Tag: blogging

Have you checked out my new website yet?

by Karen, posted in book reviews, Interviews, writing

There has been a lot of great things happening on my new website, KarenCreamer.com.

If you have already signed up to follow my new blog, then THANK YOU!

You know this already!

But since about 1500 followers never made it over to KarenCreamer.com, I am taking a wild guess that you haven’t found my new site yet. If you didn’t receive emails that the above articles posted, then you may not have subscribed to the blog. Just click here to go to the blog page, look for the box to SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG by EMAIL section to the right of the posts, and sign up! Or, if you are already on WordPress then you can just click the blue FOLLOW ME button (in the same location). E viola!

blog

Thank you for staying with me! 

P.S. Please read the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use when you arrive! You may even find a pop up banner tucked into the footer somewhere to accept when you get there!

On the radio with Megan Brady

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food
**UPDATE: Here is the link to listen to the interview!**
http://www.edgeradioarchives.com/audio/121916creameronbravething.mp3
I was just interviewed about my book by Megan Brady for her show “The Morningline with Megan Brady” for EdgeRadio (an online streaming station through Seacoast Media Group).
smg2How wonderful it is to be interviewed by someone who is great at it (thank you, Megan). I felt comfortable right away, like I was having coffee with a friend. Which, I sort of was. I mean, I did bring my coffee, my current favorite, Spicy Eggnog (was that wrong?). And Megan was very friendly.  🙂
We talked about how I wrote the first draft of my book, One Brave Thing, during NaNoWriMo in 2010, and my blog, kwrites.com.  I mentioned how people can ask to join the One Brave Thing Private Facebook Group for readers and purchasers of my book, and about how I interview one reader a month about ‘one brave thing’ that they’ve done in their own lives. Click here for the current list of The BRAVE Interviews. We also talked about my upcoming book, which is related to One Brave Thing. The working title is: What if Bebe Stays with Steven?
I know, right?!
And we talked about the Stephen King trick of putting the draft of your manuscript away in a drawer for a while to give you some perspective on it. Megan reminded me of Joey Tribbiano’s trick of putting Stephen King’s book in the freezer! So I leave you with this clip, to leave you with a laugh today:
My talk with Megan Brady will air Monday morning at some point between 6AM-10AM. 
Click here to listen on Monday morning for my interview (not sure what time yet!) or anytime, just to listen! After it airs, I will be posting the audio clip on my blog, so if you miss the show you can still hear the interview.

Blog Identity Crisis

by Karen, posted in author, writing

I’ve been experimenting with different looks for my blog, which some of you will (of course) have noticed. I actually spent a lot of time setting it to look ‘more professional’, with my author presence dominating the show. As my husband is always telling me, “Focus!”

cropped-1st-booksiging-author-expo.jpgHere’s the thing, though. I have to reinterpret what the word focus means to me. In this case, I interpreted it to mean focus on one thing. In this case, I chose my authorship (word!). I redesigned the blog to highlight that.

It’s changing how I’m writing, though. I used to write about anything and everything  but now when I go to write something, I’m thinking, how does this fit in with my blog’s look. Should the way my blog looks be informing what I write about?
I don’t think so. Also, when I look up my blog online, I don’t recognize it anymore.

I took a writing class last weekend and one of the participants mentioned how he had spent a lot of time working on pieces that he never did anything with, and how wasn’t that a waste of time. I told him that I didn’t think so, because all of that work got him to where he is today. It was part of the process. It was therefore all worthwhile. So I am applying my good feedback to myself and my blog. All of the work I did helped me figure out what I don’t want.

So for now, I’m going back to the old look. I may continue to experiment, but I want my blog to be about the writing, not about the theme.

Writer’s lull

by Karen, posted in education, family, Midlife Crisis, writing

For weeks and weeks, I was the whirling dervish of writing:

  1. I had a few blogs going for which I posted several times a week.
  2. I was writing 2000 words a day for my book.
  3. I was writing book reviews for several websites.
  4. I was writing restaurant reviews and food articles for an online magazine.
  5. I was writing millions of words in emails to my friends and coworkers daily.

…and so on; you get the idea. I was wily and whimsical in my writing.

Then, an issue came up in relation to the education of one of my children and suddenly I found that much of my writing time was taken up with writing emails, letters, and synopses of events and phone conversations for many different involved parties, almost every day, including weekends, almost to the exclusion of all else. I was diligent and dutiful in my writing.

Now there is a lull in the education issue. I have reluctantly come to realize that there is now a lull in my writing activities as well. I have learned this: the more I write, the more I write. Unfortunately, the converse is also true: the less I write, the less I write. This writer’s lull is different from writer’s block. It’s not that I have no ideas about what to write. I have plenty of ideas;  I just can’t seem to get them out of my head and onto the page.

I was distressed. When I told a friend about this, she suggested that this is actually a period of renewal, a time to foster new ideas and thoughts that will fuel my next writing phase. She further suggested that this period of writing not-so-much is part of the process, and therefore is necessary and beneficial.

I’ve decided to go with it, on the chance that it might be true.

It feels true.

Please consider being a guest blogger on Sharpen Your Knives!

by Karen, posted in Marriage, Midlife Crisis, relationships, Someone's gotta say it

This is where women can come to vent about their (past, present, maybe even future?) husbands’…idiosyncrasies.

You know what I’m talking about.

Share your stories, anonymously or not, with other like-minded individuals. Sharp stories, edgy entreaties, and amusing anecdotes are welcome.

It’s easy to be part of  Sharpen Your Knives

  1. Subscribe to SYK.
  2. Submit your story to kmcwrites@gmail.com.
  3. Remember to say whether your identity should be kept mum!

That’s it. Complete the above steps and you’re in.

The goal: hopefully by sharing our stories we’ll discover that we are in all in good company with our (minor! oh so minor!) daily frustrations and irritations…and if we dump them here, we can (hopefully) avoid dumping them on our spouses.

:)

Tell your friends!

Keep your submissions around 200-400 words if possible (but shorter pieces are also fine!). As editor, I reserve the right to edit for typos, grammar, and length.

Blog in transition

by Karen, posted in writing

I’m trying out some new themes this month to celebrate the transition of my blog from kwrites.wordpress.com to just kwrites.com. Yay, me! It seemed fitting to mark the occasion with just a tiny hint of fanfare (is that wrong??).
Today’s theme is “GREYZED”. Please feel free to ‘like’ this post if you like this format, these colors, and so forth. The peachy one that I’ve been using for months now is “KOI”. The one I used prior to that, when I was just starting out was…I forget, actually. I’ll try to find out and get back to you. 🙂

WordPress Post a week challenge

by Karen, posted in writing

I’ve decided I want to blog more consistently. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now but having a “Goldilocks” moment…

Issues:

  1. Once a day seemed like too much. I didn’t want to set my self up to fail from the outset, after all.
  2. Once a week seemed like not enough. I’m already blogging at least once a week, and even though I’m not a fan of setting the bar too high, I also am not interested in setting it too low.

Therefore, I’m modifying the challenge a bit to suit my own purposes (is that wrong?):

I will be posting on this blog thrice a week for all of 2011.

It won’t be easy, but it might be fun…well, if nothing else,  it will be challenging. For prompting (and reminders!)  I plan to make use of The DailyPost and the community of other bloggers with similar goals to help keep my on track,  including asking for (and accepting!) help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments, likes, and good wishes along the way…and I am also hoping to get some new readers, so feel free to spread the word!

Karen 🙂