Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

Given the plethora of writing-related blog hops, I gather I'm not the only one who enjoys a writing challenge.  I don't often get to join those hops, as I'm still trying to figure out how to keep all the balls I'm attempting to juggle in the air, but I'm very fortunate in that more than one of my balls---okay, can we please switch to oranges or something?  Thanks---as I was saying, more than one of my oranges involves writing. Added to my ever growing list of duties at work is writing about products for my company's website and blog.  This can get dull at times, but being the writing dork that I am, I get huge kick out of wooing the search engines with my words, i.e. Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  The challenge lies in packing the entries with key words without looking like I'm doing it.  The most important thing is to have something informative and appealing to potential customers, and that ain't gonna happen if I simply parrot the same words ove...

If you know Karen G, then you know Celery Tree. But just in case you haven't had the pleasure, let me introduce you to this exciting new website for writers and readers.  It's set to launch very, very soon.  The brains behind the concept can explain it better than me, so I've put together excerpts from the Celery Tree blog (along with links to the full posts) to help me out: The book world needs a vehicle to help overlooked but talented authors get discovered. The real judge of a book's worth should be made by the readers, not by the marketing dollars behind it. But how can readers find those books that don't have the big bucks behind them? That's where celerytree.com comes in. It's like a cozy neighborhood bookstore where you can feel comfortable browsing for hours and discover some hidden gems of your own. Read full post. * * * Authors helping authors, in an environment of books, blogs and reader reviews--similar to Goodreads but without th...

I'm so excited to be a part of Meet an Author Monday blog hop!  Its a fun and easy way for readers to find and get to know new authors. Here's how it works: For readers:   Follow the Meet an author Monday host ( Cali Cheer Mom ) along with any of the wonderfully talented authors on the list at the bottom of this post . The purpose of the hop is to meet "new to you" authors and discover great new reads. Follow as many authors as you can. Leave a comment and introduce yourself! We're all happy to chat and get to know our readers. You're the reason we write! For writers: If you have a book under contract or for sale, join the hop by entering your name and blog url into the Linky tool.  Then you can grab our super cute button and place it in a post. This enables others who are participating in the hop to comment as they explore your blog. If you'd like to share the Linky list in a post on your blog, just follow the link and grab the code....

In celebration of me finally landing on a description for this blog, Ruminations on the 80s and writing , I'd like to point you in the direction of two wonderful websites that make the 80s and writing even more fun.  First up Goodreads .  My first thought about Goodreads was that it's sort of like Facebook for writers and readers.  But different.  Like Facebook, you friend people and get a feed on their Goodreads activity, but everything here is focused on literature.  You  fill bookshelves with all the books you've read, are reading, and want to read, and you can rate and review them all.  Also, there's space on your profile for a blog, for samples of your writing, for videos, and for exhibiting your favorite quotes from an enormous searchable quote library. If you like, you can become a fan of your favorite authors and join various groups to engage with readers/writers with similar interests. Additionally for writers, you can list your books and pub...