I am finally nearing the end of the writing part of my website. What I am dealing with now is social media.

I want to add links to all the standards: Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook,Youtube, and Blogger.

Twitter went off without a hitch, but it is becoming more apparent that I have to have the website up and running to add the rest. Just doesn't seem right to me.

A follow up to Author Bios - using mine

I am not sure that I was clear enough yesterday in the bios. So, today I will use one of my drafts to show you what I did.

#1: Bio for Twitter or Elevator  Pitch. It is a micro bio and in the first person. You start with your name, occupation and accomplishments.

My name is Sheryl A. VanVleck. I graduated from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, IL. I am a portrait artist and sculptor, and member of SCBWI. I live with my husband and two grandsons in Indiana.

I'm not sure this is telling enough really. Where is the I have written and what is it about, so I will have to work on it more.

#2:    Bio for Query letters and Social Media - this is 50 words and first person.

My name is Sheryl A. VanVleck. I am a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and I have completed two years at the University of Illinois - Chicago Circle for pre-law; with honors. I am a portrait artist and sculptor, and member of SCBWI. I live in Indiana with my husband and two grandsons.

#3:  Bio for Bylines and Book Jackets - again 50 words but you change it to third person.

Sheryl A. VanVleck is a graduate of  ...

#4: Short Bio of 100 words that could work for book cover and is in third person.

Sheryl A. VanVleck is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and has completed two years at University of Illinois-Chicago Circle for pre-law; with honors. She was inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society for freshmen women and became an Edmund J. James Scholar. Throughout her five years of college, a consistent thread has run through her education as teachers encouraged her to become a writer. She won a Good Housekeeping paid contest and publication; as well as had numerous articles published in art magazines. She is a professional portrait artist and sculptor, and member of SCBWI. She lives in Indiana with her husband and two grandsons.

#5: one page bio in third person: add 'nice to know' and sums you up completely.

I am not typing all of it. I found errors in the ones I had done already, but I have added, a published author recommending my mystery manuscript to her agent, Rendezvous' experience used in my fantasy, and a "Seeds for Seniors" program I have been promoting. 

Hope this helps you get your bios in order. Everything I read, said you need to keep a variety of updated bios on hand.  A writers work is never done.

AUTHOR'S BIOS and WEBSITES and doctors.

Hard to believe it has been so long since I posted. Even the book was put on hiatus January to May and it is all because our doctor disappeared.

Okay, he did not disappear, he simply decided to change his alliances. He left IU for Franciscan and thought he would be done in a matter of, well a lot less time then it took him. During that time we came down with an intestinal flu (two weeks of our life) then a Viral Bronchial infection that took another six weeks of our life, then a Gout attack like I have never experienced before in my life. On top of all that, I had to go to my heart doctor and please prescription renewals for medications I would have been out of.

Next week, we get to see our GP in his new location.

LESSON LEARNED: I can never move again, unless he moves again and then I will become his stalker.

So, even though I started on my new website months ago, I lost January through May to illness. Some of May anyway, some I just lost to stupidity. I would create an outline of the site (as you should), create a page and realize it was all wrong: again, and again, and again.

I am now working on my bio for the website. And I finally looked up a bunch of YA sites and also recommendations for what to include.  A compilation of what I learned is here.

For your author bio, you need several bios:
1 - for Twitter or elevator pitches - a micro bio in first person. Just two sentences approx.
2 - For Query letters and social media - 50 word bio in first person
3 - For Bylines and Book Jackets - 50 word bio in third person
4 - For book cover - 100 word bio in third person
5 - A long bio - 1 page - in third person.

This actually makes it easier to write, when you start with #1 bio's must haves: your name, degrees, how you are earning a living and where, and with who, you live.  (That last only needed for family and pets).

Write #1 in first person, then add a bit of detail that is pertinent ie member of SCBWI, pertinent honors, awards, etc. for #2, which is also in First Person.

Then, change that one to third person and you have #3, the 50 word byline or book jacket bio.

#4 is for the book cover and you get to add 50 more words, in third person. You can add more pertinent, interesting things, a magazine competition, etc.

#5 is the long bio of one full page Make it in third person and you add things that are nice to know and that sum you up completely. You also want to include charities you are involved in and, at the end, where you may be reached.

This really helped me as I usually write way too much. Following this kept me succinct and on track.

Hope it helps you and thanks for following me even when I have been home ill.

We_Are_Not_Alone

By the way, Kristen Lamb has a book out that I just may have to order. It's called:

We_Are_Not_Alone

It's the Writers Guide to Social Media.

Finally, someone who is going to tell me just what the heck I'm supposed to do with Twitter.

And, how can looking at family pictures on FaceBook help me?

Networking, Stupid questions and Line Edits

In the beginning, I really did not see the benefit from so many social sites on the net; especially for a 'loner' writer. But, it is all coming clear.

At first it takes a long time to set up and get familiar with the various sites: Twitter, FaceBook, etc, but soon it is all clear and before you know it, you get the point. And, I am probably just talking to the older population here. If you are under ? what 40? you already know this stuff.

I was able to figure out and join my first Twitter Chat: (see it at Read Write Believe: Transcript of the Twitter Chat Between Me and My Editor, Cheryl Klein) the other day. It was between editor Cheryl Klein and Sara Lewis Holmes, the author of Operation Yes, Amazon.com: Operation Yes (9780545107952): Sara Lewis Holmes: Books an awesome sounding Middle Grade Novel. I can't wait to read it.

So, the benefits of things like Twitter are that you get to ask your favorite editor a really stupid question. However, since I have always told my students, "There are no stupid questions. Asking is how you learn." I just plunged in and asked: "What is a line edit?"

Ms Klein's answer: @sadairvanvleck Yes, line-by-line review saying "I don't understand this," "right word?" "cut this, redundant," "Love this," etc. #YESchat

So, now I know, and you do too.

It takes less time and you can learn a ton by just charging in and doing it. Loner or no loner.

Tweet your Logline

Having trouble with your logline?

Tweet it. It is amazing, when you search for things you can delete, just how many of those precious words you can lose.

I am down to:

An uneducated teen’s quest for safety leads him to the Moon Trees, where he battles to save his new home from the evil that is pursuing him

WebPage, Blog, MySpace,UTube, Twitter, LibraryThing, Trailer

I have unchained myself from my computer. My final book edit is in Chapter 6 and while I do remind myself, daily, that the last two chapters are but a shadow of their selves-to-be, I am taking time to get my muscles moving again to de-clutter and clean this house.

It may be a hopeless task but I need to get it done. I mean, why do we need three scanners and VHS movies? Then, there is the ten Rubbermaids full of paperwork. Hard to believe isn’t it? It is also hard to get done as I am drawn back to the computer.

I have figured out the look I want for my WebSite. It will be a total overhaul from the Visual Art site it was before to the Fantasy YA book site I want it to be. It is also one more step up in my programming education. Which may be a career to fall back on someday?

So, I have a vision of a “look.” Then, I have to make that look work, and be a “brand” for my website, Blog, MySpace, Utube, Twitter and something called “library” something. And, when Gaffer gets home for Christmas, I will have him help me get a trailer done.

Since I have done nothing more than look at a few relatives MySpace and not even that on Utube, and I have no idea what Twitter is and just read about the library thing last night. I better get this declutter, in my home done, and quick.

Will I ever catch up?