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Peggy's Pages Blog 

Blogging—a Work in Progress

I admire those authors who blog two or three times a week. You would think that writing a blog post once a week, or even every two weeks, would be a ‘piece of cake.’ Maybe a ‘walk in the park’ would better describe it, depending on what kind of walk you take. A stroll? Not quite. Maybe more like a power walk, or a jog.

So what do I get out of blogging? And what does it have to do with writing?

When I blog I practice my writing skills. It’s on-the-spot, spontaneous— the kind that, like writing picture books, is not wordy and leaves you with something to think about.

Blogging gives me a deadline, which is the real challenge for me. My ‘spontaneous’ writing is not always my best.

I remind myself of goals, strategies, and good advice when I blog about them.

I keep up on things better when I blog, because I look for topics about children’s books and writing them to blog about. I find out which books have received awards or honors and which are on the best seller’s lists. I find events like Read Across America, Picture Book month and PiBoIdMo and other ways to celebrate writing and get motivated.

I check out other author blogs, and discover new things. I learn and get writing tips from their posts. And I connect with other children’s writers.

I guess it’s a good thing that I wrote this blog today, because I needed this reminder to keep up! I miss some weeks, but each new week is another chance to start over.

Poetry month is coming up, and I’ve got plans to celebrate with you here, including some author interviews in the works. So hang in there with me! I hope to see you next week!  Read More 
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Links to Information and Tips on Social Media for Authors

It's two and a half weeks later and I'm still typing my notes from the SCBWI conference in LA! Typing them is a great way to review what I've learned. And a reminder of what I still have to follow up on!

I thought that this week I'd share some great links that I picked up at the conference to information on social media for authors. Here goes!

"The Happy Accident: using social media to help create happy accidents" by Greg Pinkus. Go to www.thehappyaccident.net and read tips on facebook and blogging. Then go to http://www.thehappyaccident.net/scbwi-la/ for more links about social media.

"The Writers' Guide to Twitter" by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Go to http://www.inkygirl.com/a-writers-guide-to-twitter/ to read the basics of twitter and how it can help writers.

For everything you need to know about doing school visits, check out Alexis o'Neill's site at www.SchoolVisitExperts.com.

Get guidelines for doing Virtual Author visits on Bruce Hale's site at http://www.brucehale.com/virtual.htm.

Then check out book trailers for children's books at http://kidlitbooktrailers.ning.com/ and scroll down to some links.

Happy surfing!  Read More 
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Kidlitosphere Blog Comment Challenge

Almost three weeks ago I discovered Kidlitosphere and the Comment Challenge. Kidlitosphere is a community of people who blog about children's and young adult literature. The challenge was to post comments on 100 blog sites within a 3 week period, which amounts to around 5 comments per day.

It sounded easy enough.  Read More 
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