What Women Blog

by Joan

As we've recently mentioned, next week the six of us will present a program at the Writers’ Guild of Texas. We’ve been asked to talk about how we formed our group, why we decided to start blogging, and what we blog about. We'll also share our experiences with critique, the social media monster and our annual retreat.

During my five minutes of fame, I'll address content. Interesting, since as I mentioned in my last post, I’m the one staring at my computer for hours trying to be half as engaging as the other five! Often I share the same dilemma faced by many bloggers: What should I write about?

What I’ll tell our audience at Writers’ Guild is to first consider what you're trying to accomplish by blogging and what you can offer your readers. Are you trying to reach a certain audience? Gain a following? Promote your book? Air your deepest secrets? Since there are probably millions of blog posts published daily, yours should be, well, something that could only be written by you. (Readers who already blog, we'd love for you to share your link in the comments below!)

By just clicking on my Google reader, I can gain information about the Victorian Era from author Lee Jackson at The Cat’s Meat Shop, find the name of a new agent at Guide to Literary Agents, enjoy an insightful reflection from Dani Shapiro, appreciate gorgeous photography by Sarah Laurence, pick up querying tips from the all-powerful Query Shark, get a book review from Bibliophile by the Sea, read author Jamie Ford's BitterSweet Blog, peer into an agent’s world at Dystel and Goderich (our friend Jim McCarthy in particular!), throw out a story hook at TaleBait, and learn about the craft and business of writing with Writer Unboxed. The list goes on and on.

We started this blog with a simple mission—we wanted to share a little about our experiences and offer advice and insight to our writing lives. We offer observations on point of view or character, share personal reflections about struggles with issues in our manuscript--or lives. In lighter moments, we run book reviews, Q&A with authors, agents and editors, a list of our favorite reads, or a sneak peek at our annual retreat.

I hope we’re on your list of must-read blogs. We appreciate your stopping by, visiting us on Facebook, and mentioning us to your friends. And don’t forget, if you’re in Dallas next Monday, January 17, stop by the basement of the Richardson Library at Arapaho and North Central Expressway at 7pm. You never know what we might talk about.