Light the Fire.

     
     I posted a short blog the other day (here) about the things I wish I’d been doing before I became published. The idea was that people could learn from my mistakes, and then not make them themselves.
      I got a fair questions via email after I posted the piece, and I thought I'd answer the one that kept cropping up the most with another blog, in the hope that it might help a few of you on your journey to publication and beyond.
     Hope it helps!
   
     Peter, Augusta Georgia: “I'm glad I actually read that before I gotten my book completely written. Thank you, I hope that I'm able to do these things and I'm glad that you decided to make it a blog post to try and help others. I also have a blog, but I only have two posts on it, simply because I don't know what else to really blog about... “
My reply:
     “Hi Peter and thanks for the question! The thing about blogging is, the more you do it, the easier it gets. You will soon start to see opportunities for topics everywhere. For instance, I'm looking at your reply and I can see the following blog topics jumping right out at me:
  1. How google+ is a great place for learning stuff.
  2. Your ongoing struggle to find topics to blog about.
  3. How asking questions on the internet helps you form connections, which in the long terms, may help you sell books and learn.
  4. How sharing stuff on the net helps others, in and return helps you.
     There you go, four posts (and there are probably more) all from one reply. The trick is to learn to look for the stuff you can use. Imagine you are building a fire, and the question, comment, or discussion is a place to find kindling. Once you start looking, you’ll soon have too much to carry.
     Another important thing to remember is that blog posts don't have to be 1000 words long! Sometimes a short blog carries more weight than a long one, and it is often more likely to get read until the end. Always remember, the kindling for blogging is everywhere, you just have to learn how to spot it so can start lighting your own fire!
   

     Tony Schumacher is the author of the John Rossett series of thrillers published worldwide by Harper Collins. He has written for the The Guardian newspaper, the Huffington Post and regularly contributes to the BBC and blogs worldwide.  

    Wall Street Journal: "Schumacher assured and atmospheric writing makes this a memorable novel..."

    Lancashire Evening Post: "The British Lion is an extraordinary and exciting tour-de-force, a pulsating portrayal of a broken nation that is breathtakingly imagined and terrifying in the sheer power of its possibilities."


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