The Wayward Writers Podcast

Najela

I help writers discover their passions, overcome their fears, and understand their unique strengths to create sustainable writing habits and put their stories out into the world. Join me as I document my writing journey and share strategies about creating a writing career you love. Whether you're writing full-time or in the margins of your busy life, you're here because you're a little unconventional. You ignore what society tells you about making a living through your writing. Your ideas about creating a sustainable writing career may be way too wayward for the average person. read less
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Episodes

Episode #13: Author Marketing and Websites with Laura Barr
Jul 16 2021
Episode #13: Author Marketing and Websites with Laura Barr
There's more to writing for a website than just the content. Today, I'm talking to Laura Barr of Barr Web Services. We are discussing accessibility, usability,  SEO, and Analytics for authors.  With the rise of online fiction and more people flocking to their phones and tablets to read their favorite stories, we need to be conscientious of making our stories accessible for everyone. Laura is also an avid fantasy reader who reads 3-4 books a week! So writers, listen to a reader and website designers ideas of what you need on your author website and blog. Most of the research is from Nielsen Norman Group (NNG) or Laura's own user research that we discuss in the episode. NNG: In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. (Update: a newer study found that users read email newsletters even more abruptly than they read websites.) (Study first done in 1997, but 2020 results still support this)NNG: Users will decide if your content is “good” or “bad” within ten seconds. (Article)  Personal Research: Need to meet user expectations. In a usability testing group of about 10 people, I asked them to try and apply to a position at the organization. No one got there through the navigation despite it being a top navigation item. Users are trained to look for specific types of content in specific locations and it’s important to meet these expectations. NNG: People scan websites in different ways: F scanning and zigzag are popularNNG: Ad blindness: people completely skip ads or ad like items on a webpage without realizing it.  Are you interested in getting your website refreshed? Contact Laura @ https://barrwebservices.com/
Episode #11: The Journey of Writing Children's Books (Part 1)
Apr 28 2021
Episode #11: The Journey of Writing Children's Books (Part 1)
I love comics, and I love YA, but there's something magical about middle grade. The moment I made the decision to maybe revamp my stories for a younger audience, I got a job at a middle school in Washington. Divine intervention, perhaps? I was notified of an opportunity to write chapter books for Scholastic (which is looking for BIPOC authors) and started researching more about chapter books.As I thought and researched about chapter books, I realized that they did form a large part of my journey as a reader. I remember reading Beverly Cleary, Paula Danzinger, and Judy Blume. I read some books in the Boxcar Children, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys series. I read widely, so I can't point to any one singular book. I went to a quirky elementary school, so we were reading Operas and play scripts as well as higher-level books, even if it was just the teacher reading them out loud. I know chapter books fit there somewhere, but they weren't necessarily a defining moment in my journey as a reader.There's something simple about chapter books and early middle grade that is just satisfying as an adult reader. I think it's mainly because they can convey complex ideas that young minds can understand. In some of my readings, I found that some of these stories touched on high-level concepts. Newer stories weren't as preachy preachy as I remember, but they did have a lesson to be learned, even if it was wrapped up in an entertaining package.