Hi, my name is Nicole, and I’m a feminist. Shocking, I know. Especially with my Mormon/Catholic upbringing. As such, I was excited about the Women’s March. All over America, women stood up and said that we will fight for equality. We will fight to keep the rights we already won. Lots of women and men that I have a ton of respect for showed up and stood up.

But as so often happens with feminism, there was a backlash. Specifically, there was a backlash from women who were not involved in the movement. With all due respect, and without naming any names, let me give you the gist of their concerns.

How dare we, as American women who are for the most part safe, well cared for and free, complain about our situation? There are women in other countries who know the real meaning of oppression. These women would be grateful for our lives. We should be grateful for our lives.

I am grateful for my life. I also support global feminism that aims to better the lives of our sisters all around the world. That doesn’t mean that the struggles we face as American women are lessened.

We have a right to be angry, but I want to go beyond that. We have an obligation to fight for total equality and total control of our own bodies. We owe that to our daughters. I will not settle for more freedom than some women have. I demand total equality and freedom. I’m no willing to compromise on this topic.

Of course, this issue is not just found in Feminism. It’s everywhere.

“Don’t complain about your job, there are lots of people who would love to have it.”

Well, maybe you should strive to get a job you like more, and let one of those people have the one you have now.

“Don’t complain about seasonal depression. Lots of people are in far worse conditions.”

That doesn’t make you feel better on the days your down.

“Don’t complain about your living space. There are homeless and hungry people on the street.”

But your home is not a source of joy for you, and you should try to do better for yourself and your family if you can.

I’m sure you can think of more examples.

Please, I’m begging you not to do this to yourself. If you’re feeling pain, feel it. Don’t tell yourself that you don’t have a right to feel that because someone else has it worse. Someone always has it worse. Your emotions are never wrong. Sometimes your response to those emotions can be, that’s true. But the emotions themselves are honest and you should listen to them.

At the same time, don’t do the opposite to other people. Don’t belittle their pain because you think yours is worse. It might feel worse, but that’s because you don’t know what theirs feels like.

So if you feel like something in your life is an injustice, unfair or just wrong, do what you can to fix it. Fix whatever is causing you pain in your life. Don’t ever let someone tell you that you should suck it up because someone has it worse.

Someone always has it worse. That does not discredit my pain. It only inspires me to help us both.

When in your life has someone made you feel guilty for feeling pain?

Everyone seemed pretty happy about my Social Media for writers series. So, I decided to keep the party going for a little while longer. I wanted to take a look at how we as writers present ourselves to the world. Of course, many of us rely on our blogs.

I wanted to start this series out by talking about SEO. (That stands for search engine optimization if you don’t know.) Here’s the problem though. Someone I love already wrote everything I wanted to say about the subject!

Here is a link to the website By Regina. Read this SEO post first, then come back to me.

Back? Awesome. Now let’s talk about what you don’t want to do when using SEO.

Don’t use misleading titles

Funny story. I wrote a piece about a poetry form called burlesque. I posted it and didn’t think much about it. Then every single time I checked my monthly stats, I was seeing that post. I didn’t realize how insane it was until I realized that it made my most popular posts of 2015 and 2016!

It’s not because it’s a super amazing post, you guys. It’s because the word burlesque is in the title.

I don’t know how many people found that post because they wanted to write a new poetry form and how many people found it because they were looking for something risque. Since I do pay attention to my most popular posts and use them to guide what topics I talk about, it’s not helping me!

I also worry that people found my blog that didn’t want to be here. And the whole point of using SEO is to help people find you who want to be on your site.

Now, I did that by accident. I know some people do that on purpose. How do I know? Because I am an internet dweller and have ended up clicking on a title that I was interested in,only to find a post that I have no interested in. You know what, it pissed me off. I didn’t want to have anything to do with that post anymore.

Don’t forget your image!

A long time ago, I was given the advice to use images with every blog post. I balked. “I’m a writer!” I whined. “I use words and language. What kind of image would I ever use for that?”

Now I use images with every single blog post. Since I’ve started doing that, my stats have gone way up. I like pretty images, they catch my eye more than just a text post. So please, if you think like I used to, that you don’t need an image on your blog post, try it. Use images on everything for one month and see if your numbers don’t go up.

Don’t use a long phrase.

The basic building block of using SEO is repeating a phrase a few times in a post. If you have a simple phrase, it’s going to be a little easier. If your line is supercalafradulisticexpialafreakinglong it’s going to be hard to make that flow smoothly. So come up with a phrase that, if searched, will bring people to your post, but is still pretty simple.

Finally, don’ shoehorn SEO in.

This is why the last ‘don’t’ is important. You are a writer. Your first concern should be creating content that is entertaining to read. If it’s secondary function is to inform, educate or persuade that’s fine. But to be entertaining is number one. There’s nothing entertaining about a clunky SEO phrase repeated a ton. It sticks out and is jarring. Even when you’re using SEO, your shouldn’t remind your reader that they’re reading.

By the way, my SEO phrase for this post was using SEO. Did you notice it before I told you, or are you now going back to count how many times I said it? If you’re doing the second, I did my job right.

If you have any technical questions about writing or blogging, please feel free to ask.

Have you ever tried to write using SEO (see, I did it again.)? Tell us about your experience.

Hey, guys. Welcome to week three of our Solstice Winter Blog Tour. This week, PBW is being taken over by Rachael Tamayo.

When Writing: All Those little details

As a reader, or a writer, have you ever read something that just seemed to be….missing something? Can’t put your finger on it? Grammar looks good, plot seems okay….but…..just not quite feeling it?

This has happened to me when I’m working on my own books, or reading the unfinished manuscripts of others. Occasionally I’ll see it happen in published works as well. So, what on earth am I talking about?

Those missing details. That’s what I’m talking about. The things that give the scene life. They make the blood flow in the veins of your characters and the heart beat in your plot. Don’t ever underestimate a well placed little nugget, even something simple.

Example one: He swerved to avoid the car that veered into his lane.

OK, it’s to the point. Nothing really wrong here, tells us what is happening, right? But does it draw you in? Does it make you feel what the driver is feeling? If you can make you reader feel what the character does…you’ve succeeded. You will have a reader that will turn the page to see what happens.

Example two: The headlights shone into his face on the too dark country road. Is this car in my lane? Gripping the wheel with two large hands, his knuckles went white as he swallowed and jerked his car to the left. Gravel flying as his heart slammed into his ribs. The vehicle speed by, oblivious to the fact that they were in the wrong lane. Picking up the phone, he dialed 911.

See the difference? Details. Add a couple of sentences and suddenly you are there, in the car. Your heart is pounding and your mouth is dry. The detail of the headlights, his internal thought coupled with the action puts you in the scene, in his head.

This is where you want your reader.

I’ve heard writers say that they have trouble with this. Personally, this is what I do. I sit and imagine myself watching this happen…or maybe it’s happening to me. What’s the first thing you might notice? How is your body reacting? What is your thought? What sounds do you hear? Is there a smell?

Of course, then there is the issue of character development. The same method applies. In order to create people that are real living breathing beings in your books, you have to think this way. What kind of personality does he have? How does he react in an emergency, or when he’s angry? How does this play off of the other characters? What flaws does he have? Writing the perfect man or woman won’t get you far. People want to read about people that make mistakes, because they are real. They want to relate to your story. They want to see themselves in your characters.

However, remember one thing. Don’t take it to far. Being overly descriptive of every little nuance gets old. Page after page of little details just won’t due. You must trust your reader to use their imagination. Be descriptive, but vague. Let them carry themselves there in their minds, TRUST THEM! Otherwise, they will find themselves skimming and flipping pages to get past this never-ending description of a bedroom and back to the plot.

And there you have it. Now that you know what’s missing…take a breath and open that laptop.

Rachael Tamayo is the author of the Friend-Zone series and several short stories all available on Amazon. Her Newest release, Claim me (Finale to the Friend-Zone trilogy) will be available February 14^th.

Website: www.Rachaeltamayowrites.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RachaelTamayo

Twitter https://twitter.com/rtamayo2004

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tamayorachael

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Rachael-Tamayo

I feel like it’s been awhile since I did a life update. I usually just try to fit stuff like this into my normal posts, or just post a brain dump on Mondays. But I had so much stuff I wanted to talk about with you this month, and so much going on this month that I wanted to get you guys updated right away. Not only because I’m so excited about everything going on this month, but because some of it involves awesome goodies for you!

It amazes me that the shortest month of the year is packed with the biggest projects for me. You’d think it would be a longer month. Of course, it could be because I have be obsessed with getting shit done in January.

To start with, here’s what I’m working on this month.

If you’ve gotten your hands on Broken Patterns and loved it, you’ll be thrilled to know that I’m making huge progress on Missing Stitches. That’s book three, if you’re wondering. I probably won’t finish the second draft until next month, but progress is being made.

I’m starting on the rough draft of Station 86, Book Three. Actually, by the time you read this I might be working on it right now. If you’re super curious, I’ll probably post on Twitter and Facebook when I start.

But before I do that…

I am going to have to write around some pretty big things, though. This Friday, the third, I am doing my very first book signing! If you’re local, come meet me at Cumming Coffee Shop on Main Street from 3:30 to 5:00. If you can’t come in person, please feel free to send me love on social media.

This reading is so important to me. Not only because it’s my first one ever, but because it’s a childhood dream coming to life. I used to sit in that shop, scribbling stories into composition notebooks and dreaming about being a famous writer who did books signings.

If you are local but can’t make the Cummings signing, don’t fear. I’m scheduling signings at Book Nook, Saxonburg Coffee and the local library. For dates, keep your eyes on my Facebook page. They’ll probably show up there before anywhere else.

I’m involved in the Solstice Blog Tour!

I’m sure you noticed this, because we’re a couple weeks in already. But some of the other Solstice authors and I are doing a blog tour. I was the blogger of week one, if you saw me around. We’ll be keeping this rolling all month.

You already know about this one, but in case you forgot…

You Can’t Trust The AI starts on Wednesday, February 15^th!

Just like with Seeming, I’ll post an episode a week, every week. There will be a total of eight episodes, running until April. If you didn’t get a chance to read Seeming while it was live, never fear. You can get it on Amazon.

Finally, a special gift for you.

You should all know by now that I do have a free collection of short stories available for you. It’s called Days and Other Stories, and you can get it for free by clicking right here.

But I think it was lonely.

So, I’m going to be launching a new collection on February 9^th! It’s a whole horror collection, which I’ve never done before. It’s called Spook. Stay tuned on launch day for links to get your totally free copy.

So that’s my super crazy, super exciting February! What are you doing this month that you’re excited about?

I have depression and anxiety. You know that if you’ve read PBW for very long, I’m not shy about it. Winter isn’t great for me. December is full of anxiety triggers like crammed stores and social obligations. January’s not so bad, it’s just harder to do really anything at all. I’m often walking to and from work in the dark, or at least only partial sunlight. February is the worst, though. Everything is wet, cold and dark. I tend to find myself just tired most of the time. I can’t feel happy about things I usually love and I don’t have any patience for things that go wrong. Things that wouldn’t faze me in August bring me to tears in February.

Over the years I’ve learned how to deal with these February feelings and my issues in general. Here’s what I’m doing this year to help me out.

Keep writing

Writing has always been my saving grace. If I’m having a crappy day writing makes me feel better. It helps me get out of my own past, keeps me from worrying about the future.

Writing also makes me feel like I’ve gotten something accomplished. If I don’t feel like I’m getting something done, I feel depressed. As though I’m lazy and worthless. If I managed to get a chapter done, or edit a few pages, I feel like at least I did something.

Work on projects I’m excited about

I’ve got a lot to be excited about this year. I’m eager for Steel City Con and my book signing tour. I’m excited about the comic book project and the new business I’m helping my friend build. Even though it’s hard to be excited about anything when I’m down, working on those projects help. It also helps that I’ve got partners on two of these projects. Other people counting on me gets me moving like nothing else.

I don’t miss work

Because if I do miss work, I feel guilty. Guilt leads to more depression. While I’ve been sure in the past that I needed a mental sick day, I always felt worse for it, not better.

Walk my dog

Look, I freaking hate being cold. Hate it more than anything else. My hands just hurt when they’re cold. So do my joints. I’m only 30, damn it, I shouldn’t hurt like this.

This pain discourages me from going outside in the winter. It’s not so bad when I’m out there, but trying to get my ass out is torture. It’s easier now that we have Oliver. He’s so happy when we take him out, it’s infectious. He makes me happier to be outside. And the sunlight always helps when I’m down.

Play with my kids

I spend a lot of time teaching my kids to be adults now. I harp on them about their school work and chores. I don’t spend as much time as I would like just spending time with them. When I’m down like this, I try to make sure that I just play with the kids. I’m starting to think that at least one of my girls has the same sort of issues that I do. It’s never too early to teach them self care.

Focus on my date nights

One of my personal revolutions this year has been to have date nights with each member of my family once a month. I take the girls out shopping or to a coffee shop. The darling husband and I have been going out to dinner or to trivia nights at a great barbecue place. Having those dates to look forward to has really helped me.

Keep the house picked up

Everything is just a little bit harder when I’m depressed. Getting dressed, sitting down to write, putting makeup on. Everything is worse. But if I can come into the house and sit down on my couch without moving laundry out of the way, find clean clothes in my drawer and have a clean coffee cup for coffee I’m in a better frame of mind. Nothing is more likely to send a day spiraling than having to wash a coffee cup before I can have some.

Using Walmart’s car pickup

This is not an affiliate post and I got nothing from this. This is just a shout out to a program that’s been making my life way better. See, my anxiety is set off majorly by busy shops. Even worse if I have my kids with me. I don’t even know where this fear came from, but I’m convinced I’m going to lose my kids in a crowded place. So I’m so busy looking at my kids at all times and forgetting everything I went to the store for. Then I start panicking and sort of stop being able to breath.

Having the ability to just order my food and then pick it up makes my life so much easier. It saves time, of course, but anything that reduces my anxiety attacks is a Godsend.

So that’s what I’m doing this year to make what I often consider the worst part of the year a whole lot better. If this season is hard for you too, please share how you’re getting through.

We’re wrapping up our social media overview today, with a look at Instagram. If you missed the posts about Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, please click on the links there.

I just started using Instagram a few months ago. Full disclosure, I started using it completely personally with no intention to use it for my writing. Mostly I wanted to follow friends and stalk celebrities. I didn’t really see it as being a useful way to bring people to PBW. And so far, it hasn’t been.

It’s just been a great way to connect with new readers. Since I’ve started using Instagram, I’ve gained a collection of followers there that I don’t see on my other social media accounts. Remember, sometimes social media isn’t about anything but connecting with your readers.

What to post

I post pictures of the covers of my books, pictures from when I got the first copy of Broken Patterns in the mail. If I go do something fun or take pictures during a holiday event, I’ll post them. Pretty much,I post real life pictures from my real life, mixed with book covers. When I do events like cons and book signings, I’ll take a ton of pictures and post them.

How to post

Fun fact, there’s no way to post on Instagram from a computer, you have to do it from a smart device. I spent way too much time trying to figure out how to do that, since you can’t.

After I figured that out (because I’m sometimes an idiot) using Instagram is pretty simple. You just hit the plus button on the bottom of the screen. It will give you the option to either take a picture or upload a picture.

Once you have your picture, you can put a filter on it. I have a lot of fun with filters. I’m not a great photographer, and the filters make my pictures look a lot nicer.

You can also utilize hashtags on Instagram in the same way you use them on Twitter. Let’s say, for instance, that I post a picture of my bullet journal. I’ll add a #bulletjournal or #buju.

What you can do with a picture once it’s posted.

If you’re scrolling through Instagram and you find something you like, you can heart it. You can also add comments or links to a post.

Whether or not Instagram is going to bring me new readers that will transition to new blog followers is yet to be determined. But honestly, for the small amount of time I spend on it, and the level of reader interaction I’ve experienced, I consider it well worth it.

That concludes our overview of social media for writers. If you have any questions about Instagram, or if I didn’t talk about a social media platform you’d like to know about, please let me know! You can either leave a comment here or email me at Nicolecluttrell86@Gmail.com.

I’ve been doing this really fun challenge on Instagram, called the six word level. It’s hosted by a blog called Pageflutter. I love it, it’s so much fun.

It’s hardly the only writing challenge I participate in, of course. You all know I participate in Nanowrimo or Nanoedmo every November. I used to do Mash every quarter, and I really enjoyed participated in the Blogging 101 event in 2015. I really love writing challenges.

It nudges my creativity

I write almost every day, and most of the time I don’t have any trouble with writers block. But sometimes beginning projects can be troublesome. Or, I’ll find myself writing boring shit that feels repetitive. But a challenge often comes with a prompt that gives me direction. Or, it’s something I’ve never considered writing about before.

It makes me stretch

Look, I am not going to lie, editing for 50 hours in November was hard as hell. Some of these prompts this month have been complete nonstarters for me, and it’s been a challenge to come up with something I thought was clever. But it makes me do things that are hard, and that’s always good for us. To have to push to get something done is healthy sometimes.

It helps me meet new writers

I found so many new blogs that I fell in love with during the Blogging 101 event. I made new blogging friends and found new storytellers that have brightened my life. I find the same sort of thing happening on Instagram with the six word challenge. I love being introduced to new creative minds.

It helps other people find me

Much the same way that I found new writers during challenges, other people find me. I’ve never seen such an increase in my blog followers as when I participated in Blogging 101. Every time I get involved in a challenge, I see a jump in one or more of my social media followings.

It’s enjoyable

Finally, the challenges are fun. I always look forward to the start of them, and they’re events that change up my routine a little.

I highly encourage all of you to find your own writing challenges. Please let us know about them in the comments below so that we can join you.

This month I’ve been going over some basic information about different social media platforms and how writers can use them. So far we’ve done Facebook and Twitter. Now we’re doing my personal favorite social media platform, Pinterest.

Before you laugh, Pinterest is the fourth highest referrer to Paper Beats World. I personally scan through it once or twice a day. I use it to look up all sorts of information. In fact, anytime I need to learn to do something, I start there.

The great thing about Pinterest is that it is really easy to use. If you find an article or image that you want to share, just hover over it. Most sites have built in Pin This buttons. So all you have to do is hover over an image. Then you can pin the image to your board. You can have as many boards as you want. You can even have private boards.

Here are the ways I use Pinterest for my writing.

Inspiration pages

If I see an image or read an article that inspires me, I’ll pin it. I have a Pinterest page for each of the countries in Woven, as well as a page called “Future Book Inspiration.” It’s my favorite page.

I’ll sometimes pull up my inspiration boards when I’m stuck on a scene. It helps me picture where my characters are.

Your Pinterest page

Of course, I pin every single one of my blog posts to my Paper Beats World board. That’s just a given. But I also search out pins that relate to Paper Beats World, and pin those to my boards as well. That way it’s not just all me all the time. And, of course, an active board full of useful information is more likely to get subscribed to than one that only has one new pin twice a week.

Promoted pins

I’ve never done a promoted pin, but I sure see enough of them. Mostly they’re from major companies, but anyone can get one and they’re not that expensive. Essentially, a promoted pin works the same way as a boosted post on Facebook. You can chose a demographic, and Pinterest will show your pin to people who might be interested in it.

And that’s about all there is to it. If you have any questions about Pinterest, feel free to ask in the comment section or by emailing me at Nicolecluttrell86@Gmail.com. Next week we’ll wrap things up with an overview of Instagram.