How to: Deal with the Flu

Is it Monday already? *waves* Hi there, good people of the blogosphere! Holy crap did I ever have one helluva week. Tuesday, I woke up feeling like death warmed over. It's been a fight since then. I've decided that I'm never getting sick ever again, there's just too much to do in a week, and I can't be missing work, so wish me luck with that. I finally feel kind of human, so today's post is tongue-in-cheek about how to care for yourself when you catch the flu. Because I missed some days posting (which sucks because my posts were all planned out), I'll be doing a quick adjustment to my lineup for the next couple of weeks. Ready to dive into today? Grab your coffee, and let's get going!

Here are the steps to take when you have the flu:

• See your doctor and get tested so you can get the good meds, but please, wear a mask when you go out of the house.
• Crash in bed, and don't get up unless the house is on fire or you realllllly have to pee.
• Send someone out for medication to alleviate the symptoms; make sure you have something for fevers.
• Drink a LOT of water. Not only will this help you stay hydrated, it'll also help keep your fever down.
• Find a new show and binge-watch it.
• Don't plan to cook or clean or do anything but lie in bed.
• Have soup.
• Sleep as much as you can. Sleep helps your body worry about fighting off the flu rather than keeping your daily body in balance.
• Be prepared to suffer alone. No one wants to catch what you have, so help them help you. Limit your activity in your home, and use lots and LOTS of anti-bacterial stuff on surfaces.

I know all that seems like no-brainer stuff, but you wouldn't believe the folks out there trying to work while they're sick. Take the time off. You'll get better faster.

This year, the flu seems to present itself differently for everyone, so here are some signs to watch out for:

• Vomiting. Not just mild nausea, I'm talking full-on, bowl-hugging, seeing-everything-you've-eaten-for-a-week vomiting (this is how my husband's started).
• Headache. Like someone is splitting your head open with an axe (this is how mine started).
• Chills. Your whole body feels like one big nerve on edge.
• Fever. You'll know you have a fever when you get cold/chilly.
• Sore Throat. As though you've swallowed a piece of sandpaper that won't go down.
• Cough. Hacking-up-a-lung coughing (this is how my daughter's started).
• Body Aches. Every muscle hurts.
• Sneezing. Uncontrollable, with or without a stuffy nose.

Now, not everyone has all of these symptoms when they catch the flu. My daughter had no chills or fever, but she nearly coughed up a lung. My husband never got a cough, but he sneezed like crazy. I only had chills and fever and body aches. So, no matter what symptoms you have, start at the doctor!

This flu is nothing to play around with, y'all. And if you start wheezing, go to the ER or UrgentCare.

Did any of you come down with the crud? Did you have symptoms not listed here? How did yours present?

Help folks out and post your story in the comments below!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How to: Microplot

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you had a fantastic weekend and are ready to crank out the words this week! Today, I'm talking about microplotting. You know, that thing you do when you're furiously writing your novel. Oh! You don't do that? Don't know how? Well, sit back, relax, sip your coffee, and read on!

Some people have a detailed plot when they sit down to write their novels. If that's you, this post isn't your friend. But if you're of the other kind, the plansters, who only know where the story begins and ends when you start writing, and maybe have a couple of plot points you want to hit along the way, you may find this useful.

Microplotting isn't a long, drawn-out plot. You make decisions on the fly about what's going to happen to your characters, and you type them out like so:

In this chapter:
Beatrice will discover who has betrayed her.
How that happens:
She finds the key.
She opens the door.
She reads the riddle.
She solves the riddle, but has to seek help from Hayman to do so.
When Hayman reads the riddle, he becomes ill.
Beatrice must speak the answer aloud.
The betrayer's name appears in smoke, and it disappears just before Hayman comes to.

Then, you go above the microplot and write furiously. When you're typing out the microplot points, that's when you look up any names or important features you want to remember as you're writing. If there's something you don't know or forgot to include, type XXX in the place of the item and move on. Keep writing. Don't slow down to look it up. If you're consistent with your marker type, then you can do a find later and take the time to fact check or do research.

Microplotting can push your novel to a whole new level, but be careful of getting sidetracked. Stay on the path to the conclusion you're pushing toward. It's fun.

I don't know about all of you, but every time I've tried plotting out each chapter, I fail and end up having to scrap it and re-do the whole thing. Now, I go high-level plot points and fill in the blanks as I write. My loose outlines look something like this:
Chapter 1 - Introduce character, tone, and setting. Be sure to drop nuggets of what's coming (the beginning of change from now to the end).
Chapter 2 - Beatrice gets in trouble at school for something and a letter is sent home.
Chapter 3 - Beatrice is grounded because of the letter, and she ends up acting out at school again in some way.
Chapter 4 - Beatrice is suspended.
Chapter 5 - Beatrice meets Mark, and he ignores her because she's a "bad girl" (this makes her want to change because she really likes him).
... other chapters I fill in like the ones above.
Last Chapter - Beatrice and Mark finally get together.

So, in each chapter, I microplot how to flesh it out once I get there. Those outlines are treated as living documents and are changed often.

I hope this helps some of you when you're sprinting!

Did you find this useful? What do you do when writing? Plotter? Pantser? Plantser? Hit me with your process!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Photoshop 101.3 - Magnetic Lasso Tool

Happy Wednesday! You're getting two posts today and two posts tomorrow! I'm playing catch up, and I can't WAIT to show you all what I've been working on, but it'll have to wait until the author is ready to share it. :) Today, for this first post, I'm going to introduce you to a tool called the magnetic lasso. It's really nifty! Grab your coffee, or tea, and let's get going, shall we?

So? What did you all think of that one? Did you learn anything new or useful?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How to: Photoshop 101.2

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's post is, once again, about Photoshop. We're looking at the selection tool and all the options therein. Grab your coffee, or tea, and let's get going!

What did you think? Are you getting anything out of the videos?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

How to: Publish Your Book on KDP

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's post is all about how to publish your book on Amazon's KDP platform. Before we get to the meat and potatoes, I'm going to go over a few terms with you. Ready? Grab your coffee or tea, and let's get going!

KDP: Kindle Direct Publishing
Amazon: The folks that own KDP
KDP Select: A program you can opt into where you agree to exclusivity with KDP (meaning you promise not to publish your books anywhere else)
KU: Kindle Unlimited (you're automatically enrolled in this if you do the KDP Select agreement--that's the only way to get into KU)
Bookshelf: Where you see all the titles in your KDP library
Matchbook: A price people pay for the ebook IF they bought the paperback through Amazon and used the same account to purchase
KDP Lending Library: You grant the ability to people to loan your book to a friend for a set amount of time (usually 30 days--you're automatically enrolled if you're part of KDP Select)
DRM: Digital Rights Management (so people that buy your book can't move it from one device to a USB drive or other media--this does nothing to prevent piracy, seriously)
.mobi: The file type used by KDP
Kindle: Amazon's reading device (reads .mobi files)
Countdown Deal: The ability to put your book on sale for a maximum of 7 days in each KDP Select term of 90 days (only if you agree to KDP Select)

Now that you have the lingo down, let's get going! I'm doing a screenshot video to make it as easy as possible. Cross your fingers for me! This will be a first.

Here's the link to get started: Amazon KDP

I promised to go over the KDP Select button, but the video was getting rather long-ish, so I'll leave it to you to explore the options available there. When you publish your book, you're automatically optioned to re-up to the Select program, so if you only want to be in there for one 90 day cycle, be sure and change that option from your bookshelf tab by hovering over the ... on the right side and selecting KDP Select Info. Uncheck the little box at the bottom.

If you want to get the .mobi file after Amazon creates it, I do a walk through with screenshots here.

Any questions? Pop them in the comments below, and I'll answer!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Write Better. Write Faster. Right Now. A FREE 4-Part How-to Video Series

Happy Wednesday again! *grin* Okay, you guys, strap in, because this post is a doozy!

I'm so excited to share this!

Want to write faster (and BETTER)?
Want to finally write that novel?

This is where you start.

This 4-part video series is designed specifically to teach you—for free—how to start writing better, faster, today.

FYI, the makers of the videos are Heather Hildenbrand & S. M. Boyce: published, best-selling authors. They’re the real deal, with a NBC film option and published novels to drool over. They run a company called Find Time to Write and in true Find Time to Write BOSSness fashion, they decided to tackle the largest issue first.

Authors hire these ladies to level up their careers and propel them forward. But today, they’re doing this video series for free.

Check it out here.

Now, there's a place at the bottom where you can stick your e-mail address in and get the next three videos absolutely FREE, too.

What do you think? Will you be checking it out? Let me know in the comments.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Creating Your Own Blog Tour - Step Five - Facebook Party

Happy Tuesday! Yeah, okay, yesterday was Monday, and there are still three days left in the week, but this is the last post in my series, so that's a great reason to smile! Today, I'm going over how to throw a Facebook party that rocks, why you should do one, and how to set one up. Ready? Grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

In this series:
How to Sign up Bloggers
Creating Promotional Materials and HTML
Finding Reviewers
Creating a Thunderclap Campaign
Throwing a Facebook Launch Party

Why should you throw a Facebook Launch party along with your blog tour?

• It gets people engaged with your content (in this case, your book).
• You can help drive traffic to the blogs that hosted you (what's in it for them).
• Interaction with fans and potential fans.
• Getting other authors involved and expanding your circle.
• Creating a ripple effect across Facebook so more people see your stuff.

There are a few things to remember when setting up your Facebook party:

• When asking other authors to join, be sure they write in your genre.
• Book swag is great, books are great, but not everyone wants book swag or books.
• Have a schedule, and be sure and post the link to your party on your blog post for the tour (might even want to send it to the other bloggers).
• Don't just invite anyone and everyone on your friends list. Be specific.
• Be sure and share the event where you shared the ARC invite or where you hang out.

Now that you have a grasp of the rules, let's talk about how to run a Facebook party.

Usually, these things are filled with games like:

• Caption This - You (or one of the authors helping) post a funny picture and ask attendees to give it a caption.
• Scavenger Hunt - Have attendees find information online and post their results.
• Your Facebook Profile Picture to My Book Cover - Everyone who changes their profile picture to your book cover is entered to win something.
• Say Thanks - People go to Facebook pages or blog posts and thank the host for their time or donation.
• Meme Me - Everyone shares their favorite meme.

There are so many possibilities! Have the authors helping you come up with some other ones.

Here's how a Facebook Party usually goes:
Set up an event on Facebook (I'll go into that here in a moment) with a time and date.
Create a graphic (instructions can be found on this post) 851x315 pixels in size for the event image.
Create a list with time slots for authors who may want to help out (don't forget yourself).
Make a poll with the question: Who invited you? And decide on a giveaway (this should be something awesome).
Start your invitations.
Fill your list with authors.
Be sure all runs smoothly day of the event (you really need to be there, keeping an eye on things).
Don't worry, folks understand how it works.

Now, how do you set up an event on Facebook? Let's get into it!

Go to your Facebook home page and click here:

Click Create:

In the dropdown, choose Create Public Event:

Fill out the form and click Create:

You'll have something that looks like this:

Let's upload that header you created! Click here:

Choose Upload Image and get 'er done. You shouldn't be able to drag it at all if you created it at the correct dimensions above, so click Save Changes:

Now, click Ask Question:

Type in your poll question:

Click Add Poll Options:

Be sure "anyone can add options" has a check mark by it:

Add yourself as one of the options:

Click post:

Click on the little arrow on the top right corner:

Select Pin Post:

This will keep the poll question at the top of the event, no matter how many other posts are made. It's labeled Pinned Post:

Remember, if you pin another post, it'll replace the poll! Click on Invite:

Share the event, and then invite your friends!

That's really all there is to it. I hope this series of posts helped you in some way.

Have you ever hosted a Facebook party? What games did you play?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Creating Your Own Blog Tour - Step Four - Thunderclap

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, it's all about Thunderclap campaigns. I know you've all seen them, but do you know what they're for or what they can do for your blog tour? I intend to show you, so grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

In this series:
How to Sign up Bloggers
Creating Promotional Materials and HTML
Finding Reviewers
Creating a Thunderclap Campaign
Throwing a Facebook Launch Party

Thunderclap. What is it?

Well, a Thunderclap campaign is you, asking for people to auto-share your content the day you want it to be blasted to the world. It's usually one or two lines that'll go on people's Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and/or Tumblr blogs. Basically, it's a boom of content on day one of your tour.

You'll want to create this as soon as your bloggers sign up, so you can spend the time getting people to support your campaign. You have a max of 60 days to get your campaign supported and can choose either 100, 250, or 500. This number is important! If you don't meet it, your campaign won't go. But you can exceed whichever number you choose.

It's a great idea to have a master post with all the blog tour stops (and a short line of the content they'll have) listed at the bottom of your own tour post (you did remember that your blog should be counted as one of the many, right?).

That's the link you want to point your Thunderclap campaign to so everyone who makes it to that post can see the others.

But why a Thunderclap campaign?

Because your social media reach grows exponentially. Let's look at some numbers, shall we?
Without Thunderclap:

• 20 bloggers signed up to help with your tour and all of them post on time.
• Each of those bloggers has 250 e-mail followers (5k people).
• 50 of those followers on each blog are the same people (-1k).
• 100 of those followers on each blog don't read the content/posts (-2k).
• Out of the 2k left, we'll say 1k are readers of your genre.
• Those 20 bloggers may post to Facebook and Twitter, and probably have many of the same followers on those platforms, so we'll leave that number off for now to be reserved in our accounting.

Not a bad number, but you can do better.

With Thunderclap:

• 100 people sign up to tweet.
• Each of those accounts have 2k followers (200k people).
• 50 people sign up to post on Facebook.
• Each of those accounts have 200 friends (10k people).
• 20 people sign up to post to Tumblr.
• Each of those accounts have 200 followers (4k people).
• Out of 214k people, there are probably 10k that are unique and readers of your genre (that's less than 5%, and I'm being generous).

Now, if you look at the number of people you can reach with just a blog tour (1k), and the number of people you can reach with a Thunderclap campaign (10k), it's kind of a no-brainer, right? Yeah, you should probably do it.

But how?

Let's get into that now.

First, go to the Thunderclap website:

Click Login/Register:

Connect one of your accounts and give the proper permissions:

You'll see a screen like this:

Click Start a Thunderclap:

You already have your images, but feel free to look at some of the successful campaigns for ideas. Write up a tweet/post, and click Start:

Fill out the form (remember not to shorten your link), and then click create and continue:

On the last page, you're just looking over everything to be sure it's okay. Click submit, and wait. They usually get back to you with approval or denial within 72 hours.

Have you ever used Thunderclap? What were your results?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo