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| Judith Ashley |
In January 2011, after failing at keeping up my individual blog and yet hearing from “Everyone” how important it was to build my platform while searching for a publisher, I was commiserating with my writing friend, Sarah Raplee over tea and coffee at a Border’s coffee shop. That conversation sparked the idea that led to this blog – Romancing The Genres.
Thank goodness Sarah not only has more technical skills than I do, but she is a consummate learner. Figuring out how to make something work in the wonderful world of Blogger and other techie things does not intimidate her – she forges on until she figures it out. I, on the other hand, would rather clean the bathroom than click around the internet searching for anything.
With Sarah as my guide and my commitment to being published firmly under my feet, I leapt! I won’t bore you with the details of what I’ve learned/accomplished. Check out my personal blog for that. Yes, I still do that too.
Our original idea had an experimental writing idea and while we were readying RTG for launching, four of us tried out a continuous story. We learned that it would take a lot more time and effort than we had at that moment to make it work.
Over the summer of 2011 as our number of blog visitors grew, we polled the other Genre-istas to see what we could do to improve. Be more reader-centric.Another leap. We invited more published authors to guest on our Saturdays and revamped our monthly Genre-ista topics to be more reader focused than writer focused.
I digress.
In the fall of 2011, Sarah and I looked at the list of Genre-istas who’d indicated an interest in the experimental writing idea, contacted them, set up another Yahoo Group, and began to plan.Since we see this other blog as a sister site, we decided (with Genre-ista agreement) to go with Romance From The Genre-istas. Our tag line is “Free Fiction Reads For Your Enjoyment”. We also decided to start out with Flash Fiction (less than 1500 word stories) with a Valentine’s Day theme.
Another LEAP! I went into Blogger and set up the initial page.
I copied the RTG header into the RFTG site and created pages, with Sarah’s tutoring.While this may not seem like much, for someone who still has residual techno-phobia issues, this is HUGE! And it has BIG rewards. Because I’m an integral part in setting up Romance From The Genre-istas, I’m more of a partner than I was before. The fear that if Sarah wasn’t available and something Bad happened to the blog, we’d go down or up in flames and smoke has dissipated.
And when you stop by Romance From The Genre-istas on 02/11/2012, read our Flash Fiction Free Reads, and are entertained I’ll have to get a larger hat size!
Leaping into the Void of technology has been terrifying at times (what if I click and the whole site goes down); amazing (I’m gaining name recognition); frustrating (there are days Blogger doesn’t like me and I’m better off going for a walk, having a hot cup of tea, and doing something else); exhilarating (our RTG launch went off without a hitch); humbling (we’ve over 15,000 visits and over 2500 comments) but most of all, it’s been rewarding. I’ve conquered my fear of blogging; conquered my fear (mostly) of the internet; and am looking forward to creating a website for another of my endeavors.
What leap have you taken that has transformed your life?
www.JudithAshleyRomance.com
www.JudithAshley.blogspot.com
© Judith Ashley February 03, 2012
11 comments:
My leaps are your leaps, LOL! Judith, you give me way too much credit - Romancing the Genres has been a team effort from the beginning.
You and I discovered that taking some leaps is much more easily done with a friend at your side!
My leap this year is a single title for HQN. UNFORGIVEN comes out in August and is the first in a possible on-going series.
It is a leap, going from 55,000 words to 90,000. Also I had been hanging out at my fictional Whitehorse, Montana for 24 books. It was a leap to build a new world even if it was only a three-hour drive from Whitehorse. :)
Life is full of wonderful leaps. You have to take them, huh. Otherwise, you'll always wonder if you should have jumped. :)
Hope you all have a wonderful year,
BJ
www.bjdaniels.com
Sarah,
You are so right - a leap with a friend is much, much easier.
Wow, BJ - you've been busy leaping! I agree - some leaps you have to take or wonder the rest of your life if you 'should have'. And then I've made a few and thought later - why in the world did I do that? For the most part, I much prefer that to the possible regret of not having leapt at all.
Judith, We're so glad you and Sarah leapt!
Wow Judith, you give me hope that an old gal like me might eventually be able to master all this high tech stuff. At the moment, blogger hates me, but with time, if I work very very hard, maybe it will begin to like me and won't send some of my posts into cyber space to circle around unread and unloved forever.
regards
Margaret
Robin - Sarah and I are also glad we leapt!
Margaret - If I can do it, so can you. Just know that there are some days Blogger will 'hate you' and it isn't you - it's Blogger. Don't take it personal - have that cup of tea, take a walk and try another day. And, feel free to ask questions - even if it isn't a RTG post. I'll really have to get a larger hat size if I can answer your questions or help you out (LOL)
Yay for taking leaps! Little leaps, big leaps, we have to keep those muscles of daring strong. I remember you starting out in the Platform class with me, Judith, and you have come a HUGE distance in your tech skills. I am so proud to know you!
As for my biggest leap, when I moved from writing contemporary romance to writing science fiction with romantic elements, it was scary. My support group is made up of romance readers and writers. But I took the plunge, and I feel better for it. My support group says I've found my calling, and encouragement from the outside is always uplifting.
Keep at it, and I look forward to the sister blog!
Thanks for the comment, Tam. Yes, you knew me when I didn't even know the blogger internet address! (LOL).
It takes courage to leap (even small ones take a little bit) - you are obviously Courageous because you took a huge one. You are writing what you love and it shows -
Romance From The Genre-istas will be 'Live' one week from today. And I confess, I've had more fun than frustration getting it up and going.
Great post, Judith! I am glad you took the leap, and Sarah and you established Romancing the Genres blog.
Like you, I am no techie! I am taking a leap this month by taking a web site building class at the local college. I am excited and nervous. I do know my way around the computer and the internet, but that's about all. Good luck with the sister site.
Judith, You and Sarah are doing a great job! And every peal we do helps us grow! Thanks!
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