So Sorry?

Picked up on Twitter and so true:

I must delete some of my rss feeds, so I just now decided, any blog that apologizes for not posting, they're out. One gone already!

Don't apologize for not posting. If you must, sneak back in and back-date some posts so it looks like you've been paying attention to your blog all along. Or commit to daily posts for a month so that your blog looks fresh. Then collapse your archives so previous months' don't tattletale about former bad habits.

There are ways and there are ways.

Are you pinging?

Pinging is a way to give your blog a little boost by notifying an online service that you've updated your blog. This technique is much more proactive than waiting for the web crawlers at Google to notice you. I use Pingoat and once you're there, it's easy peasy. Just fill in the blanks, and click on all the services you want notified. If you click on the header in each category, all the items within will be checked. Don't do this too often, but once or twice a week after you update your blog is a good idea. This takes less than 60 seconds. Do it!

"Bee" a perfect blogger

Pro-blogger and blogging guru, Chris Garrett explains how to "bee" a perfect blogger. Here's good advice for authors preparing their own blogs for an impending blog book tour. Be sure to read the comments, too, because there are plenty of good insights and tips there.

Be sure to bookmark Chris' site and stop by often for the very best blogging help available. He's also on Twitter, and the above-mentioned article was picked up there. If you're not tweeting yet, I recommend it for a quick and easy way to give and get valuable information and links.

A Smashing Idea

Picked up at Twitter, Smashing Magazine offers up fifteen tools purported to make your blogging life easier. Do any of them work? I haven't tried them since the actual act of blogging isn't that difficult for me. But, if you're a virtual gadget lover, this might offer you some tools you'll like, and the article is definitely worth a read. Clear overviews and a clean wrap-up make it worth your while. This eMagazine is definitely worth exploring further.

Thanks, aboutbooks, for the heads-up.

The Perfect Plan

Few things make an entrepreneur's heart sink quite as deeply as the prospect of creating a business plan, and yet that one monumental step might be exactly the thing to ensure success in the long-term endeavor. It doesn't have to be as daunting as it sounds, and it can be downright fun.

The same holds true for blogging. Having a good blog is an important part of your long-term blog book tour success, but you must have a plan so your blog does all that it can and should accomplish.

You can start by answering a few simple questions:

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• How?
• Why?

Arrange them in any order you like, and each day think about one question and it's relationship to your blog.

Today, let's use Who. Look at your blog with an objective eye, and decide if it truly reflects who you are. Who is the person behind the image? Is this an author's blog? Who is that writer? Is your readership seeing you the way you would like them to? Who are you? And what can you say in your next post that will give a clearer indication? How can you change your blog to more closely reflect the personality you'd like to project? Are you all over the map? Sound whine-y? Foul-mouthed? Or do you seem like someone you'd like to meet? With interesting commentary and good writing that makes people come back for more.

If you have time, take it a step further and look at who you're linking to. Do they reflect your focus on the blog? Or have those links just been there forever and they really need a little housekeeping?

Happy August and good blogging!

August Blogging Challenge

We're issuing a challenge to all you blogging authors to help get your blogs in good shape for a blog book tour. August is The One-Post-Per-Day Blog Challenge. Post each day, every day.

Anyone who participates can leave a comment and link here so we go over to leave messages on your blogs. The idea is to get your blog active and noticed by the search engines before your tour. So start thinking about how you're going to beef things up on your blog; you don't want to bore us to tears with useless drivel.

If you don't know what a blog book tour is, go read The Quickest Blog Book Tour Guide Ever. You'll find more useful tips to get your blog in topnotch shape for a dynamite blog tour. It all starts with your blog - that's the launching pad for the best tours.

If you want to participate with a group, this challenge is homebased at the Blog Book Tours Yahoo!Group. You must give your full name and book title to join the group.

Starry, Starry Night

Tasha Tudor, beloved children's book illustrator, recently passed into spirit. She led a life of 1830s simplicity and fans know her not only for her Corgyville art, but also for her love of dollhouses and miniatures. She, like generations before her, was fascinated by the wonder of smallness, and I confess an intrigue of dollhouses myself, though I prefer someone else's collection to enjoy, living vicariously through their intense and intricate efforts in creating these magical worlds.

When a new book for young readers recently came to my attention, it was not only the subject of miniatures but the “Starry Night” included in the title that caught my attention. As a professional artist, Van Gogh's painting immediately came to mind, and indeed the book deals with a stolen Van Gogh, but this one a professional copy created for a dollhouse collection. The mysterious plot deals with recovery of the missing miniature, and who amongst the avid gallery of miniatures afficianodos could have coveted it enough to commit theft. Best friends join up with a clever pet Dachsund to find the thief and recover the painting.

Although the book is written for youngsters age 10-15, the information about miniatures is in-depth and technical enough to hold the attention of an adult. On the flip-side, this aspect might make it too involved for just any teen, unless they were passionate about art in general, or miniatures in particular. Still the plot moved things along nicely, the descriptions are well-written, and the characters well-drawn. I wouldn't hesitate to buy the book for the right young reader... or for an adult fan of the miniatures world.

Searching for a Starry Night is my second foray into eBooks and both were Echelon Press imprints. I am impressed with the quality of the writing in each book from this publishing company. Visit their website to view more of their publications. Most of the titles are available in eBook and paperback format to suit the reader's choice, options that are becoming evermore popular in book publishing.

Be sure to hit all the blogs on this book tour - each stop will give you added and interesting information about this small but captivating art form.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Featured Guest at Stories for Children Magazine

May 31 - Sam from Searching for a Starry Night tells her best friend's story at My Best Friend's Story

June 11 - Mayra's Secret Bookcase

June 12 - Elysabeth's Stories Blog

June 17 Margaret Grace, author of Murder in Miniature and I answer the same questions as she hosts me at the Killer Hobbies and I host her at Candid Canine

June 27 - The Stiletto Gang

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stop by and ask some questions. Post a comment on each of the blogs, sign up for newsletters and enter to win some miniature prizes and books!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, you may purchase a copy of the book at amazon.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christine Verstraete is author of Searching For A Starry Night, A Miniature Art Mystery. The book was published in June 2008 by Quake. She also is an award-winning journalist whose stories have appeared in various newspapers and magazines. Her short fiction will appear in Cat Tales Magazine from Wildside Press and NEWN Magazine, as well as online at Mouth Full of Bullets and Futures Mysterious Anthology. Her short horror story, The Witch Tree, was a contest winner published by Echelon Press. She also is author of the e-book, In Miniature Style, with stories about collectors, photos of their miniatures, and how-to projects. Visit her at her website for all the latest news.