Tag: Inspiration

Authors, Inspiration

7 Reasons to Sign Up For the Newsletter

Mona Alvarado Frazier
photo by Binti Malu for Pexels

Yes, I know. Everyone and their mother (except mine) writes a newsletter. There are quite a few good ones that offer marketing, book reviews, writing, and saving the planet tips. They are all valuable.

Reasons to sign-up for my newsletter:

1- Most of the followers of this blog are on an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed handled by WordPress. While it’s possible to manually add your name to an email list, I’d never add anyone unless they gave me permission.

2- The current MailChimp newsletter subscription box is the only way to get permission. (On the right side above the teal button or if you are on a mobile device, the sign-up is at the bottom). When you sign up, I know you trust me with your inbox, and more importantly, you trust me with your time and attention.

3- Sharing news about my upcoming book (June 2023) will be easier. We can discuss why I wrote this specific book, answer questions, and link to podcasts or interviews about the book’s subjects and themes.

4- When the time gets closer for the book’s debut, the cover reveal, pre-orders, giveaways, and Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) will be announced first in the newsletter.

5- I enjoy sharing inspiring writing, poetry, and links with other readers and don’t want to lose communication with you all.

6- A newsletter is one connection I can make with readers that aren’t part of a Facebook, Twitter, or other social media algorithm that decides what to show to whom.

7- The email list is mine, and I don’t have to worry about a social media network canceling my account.

The monthly newsletter will be sent on the fourth Saturday of the month.

The blog will still exist, but updates will be sporadic and brief. Pretty much listing the subject of the newsletter.

So, I’m ready to get started with this new venture. Delivery will be on the last Saturday of the month (July 23, 2022).

I hope you will sign up. My friend over at The Story Farmer reviewed my trial newsletter. She sent me the nicest comment:

I really enjoyed the (letter) We Are Made For These Times. Your newsletter is comforting and hopeful.

Mikko Cook
pexels.com

And that’s what I intend with the newsletter. To provide a bit of hope. Talk to you soon.

Writing

A Slice of A Writer’s Life

Mona Alvarado Frazier

 

I Became A Writer-Unknown Mami
I Became A Writer-Unknown Mami

To my post title I could have added:

An Unpublished Writer’s Life

But too many words for a heading.

Most writers, like 95%, have another life besides writing: kids, pets, parents, cleaning, carpooling…

It can get kinda of like ….”What’s it all about, Alfie?” 

The writing happens before the other stuff gets started, which means I write in the early morning.

I’m lucky that I only have one big kid left in the home, so I get in more writing/musing time than most moms.

And sometimes, I just don’t feel like putting my one-hour self-imposed writing requirement (FB, Twitter, email do not count).

When I get in that Alfie state I look at my most ‘pinned’ graphic over on Pinterest, under “Inspiration to Write.”

This graphic is from the very witty, Unknown Mami, Claudya Martinez. Currently, it is at 310 pins and counting.

I’ve reviewed my “Inspiration to Write” pins at least 100 times. Keeps me going.

So do the ‘goodies’ that come from my writing life: nice blog post comments, critiques that go great (no red marks, hardly, on my papers), and my ‘bestest’ yet:

THE AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD QUARTERFINALS

If I had a sound, for the above remark, it would be the booming movie premiere voice guy.

http://amzn.to/1kDIjNW Graphic by DigitalProduct
http://amzn.to/1kDIjNW Graphic by DigitalProduct

The free 17-page excerpt on my Amazon page has received two reviews, with a few more listed on my Facebook page and one on my LinkedIn page:

 

“Your excerpt is very well written and I love the figurative language you used. Lines I love: “Long narrow dirt rows with tiny roads of deep green leaves spin by in a brown arc like long legs running…I also loved the haunting quality of the narrator’s voice. ..Great title. It reminds me of Alice Walker’s “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens.” Virginia Alanis

This review didn’t just make my day, it made three days.

And another bonus, from the ABNA news,

The M2the5th Google+ Community (Mostly Multicultural Mysteries, Memoir, and Myth) will host a Twitter Interview

on Saturday, May 10, 2014, at 9 Pacific time.

I hope I can meet you on Twitter and have a good discussion on writing, inspiration, and all that ‘writerly’ stuff.

Until then, keep reading, writing, and living well.