Whew! Novel in 90 Days winds down

So, today was the last day of Novel in 90 Days--the class I'm teaching via Writers' League of Texas.

We talked about revisions, marketing for pre-published authors (yes, it helps to do this) and Agent Quest, which I'll chat more about here in the coming months.

The real hit of the was the super sensational talk that ARWA pals Michelle McGinnis and Heather Foeh about Web Presence for Writers talk.

The dynamic cyber duo discussed three tiers of web presence based on the stages of an author's career: pre-published (brand new authors), PRO (author's who've finished at least one manuscript and are actively seeking publication) and PAN, the few, the proud, the pubbed.

If you haven't heard this talk and you see they're going to give it, I have one word: GO. There's tons of cyber info for those of us who have no inner geek, and lots of good advice on how much time, money and resources you should be spending based on where you are in your career.

Here's a hint: Lot's of stuff you can do for free or for very little money and still strike a professional web presence. They talked about the difference between blogs and sites, how web "spiders" work and how they affect your Google ranking. Very cool and important stuff if you want to build a fan base.

We talked about sites they love (Eloisa James, Julia Quinn) and blogs they love (Love is an exploding cigar) and ARWA's very own Lexi Connor.

A lot of what the Dynamic Duo discussed was building a connection with readers, something that reiterated what a lot of editors said during the PAN discussions at RWA.

I think connecting with readers is important for lots of reasons, but mainly because the world is so spread out these days that we're all looking for connection. Book signings aren't what they used to be (or so I've heard) because people are busy, and getting the kiddos to soccer practice trumps running to Barnes & Noble to meet an author buy a book at a certain time.

And so, I'm making a commitment to spend more time connecting and less time watching Law & Order SVU (my apologies to Christopher Meloni--who I am fairly sure hung the moon).

So, I'm going to blog my writing process, along with a lot of the lessons from Novel in 90 Days. My thanks to Michelle and Heather for the kick in the pants :)

See You Soon,
Kit