Personalize blog header tip

I felt my fellow writer-bloggers might find this tutorial helpful in personalizing their site.

Specific for wordpress users, you can also find tutorials on how to personalize Blogger themes here.

If you need a program or web site service to edit or create a graphic, consider these options:

GIMP- this is a free program similar to Photoshop that enables the user to use layers and create some neat effects. There is something of a learning curve however to master using it.

Sumopaint- this is an online service that allows you to layer and use fundamental commands to create and/or edit graphics.

Pixlr.com editor is another online service that lets you create/edit graphics, and includes filters to create some neat effects.

Need some ideas:

• Take photos of your books or even a portrait of yourself to add to the header.
• Use ‘screenshots’ and assemble a pile of papers (like I did with my header) of your writing, and put at the header.
• Use writing tools such as pencil, pen, keyboard, ipad/iphone, or spines of books such as dictionary, thesaurus, or your own novels.

Check out these writer blogs for inspiration (or just be impressed)

M.S. Fowle

http://msfowle.wordpress.com/- Sleek and direct, this site shows nice color balance. its easy to navigate, and includes links directly to her writing, including bookcovers. Her posts are a nice balance of graphics and text.

No Page Left Blank

http://nopageleftblank.wordpress.com/- Another sleek design, with pages to her bio page, with easy to navigate pages that includes categories, and recent posts. This seems more text based than other sites, but the simplicity work great.

Invisible Ink

http://whitneycarter.wordpress.com/- This site offers more color and flourish, including a lovely header, eye-catching background (without overshadowing the text), and includes easy-to-navigate buttons and links.

These are just a few to appreciate the various styles writers use to share their writing on the web.

Technorati Tags: blogger,writer,authors,fantasy,tutorials,blog header,theme,novels

Wednesday Writer: Diary of Ehmdav

I happened upon this blog post concerning Fallout 3, which I enjoyed playing a year ago. The author makes a valid argument to the creative sparks that fly when you play videos games, provide you do a bit of roleplaying.

I admit the post caught my interest since I enjoy playing Fallout 3 myself. I agree, wholeheartedly, that playing video games often spark story ideas, or allows me to wonder on the storyline in the game, perspective of the non-player characters, or asking many ‘what if…?” scenarios, as well.

Many posts bring up interesting topics, written in a witty style;

What, Exactly, Is a Career Woman?

The Sims 3: A Good Game for Writers

Technorati Tags: diaryofehmdav,writer wednesday,authors,blogger,links,publish,fictions,storytelling,gaming

Wednesday Writer: QQproductions

QQproductions is an interesting blog that has a number of useful posts with writing-related topics that you might find useful if not interesting.

Some posts:

Inside the mind of an artists; Reasons why writers write.

Creative Writing Tip #1- Finding your voice

About the author;

My name is Patrick Samuel. I have written an entire book, then burned it for fun… Okay, I wrote a book and realized I screwed up big time when revising and now am working on another book of a completely different series. I think I have skill at this sort of thing I just don’t have any achievements to show it. I began 3 books so far but have not finished any of them. Holy crap, I just made myself sound like a quitter! Welcome to my blog.

I hope he posts more, and perhaps adds a tag cloud or something I can navigate through topics on the blog. Otherwise, check him out and help support a fellow writer.

Technorati Tags: writer,blogger,authors,wednesday writer,editing,tips

Free e-story- The Monster

 One of my fellow writers, Roxanne Crouse, published her story, The Monster, on Amazon Kindle Singles, and today you can get it free.

If you enjoy paranormal, horror you’ll like this story. Don’t forget to post a review.

 

Technorati Tags: amazon kindle singles,author,blogger,writer,publish

The Perfect Blog Post-

Like this? Learn how to use psychology to get more traffic and sales with Social Triggers.

Technorati Tags: blog,blogger,online journal,posts,writing,networking,soundbite,author

The Mobile Reader

As I’ve written previously enough times, I’m a huge supporter of the Independent writer, who gets their stuff ‘out there’ for the e-readers, and keeps the relationship between storyteller and reader intimate and direct.

Even bloggers provide a valuable resource of shared knowledge and storytelling of every day life, or commentaries. This leads to the topic of ‘the mobile reader’- the people who read blogs, articles, news, and books via e-readers such as RSS readers, Kindle, Nook, or the numerous apps used to read these types of files.

Blogs in particular are often read through the Android or IPhone, and I only recently realized that many blog services offer a way to let your readers read your blog accordingly;

Blogger offers an app for bloggers to blog on the go. don’t forget to also check  your Blogger settings by going into your account, selecting Template, and choosing if you want a mobile or desktop template as the default.

WordPress also offers their app so you can blog via Ipad, Iphone, Android, etc. You should also check out your settings for your WordPress blog by going to the Dashboard>Appearance>Mobile and checking the mobile options.

I prefer the Google Reader to gather and read the blogs I’ve subscribed to.

I’m not as familiar with the other blog services, so you’ll need to check your settings and see what they offer. If you have another blog service that offers something similar, or use another RSS reader, please post in comments and add comments. I’d love to hear other’s opinions.

 

Technorati Tags: blogger,wordpress,apps,iphone app,android app,mobile,readers,writing,authors,published