If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic

If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic

If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic! Ha!! I love this. It is me through and through.

When I tell someone I am dyslexic they often say, “So your read and write things backwards.” This does not come out like a question. The fact that people can put any of what dyslexia is about into words is a good thing. Personally I am more of an inside out perspective. Lemons inside out is Melons. This is me.

I recently tried explaining what it is like for me to edit my work. When I visualize editing something I have written, a meat tenderizer always comes to mind.

You see, I write something and reread it. To the best of my ability my work will pass my inspection. I will then let it “rest” for a while and go back for a once over  later. When I do (this is where the meat tenderizer comes in) I pulverize my work. I will say to myself, that doesn’t sound right. I will recognize the missing word and type it in. Now, say the missing word is LEMONS , easy enough fix, right? Wrong.

I will look at my freshly typed word and think, that doesn’t look right.

I will modify LEMONS with my favorite writing tool the all important meat tenderizer. Reworking until Life itself will question the sanity of placing LEMONS in my care.

I will then ask someone around me to spell it, matching the letters one by one. This always takes two times through the word. I will then ask my appointed speller if they are sure. And, for some twisted fate in life they’re always positive.

I will come out of said revise with Melons and shake my fist at the Gods Of Revision.

In the end I am left with life giving me one more of those extra Melons. I quickly take it away and put it with the mountains of other Melons life has given me.

Now compound that one word into a whole manuscript of words and add in punctuation. Eventually winding up here.

Some people, when asked what they want most in life, will answer with things like happiness, peace of mind. Not me. My wish would be for an editor or a beta reader. You see the definition of peace of mind for me would be to spell the word Lemons and know without a doubt that it is in fact Lemons staring back at me. As for happiness? Well, all I can tell you is when life hands out Lemons I always get Melons and who wouldn’t be happy with an endless supply of Melons!

Writing Writing Tips For Less Knowledgeable Writers Is Supposed To Help Me Reach My Target Audience?

If you ask how to drive traffic to your blog the answer is almost always the same. Provide something of value to your potential reader. This is always followed by writing tips.

The blog I’m supposed to write. 101 writing tips.

The underlying point of a writer blogging about the rules of the trade is (according to other successful authors): To gain traffic so people will find out about and buy your book. There are SO many of these blogs it is mind boggling. But when an author blogs about writing tips and then spams a million “buy my children’s book” tweets, I get confused.

My question: Why would you think that your future readers are other writers? Sure, writers usually love reading but they are not your target audience.

Don’t get me wrong, I love reading about writing tips. I have grown as a writer because of those tips and I need them. But my novel is geared towards  young adults. Shouldn’t I be trying to get the fans of bands like One direction to read my blog?? I am a young adult author, they are young adults, that would seem logical to me.

The answer is no, leave “One Directioners” alone and concentrate on your genre or purpose.  (Trust me, unless you are One Direction, trying to sell your auto-biography, these fans are NOT interested, no matter what you blog about.)

Am I the only one who sees a flaw in the “writing tips” method? Personally, I value creative over perfect only because I cannot always see your mistakes (being dyslexic me) but I can immerse myself into your cleverly written world. (And, if you break the rules of writing for a clever, creative purpose, I will immediately consider you a kindred spirit.)

Now, if the purpose of writing tips is to attract your peers than this is a very effective method. But, if you are looking for your target audience, know who they are and what they like. Theme your blog around those guidelines because I bet their not interested in writing tips. Then tweet about your blog and have that lead them to your book.

For example: Say your novel’s genre is paranormal, I would include something like this link:

Most Haunted Real Places http://inventorspot.com/13_real_haunted_places?page=0%252C1

Gain interest in your novel by immersing your audience in what they love. Take them on a virtual tour that will scare the shit out of them. Or treat them to a bit of the urban-legend that prompted you to write your sure-to-be best selling thriller. If you make it clever I assure you, your readers will periodically check back in to see where else you can take them. Eventually they WILL by your book.

If they love romance and your novel is just that, then maybe an article about relationships, or, if you wanted me to buy your book/read your blog, include this picture. I assure you I will buy whatever this man is selling!

If you are writing a non-fiction about something like gardening, a link like this may be of interest to your reader: http://www.garden.org/

http://www.garden.org/regional/report/arch/inmygarden/4318

These people are dying to know how others get carrots to grow in the desert. Keep your blog about gardening and leave out the writing tips. Who knows, you may even attract the interest of people behind said link, prompting them to mention your work. Credible website says buy your book, sounds like marketing gold if you ask me!

Whatever your genre create a buzz of awesome information, immersing your target audience in what they love. It makes sense and gives your blog purpose. This is what I will be doing as my writing career eeks along.

If you have a manuscript and are trying to attract the illusive agent/publisher, make your blog samples of your writing style. Focus on your strengths.

If you are like me, you are learning as you go. A blog about writing is not only appreciated but necessary. But if your tweeting “buy my book” and making everyone mad, I suggest writing a blog that sparks an interest for your target audience. Then you can tweet about your latest posts and sell some books based on the creative and vast knowledge of your genre. This can save a LOT of wasted time. Not to mention the Twitter Police will stop writing “what not to do” articles (that really are true, sorry to say) about you.

I have accomplished a great many goals with this blog. For me it serves a multitude of purposes. I look forward to doing some creative posts about my up and coming genre, adding randomly to  my writing portfolio and connecting with individuals/groups with common interests.

I wish you all the best and hope you enjoyed my cleverly disguised (must have) post about writing tips. LOL ~Dyslexicwhisper