learning

I Missed Out!

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

We recently moved to a new state—one without a local ACFW chapter. I want to do something about that, but that’s a topic for another day.

Yesterday, in Phoenix, Christian Writers of the West held their spring conference, with guest speaker Author and Editor, Kathy Ide.

This year, I missed out—and you did, too, if you weren’t there.

There are many writing conferences around the country each year, so you are able to do a little research and find just the one for you—the one that contains the subject matter you are most interested in, the one that is most affordable, the one that is easiest for you to travel to.

Why do I feel like we missed out? Because there is lots of good teaching, opportunities to network and visit with friends at conferences.

All is not lost, however. CWOW’s conference wasn’t the only one. Searching for writing conferences online will bring up a generous list of opportunities for you. (And, if not able to attend in person, you can join many of them online.)

Don’t Miss Out!

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I’m Thankful For YOU

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

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How can I turn a writing blog into an occasion for Thanksgiving?

The most obvious way is to write something about giving Thanks—related to writing.

I have several things/people to be thankful for this year:

  1. I am thankful for authors/writers who share what they know. I learn either from individuals, speakers, books, podcasts, blogs–any way I can.
  1. I am thankful for my readers, and my critique group whose kind comments encourage me to keep writing.
  1. I am thankful for those who pray for my writing.
  1. Foremost, I thank God for increasing my desire to write, my talent, and His leading as I write. Every day, I am aware of His awesomeness in allowing me to pour out His love and provision to others through the written word.

Thank YOU for reading week after week, sending in your comments, and following this blog. I want to write about what you’d like to know, so please send me requests at any time. I can almost guarantee you that I will need to do a little research to provide what you need—but I love it–because I enjoy learning “write” along with you!

Two Sides of the Same Coin

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

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When you teach someone else how to do something, you learn a lot yourself.

Teaching has a way of cementing ideas, facts, procedures—all kinds of information—in our brains through the visual and auditory senses, as well as the writing (of the lesson plan, main points on charts or power point and so on).

So, I am going to suggest something you might think is crazy: I’d like you to consider mentoring a beginning writer. 

You may consider yourself a beginner and question just how much help you could be to someone else. But, even if you only stay a step ahead of them, the experience will be invaluable—as you learn TOGETHER.

I remember, as a first year teacher. being assigned to teach two periods of sewing in Home Economics. I had no experience. I didn’t know any of the terms, parts of the machine, not even how to read a pattern.

Each night, I would go home and teach myself what I needed to know in order to get through class the following day. This went on for the entire semester. I stayed, literally, one step ahead of my students. But, by the last day of class, I found myself actually looking forward to the next group of students. I felt increased competence and confidence 

So, the point is: whether you know a lot about the craft of writing, or you consider yourself a beginner, the experience you will gain by mentoring someone else will be invaluable.

It will be time well spent…because learning and teaching are two sides of the same coin.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Posted on by Brenda Poulos

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“Still posting each week? I can’t believe you’re still at it. I hope it has been worth all the time and effort.”

My friend’s comment prompted me to re-evaluate my blogging habit. Was it just a useless exercise or was there real value to it?

Just how was this use of my time impacting my writing business?

Here’s what I discovered:

1)  Blogging on a regular basis is one of the most effective ways I’ve found to keep my customer base engaged.

2)   Blogging definitely raises my rank in target keywords in search the engines.

3)   Blogging lets visitors to my site know that I am active in my craft.

4)   Blogging keeps me actively learning so I can pass along relevant information to my followers.

For me, blogging on a regular basis is definitely worth it.

If you are a writer without a website of your own, I would strongly recommend getting one. If you don’t feel that you’re ready to commit to at least a once-a-week blog, I urge you to find several sites you like and write a comment on each of them every week.