Sunshine Award

So a few days ago, Rhapsody Phoenix, of Rapping on a Melody gifted me with the Sunshine Award pictured above. This is what she had to say about it, "Please keep the blessing going by gifting 10 people with the award letting them know their contribution to bloggersville is appreciated and what they have to say matters." Thank you Rhapsody.

So because I've got double portion sunshine, I'll be passing it on to the following 20 people who always bring sunshine into my life with their blogs, comments, and actions - online and offline. They never fail. Thank you all...

Frequently Asked Questions - I want to be a published author

Dear,

Congrats on your anniversary, it actually looks like I've been reading Myne Whitman for like 3 years,

I have been meaning to ask, how do I go about being/learning to be an author, its not like I consider myself much of a good writer, but good or not, I have some little things I write every now and then and I dream of publishing them someday.

I don't want to keep thinking about it all on my own, just said to ask some more established writers like you people.

I work as an Engineer, I speak more with figures and drawings, so English sef na difficult thing. but writing as always been a dream.......you want to help me start off?

Notice me or I die! How to get your blog noticed

I'm beginning to slack a bit, but after a week on the road, I think I can forgive myself. I was supposed to do a massive blog round yesterday but I had so much mail requiring replies plus some other stuff and I ended up making comments in only a few places. And this brings me to today's topic. Within my first months of blogging, almost everyone knew who Myne Whitman was, and what her blog was all about. It helped that I had 'Writes' in my title, but there were other factors too. What are they?

I was everywhere.

Yes indeed. Some may call it lack of job but for me then, and now still, it is my job. I don't make a living from it yet, but we could get there. And I'll reiterate what I've mentioned before, blogging is not a competition. You decide how big you want your blog, how much you want to be noticed, if at all, and then take it from there. I started out wanting to get traditionally published so I wanted to get widely noticed in order to get an agent or publisher. Along the line, I decided to publish myself and being noticed became even more important to sell my books.

So how did I do it? I followed a lot of blogs. To be honest, even when there's no selling involved, your blog can be seen a product because you want to share your ideas and your opinions, and maybe get other people's point of view on the things you may be going through and the stuff that matter to you. Unless you want to be speaking to a vacuum, (and I do know that most bloggers want some form of attention), you need to have your blog noticed. Go out there and follow more blogs. How do you find them, you ask? It depends on the community you want your blog to fit into.

Remember this article on Finding your Blog Niche? Depending on your title, description and the type of posts you plan, that kind of tells you what community to target. If your blog is basically Nigeria-themed, find a blog directory for that like the NBA - Nigerian Blog Awards. Others include Bookblogs - bloggers about reading and reviewing books, Shewrites - for women writers and authors, SitsGirls - mostly female bloggers, moms or nay, IAN - independent authors network, and more. The easiest way of course is to follow the people who follow your blog, and those that make comments as well as tapping from the blog list of the blogs you already follow. If you look on the lower left sidebar, you will see my media sites, and blogs I visit.

Another way to get attention and draw traffic to your blog is by being on the social media networks and commenting on websites that are related to your blog. Social media include Facebook and Twitter, and if you haven't already, sign on to them immediately. Make sure that the name you use corresponds to your blog. If you already have your real name accounts, but you don't want them connected to your anonymous blog, then open new accounts with your blog name. I joined FB and Twitter with my real name before I started blogging, but after Myne Whitman took over, I simply changed the name. And that is very important, you have to be consistent across these platforms or people will be confused.

Messageboards and Forums also come in useful here, as well as related websites. I have a presence on Nairaland, Naijastories.com (OK, I'm the founder of this one), Nigeriavillagesquare, CoffeeTime Romance, The Romance Reviews, among others. I make sure to regularly make comments on these forums and interact with their members. You don't have to spam the sites as most of them have a feature for you to have link to your blog in your signature. Others that are wordpress-based will link your name/comment directly to a website you provide. For the Nigerian blogs, other websites include Lindaikeji's blog and BellaNaija.com.

In the next blog tips post, I will share more on other ways to get noticed. Stay tuned...

Guest Author - Abigail George: Africa Where art Thou?

Today's guest author is a friend on Facebook and a poet. Her new collection of poems has just been published to really fantastic reviews from all across Africa and the world and she has agreed to answer some questions for me. Her replies exhibit the spirit of a true poet and contains some great nuggets for us all especially aspiring and upcoming authors. Enjoy...

Abigail George asks questions of the continent she loves. Her collection is peopled with the impoverished and marginalised: 'vacant grown-ups, beggars, orphans and vagrants'. It includes tributes to jazz pianist Moses Molelekwa, photographers Ken Oosterbroek and Kevin Carter and to anti-apartheid activist, Dulcie September. George's voice is one of conscience and compassion.

MICHELLE MCGRANE, author of Fireflies and Blazing Stars, Hybrid and A Suitable Girl, South Africa

Abigail George’s poetry etches the intricacies of the homestead with expert hands; she effortlessly merges the mundane with the modern, and captures the lowest of depths and the highest of peaks in everything life and South Africa. Her ink flows through the stench of trenches, just as it captures the crisp air of the breathtaking landscapes of her homeland. As a unique chronicler of the past and present, George is a voice that will erupt through the rock solid density of both pre and post apartheid South Africa.

UNOMA AZUAH, Poetry Editor: Sentinelnigeria.org

What happens in Vegas...

Stays in Las Vegas. Are my lips sealed? LOL...

Left the city of a million lights and now making our way gradually home. What an eye opener it was in Vegas, man. My camera battery finally gave out after I took so many pictures. The strip is amazing, ludicrous, awesome, ridiculous, astonishing, and tacky all at once. And that's all I'm going to say. More pictures may come, or not. We'll see. Have a great weekend all, mwah!

Road Trip - Oregon and Idaho

Hi peeps, I'm not gonna be able to write much. We just arrived in Las Vegas and I was able to upload these pics. Atala has said that when we come back, he'll be sharing some snippets and observations of our experience here on the blog. In the meantime, enjoy these pics...

The Nigerian Blog Awards

Hi everyone, I'm missing you o, but make I no lie, I'm enjoying the road trip and the break from doing my blog rounds. :) Most of the posts you've been seeing were scheduled but this I'm making right now.

I got emails from some blogger friends asking me to nominate them for the blog awards and since our hotel has free wifi, I decided to do just that. I've always been a fan of what Good Naija Girl and some other volunteer bloggers do for the NBA and how it brings the Nigerian bloggers together and motivates us all. And I can't forget that you guys did me the honor of nominating and voting me last year as the best Nigerian blog; among others.

Well, it's that time of the year again. Let's show the awards and each other some love. It's time to nominate your best blogs and you have until June 17 for this phase. It was tough choice having to do it myself but for the sake of the bloggers that finally got my nominations, I'm glad I did. Below are the rules:

Visit the Nominations page.
Fill in your name and email address. Please use a valid email address or your nomination will not be counted.
Put the website addresses (urls) of the blogs you are nominating, making sure that the nominated blog fits the category it is being nominated for. Blogs nominated for categories they do not qualify for will be removed.
When you’ve put a blog address in each of the categories you’d like to nominate a blog for, click the “Submit” button at the bottom left corner of the page. You will be directed to check the email address you used to register your nominations for a confirmation email.
Open the email from nigerianblogawards and click on the link in the email. This will cause your nominations to be registered.

And yeah, I tagged this as Blogging Tips cos being nominated for, and winning the awards last year definitely got me more traffic and raised my profile. Based on the number of people who read my blog daily, this post is also an opportunity for those interested to call for people to nominate them in the comments. All the best to everyone.

Nigerian First Lady, Patience Jonathan: What a Makeover!

I think I'm in love with the new look of our First Lady. Could this just be the effect of a smile?

For a woman who is best known for the picture immediately below, the ones that follow are amazing! Either she's lost some weight, or her photographer has awesome technical and photoshop skills. And massive props to the make-up and stylists too.

Blogging Basics for the Beginning Writer - Raquel Byrnes (Guest Author)

My guest author for today is Raquel Byrnes, a blogger, writer and published author of Purple Knot - released June 3 by White Rose Publishing. Continuing in my Blogging Series, Raquel has agreed to share tips for beginner writers who also blog. Raquel has been blogging since 2009 and her debut novel,As an author who also started off blogging, I totally agree with the points that Raquel shares. She also reiterate some of the tips I shared under finding your blog niche, this is expecially important for would be authors. Well, let's hear first about the newly minted author...


Raquel Byrnes lives in Southern, California with her husband of sixteen years and their six children. She considers inspirational fiction a wonderful way to minister to others. She writes romantic suspense with an edge-your-seat pace. Her debut is the first book of the Shades of Hope Series, and was released on June 3rd from White Rose Publishing. You can visit her at her website: www.raquelbyrnes.com and her writing blog, Edge of Your Seat Romance. Her book is already available on Amazon, and you can buy by clicking on the image to the left.

I want more Comments!

No, not me, you. Don't you want more comments on your blog? LOL...

OK, let me make this clear about this series on blogging tips and trips, I'm no expert. I've only been blogging for less than 2 years so what I'm sharing is just from the little I know. I'm also not a professional blogger by any means, only a writer building a platform and so my tips may be biased toward branding and building networks. On that note, two quick links;

- Darbie won an eBook of A Love Rekindled from the Lost and Found Blogfest and reviews it 10 out of 10.

- Raquel Byrnes novel Purple Knot releases today and you can get a copy from White Rose Publishing.

Now to today's post, how do you get people talking after a post? I am an equal opportunity commenter if I do say say myself, and while I try to leave genuine and pertinent comments, there are those posts that make me go yummm...On those posts, I could type a whole post as a comment if I had all the time in the world. What are the common things I've discovered about those posts, or in some cases, those blogs, and what can you do?

1. I am sure we all know the very first rule? Leave comments on other blogs! LOL...I cannot repeat this enough. Personally I go around lots of blogs even on days time is too short to leave loads of comments. So how do I choose the posts I end up dropping comments on, or those that get comprehensive and personal comments? It is on those blogs and for the bloggers who I've noted as leaving similar and regular comments on my blog. My advice is leave comments, and make the comments count. Try to read the blog, if that is your first time, scan a couple or more posts, read the ABOUT ME profile, and then drop a note.

2. Write interesting posts: These are posts that address issues that touch me in one way or another. It could be that they're talking about a hot button issue, or it could just be a journal entry that shows it was written for the heart. Examples includes posts that provide information I haven't heard before, that tackle an issue from an angle I had not personally considered before, or uses some funny graphics to spike the personality of the post, making it impossible for me NOT to comment.

3. Remove your word verification: This is connected to the whole blog this time and not to individual posts. I seem to have a sort of dyslexia when it comes to the captchas required for comment verification, and it may take me up to two or three tries to get it right. I avoid the blogs I know that have captchas so as to save time when my blog round ration is limited. The worse cases are where the captcha does not show immediately until the click post comment. What happens is that I click comment and X out not knowing the verification is not finished, thereby losing my whole comment. I tell you, such an experience doesn't encourage me to comment often on that same blog.

4. Check out your comment system: Please please, please, make sure your comment system is working. Sometimes, using the word verification throws the comment box out of whack. Check it yourself by leaving a comment as Anonymous or name and URL instead of your Google account. There are blogs where I can't leave a comment if my name depended on it because the system is whacked. Also make sure the link to leave a comment is in a place people see easily. It should either be under the heading of the post, or directly under it. Please don't make me have to click something first before I can find your comment link or box. Thanks!

There are a few more points but I'll leave them for the next post. For now, it is tadaa! Enjoy your weekend, everyone. Next time you see me here or on your blogs, we'll be on our road trip. Idaho here I come...