Image source unknown, it’s been on my computer for ages! If it’s yours, please let me know so I can attribute it properly.
The very last Round of ROW80 for 2012 started yesterday. I had the pleasure of being a sponsor, and a participant, for the last round and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. ROW80 was quite an education for me on how to write update posts which are readable. After writing my own second progress post, I realised I was boring myself silly! It was so dull! “I did this, this and this.” *yawn* So today I am sharing a few suggestions on spicing up posts, which I hope to use myself.
I’ve also listed misdemeanours which became my pet peeves as a sponsor and that may also turn your blog readers off! I am hoping these ideas will make checking in more enjoyable as a writer and reader. (The lessons I learnt could also apply to NaNoWriMo and whatever other writing initiative you’ve joined.)
Things I Love to See:
- I love reading about writers rewarding themselves! If you hit your goal for the week, or as close to it as the havoc of life has let you, give yourself a reward. Then please, tell me about it. It makes me smile and leave your post feeling good.
- Quickly share a lesson, blog post link or a quote that has inspired you in your writing that week. As well as the sponsors, I know there are other participants who like to visit others’ progress reports and leave some love. It would be great to give them back something small for their visit.
- I love catchy titles that interest me, not just, “October 16 check-in.” They will attract readers scanning through the Linky list.
- Throw in a picture, if you have one. Humour, quotes, anything to make your post more readable and lively.
- If you read a great book worth sharing, write a very brief review so we can all get enthusiastic about reading it too. (Don’t take much time over it, just say why you liked it.) Just mentioning the title gives it no relevance.
- If you’ve had a bad week, don’t go into massive guilt-trip overload. It is totally unnecessary and bad for your mental health and motivation! I was delighted to see Kait Nolan address this subject as the first post for this round. http://aroundofwordsin80days.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/failing-small-and-state-your-round-4-goals/ I don’t mind people venting frustration, but remember, distractions or needing time-out aren’t criminal acts. So be kind to yourself! As long as you’re planning and writing something, you are on the move!
- I love it when people share plot and character issues they are trying to work through. They make me really think and get me enthused about the whole business of writing! In that situation, what would I do?
- If twice a week posting is too much for you, then, post once a week and declare that in your goals. Don’t let your involvement become another heavy have-to.
- Don’t stress yourself by trying to adopt my ideas! These are just my views. Each to their own!
Things to Resist!
- Don’t leave comments on participants posts purely to ensure that your blog gets promoted, particularly if you are not a participant! Readers know what you’re not there to genuinely support them, when you leave your latest post link in the actual comment itself. When you leave a blog comments, the systems allow you to leave a URL with your name and email address. It enables the blog owner to find and follow you.
- Don’t put up a progress post which is just a regular blog post and fails to mention your goals, or any writing goals at all. It can be seen as inappropriate self promotion.
This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.
Can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t leave this post feeling enthused to make the best of your suggestions? Great post and well done.
One thing I will say: I hate leaving my link in a comment and agree with your point os this in general, but in some comment boxes, such as yours, it will only allow me to sign in with twitter, face book, or wordpress.com. If I sign in with wordpress.com it goes to the wrong blog. If I sign in twitter or face book, it still doesn’t lead you to my ROW80 blog. So on occasions like this, I do sign off with my name and wordpress.org address, which is appropriate to the comment because it deals with ROW80. Like this….
Shah, http://shahwharton.com/
Hope it’s okay?
XXX
It’s Ok Shah. I have rescued you from the Spam filter and set you free to comment.
Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate it.
It looks like you pulled your link on facebook, but I thought this was really useful, Cate. I felt pressured to put up the music and fitness goals, since everyone else seemed to be doing it, but I really just want to focus on writing. And I love the idea of posting about the things we’re writing about, and not just how many hours or words we’ve put in.
Thanks for your comment Ann. That link was in the midst of one of the suggestions that created confusion and discord, so I thought it wise to take it out. Quite a few large chunks came off that post.
Thanks, Cate! This is a really good point–just because it’s “only a check-in post” doesn’t mean I shouldn’t make it fun and interesting to read. I hadn’t thought of it that way before, but now that I read this it makes so much sense.
Excellent suggestions, Cate. I’ve come to the same conclusions over a year-and-a-half in ROW; being interesting and informative is the key. As for the misdemeanors, because I sponsored for a year…totally agree on all points. Hope all the ROWer’s read this post and take it to heart.
All the best for the coming round, Cate
Well done and well said, Cate!
Karen
Kim, Gene and Karen, thank you for your kindness. You have just stopped me from bursting into tears and taking this post offline. It was not a good move to write it from the other feedback I’ve gotten.
This post has been heavily edited to remove anything which was construed as misleading or offensive. Again, all I can do is apologise. I did make it clear that they were suggestions and not to go crazy over my ideas.
Actually, I freely invite people to set goals for other areas of their lives in addition to writing because I find it interesting to read about more than simply “I wrote x words this week” and I feel it gives a bit more room for conversation or things to discuss.
Hi Kait, I can see that and it’s great. What does worry me is when I see a ROWER with massive lists of goals that are several year’s worth, not 80 days. There is a compulsion to push ourselves.
I am being beaten to a pulp over on the ROW80 Facebook page. It seems I have been completely misunderstood and people are taking what I suggested as rules. I have tried to dispel that.
Truth is, I am bored with MY posts. That is why I came up with the suggestions. If I was so dissatisfied with the ROW80 experience, I would have exited. I will be here for Round 4 and will sponsor again in round 1 2013 as I love it so much.
Wishing sincerely I had never written this post! I never meant to be seen as criticising. It has been heavily edited to take the offending parts out. My very sincere apologies for putting you through the additional workload.
Thanks so much for sharing the links, Cate. All the best with your ROW goals!
Thanks Steph. It’s my pleasure.