A Little Bit About SEO (And My LEAST Favorite Folk Song)

Since I work as both a left-brained writer and a right-brained author, making sure my content is easy to find on the Internet is a big part of my job. I can’t just write a book- I need to make sure that people who are interested in women’s fiction, southern lit, or characters with Alzheimer's are able to find it. I can’t just write an article for a freelance client – I need to make sure that their target readers will be able to find it quickly and easily.

Enter the most left-brained aspect of my job: search engine optimization (otherwise known as "SEO").

Search engine optimization essentially means increasing how likely it is that a search engine will pull up your content when someone searches online for your name, your company, or your writing.

Obviously, that means the first major tip for increasing SEO is:

Be Searchable

The first time I searched for my name online, I wasn't expecting to find anything exciting. Sure, I figured there'd be some other Ellen Smiths rattling around out there on the world wide web. According to howmanyofme.com, there are 2,846,099 people with the last name 'Smith' in the United States alone. While 'Ellen' isn't a very common first name, the same site says there are 279,488 of us. Howmanyofme.com calculates that there are 2,461 other people named 'Ellen Smith' in the United States. With numbers like that, I wasn't surprised to find out that a few of us were easy to find online.

What did surprise me was the most notorious Ellen Smith. (No, it wasn't me.) As it turns out, there’s a folk song called "Poor Ellen Smith." If the title sounds ominous, just wait until you read the lyrics. This is the first verse:

“Poor Ellen Smith how was she found
Shot through the heart lying cold on the ground
Her clothes were all scattered and thrown on the ground
And blood marks the spot where poor Ellen was found”

The song goes on to expand on this theme for four more verses.

Awesome.

Fortunately for me, "Poor Ellen Smith" turns up far more often in search engine results than it does in real life. Aside from immediately becoming my least favorite folk song, this less-than-favorable search engine result didn't have an impact on my day-to-day life.

That is, until I started freelancing three years ago.

I conduct about 99% of my freelancing business online and make over 50% of my book sales online, too. If someone is looking for me because they need a freelance education writer or because they read Reluctant Cassandra, I want to make sure they can find me. If the first page of search results for ‘Ellen Smith’ points to a folk song detailing my grisly demise, that’s not good.

The main reason that 'Poor Ellen Smith' gets pulled up so frequently by search engines is that there's a lot of content out there about the song. That includes sites that have the full lyrics, videos of folk singers performing the song, and even a few articles about the legendary Ellen Smith herself. Having a lot of content is one of the best ways to optimize search engine results. Every time I publish a piece for a client with my byline or put up a new blog post on my website, I'm increasing the amount of content I have online. That also increases the chances that someone searching for my work on the Internet will find me!

Obviously, SEO doesn't end with producing a lot of online content. It's also important to direct search engines to help people find the specific Ellen Smith they are looking for. With 2,461 + of us in the United States alone, chances are good that someone searching for plain old "Ellen Smith" could be looking for any number of people. Or tragic folk heroines. That brings us to the next step in SEO:

Use Keywords

If someone is looking for me because they read my book, they’ll probably search for “Ellen Smith Reluctant Cassandra.” If someone is looking for me because they need a freelance education writer, they’ll probably search for “Ellen Smith freelance” or “Ellen Smith education writer.” In either case, they might search for “Ellen Smith writes…” or “Ellen Smith writer.”

Now you know why my handle across social media is always EllenSmithWrites (or EllenSmithWrite if I run out of space...thanks, Twitter.) I pair my name with keywords that people would probably use if they were looking to find me through a search engine.

This is also the strategy I use when I'm working on a freelance project that will be posted online. I want readers who will be interested in the content to be able to find it easily when they do a simple online search. For example, if I'm writing a post about search engine optimization (cough, cough), the people who will most likely want to read it are other people who post content online. Throughout the post, I'd make sure to use keywords that those readers are likely to search for: search engine optimization, SEO, online content, freelance, freelancing, web search, etc. Using those keywords makes it more likely for a search engine to pull up my content for a reader searching for those terms.

There's a lot more to say about search engine optimization, but I'm going to stop with those two basic tips (I have to save something for my freelance clients!) And, while SEO is a part of my job as a writer, there's an even better way to make sure clients, fellow writers, educators, and readers can find me online:

Stay Connected

While I hope that people I haven't met yet will be able to find me through an online search, that shouldn't be the only way that people find my work. My bigger hope is that former and current clients and readers will stay connected with me.

Despite its reputation, writing isn't really a solitary profession. In order to do my job as a freelance education writer, I'm constantly reading news, opinion pieces, and research about what's new in the education world. In order to do my job as an author, I'm doing research for my next book, chatting with readers and book reviewers, and marketing to potential readers. That means I spend a lot of time on social media, sharing ideas and staying in touch with other people who are interested in the same things I am. I'd rather have people find me through their list of contacts than through a search engine any day.

Search engine optimization is always going to be important for the content I put up online. I'm always happy to talk with freelance clients about improving their SEO as well. However, search engine results alone don't determine the success of an online business.

Good news for me and the other Ellen Smiths out there. Otherwise, that folk song would give us a run for our money.  

Writing Inspiration: 8 Essential Quotes for authors

It's always interesting to me to see where different creative types find their inspiration. After a long day of songwriting, does a country music singer turn on the radio and listen to country...or do they listen to classical or jazz? What about painters? What kind of artwork do they hang on their studio walls?

For most authors I know, reading and writing go hand in hand. We might read outside the genre we write in (I certainly do) but there's no denying the power of words. After I finish reading a fabulous book, I'm more motivated than ever to get back to writing my own stories. Then, after a long writing session, I can't wait to unwind by reading a good book. It's a vicious cycle (and I love every second of it!)

Sadly, I don't always have time to dive into a novel before I get to work. I think that's why I've become a bit of a quote collector. If I only have a few minutes to read before it's time to start writing, a collection of inspirational quotes helps me kick it into gear.

For today's writing inspiration, I'm sharing eight quotes that always motivate me to put pen to paper.

Getting Started

This quote by Toni Morrison is really special to me. Reluctant Cassandra was exactly the book I wanted to read at the time I was writing it. This idea is what inspired me to keep writing the first draft all the way to the end - I wanted to see what would happen! My current work-in-progress is unfolding the same way. I really want to read this story, so I have to write it!

If there's ever any doubt about where to go next with a story, there's this advice from Ray Bradbury. I like to have a little bit of a plan before I sit down to write, but overthinking can keep me from actually committing words to paper.

There's also this gem from Ernest Hemingway.

Leave it to Hemingway to get to the heart of writing. If it's not authentic, I'm probably going to have to edit or delete it later. Might as well cut to the chase and start by writing one true, honest sentence after another.

Like Hemingway, Beatrix Potter is an author I tend to put on a pedestal. Whenever I see her thoughts on writing, I snap to attention! Finding out that we feel the same way at the beginning of a story put a huge smile on my face. Naturally, I had to save this quote!

Staying Motivated

After the initial rush of starting a new story is gone, sometimes I need a little inspiration to keep going. Inertia usually hits at about 10,000 words into a novel or after two hours of work on a shorter project. This short quote from Margaret Atwood reminds me to stay the course. Just goes to show that we all work the same way: one word at a time.

I also like this thought from literary great William Faulkner. I "am" a writer every second of my day, but if I'm not physically writing, I'm not moving forward. This quote always motivates me to get to work and put words on the page.

Sharing Your Work With The Rest Of The World

Eventually, I might get to the point where I like what I've written...but then it's time to decide whether I'm ready to share it. I don't know if there's ever a point where saying "Hey, want to read this thing I wrote?" is easy to do. Whenever I'm about to email a draft to my critique partners or share a blog post, I still hold my breath and cross my fingers before I hit "send." I take a little inspiration from one of my favorite writers, Erma Bombeck:

It also helps to remember that there's a reason that I'm a writer and a reason that I choose to share and publish my work. After all, there's other jobs I could do. I could decide to only write in my diary and never share anything I write. If I ever feel doubtful about what my purpose is, I like to read this quote from E. B. White:

That's what it's all about, isn't it? Writers write so that we can connect with others. It's not the easiest journey, but drawing inspiration from other authors can help along the way.  

Are you a writer (or other creative type)? What inspires you to create? Let me know in the comments!

5 Ways I'm Nothing Like My Main Character

Authors often get asked whether their stories are based on their real-life experiences. After spending over a year writing Reluctant Cassandra from the perspective of my main character, Arden McCrae, I can say that we definitely live very different lives. For me, taking an imaginary walk in Arden's shoes was sometimes surreal, sometimes heartbreaking, and always offered a different way of seeing things.

For your reading pleasure, I give you...five ways I'm nothing like my main character.

Let's start with the one you've probably already guessed:

1. I actually can't see the future

...and I wouldn't want to, either. Arden's ability to have visions of the future causes her a lot of anxiety throughout the story. Who can blame her? When she senses that she's about to have a premonition, she's consumed by wondering what she might see and how things might change.

“There’s nothing I can do to make a premonition break before it’s good and ready. Nothing I can do to change the future once I see it, either. I know that from experience, too. So I do what I’ve learned to do best. I settle in and wait.”

— Reluctant Cassandra

2. I can't see the past, either

Now here's an ability that could be a lot of fun! I'm a big history buff. When I'm reading about something that happened long ago, I usually find myself wondering what life was really like during that time. I also love antiquing and finding one-of-a-kind pieces. Wouldn't it be great to know who owned each of my antique finds and how they were really used?

Arden is able to sense the truth about an object's past just by holding it. As a savvy antique store owner, she uses this ability to tell her customers a little about each piece she sells.

“Lucky for me, I always know the story behind a piece. Unlike visions of the future, which hover and hesitate and shift at random, visions of the past are clear. If I brush my fingers over a piece, I’ll get a hint of the stories it holds, the same way I could get a whiff of old varnish or a glimpse of a worn patina.”

— Reluctant Cassandra

3. I'm not so great at refinishing furniture

That's not to say I haven't tried. Every so often I'll see a chair or a little table that looks like it just needs a coat of paint and a little TLC. Correction: what it needs is someone who knows what they're doing to give it a coat of paint and a little TLC. After several failed attempts, I am confident in saying that I am not that someone.

Arden, on the other hand, has an entire basement stocked with antiques that need to be refinished. She also saves broken items she can make into something new.

“I hate throwing out broken things. If all I have to do is replace a finding or mend a fastener, I can save a whole piece.”

— Reluctant Cassandra

4. Remodeling a house is also not on my to-do list

I love watching shows on HGTV that turn run-down fixer-uppers into gorgeous restored homes. I've even been known to imagine tearing down a wall or installing new floors in my house. Fortunately for the other members of my household, I don't go any further than imagining drastic home makeovers. I'll do simple household repairs and even paint the walls (under duress), but believe me, everything else is best left to the professionals.

With her spot-on ability to sense a troubled past and her talent for making old things new again, it's only fitting that Arden remodeled her one-hundred-year-old house entirely on her own. By the end of the book, it's still a work in progress (as most houses are), but I feel like she's up to the task.

“Now that most of the big things are done, it’s starting to feel more like a home and less like a never-ending project. On the inside, that is. The outside is about as awful as the day I bought it. Maybe even worse.”

— Reluctant Cassandra

5. Believe it or not, I don't know anyone personally who has Alzheimer's

Which is exactly the reason why I was able to write about it. Many, many people, myself included, have lived through the reality of having a loved one diagnosed with a progressive illness. However, Arden's experience with her father's Alzheimer's diagnosis is entirely her own. She has a particularly hard time admitting the reality of the condition - even to herself.

“We don’t come out and say “Alzheimer’s” in our family. That’s not how McCraes handle things. We say he’s “absent-minded” or “feeling his age” or “having a hard time.””

— Reluctant Cassandra

Writing this novel was similar to taking a very long walk in someone else's shoes. At the end of the trip, I was glad to take them off - after all, I definitely wouldn't want to have premonitions like Arden. It also left me with a deeper understanding of others who are on Arden's journey and have loved ones with Alzheimer's. After writing Ghosts of Eagle Valley, a companion short story collection to Reluctant Cassandra, I published it on Channillo for Charity so that all proceeds from Ghosts of Eagle Valley would be donated to the Alzheimer's Association. If you'd like to join me in supporting research and support and care programs for those living with Alzheimer's, I hope you'll consider checking it out!

Now it's your turn. Although I like writing about characters with different experiences than my own, I'm willing to bet that other authors have different approaches. Are you a writer? How are you different from your main character? Leave a comment and let me know!

Facing the Blank Page

Even with the help of my outlines and plot boards, every so often I find myself staring down at a blank page:

If that sight isn't terrifying, I don't know what is.

The most intimidating thing about a blank page is that the longer I stare at it, the harder it is to start writing. It starts to feel like writing the wrong word is even worse than writing nothing at all.

If I'm just a little stuck, pushing through and freewriting can help get the words flowing again. If I'm really in a rut, though, I need to switch gears completely. My favorite way to recharge is to put down my pen and head for the piano.

What I love about music is that it's a zero-pressure creative escape for me. At this point in my life, there's no piece to learn for music class, no recital to prepare for, and (thankfully) no audience for the inevitable wrong notes. I'm playing just because it's fun.

The most freeing thing about playing piano is that there is no finished product. If I don't get a musical phrase exactly right, there's nothing to go back and edit later. I just play it again until I'm happy. That's especially satisfying since so much of my creative work is about results. Whether I'm working on a freelance project or a novel, my ultimate goal is to have a finished piece that's ready to send off into the world. With music, my only goal is to relax and enjoy the process, wrong notes and all.

After a little time on the piano, it's easier to go back to writing and stare down that blank page. I might start off with the wrong word. I might even write whole chapters that don't work or a story that goes nowhere. That's okay. If I just keep writing, I know I'll eventually get to a place where everything sounds exactly right. As Dilbert-creator Scott Adams said, "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

Where Do You Read?

My favorite reading spot is a little green chair in the living room. It has a great view, perfect lighting, a nearby bookshelf, and a little ledge for my drink. What else could a bookworm need? Plus, the chair swivels and rocks, which means I can accidentally make myself seasick if I start tapping my foot during a tense part of the story.

(The seasickness isn’t perfect, but this is real life. And I’m a toe-tapper.)

Since I’m not the only reader in the household, my favorite green chair isn’t always available. Fortunately, bookworms are adaptable. There’s also the couch, the back porch, or curled up in bed. That last one can be dangerous. If I get to a good spot in the story, I might play the “just-one-more-chapter” game until I finish the book. At three in the morning.

If the book’s really good, I don’t care where I am. This is where e-books finally won me over. I like that when I’m on the go, I can have a bunch of e-books at my fingertips, including my current can’t-put-it-down read. Even better: thanks to the Kindle app on my phone, I can now sneak in a little reading while I’m waiting at the doctor’s office or stuck in line at the grocery store.

Even though I can read anywhere, I still try to make it to my favorite reading spot whenever I get the chance. I can’t beat an evening curled up in my little green chair, getting lost in my current favorite book.

What about you? Where do you read? 

First Book Anniversary: 5 Things I Learned in my first year as an author

This June marks one year since I published my first novel, Reluctant Cassandra. Making the leap from "aspiring author" to "published author" was a completely different experience than I imagined. Here are five things I learned along the way:

1. Connecting with readers is my favorite part of the job

As a reader, I've sent quite a few e-mails over the years to authors whose books I enjoyed. I never guessed how much fun that would be from the other side! After spending so long with this story living inside my head, it's neat to see how other people have connected with it. Some people read Reluctant Cassandra because they have a loved one with Alzheimer's disease. Others connected with the setting in small-town Virginia. Others have told me about premonitions they've had or about a relative who had a "sixth sense." Based on their own experiences, everyone had a slightly different perspective on Reluctant Cassandra.

It's true what they say: the author starts the story, but the reader's imagination finishes it. I love hearing how different readers have "finished" the story!

2. "Marketing" isn't as scary as it sounds

If you ever want to scare an introvert, tell him or her they're going to be responsible for marketing something. I didn't even like selling Girl Scout cookies when I was younger, and those are possibly the easiest things to market on the planet. There's a pretty dedicated customer base for cookies. The idea of marketing my own work to people who had never even heard of me before was a lot more daunting.

As it turns out, marketing wasn't nearly as scary as I thought. I love talking about books. I love talking to other book lovers. It's not a huge leap to talk to other book lovers about my book. Bonus: some of my readers have written books too, and if not, they have great books to recommend. My to-read list has grown exponentially in the last year.

3. I still have a lot to learn

I used to think that after I'd gone through the publishing process once, I'd have this whole writing-and-publishing thing down.

*cue riotous laughter*

Experience helps a little. I have a better idea of where I hope to publish next time, how to plan out my budget and marketing strategy, and the people I'd like to work with when I've finished drafting my next book. At the end of the day, I'm still the same person, sitting at my desk trying to figure out how to get the story in my head out and onto a blank piece of paper. There are a lot of false starts. There are a lot of ideas that don't pan out. There are a lot of times I look back on what I've drafted so far and wonder what in the world I was thinking.

That sounds frustrating, but I like knowing that fiction writing still has plenty of surprises left in store for me. I hope I'm still learning as much when I'm writing my fiftieth book as I did when I was writing my first.

4. Connecting with other authors is essential

Thankfully, one of the things I've learned this year is how to connect and learn from other writers. I'm lucky to work with fantastic critique partners. If I'm stuck on a scene or struggling with a sub-plot, I know that they can help me figure it out and get back on track. I look forward to their critique submissions the same way I look forward to downloading a new book for my Kindle or picking up a paperback from the bookstore. Watching their works-in-progress go from "rough draft" to "polished novel" is an incredible experience and I love being part of it.

The Internet has been another great place to find support and guidance from other authors. After signed up for the Plotting Workshop, I joined the Ninja Writers Facebook group, also led by Shaunta Grimes. The group includes lots of opportunities for authors to ask each other questions, seek out support, and share what's going on with current works-in-progress. 

I also joined the Curiouser Author Society, which launched just a few weeks ago on May 17. I've followed the president, Shayla Eaton, on social media for a long time because of her incredibly valuable insights on editing, indie publishing, and the writing life. The author society has been a great resource and a great place to connect with other indie authors.

Even though my actual writing process is solitary, it makes a big difference to connect with other authors for insight and support. Everyone needs a community (or three) and I'm glad to be part of mine!

5. Being an author is even more fun than I imagined

I've been dreaming of being an author since I can remember. I still have spiral notebooks and binders of story ideas that I scribbled down in elementary school. (Most of my early stories were about princesses and dolls that came alive, FYI). When I visited a library or a bookstore, I used to find the books written by authors with my last name, put my finger there, and promise myself that someday, I would have a book on that shelf.

Making that happen was worth every second.

Left-Brained Writer, Right-Brained Author

I'm a writer by profession and by passion. For the past three years, I've been working as a freelance education writer. I love freelancing. I get to work with lots of different educators, business owners, and administrators on a variety of projects. Plus, part of my job is keeping up-to-date with current trends and the latest news in the education world. What could be better than reading and writing about my favorite topics?

When I'm off the clock as a freelancer, I'm still writing. Writing novels and short stories is my passion. Even after a long day writing blog posts and curriculum plans, my favorite way to unwind is by planning and drafting my next novel.

With a writing schedule like that, you'd think I'd get burned out after a while. Actually, I think these two distinctly different forms of writing keep me balanced and excited about what I'm doing, whether it's for work or for fun! I've started thinking of myself as a left-brained writer and a right-brained author. Kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only less sinister and much wordier.

Freelance writing is almost entirely left-brained. When I'm working on a piece for a client, my writing process looks like this:

If I could take this approach to fiction writing, I would produce a LOT of novels.

Fiction writing, on the other hand, is different every single time. When I get a story idea, my left brain totally disengages and it's all creativity, all the time. This is the part of my writing life that wakes me up at two in the morning with a gotta-write-it line for my work-in-progress. For some pieces, I re-read and edit as I go. My current project has me galloping through the rough draft at breakneck speed, with no time to look back at what I wrote yesterday. When I get to the end, I'll go back, re-read, and start editing. I have a feeling there are going to be a few plot holes to contend with, but that's okay. I'm writing for the sheer joy of it.

I think my freelance clients are glad I leave this approach to my fiction writing instead of my work!

Recently, I tried to add some left-brained thinking to my right-brained creative writing. Using a plotting strategy or specific outline has always fallen flat for me when I'm writing fiction. Somehow, after writing the plot out, I felt like I'd lost the urge to tell the story. After all, the whole plot was already down on paper, even if it was just in shorthand.

Then I tackled my latest work-in-progress, and I realized that my right brain was going to need a little help telling this story. I'm writing a trilogy that involves time travel, so making up the story as I went got really confusing really fast. Fifty pages in to the first book, I realized that my creative process had led me down a rabbit hole so deep I wasn't sure I could dig my way out. For the first time, I wasn't enjoying fiction writing without a plan.

Enter The Plotting Workshop, created and led by author Shaunta Grimes. I first heard about the workshop in this interview with Shaunta by author T.M. Toombs. As soon as I visited her site, I knew that learning this approach to plotting was the answer to my dilemma. I signed up, got my first e-mail the next day, and spent eight weeks doing the impossible: bringing my left brain into my right-brained world.

It worked.

My plot board: Left brain, meet right brain.

I'm now a quarter of the way through the second book in the trilogy. The plotting method Shaunta teaches did the opposite of killing my creative spark. With my plot board propped up on my desk, I'm more anxious than ever to get to work on the next scene of my story.

This little experiment with my fiction got me thinking: what if I added a little of my right brain to my freelancing work? I've started keeping a journal where I spend ten minutes a day freewriting ideas and random thoughts about education issues. It hasn't changed my core process for my freelance writing, but I've noticed a big difference in how quickly I can generate new ideas for articles. Even better: now I start my work time excited about what I'm writing and why. It's a passion for education that got me started as a teacher and then as a freelance education writer. Reigniting that passion each morning makes me a happier writer and, I hope, a better writer too.

There was a time when I thought the key to balancing my freelancing and my fiction writing was in keeping each process distinctly separate. To an extent, I still think that's true. My freelance work requires a lot of focus and my fiction needs a lot of freedom. However, it's been fun to learn how crossing over my left-brained and right-brained skills have added more excitement, more inspiration, and more productivity to both sides of my writing world, fiction and freelance.

Inspiration: Kurt Vonnegut's "Shapes of Stories."

Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughterhouse-Five, said in his autobiography that his "prettiest contribution to culture" was his rejected master's thesis on the shapes of stories.

Maybe it's because I've always struggled a bit with plotting (or maybe it's because Vonnegut's dry wit is so on point), but "On The Shapes of Stories" seems spot on to me. You can watch it here:

Don't you love that? Since I'm currently knee-deep in writing a trilogy, I thought it would be fun to draw the shapes of the three stories I'm working on:

I like that the story shapes for the first and third books are roughly the same. The second book, as I was hoping it would, has a distinctly different shape from the other two. One of the hard parts about planning this series has been ensuring that the overall story arc for the trilogy has a nice flow to it. After this little exercise, I feel like I'm on the right track!

What do you think of Vonnegut's theory? Have you ever drawn out the "shape" of a story you're working on?

Why Do You Love To Read?

Why do you love to read?

Depending on the day, I might have several different answers. If I'm reading a series, I probably can't wait to find out what's going to happen to my favorite characters. Sometimes I want to read a book that reminds me of something going on in my life...and sometimes I read because I want to escape for a while. (Just being honest.) 

There's one more reason why I'm always disappearing into the pages of a book: 

I read because I want to connect.

After I finish a really good book, I close the back cover and feel a little surprised that I’m actually sitting in my living room. The world I was just visiting and the characters I just met still feel so real. The next thing I want to do (besides flip the book over and start reading again) is to go find someone and ask, “Did you read this? What did you think about…?”

The best thing about my first year as an indie author has been connecting with other book lovers. It’s really true that if you love your job, it will never feel like work – and I definitely love my job!

On this blog, I want to connect with you over the books I’m reading and writing. Plus, I hope to introduce you to some of the other book lovers I’ve met along the way. Most of all, I’d like to hear back from you!

Why do you love to read?