Tossing It Out

Monday, March 25, 2013

Nicki Elson Takes a Turn at Controversy

Nicki Elson: author of Divine
Temptation

Just to show I'm not the only one who can stir some controversy, I've invited Nicki Elson to come stir things up and toss out some of her own. Nicki's got a book coming out on March 26th (hey! That's tomorrow for those reading this today). The opinions presented in this post are not necessarily those of the Tossing It Out management so if any rotten eggs are thrown, toss them in Nicki's direction. I know that my readers are nicer than that, but do let Nicki know what you think in the comment section.

Divine Temptation

I’m so excited—and yes, a bit nervous—about being invited over for Arlee’s Controversy Monday. He extended the invitation after I hinted about a controversy regarding my new novel, Divine Temptation (to release tomorrow!). I didn’t mean to write a controversial book. I’m just a Jesus-loving girl who also happens to like writing sexy books, and I didn’t think the two had to be mutually exclusive. I still don’t think they have to, but I’ve already come across those who beg to differ…and the book hasn’t even been released yet, so I can only imagine what I’m in for.

Now, I did fully expect to take some flak for including explicit sexual content in a novel that features a heavenly angel as one of the leading characters. On this point, I’ll refer you to my post Should I have faded to black? (written in response to an earlier novel, but it applies to this story as well), but what surprised me, and what I want to talk about today, is how unwelcome any ounce of faith is in a mainstream paranormal romance novel, even one about an angel.

I get that when reading a romance novel, no one wants a CCD lesson, so I appreciate the feedback that led me to pare back and even cut certain scenes. They weren’t plot essential, and now the story moves at a better pace, but what bruises my heart is to see that just the suggestion in the narrative that God is all-powerful or that Satan actually exists or that a person should feel guilty for their sins can set some people off.

I certainly don’t think that everyone in the world believes these things, but I also don’t understand why those who don’t believe choose to get irate instead of simply viewing my world as a fictional universe. The story is fiction, after all. I’m sure no one ever asked J.K. Rowling to qualify narrative statements to say “Harry had been taught to fear Voldemort.” In that universe, Voldemort does exist and he is evil. In mine, Satan does exist and he is evil. And God is all-powerful.

So why in a world that doesn’t flinch when fictional stories speak of Voldemorts or Aslans or Saurons as real beings, does flat-out stating core tenets of Christian faith in a work of mainstream fiction fluster certain people? Why is it more palatable when the characters are dressed up as lions and wizards?

Seriously—why?

--
Nicki Elson
Author
www.nickielson.com

Links:

Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

Divine Temptation at Goodreads (the 25th will be the last day to enter to win a paperback copy)

Author page at Amazon (Divine Temptation will release on 3/26, but Amazon has been known to post Kindle versions early, so it might be available at post time)

Friday, March 22, 2013

Meet Arlee Bird's A to Z Ambassadors (Part 2)

In my post of last Friday, I introduced two of my Ambassadors--my team who volunteered to help me patrol the A to Z sign up list and spread good will throughout the Challenge participants. Today I bring you the other three members of my team.

Yvonne Lewis

Arlee Bird meets Yvonne Lewis in Los Angeles in 2012

When I first started the A to Z Challenge in 2010, I had nearly 100 bloggers sign on within the week I had announced my intentions to blog through the alphabet. The very first to join up was Yvonne Lewis who now blogs at The Written Word of Yvonne Lewis. Later, Yvonne would become one of the handful of bloggers I have met in person when she vacationed in Los Angeles last year.

Yvonne is from the United Kingdom and began blogging in 2006. She has had two books of her delightful poetry published: Negative V Positive, with a portion of the book blurb written by her idol, Irish singer Daniel O'Donnell, and Written from the Heart, with part of the blurb written by A to Z co-host Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Jaimie Ramsey

Jaimie Ramsey and her husband

Jaimie has been blogging at Living in the Light since late 2010. Her blog title comes from the Bible verses 1 John 1:7-9. She's not ashamed to proclaim her Christian faith and typically blogs about God, faith, and family. Please be sure to visit Jaimie and give her your support and encouragement.

Alana Garrigues

Alana Garrigues at Writercize is a Challenge veteran. She is a freelance writer, journalist, and all around creative hand at all things writing and otherwise. Alana played a big role in promoting last year's Challenge and she was a natural for me to call on to assist me with this year's Challenge.

I'll be visiting with Alana and Nutschell "The Writing Nut" on March 30 when I go speak to their writers group about blogging and of course the A to Z Challenge. Here is an excerpt from Alana's blog:

I have very special news for bloggers in the Los Angeles metro area. Lee (Arlee Bird) agreed to be the guest speaker at the Children's Book Writers of Los Angeles (CBW-LA) March meeting, just before the A to Z Challenge kicks off! On March 30 from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m., he will speak to a group of writers and bloggers at the El Segundo Library about the merits of blogging and social networking as it pertains to the author's platform.

CBW-LA is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and inspiring writers on the road to publication. It is the brainchild of another local mastermind, the fabulous Nutschell Windsor of The Writing Nut, and she dedicates countless hours and passion to sharing her knowledge of the publishing industry with writers, aspiring and published alike.

For more info about this workshop visit Alana's blog at:

http://writercize.blogspot.com/2013/03/blogging-with-bird-atozchallenge-host.htm

You can also visit Alana at:

ww.alanagarrigues.com

For local news and writing updates: www.facebook.com/AlanaGarriguesWrites

My sincerest thank you to the entire Ambassador Team!

Do you know of anyone who has not signed up for the Challenge yet? You perhaps? The final week of sign ups is ahead of us. Be sure to tell anyone who might be interested in joining us. Also spread the word on social media. Hopefully we can match the 1800 we had for last year. We have about 500 to go to reach that goal. Let's go A to Zingers!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Ask Arlee: What kind of blog is best for me?

English: Monkeys Blogging Español: Simios bloggeando (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A few months ago a blogger whom I like to refer to as "Dr. Johnny" posed a question to me after he had read some of my advice on a LinkedIn forum. Johnny Velazquez, PhD blogs at Parilla. Here is Dr. Johnny's question to me:

Should I concentrate on a particular subject when I blog, or whatever comes to mind? Blessings.

My response:

This is a question that I think many of us face when we consider blogging. I've seen this work as a dilemma that sometimes keeps people from blogging before they even try it, while in other cases bloggers will begin to have doubts about the purposefulness of their blogging or disappointment about a seeming lack of interest in what they are doing.

To blog or not to blog? Am I just wasting my time or is this endeavor all eventually going somewhere?

If your goal is to be a writer per se then since blogging is writing, that in itself is good reason to keep on blogging. If you're published already or hope to have your work published in the future, then your blogging activity becomes your platform for your work and your market exposure.

If you have some other goal in mind like expressing your beliefs, sharing your knowledge, or whatever other reason you may have, then blogging can be useful as a tool of getting yourself out into the cyber world as an expert or an enthusiast in a particular field. And if nothing else, blogging is fun.

So what should you write about?

I think content depends on your goal. I tend to go the random route and blog about what's weighing on my mind or whatever idea pops into my head. I consider my blog an eclectic blog because it doesn't stick to any particular subject. In some ways I may still be trying to find myself as a blogger. At least I'm consistent in my posting and I have my platform that I can eventually use as a springboard into other realms.

If you have a field of specialty then you may want to create a niche blog where you are a go-to guy for whatever topic you're the master of. It may limit you, but then again you can always sidetrack now and then for reader relief and to give yourself a writing break.

Personally, I think the niche blogs can get a little dry and redundant unless written by an exceptional writer with a wealth of near unquestionable knowledge and experience. If you keep the material fresh and on top of trends you might appeal to your target audience and begin to attain a regular following. This will probably not be easy and will probably require a lot of work. But if you stick to it, this route may be well worth the effort in the long run, especially if you have books or other products to market.

You may want to gravitate towards your personality and whatever agenda or information you want to convey to your audience. It doesn't hurt to experiment and get reader feedback to help shape your course in blogging. And you should post on a schedule so any readers you manage to hook know when to look for your blog posts.

The bottom line is to blog about what interests you most. Show the readers the side of you that you want them to see and try to make an effort to get them to like you or at least want to come back to see what the heck you'll be doing next. Subject matter is probably less important that style and presentation. The most interesting topic can put a reader to sleep if left in the wrong hands, while an utterly ridiculous topic in the hands of a creatively entertaining writer can grab a reader's attention.

Content may be king, but the housekeeper who keeps everything clean and fresh is the one who makes the castle an inviting place to visit. Blog about what you like and then listen to your guests. Ask questions to see what they think. Learn to read between the lines or beyond what is said in the comment box. If the comments are especially good then you probably have done something right in the post you've written. Now keep doing it.

If you aren't getting as many comments as you'd like to see then you've got to get out there and drum up blog business. So, in answer to your question, blog about a particular subject if you wish or use whatever comes to mind when you're writing. Like what you do and if that comes across to the reader there's a good possibility that they may like it too. Write it right and keep yourself open to changing your direction if you need to. From what I've seen so far, there are no set rules in blogging, but some things work better than others. It's up to each individual blogger to find out what works best for them.

What kind of blogging works best for you? What kinds of blogs do you prefer to read? Do you regularly read any blogs that you would consider to be "niche blogs"? Did I basically answer a question with a question?

Would you like more comments on your blog?