Wednesday 19 August 2009

Life after blogging

Today I'm at the Edinburgh International Book Festival talking about blogging. Although I regularly write on my live-journal account this account has been rather quiet of late.

How to Survive the Terrible Twos: Diary of a Mother under Siege came out of my live journal account and is still selling. In fact only this week I've heard that Spanish rights are in the pipeline.

But this journal has been somewhat neglected. I'll be talking about that and why that is. The short version is that I ended up spending so much time researching and writing about ebooks that I realized my own work was suffering.

Since the posts here have slowed I've been doing what I'm meant to be doing. By Feb 2010 I will have delivered four books and two plays since Jan 2009 as well as doing my best to actively support my publishers publicity campaigns, doing workshops and becoming Hon Sec for the Society of Authors in Scotland.

I am intending on coming back to this blog. It is, after all, my professional site. But it's only now that I'm learning how to balance blogging and real work. That's a lot of what I'm going to be talking about today.

As an experiment, if you come to my talk today, and then come here - please leave a comment.

11 comments:

Heike said...

Thanks for an interesting blogging workshop at the book festival. It was very informative and provided a lot of food for thought.

isahm_es said...

I guess I'm one of the first attendees doing her homework! Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for an inspiring talk at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I just signed up for a Twitter account and will start blogging this weekend!

Isabel
_______________________________
Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza
English into Spanish translator
Lingotrans Language Services
www.lingotrans.co.uk

Unknown said...

Hi Caroline,
I enjoyed your talk today (and at last year's festival). I've been thinking about keeping a blog, but what holds me back is what you both mentioned -- that blogging eats into your 'real' writing time. Enough of my writing energy gets channelled into emailing already! The point you made about basing a blog on a 'journey' or a particular topic rather than indulging in freeform musing was a very sound and practical one, I thought. By the way, this is the first time I've actually commented on anyone's blog. A toe in the water?

In the Land of Sheep said...

I found the information you shared at the workshop today to be quite insightful and would love a copy of your notes. The progression of your comments was engaging and easy to follow- even for the non-technical. Thank you for sharing.

Caroline Dunford said...

Hi Heike
I'm very glad you found the talk helpful.

Caroline Dunford said...

Hi Isabel
Congrats of joining twitter - you'll find me at verdandiweaves there. I'll be looking out for your blog.

Caroline Dunford said...

Hi FairweatherWalkerJill
It's very nice to hear that people come back to hear me speak again! I completely agree that blogging can eat into your writing time. My latest resolve is to try and update fortnightly. Being a regular rather than a frequent blogger is really the key. If I get organized enough I make even decide to blog on certain days of the month, but with two book deadlines looming over me I'm not thinking that far ahead yet!

Caroline Dunford said...

Hi InTheLandOfSheep
Once my notes are suitably tidied I will be sending you a copy. Thank you for attending.

Heike said...

Hi Caroline,
Thanks for your comment on my blog. All my cards are individually designed and handcrafted, i.e. apart from items like wedding stationery there are no two cards exactly the same. Due to this the cards are not widely available, and I am dealing directly with most of my customers. If you like, you could leave me your e-mail address (all my comments are moderated and I would, of course, not publish these details) and I could forward my contact details. Alternatively I could arrange to meet you at the book festival next week (e.g. at the end of your workshop on 25 August) and give you my details then.

Jack The Lad said...

I was at your workshop yesterday and found it interesting and usefull. I am constantly thinking about creating a blog about Edinburgh much in the same lines as Diamond Geezer does for London, though I'd have to swap LRT busses for the Tube. My main concern is having enough articles to publish in a constant flow, but as it won't be a diary format (normally) I could have posts in a queue. Anyway thanks again.

cycling through vietnam: my cancer diary said...

Hi Caroline, I enjoyed your talk and enjoyed meeting you at the SBT event too. I was pleased to read your advice on work/life/blog balance. It's so easy, I find, to get blogged down!