Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Platform Building

Lots of you guys might be aware of the April Platform Challenge going on over at My Name Is Not Bob, a new addition to my Awesome Blogs. It's a great challenge with a new task everyday to help writers get started on building, or maintaining, a platform for their work. If you are interested but not involved yet, you can see all the past challenges in the archives on the MNINB site. It's turned out to be the start of a great community of writers, as well. BONUS!



I even participated in my first Twitter chat last night with the group. That was pretty fast paced and hard to follow.  And one of the reasons I started a Facebook group. Typically, I'm not very good at organizing, but hopefully managing this group will help with that. Because you can't grow inside your comfort zone, right? If you read my previous post Tagged, you know I'm terribly shy when it comes to social interaction. Seems like I've been venturing out of my comfort zone a lot lately.

Lots of writers participating in the challenge have started groups/lists/circles on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Actually, I just started the Facebook group last night. :) It's called MNINB Platform Challengers. Go join up if you are a writer. It's gonna be a place for writers to chat, recommend resources, help each other with any issues/questions, and/or just hang out. I'm hoping it turns out to be a pretty helpful group. If you have any suggestions or things you want help with, comment below or in the group!! It's a writer's group and we're starting off with posting goals and accountability, but I also want it to be a place writers can share resources and support. I hope it will become a place that writers feel comfortable asking questions (about writing and anything else) and just sharing with each other. Post a link to your latest blog or share a craft article you found helpful! Post a piece of your latest WIP in the Docs section and ask for feedback! Just make sure to give feedback and answer others' questions if you know anything about it!! I want it to be a community where everyone can help each other grow as writers and/or social beings!!! (I'm excited about it, in case you couldn't tell...)





What do you guys think about the group? Any ideas or suggestions? I appreciate any and all feedback. Even if you think this sucks, as long as you tell me why you think it sucks. I can't wait to hear from you guys! Interaction is what this life is all about.



ROW80 Update #5: April 18th 

Writing: 485 words on this Platform post
Reading: One down, three to go!
Editing: Now on page 20!! WooHoo!
Blogging: Platform post, plus update!


Happy Writing and Platform Building!!
Becca





16 comments:

Kelly Williamson said...

Great post! I am also a bit on the shy side, but this challenge has really helped me open up, and the connections are wonderful. Thanks for the FB group. I think that one will be the easiest for me to keep up with. :)

Unknown said...

Thanks, Kelly! Glad you like it. I'm a sucker for facebook because I've used it for awhile personally, and I'm familiar with it. All these other sites are new, and hopefully will become easy to use too, but I just don't know anything about them yet. It's really been great connecting with everyone!

Happy Writing!
Becca♥

Kasie Whitener said...

I'm with Kelly. This whole thing has been great! I'm glad to meet all of you and grow a support network for what we all really want to be doing: writing!

Thanks, Becca!

Unknown said...

Thank you, Kasie!

Now, if I can just find time to WRITE!! ;)

Unknown said...

Thanks, Becca, for hosting the Facebook Platform group. In the past, I've used Facebook only for friends and family but now I'm beginning to include my writing connections. Your blog post is great and your blog very attractive.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Kris! Even in just the couple days, it's been very rewarding. I'm so glad to be able to help fellow writers get together. Hopefully, it will become a wonderful place to share goals and resources, and ask other writers questions about getting published or the writing life in general.

Thanks for joining!
Becca♥

Juliana Haygert said...

I'm very shy, but I think it's because I'm concerned about my image, you know, as we build our career as writers, we have to care about our image.
Anyway, great post!
And great check-in ;)

Unknown said...

Thanks, Juliana! I think this may be the first week I achieve all my goals!! Woo Hoo!

Gerry said...

Becca, I like the Facebook group! I didn't know about it until Robert posted it yesterday. I'm going to have to limit my social media some, and I'm more likely to keep up with a group on Facebook than I am to spend a lot of time on Twitter, although I do check in there occasionally. Thanks for setting up the group! Glad to know I'm "in" as of today.

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by, Gerry! I agree about facebook, it's just familiar. Glad you found the group! Hope you enjoy it as much as I am!!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the goals!!

Anne Birdsong said...

Hi Becca! So glad to see you made it to the TALU! You are so on the money about the need to do things outside of our comfirt zones if we want growth of any kind. Have a good one!

Kenya G. Johnson said...

Thanks for posting this on TALU. You might see me pop in to your group. I have copied the link down for now and will check it out later on. I think the best think about FB is when you find the right group/community.

Anonymous said...

Hello - stopping in via the #TALU. I'm not a writing, but I think I'm going to pin this post somewhere handy so I can refer back to it. I'm not up on all the tech re: Twitter parties and G+ groups, etc. I'm still pretty much dealing with the one-on-one of it all, but you're right ... I need to step out of my comfort zone and jump into the fray, or I'll NEVER get comfortable with it and expand.

Debbie said...

No I don't think this "sucks" at all. It is a great idea! I am also a shy person so I can relate 100 %
(Visiting from TALU)

Unknown said...

I think this is a great idea. What kind of writing? I do mainly humor stories on my blog. I started a novel last year, got 10000 words in and quit. It's sitting on my dresser. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to work on it again, I don't have time with all this blogging and social media! I checked out the April challenge too - that looked great - sorry I missed it. Glad I stopped by. I'm following you on Twitter. TALU