Getting comments on my blog used to be the highlight of my day. When I got an email notification in my inbox, I would rush to open it, thrilled that someone had taken the time to comment on something I had written. These days — not so much. Almost every day I receive an abusive comment… Read More
Colum McCann, author of Thirteen Ways of Looking, shares some advice for the young (and not so young) writer. It is also wonderful advice for anyone who wants to live life with purpose and meaning. Colum McCann’s Letter to a Young Writer Do the things that do not compute. Be earnest. Be devoted. Be subversive of… Read More
Bloggers who write about their lives don’t always feel at home on Pinterest, but by following these 6 steps you can attract massive traffic to your blog.
In the last month Pinterest has sent me 14,324 page views. If you would like a slice of this kind of traffic, let me share my pinning strategy using Trello – a free project management tool. People tell me they don’t ‘get’ Pinterest as a business tool. Let me try to explain. Think of Pinterest as a boutique, user-driven… Read More
The man was tall and broad chested. At the end of his bulging arm he waved a piece of paper. “I’m an expert,” he shouted, “and you can’t write that. Your words make it worse. People need love not judgment.” He tore the paper into shreds and dropped it on the floor. ≡ The woman was… Read More
In the control panel of my blog, the counter for the number of posts sits at 999. I hesitate to write the 1,000th post because it should have some kind of significance. I can’t just write a flippant flyaway piece, it has to be memorial and interesting, it has to mark the occasion with importance. Then, as… Read More
I have been implementing a new social media strategy which focuses on sharing the work of others, especially on Twitter. I love reading your posts, articles and stories, but sometimes I am unable to share them. If you want your work to be given its best chance to be seen by a wide audience you might… Read More
When I blog, I usually spend more time finding and formatting a photo than I do writing the post. I pay careful attention to my pictures because I know that 63% of social media is made up of images and engagement with images is a whopping 77%. In an online world filled with short attention spans,… Read More
For a writer, aside from blogging, I haven’t been doing much writing lately. Now that my principle procrastination tool has been taken away from me (the internet), I’ve been forced to find something to do. Since the middle of last week, I’ve been writing a book. It isn’t fiction this time, but a non-fiction textbook… Read More
There is a drawing of a spotted cow on my blue mug. She is stranded midair on a crescent moon. ‘Nothing is ever easy’ the caption reads. The mug was a leaving present from a job long ago, I can’t remember which one. On my way to the study I take a mouthful of the… Read More
I spent my teenage years on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and through the church my parents attended, I became friends with George Perdikis, John James and Peter Furler. These young men would go on to form the popular Christian rock band The Newsboys.
My relationship with reading has been strange and complicated over the years. I can’t decide whether to read non-fiction or fiction. To be honest, I don’t know what to read at all.
My review of Sarah Selecky’s program – Story is a State of Mind – the writing course that got me out of a writing funk.
