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14 06, 2013

Miller Farm Friday – Strange Eating Habits

By judythemorgan|2013-06-14T05:18:03-05:00June 14th, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|4 Comments

By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

I have decided it is my mission in life to make sure no one or no thing in my world goes hungry.

This goes for chickens and dogs as well as humans.

Every morning I feed all chickens, dogs, and humans sometimes in that order, sometimes humans first, depending on who is awake.

We have special feeders for the chicken and the quail to access to their food easily. There are some chickens, however, who are not satisfied with the system and have found their own unique way of eating.

Little Gray Hen, one of the smaller hens who is sometimes pushed aside, has taken to staying on top of the quail cage in the coop. When I put food in the quail’s feeder, Little Gray Hen helps herself.

The feeder is designed so the birds eat out of the bottom. Little Gray Hen does not realize that and eats from the top.

She doesn’t seem to mind that she is eating quail food and, as long as she doesn’t go hungry, my mission is accomplished.

The younger hens have their own feeder on their side of the chicken yard. Some of them have adopted Little Gray Hen’s method of eating and climb in the top.

I suppose as they get bigger that they will do one of two things: stop climbing in the feeder or be stuck in the pail. But, the small hens aren’t going hungry. My mission is accomplished.

Chickens aren’t the only creatures with strange eating habits.

As a small child, my family lived in South Korea. I was not too fond of rice until our housekeeper put ketchup on it.

I was an adult before I ate rice any other way. In fact, when no one is around, I still eat it with ketchup.

I’m not going hungry so my mission is accomplished.

12 06, 2013

One Word Wednesday: SELF-DISCIPLINE

By judythemorgan|2024-06-02T11:52:41-05:00June 12th, 2013|one word Wednesday, writer|1 Comment

Our word today is

I’m preaching to myself here because I’ve been less than focused on my writing lately.

With very, very legitimate reasons, of course.

Overseas travel, anniversaries, graduations, moving, remodeling, visting friends and family …

the list goes on and on.

But starting today I’m back on track.

If you want to get back on track too, I suggest you check out these terrific tips in blogs by:

Kristen Lamb: Traits of the Successful Author: Self Discipline.

10 06, 2013

Primal Branding your Author Brand Part 2

By judythemorgan|2013-06-10T05:12:28-05:00June 10th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

In Author Branding Part One, we discussed of how to cultivate your author brand using principles found in Primal Branding.

Readers have zillions of books to choose from these days. Author branding is important if you want readers to choose your books.

Primal Branding defines a code of seven elements needed to launch new products and services that people believe in – and it helps re-engineer existing products.

In Author Branding Part Two, we’ll discuss the final three codes Hanlon describes: rituals, anti-believers, and leader then identify ways to use with author brand development.

5) RITUALS

According to Hanlon, rituals involve a repeated experience associated with the brand, whether it’s positive or negative. The kind of engagements build up a certain expectation about your brand and future experiences they can expect to have.

Rituals are important to an author’s brand because they provide interaction and a bond of togetherness between author and reader.

Sharing experiences and events through blogs, FB, Twitter, and other social media is the means for developing author rituals.

With all social media, reader expectation is important. Regular posting is important. Posting often is important too.

Do you share pictures of your writing desk, your pet, or other life events for your readers? These are part of your story. (Remember Hanlon’s first component-STORY? If you don’t, check here.)

Posting excerpts from your WIP, celebrating a new release or revealing a cover makes readers a part of your writing process. How about sharing great reviews or fan comments?

Each of these, while we might not think of as rituals, add to your brand and offer a marketing tool for your books.

Step FIVE to develop your author brand: Share life events with your readers through social media.

6) ANTI-BELIEVERS

According to Hanlon, for every belief system there is a group of anti-believers (ie Mac users vs PC; Republicans vs Democrats). Anti-believers identify who and what the brand is or is not. Anti-believers are folks who don’t agree with us.

But without anti-believers, our standard is undefinable. We want to stand for something and our brand to mean something.

Anti-believers can also give you a good idea of the direction you want to take your brand or which directions to avoid.

Readers have preferences. Romance genre vs literary mainstream, e-reader vs hard cover vs paperback. Our author brand should reflect those preferences we want to attract and entice the “anti-believers,” the ones who aren’t buying our work.

Personally, I’ve discovered that my blog commenters more likely to share a contrary opinion than simply agreeing. Opposition can be a powerful connecting factor.

Step SIX in developing your author brand: Don’t limit yourself to only those who agree with you, but do make very sure your likes and dislikes are clear.

7) LEADER

According to Hanlon, there needs to be a brand leader. Someone who sets out against all odds to recreate something from their vision.

Think Bill Gates, Steven Jobs. For your writing, it’s you.

You have the power to shape your brand the same as you create your plot and characters, your theme and opening lines.

Step SEVEN in developing your author brand: Your brand is like your writer’s voice. Voice develops the more your write. Your brand develops as you learn to tell your story.

Next Monday, conclusions on author branding with Primal Branding code.

YOUR TURN: Do you use Hanlon’s seven components in defining your author brand?

7 06, 2013

Miller Farm Friday – Strange Living Arrangements

By judythemorgan|2013-06-07T04:56:16-05:00June 7th, 2013|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|2 Comments

By Guest Blogger Chicken Wrangler Sara

If you’re a regular reader of Miller Farm Friday, you know we have chickens in the coop and in the yard.

We have four daschunds in the house and sometimes in the yard.

We have bees and beehives in the yard.

Recently, I discovered new boarders … lizards aka chameleons

This seems to be a very good year for lizards. We also have a family that lives on our front porch that drives the dachshunds crazy. The critters crawl along the windowsill taunting the poor dogs.

There is also a family living on the back porch – with the bees. And, when I say “with the bees,” I mean in the same house or, in this case, beehive.

I knew no one would believe me so I asked beekeeper Brian to take pictures.

Naturally seeing the lizards reminded me of a song – actually a book with a lizard song,

Lizard’s Song by George Shannon

I read the book to my children when they were young. In the story, Lizard sings: “Zoli, zoli, zoli, rock is my home.”

Of course, in our house we now sing “Zoli, zoli, zoli beehive is my home.”

I’m not sure I would choose to live in a beehive. I think I’ll stick to living in my zoo.

In case you’ve never read Lizard’s Song, click below.

5 06, 2013

One Word Wednesday – Ghostwriter

By judythemorgan|2013-06-05T06:35:22-05:00June 5th, 2013|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

A ghostwriter is a writer who writes books, articles, or stories that are officially credited to another person.

Celebrities, executives, and politicians often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies.

The pay varies.

Interested?

Read this: http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/get-published-sell-my-work/how-to-be-a-ghostwriter

29 05, 2013

One Word Wednesday – Editing Secrets

By judythemorgan|2013-05-29T05:44:25-05:00May 29th, 2013|one word Wednesday|1 Comment

Okay so instead of one word I used two. Who wants to read a blog titled editing, but a blog about editing secrets? We’re all over it!

Truthfully, I think this editing secret works for writing the novel too. Writers need to keep the reader foremost in their thoughts.

After all, writing is all about the reader. Don’t you agree?

27 05, 2013

Memorial Day is…

By judythemorgan|2013-05-27T05:46:57-05:00May 27th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|4 Comments

A holiday set aside to remember the men and women who gave their lives while serving this country.

Not to be confused with Veterans Day or Armed Forces Day, which celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans, living or dead.

Memorial Day is also the day my sweetie and I shared our wedding vows.

No, we were not married on the last Monday in May, but on May 30th — the original date designated as Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was first known.

We picked the holiday for our wedding because we wanted to make the date easy to remember.

Then on June 28, 1968, the Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved Memorial Day, along with four other holidays, in order to create a convenient three-day weekend.

It’s okay though, we still remember our anniversary every year.

But I think people have forgotten the true origins of Memorial Day.

Memorial Day has become a long weekend more devoted to shopping, family gatherings, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events than remembering those who have given their lives in military service.

I hope this video will jog our memory.

24 05, 2013

Missing Bees and Bee Whisperers

By judythemorgan|2013-05-24T05:23:06-05:00May 24th, 2013|Friday Free Day, Friday on the Miller Farm|5 Comments

A Guest by Chicken Wrangler Sara

Beekeeper Brian recently purchased four queen bees in hopes of starting four new hives. The queen bees were shipped by mail.

He tracked their exact arrival at the post office – late on a Saturday night. Since there is no Sunday delivery, we went to the post office to pick them up. After a thorough search of the facility, Beekeeper Brian was finally able to locate the buzzing box and bring it home.

He set up four nucs (starter hives) with the new queens.

For some reason, one queen was not happy with her new palace and left, taking a group of workers with her.

This was a little frustrating. The queen could have gone anywhere with her workers.

A couple of days later, Rachel was standing in the kitchen window. “Dad, I found your missing bees.”

They had swarmed in the tree in our back yard.

The problem now was to get them back into their hive. Neighbors came to watch this process.

Brian and Matt, our son, got out a ladder. It was not quite tall enough.

Using a different method to capture the rogue hive, Beekeeper Brian set up a swarm trap. We waited.

Nothing happened. The swarm in the tree didn’t change.

Yesterday Rachel went out to check eggs and came around through the front door. “Dad I think your bees are moving into the nuc on the patio.”

We all went out the back to see. Sure enough, a group of bees was on the front of the nuc.

There’s still a swarm in the tree so Beekeeper Brian isn’t sure if this is a different swarm or if the swarm is moving slowly. Beekeeper Brian told the bees to do whatever they wanted.

This morning the swarm in the tree appeared to be smaller, which made me wonder, is Beekeeper Brian a bee whisperer in disguise?

22 05, 2013

One Word Wednesday – Writer

By judythemorgan|2013-05-22T05:29:41-05:00May 22nd, 2013|one word Wednesday|2 Comments

Love this poster that describes a WRITER so perfectly…

This fabulous word art by Kathy R. Jeffords is available here.

20 05, 2013

Your Name’s on the Book Cover. What Does it Mean? Author Branding Part 1

By judythemorgan|2013-05-20T05:41:57-05:00May 20th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|3 Comments

Nothing is more exciting than seeing your name on the cover of a book you’ve written. You’ve devoted hours and hours to the creation of your “baby.” Holding that book in your hand or seeing the listing on an ebook seller site validates your hard work.

I still get excited when I hold my debut novel in my hand.

But what can a reader expect to find inside when they see your name on the book cover?

Authors aren’t products like Pepsi or Coke, but readers do develop expectations about the content of novels based on author brand. For example, what do you expect from books by Mark Twain, or Stephen King, or J.K. Rowling?

Me, I expect a southern tale from Mark Twain, a horror tale from Stephen King, fantasy and magic from a J.K. Rowling book and find exactly that.

My TBR (to be read) pile is filled with all genres. On close examination, the highest stack is romance/women’s fiction books by authors like Debbie Macomber, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, or JoAnn Ross. These authors’ names on a cover promises a certain type of story and they deliver.

Their name is their brand.

Debbie Macomber will offer a story of relationships and enduring friendships. The reader will finish with a sense of love and hope.

Books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips are sure to be a romantic comedy adventure. I’ll grin and often laugh aloud as I follow SEP’s unique heroines to their HEA (happily ever after).

JoAnn Ross’ stories offer strong, yet flawed women who overcome adversity, to-die for men-either emotionally wounded alpha shell guys or bad boys, and occasionally both, a very strong sense of setting, and a satisfying ending.

Your name on your cover should signal YOUR author brand. Does it?

If you don’t have any ideas how to do that, let me offer some suggestions on ways to cultivate an author brand using Primal Branding.

Author Patrick Hanlon, a marketing guru who’s worked on famous brands like IBM, LEGO, and Disney, equates product branding with a belief system. He says a strong brand contains seven primal codes: story, creed, icons, language, rituals, non-believers, and leader.

In this blog series on author branding, I’m going to discuss Harlan’s codes and how those codes relate to building an author brand.

1) STORY

According to Hanlon, “Your brand needs to have a story or a background. It tells where your brand originated from and gives viewers or consumers something to connect with and something they can believe and trust in themselves.”

Readers especially love to know why and how an author got started writing.

That background story sets the whole idea of author brand in motion and is the chief reason all author websites and/or blogs should/must have about me pages.

The authors in my TBR pile all have their “story” somewhere on their blogs. Don’t believe me, click on the links and you’ll see.

Step ONE to develop your author brand. Share the story about how you started writing.

2) CREED

According to Hanlon, “This tells what you believe in and how you might be different or similar to other belief systems out there.”

Story is not the same for all of us, neither is our creed.

Creed is what makes us, as a writers, willing to struggle to nurse our stories into existence, to persevere against headwinds that conspire against us?

Creed goes deeper than “origin” story, into the inner drive that led us to pursue a writing career. It’s what drives us to write.

Creed might be belief in the power of love. The frailty of the human condition. Comedy. The beauty of fine literature. Your fictional story will reveal what you believe most strongly.

Writers don’t necessarily state a creed, but a reader will pick up on our core beliefs through our story’s theme and premise.

Step TWO in establishing your author brand: Understand your core beliefs and develop your stories using those as your framework.

3) ICONS

According to Hanlon,, “These are quick associations or flashes of meaning that are associated with your brand. They can be visual, a particular smell, sound – things like the taste of McDonald’s French fries, the sight of a Coca-Cola label or Mickey Mouse ears.”

Nora Roberts, bestselling author of more than 209 romance novels, brands her new release books with NR in a circle to clue readers the contains new content and is not a reissue. There may be other author icons, but Nora’s is the only author icon I know.

For most writers, author photos and consistent book cover design become logos.

These images stand for you and your work. It pays to have both your photo and your book cover done by professionals.

Step THREE for author branding: Use a professional photo for you book covers and on your website.

4) LANGUAGE

According to Hanlon, “All belief systems or brands have their own set of language and words with a special meaning for those who buy into the belief system. If someone wants to be “part of the group,” they need to learn the associated words.”

Hanlon is talking about specialized words that denote special meaning for a particular brand group. Think soccer fans, computer geeks, doctors, truck drivers, etc. If you want to be part of any of those groups, you have to know the language.

I believe readers already know some language of authors. Not the craft details like POV, scene and sequence, story structure, etc., but a general knowledge of fiction genres and have personal preferences.

That’s why language is an important component of an author’s brand and why I believe a writer’s language must remain true to genre. Doesn’t matter what genre you choose to write, but you’ll not add readers if your language is not true to the genre you chose.

PhilipMartin in his blog, Discover Your Author’s Brand, offers a different take on Hanlon’s core component language, calling it “sacred words.”

Martin believes language equals “key phrases that inspire you or the mantras that you chant or the slogans that you pin next to your computer” and directs you to Maya Angelou’s website.

He points out that Angelou uses iconic images of herself and the cover of her well-known book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in addition to a line from that book: “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” on the website for branding.

Angelou use the language code of primal branding. So should you.

Step FOUR to develop your author brand: Consider the language of the genre in which you write and use related words for your website/blog and promotions, then model Maya Angelou’s website with iconic images and slogans.

In Author Branding Part Two, we’ll discuss the final three codes Hanlon describes: rituals, non-believers, and leader.

Until then, YOUR TURN: Have you thought about using Primal Branding to build your author brand?