Lauren Wayne

Put your children in danger: A guide for authors

2013-05-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

At the same time as I am reading Virals, a young adult novel by Kathy Reichs, I have happened upon this YouTube video from Feminist Frequency (thank you to Our Feminist Playschool for the direct) reviewing the book The Hunger Games:

The whole video's very interesting, as are Anita Sarkeesian's other works, but I just want to pull out one teensy tidbit that relates to the novel Virals as well as the whole oeuvre of children's literature.

Anita says that she finds it unbelievable that the parents in The Hunger Games wouldn't stand up and refuse to let their children be sacrificed.

Oh, yes. Totally. But that's viewing it as an adult and being all reasonable and stuff. Young adult and children's fiction depends on adults — and parents in particular — being ineffectual, powerless, cruel, or entirely absent.

I keep having similar thoughts reading Virals, which is a new young adult series by Kathy Reichs (the mystery writer of Temperance Brennan/Bones fame) that capitalizes both on her expertise in mystery writing and the fad for otherworldly adventures befalling fictional teens.

I'm finding the book to be engaging (though farfetched toward the end) and an interesting read from the perspective of a writer who might one day attempt young adult fiction, and who once used to read quite a lot of it as a preteen and teen. It's especially intriguing to me to read this genre now from the perspective of a parent. Because as a parent, all I want to do is swoop in and save these teens from themselves: Tell a trusting adult; ask for help; don't break into laboratories; and, for heaven's sake, don't investigate decades-old murders!

But, see, my parent persona would quash any drama or, you know, plot. I never, ever, ever want my own children to have adventures that involve superviruses and getting shot at. But if you're the author-parent of the characters in your youth or kids novel, you have to set up the scenario in a way that leaves the children free and vulnerable, and in considerable danger. They need autonomy, and they need to be the driving force behind solving the conflict of the novel.

This is true across genres and age groups, by the way. If you're writing a story about a five-year-old fighting off a bully at kindergarten, the five-year-old has to figure out the answer to the problem, and it can't be to let the adults take over.

So that's why the downtrodden people of Panem don't resist The Hunger Games — because the novel required it. See how that works?

Of course, you want to make it as realistic as possible, and build in supporting reasons for why the adults might be useless or the children so independent. That's why so many heroes and heroines in children's literature are orphans, dontchaknow. It gives them a lot more leeway to go off on their own when no one's looking out for them.

But I suspect that, as an adult and especially as a parent, no reason will ever seem good enough to me anymore. Just make it believable to the kids who are your audience, because they're the ones who want to identify with the protagonists — off on adventures in their minds while their own caregivers keep them securely (we hope) ensconced in a safe home with access to good books!

Original Sign Credit: Creative Safety Supply

In celebration of a good novel: Kathy Reichs vs. Bones

2013-05-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Actor Emily Deschanel and author Kathy Reichs on the set of Bones (image courtesy Fox)

I just checked out Bones Are Forever, by Kathy Reichs, from the library and realized it had been a long time since I felt that pull of a well-written novel. I found myself seeking out excuses to slip away to read, and I carried the book around with me in hopes odd respites would present themselves and need to be filled with a good book.

The TV show Bones, based on Reichs' work, is so goofily overwritten that it's astonishing it came out of the Temperance Brennan novels. I even like Bones, but it's so cringe-inducing for how two-dimensional the characters are and how painfully obvious each emotional revelation becomes.

It was refreshing to dive back into the original world of Tempe and enjoy Kathy Reichs' dry, exhaustively detailed, but fascinating peeks into the world of forensic anthropology — with some shootouts and kidnappings along for the thrills, of course.

If you've never read the books but have seen the show, you'll be surprised if you pick one up (I hope pleasantly). If you've read the books but have never seen the show, it might be best left so.

I'm not really sure why they bothered to "base" the show on the novels since they changed every interesting detail. One of the major characters in the novels is not a person at all but a place — two places, in fact: Montreal, Quebec; and Charlotte, North Carolina; home bases between which Dr. Brennan splits her time and expertise. So Bones decided to bore it up a little by setting the show in Washington, D.C. Mm-hmm. Apparently two locales given little to no screen time ever were just too quirky for television.

And then there's the fact that Kathy Reichs and Temperance Brennan, her fictional counterpart, are not in fact robotic hyper-logical Vulcans who can't understand the barest nuances of human behavior. But a fully fleshed female scientist I guess would be too subtle for an American TV audience?

And there's no one law-enforcement sidekick in the novels à la Booth. There are several, and one highly memorable one (ah, le Ryan). And there are no goofy interns and coworkers, just … again … fellow professionals.

And the labs in the book are the kind that look institutional and are located in basements and smell kind of funny and are completely dull. I have to give props to the show for making up a much cooler set than any forensic anthropologist has ever been privileged to use.

I learn so much when I read the Kathy Reichs novels. To the absurd point where I feel like I could help identify whether human remains are male or female and what approximate age. This is not true at all, and I will never be called upon, but I get so excited when I learn another arcane piece of forensic anthropological trivia, like that scooped incisors suggest a Native American or East Asian heritage. Cool! Not useful to my daily life!

When I watch the TV show, I learn … that I need to keep being skeptical. I never know how much they're BSing. Like … the Angelator. Ha ha ha!

This post took on a highly unexpected turn. For one thing, I actually like the TV show, and I'm not a books-are-always-superior snob; I just think Bones is sort of silly in comparison. All I really wanted to say was I enjoyed reading a skillfully written novel, and that was about it. Reading it brought into clear focus how much I had not been enjoying the novel I was previously reading, which was taking me months to finish. I believe novels should be of the can't-put-down variety or why bother? Life is short. Read a good book. Skip the bad ones.

That should be on a Pinterest pin.

Here:

You're welcome.

Here are two possible responses to this post:
(1) Tell me a recent GOOD BOOK you read that you couldn't put down. Or tell me how much you want to read one like that. Aren't they awesome? Woo!
(2) Tell me how much you agree or disagree with my assessment and comparison of the Kathy Reichs novels and Bones. I can take it.

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 5: Enjoy

2013-05-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

We're sharing our final poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 5:

Enjoy

This week — I can't believe it's our last! — we're embracing the camaraderie of parenthood and reveling in our children's joy and creativity.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!

You can post this week's poems whenever they're ready — the linky will remain open for awhile. To be eligible for a prize, link up or paste your poem(s) before Monday.

I'll announce the WINNERS after that!

I've so enjoyed doing this Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop with you! Thanks to all of you who participated and shared so openly and fully — what an honor it's been to journey alongside you in creativity.

For full details on the workshop and prizes and to grab a badge or to complete your own challenge at home, see the intro post, Week 5's prompts, and Week 4's poems.

Here are my poems for the week.

May 3: Work: How does your family combine earning a living with raising children?

The power of a paycheck

A five-year-old on the chain gang of his choosing,
finding tasks at home and office for coins apiece,
his piggy bank talking to him — to us — with unmoving lips,
Feed me, feed me.
Entrepreneur boy, you've inherited your parents' spirit
to be your boss, to make your rules,
and your uncle's drive to earn.
Preschool tycoon,
robber baron of my pocket change,
collecting your paycheck in pennies
and blowing it all on toys.

Mikko's cake stand, where he attempted
to charge Sam and me $10 for each chopped-up piece.

May 4: Siblings: Write about those tumultuous, rewarding, exasperating relationships — your own experiences, your children's, your hope for your family size, or stopping at an only.

Brothers

The lips, perhaps, or the cheeks —
definitely the cheeks —
proclaim your genetic similarities,
and something indefinable
that calls you brothers
despite the disparities
in blue and hazel eyes,
in coarse-curly and feather-straight hair,
in balance and milestones and teeth,
in clothing size and even noise,
so very yourselves, so very unique.

The delight is the same, though,
the catch in my heart
when I glimpse either charming face,
the wish for your future
of love, and connection, and full flight of dreams.

Who knew a heart could stretch farther
than even the body around it
that housed you each in succession?
Who knew love could flow out and envelop
so big a group — bigger —
and never grow anything but thicker,
like the blood joining us all together?

Link up your posts or paste your poems in the comments!

Please comment on the participant directly above you and one other participant of your choice. Feel free to share each other's poems on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or Twitter (#parentingpoetry) — everyone can use a little poetry!

I'm asking for your email address in the linky so I can notify you if you're a winner. If you aren't linking up, you can leave your email address in the comments.

Prompts for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 5: Enjoy

2013-04-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks the start of the fifth and final week of the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop! One last week of prompts to inspire your poetry.

We're each writing at least one parenting-themed poem a week on an overarching parenting theme, which I post on Mondays. On Fridays, I post a linkup so we can all share what we've been working on, and then we enjoy reading each other's work. It's been inspiring for all of us!

I also post daily prompts for the week in advance, both to give you more of an idea of what the theme represents, and for any overachievers who want to write more than one poem a week! Remember, anyone who writes and posts a poem for each day of the challenge automatically wins a signed prize copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, and anyone who writes and posts at least weekly will be entered into a drawing for one.

For full details and to grab a badge, see the intro post.

You can enjoy last week's poems here and link up your own if you haven't already! It was a beautiful week of poems on Trust.

Now it's time to get writing for this week! Ready?

The fifth week's theme is

Enjoy

This week we're embracing the camaraderie of parenthood and reveling in our children's joy and creativity. The theme and prompts are springboards, so feel free to interpret them in the way they inspire you. Obviously, we are all at different stages in the parenting journey, so we'll need to write according to where we're at. (To be eligible for a prize, poems must make a good effort at relating, at least loosely, to the theme or prompts. So far everyone's been doing great!)

Optional daily prompts:
April 29: Play: Getting down on your kids' level and involving yourself in the serious, hilarious work of play is not only good for the soul — it's good for a poem.
April 30: Imagination: Celebrate your child's (or your) creativity.
May 1: Needs: What do your children need from you, or what do you need from them?
May 2: Respect: In what ways do you respect your children?
May 3: Work: How does your family combine earning a living with raising children?
May 4: Siblings: Write about those tumultuous, rewarding, exasperating relationships — your own experiences, your children's, your hope for your family size, or stopping at an only.
May 5: Learning: Children learn without trying. Peer into their active, fertile minds.

Write your poem anytime this week on the theme of Enjoy (or go for gold and write on one or more of the daily prompts). If you're blogging along, post your poem(s) on your blog sometime before next Monday. On Friday, I'll provide a linkup post where you can add your link(s) or paste your poem(s) into the comments whenever you're ready.

I'm looking forward to seeing what we all write this last week! Thanks so much for joining in. It's been a pleasure. Happy poeming!

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 4: Trust

2013-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

We're sharing our poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 4:

Trust

This week — our next to last! — we're considering the move into our confidence and rhythm as parents even as we navigate the uncertain waters of discipline, spirituality, and seeking answers to big questions.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!

I'll be posting the final week's theme and prompts on Monday. You can post this week's poems at any time during the challenge — the linky will remain open. To be eligible for a prize, link up or paste your poem(s) before Monday.

For full details on the workshop and prizes and to grab a badge or to catch up with us (join anytime!), see the intro post, Week 4's prompts, and Week 3's poems.

Here are my poems for the week.

April 22: Partners: Write a love (or anti-love) poem to your co-parent, or the one you're missing.

You as father

Hard to write a love poem to someone
so ordinarily extraordinary.
I hesitate to laud your parenting prowess,
because it seems you're what a father should be:
elbow-deep in diapers, snuggling to sleep,
answering scads of questions, ferrying a car of kids.
So that it's not you who's better; it's maybe others who lack.
I've made you the standard,
a measure for dads that resets the bar,
a norm that vaults far beyond
into magnificence.

April 24: Faith: How does the spiritual intersect your parenting?

and

April 26: Why: What big questions from your children have you been terrified and privileged to answer?

Faith

You ask what death is, and what is beyond,
and how do I answer when my answers have slipped from my hands?
I who used to know every response by heart
am now failing your questions like a pop quiz.
I stutter and stammer and suggest asking your father,
because — I wish I knew, love.
I wish I knew there was some beautiful beyond
we reach after death.
I wish I believed that still.
I wish I found the logic in telling you our cat and my grandparents
wait for us in a pristine idyll of peace
and that we will stay together always,
cosleeping into eternity in our family bed,
only awake.

Link up your posts or paste your poems in the comments!

Please comment on the participant directly above you and one other participant of your choice. Feel free to share each other's poems on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or Twitter (#parentingpoetry) — everyone can use a little poetry!

I'm asking for your email address in the linky so I can email to let you know when the prompts and linkies are live, and so I can notify you if you're a winner. If you aren't linking up, you can leave your email address in the comments.

Prompts for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 4: Trust

2013-04-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today starts the fourth week of the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop!

We're each writing at least one parenting-themed poem a week on an overarching parenting theme, which I post on Mondays. On Fridays, I post a linkup so we can all share what we've been working on, and then we enjoy reading each other's work. It's been inspiring for all of us!

I also post daily prompts for the week in advance, both to give you more of an idea of what the theme represents, and for any overachievers who want to write more than one poem a week! Remember, anyone who writes and posts a poem for each day of the challenge automatically wins a signed prize copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, and anyone who writes and posts at least weekly will be entered into a drawing for one.

For full details and to grab a badge, see the intro post.

You can enjoy last week's poems here and link up your own if you haven't already! It was a beautiful week of poems on Hope.

Now it's time to get writing for this week! Ready?

The fourth week's theme is

Trust

This week we're considering the move into our confidence and rhythm as parents even as we navigate the uncertain waters of discipline, spirituality, and seeking answers to big questions. The theme and prompts are springboards, so feel free to interpret them in the way they inspire you. Obviously, we are all at different stages in the parenting journey, so we'll need to write according to where we're at. (To be eligible for a prize, poems must make a good effort at relating, at least loosely, to the theme or prompts. So far everyone's been doing great!)

Optional daily prompts:
April 22: Partners: Write a love (or anti-love) poem to your co-parent, or the one you're missing.
April 23: Birthdays: Big celebration or family party, how do you remember this important anniversary? {P.S. Happy birthday to me…}
April 24: Faith: How does the spiritual intersect your parenting?
April 25: Discipline: What does discipline mean to you and your family? How is gentle parenting going for you in the trenches?
April 26: Why: What big questions from your children have you been terrified and privileged to answer?
April 27: Image: How have you come to terms — or not — with your body's shape and functions now that you're a parent?
April 28: Defense: How have you had to defend your parenting to others?

Write your poem anytime this week on the theme of Trust (or go for gold and write on one or more of the daily prompts). If you're blogging along, post your poem(s) on your blog sometime before next Monday. On Friday, I'll provide a linkup post where you can add your link(s) or paste your poem(s) into the comments whenever you're ready.

I'm looking forward to seeing what we all write this week! Thanks so much for joining in. Happy poeming!

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 3: Hope

2013-04-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

We're sharing our poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 3:

Hope

This week we're considering babyhood from a natural parenting perspective and examining our changing identity as parents.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!

I'll be posting next week's theme and prompts on Monday. You can post this week's poems at any time during the challenge — the linky will remain open. To be eligible for a prize, link up or paste your poem(s) before Monday.

For full details on the workshop and prizes and to grab a badge or to catch up with us (join anytime!), see the intro post, Week 3's prompts, and Week 2's poems.

Here are my poems for the week. It strikes me that my third one, while following the daily prompt, ended up not being so hopeful, which was the overarching theme. Interesting how that can happen!

April 15: Milestones: Celebrate your baby's development or a turning point that struck you with wonder.

Myna birds

Oops, it dropped,
you say, and we wonder
if this counts as a three-word sentence,
so astonished are we that
you are becoming people,
a parrot of every phrase,
a mockingbird in our nest.

I'm afraid it's true,
says brother in his big-boy tones,
both of you playing with sounds
as you learn the meanings
and chatter like magpies in our nest.

April 18: Dreams: What do you hope for as a parent?

Unschooling

We once again consider college savings
and are stumped by the question we never asked:
Will our kids even go?
If they join the circus or choose clown college instead,
will we give them a stern lecture
or a kiss and our blessing?
And what investment vehicles
does the government recommend for
trapeze artists in training?

Driving through the University District tonight,
I could picture my boys with a backpack slung,
jeans tight, a cool slouch and a confident grin
as they headed to a class at UW.
I said so to Mikko, "and then you'll come home,
and you can still live with us," my secret glee.
And he said, "But what if I never want to leave?
What if I never go to college?
What if I never go to kindergarten?"
What if?

April 21: Identity: Who are you now that you're a parent? How do you introduce yourself at parties? How do you define yourself in your own head?

Identity

Amazing to think my driver's license has a picture of me in its little shiny corner
instead of two tiny smiling faces eclipsing mine.
I don't know what to reach for when I finger my ID.
At dinner with people who barely speak my language,
I falter for the German to tell them who I am: a parent, yes?
And nothing more? I write. I write about parenting.
And their eyes glaze over, this group of non-parents
or other-than-parents or used-to-be-parents,
and I sense how disappointing I am in my tiny little box in this corner.

Link up your posts or paste your poems in the comments!

Please comment on the participant directly above you and one other participant of your choice. Feel free to share each other's poems on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or Twitter (#parentingpoetry) — everyone can use a little poetry!

I'm asking for your email address in the linky so I can email to let you know when the prompts and linkies are live, and so I can notify you if you're a winner. If you aren't linking up, you can leave your email address in the comments.

Prompts for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 3: Hope

2013-04-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Tax Day to my fellow US taxpayers! Today is still surprisingly auspicious, since it marks the third week of the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop!

We're each writing at least one parenting-themed poem a week on an overarching parenting theme, which I post on Mondays. On Fridays, I post a linkup so we can all share what we've been working on, and then we enjoy reading each other's work. It's been inspiring for all of us!

I also post daily prompts for the week in advance, both to give you more of an idea of what the theme represents, and for any overachievers who want to write more than one poem a week! Remember, anyone who writes and posts a poem for each day of the challenge automatically wins a signed prize copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, and anyone who writes and posts at least weekly will be entered into a drawing for one.

For full details and to grab a badge, see the intro post.

You can enjoy last week's poems here and link up your own if you haven't already! It was a beautiful week of poems on Emerge.

Now it's time to get writing for this week! Ready?

The third week's theme is

Hope

This week we're considering babyhood from a natural parenting perspective and examining our changing identity as parents. The theme and prompts are springboards, so feel free to interpret them in the way they inspire you. Obviously, we are all at different stages in the parenting journey, so we'll need to write according to where we're at. (To be eligible for a prize, poems must make a good effort at relating, at least loosely, to the theme or prompts. So far everyone's been doing great!)

Optional daily prompts:
April 15: Milestones: Celebrate your baby's development or a turning point that struck you with wonder.
April 16: Arms: Write a poem about holding or carrying your baby.
April 17: Pottytunity: As parents, we all have to deal with what comes out that end. Celebrate cloth diapers, expound about EC, moan over potty learning, or wax eloquent on poop.
April 18: Dreams: What do you hope for as a parent?
April 19: Minivan: What in your lifestyle has changed since becoming a parent? What have you gained or given up?
April 20: Village: Consider the outside caregivers in your child's life, or the lack thereof.
April 21: Identity: Who are you now that you're a parent? How do you introduce yourself at parties? How do you define yourself in your own head?

Write your poem anytime this week on the theme of Emerge (or go for gold and write on one or more of the daily prompts). If you're blogging along, post your poem(s) on your blog sometime before next Monday. On Friday, I'll provide a linkup post where you can add your link(s) or paste your poem(s) into the comments whenever you're ready.

I'm looking forward to seeing what we all write this week! Thanks so much for joining in. Happy poeming!

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 2: Emerge

2013-04-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

We're sharing our poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 2:

Emerge

This week we're singing our labors and births and reliving the hazy newborn days.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!

I'll be posting next week's theme and prompts on Monday. You can post this week's poems at any time during the challenge — the linky will remain open. To be eligible for a prize, link up or paste your poem(s) before Monday.

For full details on the workshop and prizes and to grab a badge or to catch up with us (join anytime!), see the intro post, Week 2's prompts, and Week 1's poems.

Here are my poems for the week.

April 9: Birth: Sing this life-changing event, the agony or the sublime.

Unexpected

Tricky boy, you sneaked in behind the midwife's back,
fooling me into believing I wasn't pushing,
that you wouldn't be arriving till morning at least,
that we had time,
long, monstrous hours to fill,
instead of intense, rapturous, terrible minutes.
You slipped out to our surprise,
a splash that we didn't catch — couldn't —
you too slippery for us to contain or predict,
a flashing red-purple,
wriggling in the water, and finally hauled in,
turning it around
and catching us in your net.

Link up your posts or paste your poems in the comments!

Please comment on the participant directly above you and one other participant of your choice. Feel free to share each other's poems on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or Twitter (#parentingpoetry) — everyone can use a little poetry!

I'm asking for your email address in the linky so I can email to let you know when the prompts and linkies are live, and so I can notify you if you're a winner. If you aren't linking up, you can leave your email address in the comments.

Prompts for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 2: Emerge

2013-04-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today starts the second week of the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop!

We're each writing at least one parenting-themed poem a week on an overarching parenting theme, which I post on Mondays. On Fridays, I post a linkup so we can all share what we've been working on, and then we enjoy reading each other's work.

I also post daily prompts for the week in advance, both to give you more of an idea of what the theme represents, and for any overachievers who want to write more than one poem a week! Remember, anyone who writes and posts a poem for each day of the challenge automatically wins a signed prize copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, and anyone who writes and posts at least weekly will be entered into a drawing for one.

For full details and to grab a badge, see the intro post.

You can enjoy last week's poems here and link up your own if you haven't already! It was a beautiful week of poems on Prepare.

Now it's time to get writing for this week! Ready?

The second week's theme is

Emerge

This week we're singing our labors and births and reliving the hazy newborn days. The theme and prompts are springboards, so feel free to interpret them in the way they inspire you. Obviously, we are all at different stages in the parenting journey, so we'll need to write according to where we're at. (To be eligible for a prize, poems must make a good effort at relating, at least loosely, to the theme or prompts.)

Optional daily prompts:
April 8: Labor: Each minute in labor is suspended animation. Describe your labor in a poem.
April 9: Birth: Sing this life-changing event, the agony or the sublime.
April 10: Naming: It's a powerful early task of a parent to name a child. What has it meant to you? What does your child's name mean?
April 11: Feeding: Muse on feeding your baby, whether by breast or bottle or some other method.
April 12: Babymoon: Consider those fleeting, infuriating, precious newborn days. What do you remember through the haze of sleeplessness and gooey adoration?
April 13: Experts: What advice did you seek as a new parent? What stuck, or what didn't?
April 14: Babyhood: Write a poem about your favorite or least favorite part of those first months.

Sunday Surf: About pages, Facebook marketing, and Adsense tips

2013-04-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Links to share, from Writing Tidbits:

The Essential Checklist for Submitting Your Novel to Agents | WritersDigest.com

6-item checklist to follow before sending off your first novel query!

1 WEEK AGO - 1

novel writing novels novel submissions agents Submissions query writing fiction writing 1 note

What Will You Find When You Download Your Twitter Archive? | BlogHer

You can download all your Tweets easily now!

My very first Tweets were RTs, so that’s boring, but my third Tweet ever made me laugh:

is once again searching for overdue library items.
— Lauren Wayne (@Hobo_Mama) May 6, 2009

Still true.

1 WEEK AGO

Twitter Social media blogging blogging tips

12 Blogher conference tips that no one else will tell you

Big-sister tips for enjoying a blogging conference.

1 WEEK AGO

blogging blogging conferences conferences blogher blogher13

CreateSpace: a Review | Freeman Ng

Helpful review of publishing a book with color interior pages at CreateSpace.

1 WEEK AGO

self-publishing publishing print on demand CreateSpace

Positioning your Adsense Ads III : @ProBlogger

Interesting info on AdSense locations: Be aware that AdSense fills the ads from the top down, so make sure your most prominent ad spot is being filled with the best ads first.

3 WEEKS AGO

advertising AdSense google blogging tutorials Finances monetizing

How to Write Your “About Me” Page : @ProBlogger

There are four main questions that readers want answered on your About Me page:
who you are…

your expertise and how it addresses…

their problem or goal, and how they can…

contact you

Includes sample “About” page.

3 WEEKS AGO - 1

blogging blogging tips about page marketing tutorials 1 note

Add an ‘About’ Page to Your Blog : @ProBlogger

Tips for what to include.

3 WEEKS AGO

blogging blogging tips tutorials about page marketing

How to Manage Your Facebook Marketing in 30 Minutes a Day | BlogHer

Feeling overwhelmed by your Facebook page upkeep? Here’s an easy system to have one simple but effective post a day.

3 WEEKS AGO

facebook facebook fan pages Social media blogging tutorials

Guest room: Three hacks to access your site’s Pinterest statistics « Birmingham Blogging Academy

Three ways to track pins from your site.

1 MONTH AGO

Pinterest Social media blogging blogging tips tutorials statistics

Blogger Beware: 3 Ways You Could Be Breaking Amazon's Affiliate Program Rules - I Can Teach My Child!

Verboten: Shortening links; including links in ebooks, emails, or PDFs; and buying through your own link. (For #3, you can always buy through another blogger’s link right here — and add your own link!)

1 MONTH AGO

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Surf with us:

We love following along with fellow Sunday Surfers. If you have your own post of reading links to share, please link up your post on Hobo Mama or on Authentic Parenting. The linky will go live every Sunday, and you can link up any day that week. You only need to add your post to one of the sites, and the linky will automatically show up on both sites.

You can get the Sunday Surf button by Jenna Designs and some code to add to your post from my Sunday Surf page.

Check out previous editions for good reading, and you can find more shared items during the week at my Tumblr blog, Hobo Mama's Shared Items.

Poems for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 1: Prepare

2013-04-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

We're sharing our poems from the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop:

Week 1:

Prepare

This week we're considering the planning and waiting that goes into considering parenting: fertility, conception, loss, frustration, anticipation, and hope.

If you have a poem or poems posted on your blog, link up below, or paste your poem(s) in the comments!

I'll be posting next week's theme and prompts on Monday. You can post this week's poems at any time during the challenge — the linky will remain open. To be eligible for a prize, link up or paste your poem(s) before Monday.

For full details on the workshop and prizes and to grab a badge, see the intro post and Week 1's prompts.

Here are my poems for the week.

I'm feeling vulnerable (anyone else?) and wishing I'd worked ahead so these wouldn't be first drafts, ha ha. But let's just plunge in and share what we have in progress, together!

I wrote two based off two of my daily prompts, so I'll repeat those here to show what I was writing from.

April 3: Body: Write a poem celebrating — or bemoaning — the physicality of pregnancy. Muse on the beautiful shape or the discouraging aches and pains.

Stealing Youth

I have aged
we all have aged
waiting for you to come.
Nine months a lifetime
stretching joints
and wearing down bones
bending my back to a curve
and grinding my hips to dust.
I ache like an old lady
creaking out of chairs
swearing as I rotate slowly
slowly over in bed
leaning on a stronger shoulder
to shuffle along.
You've stolen my youth
as you build your own.

April 6: Fears: What scares you about the future with your children? What scared you before you had them?

On thinking of having kids

You can't know the dive down from the pool,
guessing the rough grain of the board on bare feet,
air shivering water droplets into goosebumps,
the peek over the ledge, ten whitened toes gripping,
the clench and rise in organs and muscles,
ripples and lines minuscule below.
You have to grip the silver tubes of the ladder,
metal under your faltering feet,
walk out to the edge,
and go.
The split seconds of air whistling,
weight plummeting,
water rushing into your nose and over your head,
closing you in,
knowing now what it is to dive.

Link up your posts or paste your poems in the comments!

Please comment on the participant directly above you and one other participant of your choice. Feel free to share each other's poems on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, or Twitter (#parentingpoetry) — everyone can use a little poetry!

I'm asking for your email address in the linky so I can email to let you know when the prompts and linkies are live, and so I can notify you if you're a winner. If you aren't linking up, you can leave your email address in the comments.

The most important tasks for bloggers — and what to skip: Survey results

2013-04-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

A ~~million~~ two years ago, I sent out a survey asking blog readers what were the most significant elements of blogs they loved to visit, and what was by contrast less important.

I'm not sure why I didn't post the results except that a month later, I had a baby. But other than that.

I got just seventeen responses, so that might have been part of it. But I think the seventeen responses were useful ones, so I'm going to go ahead and post the results now. Here's hoping it helps us all as we prioritize our limited blogging time!

The most important elements, ranked

Click any image to embiggen.

This was a multiple-choice question where survey takers could select as many responses as they wanted. As you can see, "meaningful content" came out on top as the most important element of a blog or blogger, with 16 who chose it as valuable. Second, with 12 checks, was "replies to commenters" — so, social interaction on a blog itself. In third place were tied "opportunities for writing, such as blog carnivals" and "comments on other people's blogs." About half of respondents considered "frequently updated content" important. Other items ("interaction on Facebook," "speedy responses to email" [phew!], "interaction on Twitter," "weekly memes [such as Wordless Wednesday or Sunday Surf]," and "reliable posting schedule") were less highly valued by most respondents. Zero respondents checked "product giveaways" as important.

This next question used the same items from question 1 but allowed respondents to rank them according to a Likert scale of 1-5, with 1 being "least important" and 5 being "most important" and 3 being neutral. This gives a little more nuance to how valuable each item is. I'll talk about them in order of importance (the righthand average number) rather than the order in which they're on the survey above:

Meaningful content received mostly 5s. It was the only one marked so strongly as important.
Replies to commenters (on one's own blog) were solidly 3-4 and quite a few 5s. I'd call that strongly important. These were the same top two responses in the first question.
Frequently updated content received mostly 3-5, with 4 as the dominant answer. This seemed more important here than in the first answer.
Comments on other blogs received a range from 2-5, but interestingly had a strong presence for 4. I'd call that fairly important.
Speedy responses to email was a mix of neutral and important, placing it as also fairly important. Uh-oh.
Promotion of other blogs' posts was 2-4, but quite a few 4s. This sort of thing confuses me, because memes scored low, but one of my memes is Sunday Surf, which does just this.
Opportunities for writing (blog carnivals, etc.) was interesting, because there was an almost even split between people who thought it was really important and people who thought it was really not. I'm imagining it depends on individual respondents' attraction to blog carnivals. This is the sort of question that would benefit from a larger sample size!
Reliable posting schedule was a solid 3. I hope that means that I can keep being unreliable?
Interaction on Facebook and on Twitter were interesting in that there was no consensus — I wonder if the mixed results denote which respondents favor which social media (and some who favor none). Pinterest wasn't around when I made this survey. I know! That's how long it's taken me to post the results!
Weekly memes were mostly unimportant or neutral to people. I'm still doing mine, though, because they're (mostly) easy and fun.
Product giveaways were very unimportant to most people. Here's where a bigger sample size of a wide variety of readers would help me again, because I know my giveaways get a lot of pageviews and entries, meaning they do drive traffic to my blog if not regular readers. I guess the takeaway here might be to do giveaways if they interest you, but that you don't have to, and in any case, don't do them so much that you alienate your faithful visitors.

Priorities, priorities

Next, I did a series of either/or questions where I asked respondents to choose one element or the other as more important. Obviously, people might consider both pretty dang important, but I wanted to force a choice. These are all taken from the elements previously discussed.

Click any image to embiggen.

So, in this instance, meaningful content wins handily over frequently updated content.

If one has time only for writing content or replying to comments, slightly more people would prioritize writing new content. However, this one was really close, so a larger sample size could sway it either way! I was surprised how many people voted replies to comments as being more important than writing new posts. Since I don't always do that replying-to-comments thing… But I like it when other people do, so I get the appeal as a reader!

I am terrible at emailing people back, so I had to know. If I could write a post or respond to (potentially your) email, which would you choose? Most people said "new content" over emailing back. Saved.

This was another really close race, where new content beat out social media interaction on Facebook, Twitter, etc., by a nose. Obviously, they're both important for blog readers (at least, the ones who are on those particular social media platforms themselves).

The final question asked whether reading and interacting with other blogs (through comments and content promotion) was more or less important than writing new content for one's own blog. This one surprised me by more people saying interacting with other blogs was more important.

Respondents' thoughts on the survey

In the final-final question (I forgot there was a sort of bonus), I left a paragraph form open for any respondents who cared to elucidate their previous responses or add any thoughts. Here are the eight comments received (all were anonymous):

Q7 [importance of reading vs. writing] Interesting...New content is important but if you don't come out from your own blogging world to make 'friends' then it's a bit self-centred! I don't I mean it that harshly as there are some great blogs that I just want to get more info from them and couldn't care if they never did anything else but write content. But blogging community is fun.

Agreed — if I didn't interact socially, I'd get a whole lot more writing done … but I wouldn't enjoy blogging half as much as I do with the interactions.

That last one is hard [reading vs. writing again] -- I think there is a balance there between working on your own blog/content and interacting with others that must be found, but is a challenge. For me, my time is often spilt 50/50 or more heavily toward interacting, mostly because it feels easier than writing new posts (in my head, anyway), but my ideal would be 75% writing and 25% interacting.

If your content is good, I really think all the rest is nice, but not necessary. There are many bloggers I follow for their great content who I've have never actually interacted with. It would be cool, of course, and I totally appreciate it when it happens, but it ABSOLUTELY does not turn me away from a blog to not be interacted with.

I like the ideal of 75/25 as well — that sounds very reasonable: still social, without letting it take over all your writing time. And I agree that sometimes I'm just thrilled to bits to have a blogger respond to a comment I've made or even drop me an email — but it's not something I'd expect or get annoyed if I didn't receive it. That said, if I've followed a blogger for a long time and I never get any interaction, then that does turn me off. What do you think?

When I think "meaningful content," I don't necessarily mean anything terribly serious. It doesn't have to be a deep thought-provoking article. It can be a short personal tale. But as for frequent updates, when bloggers go a long while between updates I wonder and worry about them.

That said, I can't read everything everyone posts, either. I have my priorities when it comes to blogs I read. Some I don't want to miss a single word and some I only read casually. I try to comment on nearly everything I read these days, though I don't sweat it if the article has a lot of comments already. Commenting often has become my own little good deed.

That's lovely, and I agree with so much in here. In some seasons I'm a commenting warrior, and sometimes it's one of the things that gets dropped for other priorities moving into the way.

I like replies to comments but sometimes it isn't really necessary. So I wanted to clarify here. A short, way to go, type comment really doesn't need a response.
I like to reply to comments on my blog in a thoughtful way, but don't really know if that person even gets the message.
I do like to get a reply to my comment sometimes, but don't notice too much if I don't.
Every now and then it's nice to be connected with.
But, I don't ever have too many comments to deal with....

Once I asked people how often they subscribe to comment threads, and the subscription rate was quite low overall — something like 26%. I was surprised, since I'm a serial subscriber, unless it's a post like a giveaway or at a super popular blog where my inbox will just be inundated in perpetuity. I know some bloggers email their comment responses to make sure the commenter receives the reply; I don't do that, and it's more challenging with the native Blogger commenting system (on Hobo Mama), anyway — not everyone has a connected email address (hint: get one). But it did relieve some of my guilt about not always (often) responding to comments, knowing that so few people were going to see my comment responses anyway.

For q4 and q5 [commenting courtesy & email courtesy vs. writing new content], I really think they're both equally important.

However, I do focus on creating new content first.

Replying inline to comments is something I'd like to do more of and plan to change my platform so I can do so. Right now, the time it takes to reply is often a blocker for me and I only tend to reply to direct questions or if I am really moved to do so. I also take the time to reply to comments via email (even though blogger doesn't provide email addresses and I have to hunt around for them), especially to a new visitor, though often not immediately.

I always respond to emails, though often that might take more time (sometimes weeks).

This person is putting me to shame. That isn't hard, though.

If you are passing this info on for others, especially for people who are starting a blog - I'd like to say - please include an "About" of some sort. The first thing I do when I go to a new blog is look for information on who's writing it, why they're writing it, what it's about (including a picture is an extra bonus!). It makes a big difference when I'm deciding what blogs to follow - even if the "About" is a three sentence profile.

You listening, bloggers? Create that "About" page!

This one's addressed to me in my Hobo Mama hat:

I read your natural parenting blog for your insight in your writing. Your posts are among my favorite. I also appreciate that you reply to comments and e-mails. I like the opportunities to write for the Carnival of Natural Parenting. The giveaways, tweets, and memes aren't that important to me. From my perspective those missing from your blog wouldn't diminish the quality of content (although the Wordless Wednesdays are fun to see, but I don't click your blog just to see them.)

That was nice to hear! Especially considering the sentence "I also appreciate that you reply to comments and e-mails." I'm so glad that's at least one person's perspective on my responsiveness level. I really do try, but I frequently get distracted by … you know … life from moving through my poor overburdened inbox. It's helpful to hear that about the memes, and makes me feel a lot less guilt when I miss a week for one reason or another.

By "meaningful content", I mean content that is meaningful to the blogger, not content that's "useful" or "important" or whatever to the reader. I think of blogging as sharing a slice of your life/self/mind. I want to read what the blogger has to say, regardless of whether its "on topic" or good SEO or anything like that.

Yes. And I think that's what becomes meaningful to others, when it's authentic for yourself as the writer.

My thoughts on the survey results

So what do you think? Do you agree? Disagree?

What made you feel relieved as a blogger? What made you feel pressured or lacking?

I know, for me, time management plays such a vital role in what I can possibly get done as a blogger who's also a mother, businesswoman, wife, etc. I often feel content on my blogs suffers because I spread myself so thin doing the other things: commenting, social media interaction, carnival hosting, and so forth.

Note that this survey was reader-oriented, so I specifically left off tasks that bloggers have to accomplish "behind the scenes" like promotion, finances, site design, research, photo editing, and so forth. I feel like that could make for another intriguing survey right there!

But if we want to know what readers wish to see from us, I think this survey is very helpful in clarifying our way forward.

For me, I was gratified to see how much emphasis was placed on quality content over most everything else. However, I was surprised (and perhaps should not have been) on how much value readers find in social interaction on the writer's own blog as well as on others' (presumably, in the respondents' minds, their blogs). I feel like I'm often pulled between either writing fresh content or interacting socially, and this survey seemed to confirm, in Dilbert's-boss-fashion: Do both.

Simple Blogging's recommendations

I first bought Simple Blogging: Less Computer Time, Better Blogging (affiliate link there), an ebook by Rachel Meeks of Small Notebook, for precisely this reason. I wanted to answer the questions (or see how she had): What daily tasks are most important for me to accomplish as a blogger? What can I let slide?

I was really intrigued to see Rachel's priorities include not using social media at all. She views it as the timesuck it is and prefers to interact with comments on her blog and others — but only within a manageable time commitment. And she has a whole chapter on dealing with email guilt. It starts with this wise analogy:

If you walked into a room and suddenly 400 people wanted to talk to you, what would you do?

Line them up and answer each person's request one by one? That sounds responsible. That way you wouldn't miss anyone.

But what if your children were with you? Would you make them wait patiently behind you while you acknowledged 400 people, one at a time?

No, you might take the first few and then say, “Thanks, that's all I can do,” and then go home with your kids.

Why do we expect that we can respond to every single email?

"If someone sent an email to me, then the right thing to do is respond."

There is only ONE of you. There is no end to how many emails you’ll get, and most of them want something from you: an answer, a favor, advice, help, and most of all, your time.

Now, her answer isn't never to respond to email (she has more helpful tips to help you manage the onslaught, though), but it is to take it easy on yourself when you see your blogging commitments stacking up.

She also has this to recommend in her chapter on time management:

Not all blogging activities are created equal.

There is networking, reading other blogs and commenting, as well as responding to your comments. And there is design, guest posts, emails, Twitter, Facebook, research...

If you come to a point where you can't do it anymore, there is one thing you should come back to focus on: writing posts.

So, yeah — she agrees with me. (Except that I'm totally all over social media.) I should really take her advice more seriously and concentrate on that content!

I don't want to spill all of Rachel's blogging tips here, so I'll refer you to her book. Again, that's an affiliate link, but I really did find the book very helpful as a time-management-challenged blogger, and the price of $8 is a total steal.

You can still take the survey!

If you didn't get to it the first time around and would like to take the survey now, here it is, still open. I'd love to get more responses — you can share it around with your readers, too, so we can all use the results to help us target our blogging efforts. If we get significantly different results, I'll post an update. (But don't wait with bated breath or anything, since it will probably be in two years or so!)

The above is a snazzy pop-up version of the survey, since I couldn't get the form version to embed correctly. If, say, you're on a phone, and you want a plain link, here you go: http://hobomama.polldaddy.com/s/blogging-survey

If you just love surveys, I've got a short one-question poll open at Hobo Mama, too.

Thank you to all seventeen of you fine souls who responded the first time around!

Bloggers and readers, let us know your thoughts about the results in the comments!

Prompts for Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — Week 1: Prepare

2013-04-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop — no April Fooling!

We'll be writing at least one parenting-themed poem a week on an overarching parenting theme, which I'll post on Mondays. On Fridays, I'll post a linkup so we can all share what we've been working on, and then we'll enjoy reading each other's work.

I'll also post daily prompts for the week in advance, both to give you more of an idea of what the theme represents, and for any overachievers who want to write more than one poem a week! Remember, anyone who writes and posts a poem for each day of the challenge automatically wins a prize copy of Poetry of a Hobo Mama, and anyone who writes and posts at least weekly will be entered into a drawing for one.

For full details and to grab a badge, see the intro post.

Now it's time to get writing! Ready?

The first week's theme is

Prepare

This week we're considering the planning and waiting that goes into considering parenting: fertility, conception, loss, frustration, anticipation, and hope. The theme and prompts are springboards, so feel free to interpret them in the way they inspire you. Obviously, we are all at different stages in the parenting journey, so we'll need to write according to where we're at. (To be eligible for a prize, poems must make a good effort at relating, at least loosely, to the theme or prompts.)

Optional daily prompts:
April 1: Fertile: Write a poem about fecundity, cycles, or conception.
April 2: Waiting: Waiting to conceive, waiting after a loss, waiting for milestones, waiting for the birth … write a poem about those in-limbo moments on the journey.
April 3: Body: Write a poem celebrating — or bemoaning — the physicality of pregnancy. Muse on the beautiful shape or the discouraging aches and pains.
April 4: Nesting: Consider those days of collecting baby things, shaking out hand-me-downs, and cleaning a space for the new life.
April 5: Taking care: How do you pamper yourself or your growing baby?
April 6: Fears: What scares you about the future with your children? What scared you before you had them?
April 7: Hope: What excites you about the future, or what did you look forward to?

Write your poem anytime this week on the theme of Prepare (or go for gold and write on one or more of the daily prompts). If you're blogging along, post it (them) on your blog sometime before next Monday. On Friday, I'll provide a linkup post where you can add your link(s) or paste your poem(s) into the comments whenever you're ready.

I'm looking forward to seeing what we all write this week! Happy poeming!

Join me for the Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop in April!

2013-03-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Weekly Parenting Poetry Workshop

April is National Poetry Month (for the purposes of this challenge, let's just call it "Global Poetry Month," ok?), and I want to celebrate poems and parenting in one beautiful span of five poetry-drenched weeks.

Come along with me on this challenge with one simple mission in mind:

Write some parenting poetry.

That's it. It doesn't have to be amazing (though you'll find that a lot of it is!). You just have to write, and then share — inspire, and be inspired.

The minimal goal is to write at least one poem a week on the overarching theme for that week, which I'll post on Mondays.

You can use the optional daily prompts to inspire more specific poems or to write more frequently in case you're in the mood.

On Fridays, I'll host a linky for participants to share their poem(s) of the week. (Each linky will stay open for the entire challenge, so you can add to it later if you haven't posted your poems by then.) If you don't have your own blog, you can post your poem directly into the comments.

We'll comment on each other's poems throughout the challenge and embrace the creativity of the group.

At the end of the challenge, there will be some prizes and sweet celebration — as well as the knowledge that you have at least five more parenting poems in your portfolio!

FAQ & rules, rules, rules

Do I have to be a parent to participate? Do all my poems have to be parenting-centric?
I welcome anyone who wants to write more poetry this month to participate! That said, this challenge will emphasize the parenting perspective. If you're not a parent (or not one yet), you can still write along in whatever fashion you see fit. Even if you are a parent, not every poem has to reflect a parenting bent. However, prizes will be awarded to qualified participants who showed a parenting slant in at least 80% (give or take) of the poems shared. That's because I want to celebrate the highs and lows, the joys and challenges, of parenting — along with poetry — in this challenge.

There is a much more open-ended Poem-a-Day Challenge hosted every April by Robert Lee Brewer at Poetic Asides, a fine challenge and the inspiration for mine. Regardless of whether you feel like you fit in here, I encourage you to check that one out.

Talk prizes! Who wins, and what do we win?
I will award an autographed hard copy of my book, Poetry of a Hobo Mama, to the following poetic inspirations:

Anyone who writes and shares a poem a day for the entire challenge! The 35 poems must be based on the daily prompts, and you have to post your works at least weekly (on your own blog and in the linky, or in the comments on mine).
A poet laureate whose poem(s) inspire and touch me
A lucky ducky drawn at random from everyone who posts weekly based on any of that week's prompts for all 5 weeks

And there might be other surprises! We'll just have to see.

Do I have to write based on the themes? What about the daily topics?
Each week will have an overarching theme, based on the sections in Poetry of a Hobo Mama, which are in turn based on the stages in my parenting journey so far:

Week 1: Prepare {prompts | poems}

Week 2: Emerge {prompts | poems}

Week 3: Hope {prompts | poems}

Week 4: Trust {prompts | poems}

Week 5: Enjoy {prompts | poems}

As you can see, the themes are quite broad, so it should be possible for everyone to think of a topic to write about that fits under those umbrellas.

Each Monday starting on April 1, I'll also post seven prompts for the week. The prompts will fit the theme of that week. The daily prompts can be used (or not) in different ways: If you want to write a lot of poems during the challenge, use them to inspire you to write a different poem each day (or on many days). If you want to focus on just one poem a week, which will perhaps lend you some time for reflections and revisions, you can use the prompts to give you more specific ideas of the theme's direction. However, you're not required to use the daily prompts if you're writing only one poem (or a few) per week. It's up to you to use the daily prompts in whatever way is helpful.

If you're inspired to write a poem that fits none of the themes or prompts, follow that muse! Just be aware that the only people eligible to win are participants who post poems that fit the themes or prompts. (But writing a poem can be a prize in itself, right?)

I'll post the prompts and linky on both Hobo Mama and LaurenWayne.com, but you can add your poems to either. The linky will auto-update on both.

Do the poems have to be perfect?
Not at all! You can start revising in May. Go ahead and get out some drafts. You can always discard the rejects at the end of the month, but you'll likely find nuggets of gold to hang onto and polish. Remember: You can't edit what you haven't written!

Do the poems have to be new?
That's the idea. This is the honor system, obviously! We'll all be sharing our newly hatched poems as they are in process, and in draft form.

Do I have to be a poet?
Of course not! Even if you don't self-identify with being a poet or writer, even if poetry's completely new to you, I invite you to come along and use this as a journaling experiment. Writing a poem can be such a freeing and artistic way to process your thoughts and feelings, and you might find you have a new skill to love!

Along the same lines, there's no limit to what form or style of poetry you write. Go wild!

How do I post my poetry?
If you have a blog, you can choose how you want to share your poems. You could do a weekly wrap-up post with that week's poem(s), or you could post each one you write as you go. Be sure to link up any and all posts in the linky for that week on either of my blogs, Hobo Mama or LaurenWayne.com.

If you don't have a blog or if you don't want to post your poems there, just post the entire text of each poem into the comments on my weekly linky post on either blog. To make it easier for everyone to read, use a separate comment for each poem.

Do I have to post my poems? What about copyright or publishing concerns?
You don't have to do anything… But anyone who wants to win one of the prizes must post the poems on a blog or in the comments (and link up if it's on a blog).

Your copyright is confirmed, so no one is legally allowed to lift your poems without your permission. If you're planning to submit these exact poems to a magazine or book for professional publication, some publishers might have concerns with poems having been previously published; you'll have to work through whether it's worth that downside for you.

What about community?
I'm glad you asked! I want this challenge to be inspiring for all of us and give us all a chance to enjoy each other's poems. Every week, I'll ask you to comment on the person above you in the linky or comments as well as one other random poet of your choosing. I encourage you to offer positive critiques of each other's poems (critique meaning compliments as well as helpful and constructive ideas for improvement if applicable). Let's keep it all kind and enjoy reading each other's works-in-progress.

I'd also love to see us sharing each other's poems on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter (#parentingpoetry). Everyone could use a little dose of poetry in their lives, so let's spread the joy around!

Grab a button!
If you want some blog bling, take your pick.

I can't wait to see what poetry we all create!

Sunday Surf: Software, schedules, affiliates, and trolls

2013-03-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Links to share, from Writing Tidbits:

(It's been awhile, so I'm breaking them into separate posts.)

» State of the Draft, January 2013 Domestic Chaos

Reviews of writing software for short stories, novels, and editing.

1 MONTH AGO

writing novels novel writing editing writing software software short stories reviews

Between Books: The End of Illness, Mr. Rogers, and my daily freelance-writer schedule | Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Cool sample daily schedule for writers.

(Source: thevariegatedlife.com)

1 MONTH AGO

schedules routines writing freelance writing blogging

How to Convert Pinterest Visitors to Subscribers | Building Readership, Pinterest

Tips for optimizing your articles and sidebar to keep Pinterest visitors coming back to your blog.

2 MONTHS AGO

Pinterest blogging tutorials

10 More Amazon Associate Program Lessons I Learned on My Way to Six Figure Earnings : @ProBlogger

General helpful lessons for increasing your Amazon Associates affiliate earnings.

3 MONTHS AGO - 1

amazon amazon associates affiliates revenue blogging 1 note

Resizing Images for Amazon Associates, Squidoo, Zazzle – Squidbits – Greekgeek's Squidoo Blog

How to resize images based on the Amazon affiliate code.

I often want a bigger image, and it can be a pain trying to force it (or download the larger image and upload it yourself — blargh, I say). Here’s how to alter the code to pull up the bigger images Amazon is already storing on its servers.

3 MONTHS AGO

amazon amazon associates affiliates images html coding blogging

Short Amazon affiliate links – a bookmarklet / Stoyan's phpied.com

Bookmarklet provides a short URL with “just the facts, ma’am” for your Amazon Associates linking. For instance, instead of having to travel to my Amazon Associates account to retrieve the bloated Amazon code, here’s the link for my book with the bookmarklet:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1453670645/?tag=laurenwayne-20

Easy, short, no bother.

3 MONTHS AGO - 1

affiliates amazon amazon associates marketing blogging 1 note

Dangerous Minds | FACEBOOK: I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK

On not getting eyes on your Facebook posts and the implications of paying to promote.

3 MONTHS AGO

facebook promotion marketing Social media

On the sad lives of internet trolls.

Lindy West at Back Fence PDX (by Back Fence PDX)

4 MONTHS AGO

comments trolls blogging Social media

How to increase Facebook Page Posts fan interaction.

Really helpful tips for what types of FB updates get the most fan views and how to keep FB from penalizing what you post!

(Source: themahoganyway.wordpress.com)

4 MONTHS AGO

facebook Social media blogging

MomAgain@40: Poetry of a Hobo Mama - We are never alone

Happy for this review of my poetry book!

One of the most poignant life-altering changes that new parents have to cope with. “Mothers are never alone” But is also a reminder to me that mothers also share the same journey, and in that we are never alone!

6 MONTHS AGO

writing reviews book reviews poetry

The Mummy Episode: A TV trick to watch for

2013-03-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Will a mummy prevail over Sam and Al?

There's a construct in the world of television fiction that Sam and I have dubbed "The Mummy Episode." I recommend you start looking out for it from now on — you'll quickly start to recognize its ubiquitous presence.

We named it after watching two episodes of disparate shows that both featured mummies and the same peculiar twist at the end. One was Quantum Leap ("The Curse of Ptah-Hotep"), and one I cannot remember. I thought it was Young Indiana Jones. (Did I mention we're nerds? But you figured that out anyway, right?) But I rewatched that one on YouTube, and it's not it.

Regardless: In each, there's a rumored mummy curse that's said to be causing all sorts of mayhem. The main character (Sam Beckett the scientist in Quantum Leap) is level-headed and rational and insists there's no such thing as mummies that rise from the dead and that therefore the destruction must be the result of a very human person's mischief. The secondary characters (such as Al the emotional hologram) insist that mummies coming back to life are very, very real. But over the course of the episode (spoiler alert!), they deduce that, indeed, human hands were behind the chaos, and rationality wins the day.

Or does it?

Because both episodes close with a tantalizing hint that … NO! MUMMIES DO COME BACK FROM THE DEAD! THEY DO HAUNT THE LIVING! AAAAA!!!

For instance, the Quantum Leap episode (again: spoiler, if you care, since the show's, like, over 20 years in the past) ends with a glimpse of a wrapped hand reaching forward. Oo, spooooky!

Only it's so DUMB. Why spend the whole episode with the main character convincing us that logic will light the way, only to invalidate his whole message in one brief coda? Are we to believe that the villains they apprehended are not the bad guys after all? Or did they in fact cause the mayhem but did so only by orders of the evil mummy overlords and The Curse?

(Wait — that's a menstrual cycle, right? Well, same diff.)

We have since seen multiple other examples of this sort of Mummy Episode. Quantum Leap had extra Mummy Episodes within its run that dealt with other phenomena, like the vampire ("Blood Moon") who's really just a weirdo … until Sam can't look in a mirror to see his reflection … woooo!

Many Mummy Episodes deal with otherworldly messages and psychics who are disproved … or are they? Like The Mentalist, whose whole premise is that psychics are just tricksters but that keeps muddying the waters with appearances from another is-she-isn't-she psychic. I was just watching the middling show Body of Proof (I could say a lot about the writing and acting there, but I wanted something detective-y to watch and it was free on Hulu), and it was the same thing (spoiler alert for reals): The daughters of one family are supposedly possessed by Satan, until it's revealed they've been drugged … but then one of them has these messages from beyond the grave for the main, rational doctor character. Huh-wha?.

Psychics and spiritually possessed characters being generally discredited but who have one zinger of a line per show are such a staple of fiction that sometimes I think we forget that it is just fiction. Only a TV show can have such a convincing moment of beyond-the-grave communication.

The same sort of thing has happened in Bones and House, and you know from the one-word series names (just joking) that these people are über-logical. In fact, Bones makes a career of Mummy Episodes, though you'd expect that from such a nonsensical show. (I even like Bones, but it's so far removed from the science-minded Kathy Reichs novels it's based on that it's astounding.)

Other variations on the Mummy Episode include aliens from outer space, mythological creatures, angels, ghosts, visitations from the (non-mummified) dead, or mysterious objects reappearing where they shouldn't be. At least one character insists such things are not logical and proves the point against the more gullible characters by solving the mystery — until the ending provides a hint that, no, the seemingly fictional element really was real.

And as for the purest form, it's shocking how many Mummy Episodes contain mummies. It's probably around 30%. Can you imagine if 30% of episodes that "jumped the shark" involved actual shark jumping?

The problem with Mummy Episodes is that the infuriating ending negates everything that's gone before. It's like if each Scooby Doo episode ended with revealing that the ghosts were just bad guys in masks … and then another ghost floated by and everyone ran for cover into the Mystery Machine. The whole point of mystery shows is that there's a logical explanation for what's happening that can be deduced through observation and right thinking, and that the main character is the right person for that job. To have that undermined by a glimpse of something spooooky at the end makes all the hard work meaningless.

Agatha Christie gave Hercule Poirot a Mummy Episode of sorts … only hers ended the right way: with bad guys captured, superstition unmasked, and mummy curses disproved. The very goofily enjoyable Psych even had an actual marauding mummy in an episode who was revealed to be a real-life mortal murderer, end of story. So not everybody falls under the curse of the Mummy Episode!

Look out for Mummy Episodes now and tell me when you see one!

Photo Credit: Leapers Unite

Forward vs. foreword

2013-03-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

The copy editor is in.
I'm presenting occasional posts on the use of English,
not to be pedantic but just for the fun of language.

Vorwort = a strong sign that English is a Germanic language!

This one should be short and simple. I'd think it wasn't even necessary, except that I just picked up a published book with the wrong term used. (Oh, I know — mistakes in books wouldn't normally horrify me, but this one seemed egregious given that one of the options is a book-specific term.)

"Forward" is the descriptive word we all know and love meaning in or toward the front. (It has lesser meanings that are more metaphorically inclined, such as "precocious" and "brash.")

"Foreword" is a noun referring to a front introductory section in a book, usually written by someone other than the author, who presents and endorses the author and the premise.

You can see that they both have similar roots referring to being in front ("for," "fore"), but the "word" ending of "foreword" is our clue that it belongs in a book!

Feel free to let me know your conundrums or pet peeves.

Photo Credit: peacepalacelibrary

Sunday Surf: Respect, comparing stats, and guarding from hackers

2013-03-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Links to share, from Writing Tidbits:

(It's been awhile, so I'm breaking them into separate posts.)

When Will Female Authors Get the Respect They Deserve? | BlogHer

Women write more; we read more; why don’t we get more recognition?

6 MONTHS AGO - 1

fiction writing genre novels novel writing reading writing romance novels mystery novels science fiction novels 1 note

Parenting Blog Analytics: How Do My Stats Compare? | PhD in Parenting

A look at parenting blogger stats.

6 MONTHS AGO

blogging statistics

Strocel.com | Why I Attend Blog Conferences Like BlogHer

What you can and can’t get out of BlogHer or other blogging conferences.

6 MONTHS AGO

BlogHer blogging conferences BlogHer12 blogging

Blogger introduced Permalink option to create custom URLs | My Blogger Tricks

You can now create your own URL (permalink) in Blogger. About time!

This also means figuring it out ahead of time for blog carnivals and the like will be a sight easier.

7 MONTHS AGO

Blogger blogging blogs URLs permalinks blogging tips

Have YOU Been Duped By The "ABOUT " Page Myth?

Ok, I’ve been thinking about this for awhile, but I’ve started work on rewriting my About page now!

What they really want is to discover whether you have a common interest they can connect with. Your readers want to know what you can do for them.
In other words they are tuned to the WIIFM [what’s in it for me] radio station.

7 MONTHS AGO

about page blogging blogs

Is Your True Nature, Entrepreneurial or Employee? | The Work at Home Woman

I used to wonder why everyone didn’t work for themselves. I finally figured out that not everyone wants to!

7 MONTHS AGO

working at home self-employment

Declutter the Reading List | Small Notebook

Streamline your blog reading list. I do this with entire blogs as well as individual articles (so make sure your headlines are catchy, folks!).

All you have to do is look at something and see how it makes you feel. If your initial reaction is sadness or guilt or indifference, you don’t keep it. If it makes you feel glad, you keep it. Simple, yes, but effective.

7 MONTHS AGO - 4

reading blogging decluttering simplifying organizing Google Reader RSS feeds blogs 4 notes

» If This Then That: Turning the Internet Into Your Butler Domestic Chaos

Helpful online app:

If This Then That is magical. It works on the simple premise of when one thing happens, you trigger another. You create what they call recipes, with custom triggers and outcomes. (You can also use recipes that are shared from other users.)
You could use it for anything; I have two recipes that update Twitter & Tumblr when I post a new blog entry.

7 MONTHS AGO

apps online apps Twitter Tumblr blogging Facebook social media automation RSS feeds simplifying

Rumor Alert! Don't Share That Facebook-Page Warning. Here's Why.

Last year, Facebook started showing fans fewer page posts. The less fans interacted with a page, the fewer updates they saw from it.
…
Fans need to continually interact with your page. They can like, comment, share, click links, etc.

9 MONTHS AGO

facebook facebook fan pages

And this is what my blogging efficiency looks like.

Thanks to Jennifer for sharing!

(Source: shoeboxblog.com)

9 MONTHS AGO

blogging balance writing working at home

And This Is Why I Feel Crazy – Can You Relate? | Code Name: Mama

On the everyday reality of being a work-at-home writer and mother.

9 MONTHS AGO

writing WAHMs working at home balance parenting

My Blog Got Stolen... And This is How I Got it Back | BlogHer

How to head off hackers.

9 MONTHS AGO

hackers blogging

What Blog Tasks are You Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Overlooked? : @ProBlogger

Oh, my gosh, I definitely have my list. Today I’m submitting my blog to DMOZ. It’s taken only 4.5 years. I’ve been meaning to rewrite my About page for … um … a year or two? And my sidebar … oy.

What bloggy tasks have you been putting off and/or forgetting?

9 MONTHS AGO

blogging

Allow people to message you from Google Plus

2013-03-04T05:00:00.001-08:00

If you've connected your Google presence to your Google+ profile, as is now the default, there's no standard way for people outside your circles to contact you if they want to drop you a line. There's a feature on the old Blogger profiles to make your email address visible, but if you've upgraded to G+, that profile is history (or soon will be, as I imagine they'll be phased out shortly).

You can't post on someone's wall outside your circles or view their email address without that person making a settings change. You can't even easily tell whether someone comes from a blog or what blog that is unless the profile is set up to loudly display that information.

What's the big deal? Well, for me personally, I run into all sorts of problems when I'm trying to contact winners for my giveaways on Blogger. People comment from their Google accounts on Blogger blogs without necessarily considering the lack of email-ability they're leaving behind. I also can't email someone to follow up on a question or comment.

It's up to you to decide how reachable you want to be on G+ and increase your visibility if that's your goal. (Obviously, if you want to remain entirely private, then that's your call.)

Fortunately, there's an easy fix to make in your settings to allow messages and emails to be sent to you without revealing your email address. To me, this is a commonsense balance between privacy and reachability.

(Now, another irritation I have with Google+ is how small and hidden the links are for emailing people even if they've set up public messaging capabilities, but this tutorial will at least also show you where to look!)

Click any images to embiggen.

See that teensy-weensy line way down there on your right sidebar? For me, it says "Send Lauren an email." That's where, if you have the email function enabled, users can click on it to send you an email. This happens without revealing your email address, so I think it's a good call to enable (unless you're trying really hard to avoid being contacted by [certain] people).

Slightly more visible is the option to send someone a private message over Google+. That's the envelope icon at the top of the profile (when this function is enabled), the one the blue arrow is pointing to.

The red arrow is pointing to a drop-down menu that gives you the option to view your profile as the public or any specific person would be able to. That will give you feedback for just how much information you're sharing with whom.

Setting up email & messaging capability through Google+

All right, so: To enable either or both contacting options, you need to get into your profile. So click on "Edit profile" at the top.

As you can see:

You control your profile: click items to change them or to change who can see them.

Click on "Change contact settings."

It will pop up this box where you can choose messaging, an email link, neither, or both.

The top option (blue arrow) is that little envelope icon that will show at the top of your profile. The bottom option (red arrow) is the link that says "Send {Name} an email."

As you can see, you can choose whether that's visible to the Public (everyone) or some lesser level of visibility:

Extended circles
Public
Your circles
Only you
Custom

That way, you can really specify whether only certain people can contact you in one way or the other. Since G+ doesn't reveal my email address to any contacts, I felt comfortable setting both of mine to Public.

Remember, if you're not setting yours to public, then only people who are directly connected with you through your circles or extended circles (depending on what settings you chose) will be able to send you a message or email. If you're wanting emails to alert you of giveaway wins or to respond to your comments, then set either or both to public.

When you're done, make sure you click "Finished editing" at the top to save your changes.

Testing out contacting through G+

I used Sam's computer to try out sending myself an email through G+ (through the "Send Lauren an email" link). He's not on G+, so he's not friends with me, making it the same as having a stranger email.

This is the message that came to my inbox. "Test message from G+" is what I'd typed as the message text. Sam's Gmail address was at the top as the sender and reply-to address. At the bottom of the email, it reassured me:

This message was sent to you from your Google profile. The sender does not have your email address.

I was also able to check Sam's inbox to see that he had a copy of the message sent to him, still minus my email address.

I tried using the envelope icon to send a message through G+, but it kept giving me an error. I imagine that would come to my G+ "inbox" and show up as one of the updates in my +# list. Since I have important updates forwarding to my inbox, it's possible it would show up in my Gmail inbox as well.

See you (and perhaps message you!) on Google+

Oh, and? Feel free to circle me on Google Plus! I'm slightly more active on my Hobo Mama G+ page, so you can follow me there as well.

Are you a Google+ user? Do you allow people to contact you through your Google+ profile? Any other G+ tips or tricks to share?

6 tips for writing better dialogue

2013-02-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today I'm happy to welcome a guest post from Laura of WaldenMommy: Life Behind the Red Front Door. Laura is offering us advice on improving the dialogue in our fiction writing.

Guest post by Laura of WaldenMommy: Life Behind the Red Front Door

A few weeks ago I eagerly downloaded a book onto my e-reader. I was excited to read a new piece of fiction, but my excitement quickly turned to disappointment the deeper I got into the story. Clicking my tongue in disgust, I flipped through the story, hoping it got better. It didn't.

"If it's that bad, stop reading," suggested my husband, who was trying to read but couldn't because I kept making "I am completely disgusted" noises at the book.

"It's like a train wreck!" I complained. "The dialogue! It's horrible! Look at this!" I shoved the e-reader in his face and he blinked, trying to see the screen. "See that? Is that how people talk? Does anyone talk like that? NO!"

Quickly, he read the offending passage. "Uh, what is this book about? Is that a board room scene? They sound like they're in a business meeting." My groan was nearly loud enough to wake the baby.

"You just proved my point! The characters are supposed to be on a date!"

Dialogue is something that can make a book laugh-out-loud funny or so horrible you send the e-reader sailing out the window. I've muscled through books that were otherwise very good (great story line, interesting characters, realistic scenes) but were painful to read because of the dialogue. Character relationships were shown but lacked a well-rounded development because the dialogue between them was unnatural. Poor dialogue can put a damper on an otherwise fantastic novel.

Writing spoken words can be hard for some authors. However, here are some tips to polish your dialogue skills:

1. Read, read, read!

Read good books with plenty of natural dialogue. If you are writing for a specific genre (such as young adult literature or romance) focus on those books. If you are simply looking to hone your dialogue skills, any well-written book will do.

2. Research

Know your characters and their background. If you aren't completely familiar with the dialect they would speak, educate yourself. Read books with characters that have the same background as yours and speak to people with those dialects. Blogs can also be a great source of regional dialects, especially if the author quotes funny things their children or friends say. Look for bloggers who try to record what people say in the way they said it, with local slang, dropped letters and all.

If your novel is historical in nature, research how people of that time period and class system spoke. Not only is it good to read novels from that time period, it's important to look into scholarly works as well that examine the dialects of the time.

Likewise, know the developmental level of your characters. I've read more than a few books that have six-month-old children talking in complete sentences. While, yes, some children do speak very well early on, that is uncommon. Unless a person's abnormal language ability is important to the character and plot, I would keep language as developmentally appropriate as possible.

3. Listen

"Eavesdrop" on conversations around you. Write them down — pauses, fillers, bad grammar and everything. If you want to make your writing as natural as possible, you must listen to how people naturally talk.

4. Read it out loud

Find a quiet spot, and read your dialogue out loud. You don't have to be a fantastic actor, but the words should flow easily from your tongue.

Bonus: Reading out loud forces you to slow down and really pay attention to your writing. This is a good way to catch little errors that might otherwise be overlooked!

5. Have an editor

And, no, I don't mean your spouse or the good friend who always got As on her English compositions. While those people are a great place to start (and can likely find common mistakes or point out events that seem clear to you, the writer, but are confusing to the reader), you need someone with a good eye for dialogue. Listen to their comments and criticisms, and take them to heart.

And, of course:

6. Practice, practice, practice

It may not make you perfect, but it will make you better!

If dialogue is your weak point, don't give up! You can improve on your weakness and make a novel "laugh-out-loud" worthy. Like anything, it takes time and practice, but the results will be worth it!

Laura is a mother to a Herd of four small children and wife to her Engineer Husband. She blogs at WaldenMommy: Life Behind the Red Front Door and has been writing the Great American Novel for the past 20 years.

Photo credit: Ed Yourdon

9 tips for affiliate earning success & an invitation!

2013-02-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

One way I earn (a little bit of) money as a blogger is through affiliate sales, an aspect that's increased a lot in the past couple years as I've refined my affiliate techniques.

Affiliate marketing for bloggers is using text links, image ads, and posts that direct your readers to certain stores with whom you have an affiliate relationship. When a reader clicks your link and then buys something at the affiliate store, you as a blogger get a certain percentage back. Amazon Associates (see our bloggers' links here and link up if you haven't already!) is the most well-known program available to bloggers (and a profitable one), but there are many more besides. If you're not familiar with affiliate programs at all, check out this article at Acceleration Partners.

Today I'm going to offer you some of my go-to tips for affiliate marketing as well as recommend my top-earning affiliate programs to you to join.

Best tips for affiliate marketing success

1. An ad in the sidebar isn't going to cut it:
As soon as I started blogging in 2007, I put affiliate image ads in my sidebar. I'm able to track those through the various programs, and I'll give you the hard facts here: TWO of those ads have ever been clicked on and then followed by a sale. Plenty more have been clicked on; don't get me wrong. But very, very, very, very few of those clicks resulted in any money to me.

Takeaway: If you're trying to define ad space on your blog, feel free to put up some affiliate image ads. That way, potential advertisers can see where ads go, and your blog looks professional (as long as you're not overwhelming readers with ads all over the place). However, once you get paying ads from real live sponsors, do not allow those affiliate ads to take up prime ad real estate. Take 'em down. They're not earning you anything, trust me.

2. What does work is contextual text links:
Instead of hoping a hit-or-miss visitor will wander to your sidebar and feel the urge to shop, hit them where they already are: in your blog posts! For one thing, most everybody nowadays is reading blogs on phones or in RSS readers. Some of your faithful visitors will never even see your sidebar!

I make an effort to have at least one affiliate link in every post I publish. Does that sound like overkill? It's really not, and it's easy enough to do, even if all you do is stick with Amazon Associates, since they have nearly everything under the sun.

If you're blogging about your home renovation and saying you needed to run out and buy a hammer — link to a hammer! (Bonus points if it's the one you actually bought and recommend. Then you can say so, and readers appreciate authentic recommendations.) If you're discussing your baby's cloth diaper stash, link to a cloth diaper store or, even better, a specific brand you love.

Samples:

"I'm editing my novel now, and I've been very pleased with All-Star Writers Writing Software {made-up company with affiliate link}. The software has been easy to configure, although I've had a few issues getting my novel to import." {Give your honest opinion — both pros and cons — of any product you recommend to keep it authentic.}

"Today we're baking Slime-Drenched Goocakes. You'll need to gather your organic slime {link to your favorite brand} and preferably a raw, unsweetened goo {same deal here}."

The good news is, it doesn't matter what you link to if your reader is interested in buying from that store. Any purchase during the click window will net you affiliate earnings. (By "click window," often called "tracking gap," I mean that each store sets its own timeframe between click and time-of-purchase that an affiliate sale will be credited. For many of the smaller affiliates, the window is 30 days or more. Amazon's is a measly 24 hours, but you take what you can get!) So if you link to a book on Amazon, but your reader wants to buy undies within that 24-hour period, you'll still get the referral credit.

Takeaway: No matter what your post or blog topic, you can find something to link to within every post. Try not to make it unrelated shilling; instead, let it be woven into the topic at hand. Be persistent, and make a goal to link at least once per post, potentially lots more if posts are product-heavy.

3. Another definite do is to write specific blog posts:
This is a suggestion for those of you who seriously want to make some money, not just supplement your blogging in a more organic way. I started a review blog because I wanted to do giveaways and was at the time prohibited from having them on my main blog due to advertising terms with BlogHer. (They've since lifted those restrictions.) Since I had the site going, I went ahead and put up blog posts about my affiliate deals and coupons as they came along and I had the time and energy. (Everything takes time, after all, so I don't do this very consistently.)

I've found that posts that are just about shopping, coupons, and deals eventually show up in search engine results, and then people click on my links. It might be a post from a year ago (and the coupons might now be defunct), but someone will find the post, probably by searching for coupons for the store or for product reviews.

If you don't want to make an extra blog, you can certainly do similar posts within your current blog(s). For instance, in this here post (gasp!), I'm talking about affiliate programs, hoping to attract people who are interested in affiliate programs so that they'll click on my referral links to join those affiliate programs. (I'm so transparent!) At Hobo Mama, I like doing roundup posts of books my kids like or baby gear favorites — I write the posts because I'm genuinely interested in the topics and truly want to pass on the information. And then I include the affiliate links for the products, and those sorts of posts can get high visibility in search results. Two of my enduring popular posts at Hobo Mama are a stupid throwaway post I wrote about a maternity coat that amused me, and a post giving ideas for finding maternity clothes. Clearly those were stellar keywords, because people keep finding them!

Takeaway: Consider writing posts about specific products or stores that would be of interest to your readers, or taking it one step further and starting a blog just for that purpose. Anytime you write a product-heavy post, seek out affiliate links or programs that would be relevant.

4. Not all affiliate programs are created equal:
I belong to four big multi-affiliate programs:
These large affiliate programs encompass thousands of individual stores that you can then apply to to become an affiliate for them.

In addition, some products and stores have their own affiliate programs, either that they manage individually or through smaller affiliate programs like E-Junkie. (If you're trying to sell your own ebook or other product online, I'd recommend looking at them as an affordable affiliate option.)

Some individual affiliates I promote:
- Amazon Associates — obviously, this is an in-house program but a BIG in-house program!
- eBay Partner Network — for eBay and Half.com
- Kissed By the Moon — cloth diapering store
- Kelly's Closet — cloth diapering store
- A Mother's Boutique — maternity and nursing clothing and supplies
- Simple Blogging ebook — a wonderful blogging guide by Rachel Meeks of Small Notebook
- Truth in the Tinsel — Advent ebook and related downloadables — I've had good success at Christmastime with this
- Hybrid Rasta Mama's Coconut Oil for Your Skin and Cooking With Coconut Oil — ever-so-useful books that are perfectly tailored toward the crunchy crowd
I'm sure everyone's experience will be different, but here are my opinions on the above programs:

>> Amazon Associates is a must-have. They have so many products, including third-party sellers, and people are shopping there every day anyway. Amazon has international programs for Canada, UK, Germany, France, and Japan. Linking is straightforward with the Site Stripe, and readers are familiar with and tolerant of Amazon affiliate links. Payout is a reasonable $10 for gift card or direct deposit. Downsides of Amazon: They offer some of the lowest commissions of any affiliate program, and their click-through window is very short (i.e., visitors have to check out their cart within 24 hours of clicking one of your links for you to get credit). But what Amazon lacks in generosity it makes up for in quantity. Most of my affiliate sales are through Amazon, and those few cents per sale add up over time. Remember, Teresa of Spirit Grooves and I have a linky for Amazon (and other) affiliates — add your link, and support bloggers by clicking one of the links every time you're going to check out at Amazon.

>> ShareASale is one of my favorites. I find the interface usable. You can make custom links to specific products or pages easily. (There's much greater return linking to a specific product or category rather than to a homepage — even if the clicker doesn't buy that product after all!) The reports are readable. For whatever reason, a lot of the affiliate managers there (each store will have its own manager of the affiliates; it might be the owner for small companies, or a larger one might hire it out) are very engaging and helpful. I don't know if ShareASale recruits the best companies or managers or if it's just luck, but that's what I've found for my niche (parenting products). I'll often get emails from ShareASale-related companies that give me my affiliate links right in the body of the email — so, say they're writing to tell their affiliates there's a sale on. They might email us and say:

"We've got a 25% off sale. Here's your specific link to the sale page with your affiliate code embedded. Here's a banner with your code embedded. And here's a sample blog post to promote it."
It makes my life so much easier not to have to go to the affiliate site and try to search out all that information myself, and I suspect ShareASale's interface must be very usable for the companies on that side as well for them to be able to do that for their affiliates. I wish all affiliate programs were so easy to work with! Plus, a lot of popular brands work with ShareASale. For instance, I've gotten good sales and had good experiences with ModCloth indie fashion, BabyLegs leg warmers, Earth Mama Angel Baby natural care products, Waxing Poetic heirloom jewelry, Tea Collection children's clothing, Tiny Prints stationery (including Treat greeting cards and Shutterfly), momAgenda planners, and Amy Adele custom stationery, all ShareASale brands. There are tons more to choose from, too, so search their merchant lists for your keywords to get started. ShareASale does have a payout threshold of $50, which could take awhile for small bloggers to reach — however, earnings don't expire, so you can take your time getting up to the threshold, and payment is easy through direct deposit. Each store sets its own policies for what affiliates they accept, their click-through windows, and their commission percentages, but they're decent overall, and you can always pick and choose the ones that suit you.

>> Commission Junction is meh. For one thing, their payout is $50 even with direct deposit, and to add to the pain, they deactivate your account periodically if you don't get at least one commission every six months. You can reactivate, but you lose any commissions that were earned to that point. So, basically, I have never gotten paid by Commission Junction! ShareASale has the same payout threshold, and I've done just fine with them, but CJ keeps kicking my butt. I think it must be related to lower variety at CJ, less interactive affiliate managers, and a clumsier interface. To add insult to injury, I get nagging emails from CJ and related merchants whining about how I'm not selling anything for them — but they're not making it easy! I also get rejected more often by CJ merchants, probably because bigger names tend to go to CJ and they can afford to be picky about what bloggers they work with. I've earned commissions (but not been paid, you understand) for Smilebox e-greetings and Robeez baby shoes. If you know your blog is hopping and CJ has an affiliate business you've just got to have, go ahead and try it out. If you're small to medium in size, you might just give this one a miss and save the hassle and heartache.

>> LinkShare is in the middle. I find the interface unintuitive but usable. There are a few stores there I really like, and then not much else. A big plus is the minimum payment threshold of (wait for it) $1! However, I can find only a handful of stores there to work with, and many of the ones I used to work with have left the program, so I no longer receive any commissions on those links. I don't know if LinkShare is not good at holding onto businesses or what. In general, I also find the emails I get from the managers less helpful than the ShareASale ones, though there used to be one amazing affiliate manager for a couple of the programs there who's left. So it's not necessarily LinkShare — it likely depends on what specific stores you affiliate with, because I know it's possible for managers there to send out specific links and banner codes in an email. My biggest earnings there, since my other venues have left, are from Destination Maternity (a store that, even though I do shop there when pregnant, I have many ethical qualms with and have since stopped promoting — I'm not sure if I should even take down that link) and MyPublisher, the store we buy our own photo books through.

>> I really hate Google Affiliate Network. There, I said it. The interface is so obnoxious. You'd think a site like Google could simplify matters, wouldn't you? And you'd think intersecting it easily with Blogger would be a no-brainer, right? No chance. Blogger does have this new in-editor gadget that replaced the former Amazon Associates gadget (sigh — that thing was golden), but I can't ever find anything useful when I search for products from it. The emails are constant but useless, requiring you to go to the (terrible) site if you want to post. The upside is that huge (as well as moderate) companies use GAN: Target, Kohl's, Melissa & Doug, Diapers.com, and so on. But I've yet to get an affiliate sale through them, and as I understand it, payments are directed into your Google AdSense account, where the payout threshold is a steep $100. Quite honestly, I've been blogging for 5 and a half years and just got my first AdSense payout — woo! So, like, don't hold your breath.

>> eBay Partner Network is worth using. It's unique in that it allows you to link to used items and collections of items. The interface takes some getting used to, but it's quite functional, allowing you to target your links to individual listings (not a great idea, since they'll expire), individual sellers (for instance, yourself on eBay!), or, as I like to use it, search terms (e.g., "maternity clothes lot" in the Clothing, Shoes, & Accessories category). I like using links to eBay whenever I suggest looking for a product secondhand, especially as a way for readers to save money. eBay Partner Network also pays you not by purchases made through your links but from some sort of per-click calculation. I don't understand it; all I know is that I get regular micro amounts filtering into my bank account from them. According to the FAQ, the payout is supposed to be $25, but all of my payments have been under that amount (confusing, but I'll take it). Honestly, I don't use eBay links very often, but every little bit of income helps.

>> As for the little guys? I do recommend joining them. Often the payout thresholds are low or nonexistent (meaning, if you get a commission, they'll pay you the next time they pay out affiliates, whether that's quarterly or monthly or whatever; this is not always the case, so read the affiliate agreement before joining). You can find niche stores that suit your target audience (you'll notice I went with cloth diaper and maternity boutiques as well as relevant ebooks). Downsides to the little guys: They pretty much never have a professional affiliate manager, so you're usually on your own. I subscribe to the regular store emails that are available, or to the bloggers' feeds, and just keep track of sales and deals that way. Another drawback is it's rarely possible to link to specific products, making it hard to use links contextually. For instance, if I'm writing a post about wool diaper covers, I can't link to a specific cover at Kelly's Closet {<--homepage only} but can at Amazon {<--one of my favorite covers, by the way!}. A reader is much more likely to click on a link to a product than just to a store's homepage where she'd have to comb through the site to see what's available. I've even written these smaller stores about including that functionality and been turned down! I think smaller businesses don't understand the click-through value of targeted links. Unless I'm talking about cloth diapering stores, to continue my example, I will just link to a product on Amazon, then, rather than to a homepage of a boutique. I'll sometimes see bloggers put a general note on any posts, "I buy my cloth diapering supplies at Kissed By the Moon and hope you will buy yours through my affiliate link!" But I suspect they don't get much juice from those lines, especially from casual (not site-loyal) visitors. So, I find I do best with small companies when I do specific blog posts or sections within a post just about that store or product, instead of trying to do in-context links within a post on an unrelated topic. For instance, I'll post on my review site about coupons at Kelly's Closet (and earn all right with that), whereas if I'm writing a blog post on Hobo Mama proper about cloth diapering options, I'll mostly link to Amazon to target the links. I also got burned by ERGO when they closed their affiliate program when I was one sale away from the payout threshold, so that sort of thing can happen with small-time programs, which wouldn't be an issue with the conglomerate programs. As with Commission Junction's disappointments, sometimes you just have to swallow the frustration and think, "Easy come, easy go."

Takeaway: I highly recommend Amazon Associates and ShareASale, and I suggest eBay Partner Network if you're ever going to recommend used items (on eBay or Half.com). It's worth poking around LinkShare to see what stores they have that are relevant to your blog, and anytime you want to recommend a smaller store or product that you love, it's worth checking to see if there's an in-house affiliate program you can join. A tip is to look at blogs in your niche and see what affiliate banners and links they have up, because then you'll know what's available that's relevant to your readers. I don't recommend Commission Junction and Google Affiliate Network because of my blah experiences with them so far, but they might work out better for you.

5. Choose your affiliations to match your blog:
As primarily a natural parenting blogger (on HoboMama.com), obviously I've connected with stores that are parenting- and eco-centric. You can tailor your affiliate memberships to whatever stores make sense for your niche.

If you blog about pets, find pet boutiques. If you write about car engine repair, find auto parts stores online. Wedding planner? Link to stores selling invitations or travel agencies promoting honeymoon destinations.

If you blog about something less clearly marketable, consider your target audience and what their shopping interests might be. Use a site like Google Analytics to gather data on their average ages, marriage status, global location, and level of education, and then make your best guess as to what sorts of stores might interest them. For instance, if you blog about writing, a lot of your readers are probably interested in books and writing classes. If you share your fashion successes, you couldn't go wrong linking to your favorite shoe and clothing stores.

Don't join just any affiliate program under the sun. It's tempting, particularly at ShareASale, where the amount of choices is astronomical. All those affiliate emails will just clutter up your inbox and leave you fretting about which stores you're not promoting. It's better for your mental clarity to pick businesses you truly resonate with and can recommend freely; your readers will come to understand your loyalty for those businesses and will associate you with them.

Takeaway: Be choosy about what affiliate programs you join, and target them to your blog's niche.

6. Don't be shy about linking:
If you're just starting out with affiliate linking, you'll likely feel sheepish, and like you have to apologize to your readers that you're trying to make money. Do whatever feels valid to you, but remember some key truths: It's ok to make money. Even if you're a writer. Even if you're a woman (not saying you are, but even if!). Even if you're just a small-time blogger. I feel like all those groups of people have been told that it's ok to write as a hobby but that somehow monetizing is dirty. It ain't. It's perfectly reasonable to want some return on the investment of your writing.

So link early, and link often. You might even go back through old posts and add in links to products you've spoken about in the past. Just speak with your same authentic voice when you talk about products, keep your blog balanced, and keep the regular content coming, and your readers will keep on reading.

Takeaway: Affiliate linking is a clean and likable practice. Be confident about your decision to use affiliate links, and promote the products and brands you love.

7. Be open about affiliations:
Now, at the same time, you don't want your readers thinking you're trying to sneak affiliate links past them — and the FCC agrees. So have a blog-wide disclosure that's prominently linked to in your sidebar. Then, on posts that rely on affiliate links, link again to your disclosure at the end.

This isn't legal advice, because I don't know all the ins and outs of the FCC rules, but that's what I do to keep things aboveboard with my readers.

Takeaway: Have a blog page disclosing your affiliations, and let readers know that you're using affiliate links on your site or in specific blog posts.

8. Set up direct deposit:
I don't know if you're shy about storing financial information online, but if it's possible, go with the ACH deposits. The payout thresholds are almost always lower, and the convenience can't be beat.

I know for some non-U.S. bloggers and for some small affiliate programs, direct deposit isn't an option. But it's lovely when offered.

Takeaway: Go directly to the bank!

9. Yes, it's a numbers game:
When you first start out blogging and don't have very many visits, what money you make is going to be limited. As your blog grows and the search engines start pulling your affiliate-linked articles up to the top of the results, your affiliate earnings will grow, too. I can't tell you how long that will take, but be patient and keep linking away! The more links you have within your quality content, the more likely your affiliate earnings are to take off eventually. The best part is that your affiliate earnings on old posts make for passive income. Those links are always sitting in cyberspace, just waiting for someone to find them and be inspired to make a purchase. Some of my biggest affiliate orders have been through old posts that talked about sales that are long over — it doesn't matter as long as the link is still clickable!

Takeaway: Keep linking, and don't get discouraged by early low returns. Your investment will pay off in the long run.

An invitation to join me at Tea Collection

Above is a lovely affiliate banner from Tea Collection!
I have to credit Tea Collection with this blog post idea. Did I mention ShareASale managers tend to be awesome? The Tea Collection managers emailed their affiliates that they've instituted a new referral program for Tea affiliates and suggested we get the word out. That made me want to write this whole post!

I love Tea Collection — and my boys wear the charming clothes — for their quality and their appealing, modern style for boys, girls, babies, and women. When I write a post about them, I earn 8% of all sales that are generated from their affiliate links on my sites.

If you're a blogger whose audience consists of parents or women, you should definitely consider joining their affiliate program. They now pay affiliates $10 for inviting their friends to join the affiliate program, so once you're a Tea Collection affiliate, you may invite your friends to join just like I'm doing now and you'll earn $10 for every friend who joins. Click here to join the program.

Tea Collection has been a consistent high earner for my affiliate efforts. They send out regular, helpful email newsletters with tips, links, and blog post suggestions, making it easy and effective to get your affiliate links out there. They have banners that auto-update with the latest sales or highlighted products, which means you don't have to constantly be pulling and reinstalling your image codes. They have a fully searchable database of all their products so you can link to any one of them. Plus, they offer bonuses for promoting their sales and deals. They're truly one of my favorite affiliates to work with, so I highly recommend partnering with Tea Collection!

For my other recommendations, see my notes in the section about different affiliate programs.

A reminder: For the love of affiliate income, please enter your affiliate links in our linkies! We encourage all our bloggers to share their affiliate links with us (both Amazon and other affiliate links), and all readers to consider using those affiliate links when shopping to show a blogger some love.

What are your affiliate earning tips and tricks? What sort of success have you had with affiliate income?

Image credits: Svilen Milev (coins) & Jakub Krechowicz (laptop)

Disclosure: You'd better believe as many links as possible are affiliate links!
These are companies I've vetted both as a blogger and as a shopper.
Note that Tea Collection did not sponsor this post; they just inspired it.
See my full disclosure policy here.

Basic links for Amazon Associates to copy & paste

2013-02-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

From this:

to this:

Here are some very easy codes to use to make Amazon links from any Amazon item page. If you don't feel like signing into your Amazon Associates account to get the full link, these will work and track just as well.

Link to an item:

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/ISBN/?tag=laurenwayne-20" target="_blank">LINK</a>

Replace all the items in bold magenta:

ISBN = Scroll down to the Product Details to grab the ISBN-10 for books or ASIN for any other product. As a shortcut, it's nearly always the first big string of numbers in the URL.

ISBN-10 for books:

ASIN for anything else:

As mentioned, it's usually the first or only number in the URL as well:

tag = replace laurenwayne with your Associates ID tag
LINK = Whatever text you want for your link, whether it's the product name or some keywords in your post.

If you're not pasting your code into the HTML tab in your blogging platform, then here's just the plain link to use:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/ISBN/?tag=laurenwayne-20

The official Amazon linkage is this tremendous string, by contrast:

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936608871/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=laurenwayne-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1936608871">Product Name</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=laurenwayne-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1936608871" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

It's a lot harder to remember, right? It's fine if you're in the Associates interface anyway, but the short link will help you out if you're on Amazon proper and don't want to futz with Site Stripe or navigate into your account.

Link to an Amazon-hosted image:

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/ISBN/?tag=laurenwayne-20" target="_blank"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/ISBN.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" alt="PRODUCT" title="POST" align="right" width="200" /></a>

Replace all the items in bold magenta:

ISBN = There are two here to replace. As before, scroll down to the Product Details to grab the ISBN-10 for books or ASIN for any other product. For a shortcut, it's nearly always the first big string of numbers in the URL. If that doesn't work to show an image, look for a different big number!
tag = replace laurenwayne with your Associates ID tag
PRODUCT = You don't need an alt tag, but it can help your images and therefore your posts be found in searches. I usually pop in the product name.
POST = You don't need a title tag, but I highly recommend using title tags on each image to make your posts more Pinterest-friendly. A good suggestion for the title field is Blog Name: Title of Post.

The parts in bright blue can be altered (or deleted or added to) to fit the style you're going for. You can change the alignment and the image size and add other tags or coding, as with any image code.

This is what the image will look like →

Nice, huh? And coding it ourselves rather than using what Amazon gives you through the Associates dashboard sneaks us access into the larger image sizes stored on Amazon's servers.

The images in Associates are small thumbnails, but this image can be quite large.

Like, this large:

Whereas the "large" image in the Associates interface is this unimpressive:

I've never even bothered with their "small" image. I'm assuming it's microscopic.

A caveat: Not every product image is stored on Amazon's servers. Some more obscure items will have missing images or inaccessible ones, in which case you can either try to access one through the Amazon Associates interface, or download a product image elsewhere to use.

There you are! Those are two of my favorite little coding tricks to make linking to Amazon products and images quick and clean — and therefore make raking in the ~~dough~~ pennies easier!

Earth-shattering reminder! Be sure to add YOUR Amazon Associates link to our linky to support bloggers.

And every time you're shopping at Amazon, make sure you choose someone's link to shop through — it can't be yours, so it's a sweet gift to send those cents onto someone else!

Do you have any Amazon Associates tricks and tips? Share in the comments!

3 easy ways to make your blog Pinterest-friendly

2013-01-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

The pinners are everywhere, and they want to pin your post!

Here are my top three ways to get pinned and repinned on Pinterest!

1. You need an image in your post!

Preferably big and pretty. Pinterest is visual, and the people who use it tend to like their boards to look nice. If your post has no image (or just a video), Pinterest will refuse to let it be pinned. So, seriously: You need at least one photo or illustration in your post!

2. Your images should have pin-friendly title tags.

Here's a sample image code:
<img src="http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee159/lintpicker/LW/pinterest-screenshot.png" alt="Pinterest screenshot for tutorial" title="LaurenWayne.com: 3 easy ways to make your blog Pinterest-friendly">

When someone clicks a Pin It button, Pinterest autofills the description field with information from your image code, in this order:

Title tag
Alt tag
Image name

Wouldn't it be fabulous if they grabbed something more useful, like, say, your blog name plus the title of the post? But wishes, horses, beggars, etc. Let's work with what we've got.

The good news is, we can make it put in exactly the wording we want just by filling out the title tag. You can edit the HTML directly or use your blogging platform's image dashboard to add them there. You might have never used a title tag in your life, or you might use them differently, but I implore you to start making them Pinterest-friendly. The quality of the repins will go up, because people will immediately be able to read what's important about your article.

I like something simple, such as title="Blog Name: Title of Post" or the like. You can include keywords or other information as relevant, particularly if your title is not descriptive on its own. (For instance, instead of "Yum!" add something searchable, like, "Yum! Grain-free slow cooker beef stew at My Blog.")

3. Put a Pin It button on pin-worthy posts.

This is an extra step but worth it for any posts you know will be hot on Pinterest: tutorials, recipes, cures for cancer, funny cat pictures, and the like.

Navigate to http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/ and scroll to "Pin It Button for Web Sites." Fill in your post information there (URL of your post, URL of your preferred image, and your description (e.g., as I've suggested, something like "Blog Name: Title of Post"), and then copy the resulting code under "Add this link to your page, right where you want the button to appear" — then paste it into your post … right where you want your button to appear. I like to put one at the top and one at the bottom — encourage rampant pinning!

If it's the first time you've added a Pin It button, you'll need to go to your blog's template and add the small code in the bottom box just once, directly above the closing </BODY> tag. After that, it will work every time you add the bigger code to individual posts. For Blogger users, get to your template's HTML like so (it's doable; don't worry): Dashboard → Template in the left sidebar → Edit HTML. Self-hosted Wordpress users should be able to figure it out. (I fear that Wordpress.com-hosted users are out of luck since Wordpress doesn't like scripts. If anyone knows otherwise, let me know.) Then just do a find/search for "</BODY>" and paste the code directly above it.

(There is a way to code a sitewide Pinterest button for Blogger that appears on every post and autopopulates the post title and your blog name, but I don't know how to code it myself, and Pinterest doesn't supply it. Let's all join in a chant to Anktangle's partner Jaymz to clue us in and write a guest post. Click on any post there to see what I'm talking about. Wordpress users can find a plug-in for this jazz.)

These three easy steps will go a long way to making your followers want to pin you — and pinners want to follow you! Let me know your other Pinterest blogging tips in the comments.

Feel free to follow me on Pinterest: I'm hobomama! And if you're already pinning, join our Natural Parents Network group boards, Slice of Life, Naturally, and Healthy Eating and Living, by emailing your username to ShannonH {at} NaturalParentsNetwork {dot} com.

And, of course, PIN ME! →

My parenting poetry book on sale this weekend only!

2012-11-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I have a gift for you out of gratitude for your faithful readership.

This deal on my book of parenting poetry, Poetry of a Hobo Mama: The First Three Years, has never happened before! For this Thanksgiving weekend ONLY, the price has been reduced to $9.99 with FREE shipping!

Here's how it works — you can buy either from Amazon or directly from me for the same price:

Buy the book at Amazon, where I've reduced the price to $9.99 through Tuesday, November 27. The price is regularly $11.99. The paperback is eligible for FREE Super-Saver Shipping on Amazon orders over $25, so either fill up your cart to get to that level or pay Amazon's shipping fee. (I unfortunately can't provide discount codes on Amazon.)

OR:

Buy directly from me at my CreateSpace author's store. Enter code 4PV6AMYR for $3.59 off each copy, bringing the reduced price down to $6.40 plus shipping. CreateSpace shipping starts at $3.59, so it will be $9.99 with FREE shipping, and each additional copy in the same shipment will be cheaper and cheaper since the shipping decreases per item the more you buy!

My parenting poetry book would make a thoughtful holiday gift for a fellow mama or new parent. I compiled all my parenting-related poetry, from my first pregnancy and miscarriage, then Mikko's story from conception through pregnancy through the newborn phase and all the way up to toddlerhood.

If you're a fan of attachment-style parenting, you'll enjoy reading poems written for your experience: breastfeeding, babywearing, cosleeping, gentle discipline, and more. And if you're a fan of truth in parenting, you'll appreciate my honesty as I detail the highs and the lows of three years of getting used to this roller coaster ride.

Read the 5-star reviews on Amazon and from various bloggers collected here.

Read excerpted sample poetry from the book here.