us started. This month Robert has also created a platform building challenge through his blog: My Name Is Not Bob. I'm doing that one as well. Here are a few of my April PAD poems with Robert's prompts. Day 5.Write a poem about something before your time. Maybe it's a certain time in history. Or a type of music. Or a story that was shared by friends or familybefore your time. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris brought back a world before my time and people that I would kill to have known: Hemingway, Stein, Fitzgerald Porter, Baker, Picasso, Man Ray, and Dali all in the raucous 1920s. And for a little more romantic and quiet take he took us even further back to the 1980s Belle Epoque and the artistic worlds … [Read more...]
April challenges update
I took a break over the weekend and caught up today with my two April challenges. The Platform Challenge Days 5 through 8: Day 5. Create a blog since you're reading this you know I already have a blog. I also post at several other blog sites you might not know about: http://redroom.com/member/madeline-sharples/blog/ - Red Room blog http://www.naturallysavvy.com/savvy-over-60 - Naturally Savvy Over 60 blog http://www.psychalive.org/index.php?s=madeline+sharples&image.x=15&image.y=7 - PsychAlive blog http://tlswriters.wordpress.com/ - The Last Sunday Writer's group blog Day 6. Comment on a blog: Robert LeeBrewer posted a few possible ways to respond (and he suggested linking back to our own blogs). I think these are great suggestions. I just need to learn to follow them: Share your own experience. If you've experienced something similar to what's covered in the post, share your own story. You don't have to write a book or anything, but maybe a paragraph or two. Add … [Read more...]
Challenges and writing work update
Yesterday and today's assignments for the April platform challenge were to accomplish things I had already done build a Facebook profile and give myself a Twitter name. I also have a Facebook author page. So I was ahead of the game there. However, Robert Lee Brewer is always very generous with his helpful hints. I'll give you the links to Day 3 and Day 4 here and you can visit both sites if you're interested in learning more. I feel that I know very little about how to use Twitter so I can use all the help I can get. I have, however, heard that Re-Tweets are golden. I had two yesterday that got to thousands of followers. I guess I'm doing something right. I'm also keeping up with my goal of writing 1000 words on my novel a week, and I'm now writing a poem a day for Robert Lee Brewer's other April challenge. The prompts are always interesting. Today's was: take the phrase 100% (blank), replace the blank with a word, make that the title of your poem, and then write a poem. So far … [Read more...]
April Platform Challenge – Day 1
I've decided to enter Robert Lee Brewer's first ever April Platform Challenge. Anyone want to join me? Here's how he says it will work: On April 1, I'll post a task for writers to complete that day. (I didn't get April 1 until today) Each day afterward, through the month of April, there will be a new task for writers to complete on that day. At the end of the month, every writer who completes the challenge should have a stronger platform and be able to say they took part in the first ever April Platform Challenge. Day 1: Define yourself. I don't want you to worry about where you'd like to be or anything in the future. Instead, I want you to take a look at who you are, what you've done, what you're currently doing, etc. Below is a chart I'm using (with my own answers). Here's my information: Name (as used in byline): Madeline Sharples Position(s): Author of Leaving the Hall Light On (Lucky Press, 2011); Web journalist at Naturally Savvy and PsychAlive, … [Read more...]
