Journaling, blogging and other drugs

I guess I could say most of my life journaling, or writing a diary, was my "drug." My self therapy, my way of coping.

My first diary was a little red book with a lock and key. I was six. Goodness knows I didn't want my mom snooping among the pages to find out I didn't know how to spell the word "because." Lock that baby UP!

Throughout elementary school and junior high, I kept various forms of diaries. Wrote a few stories. But by 9th grade, journaling became a part of my daily life.

I wrote day my day's events and subsequent emotions nightly. Writing forced me to recognize my own feelings and fears, helped me understand any teen angst I was enduring, or figure out of my heart twitterpations would really lead to love.

The tradition continued until I was married at 31. By age 32, my writing became more spiritual, more prayer and Word oriented. As I matured in my faith and walk with Jesus, I understood more of His Word and journaling became about His insights rather than my own.

And that has to be a good thing!

What I needed all those pining high school and college years was more understanding of Jesus.

In 2002, I discovered Diaryland through a post Deb Raney sent to the ACFW email loop. She wrote that the great and talented Angie Hunt was web logging on her writing process.

So I hopped on over. To be honest, I'm not even sure I got to Angie's post -- oh yeah, she was talking about her taxes -- but I was hooked on writing my own web log.

A few things had to change. Like, I couldn't be quite as honest and raw online as I was off line. I still have all my journals but I might require them to be destroyed upon my death. Or before.

But I loved recording life on Diaryland. I'd just started writing a book that would become my first Heartsong Presents.

In '04, a friend built my first web site off Blogger and I've been here ever since. But here's the crux...

I'm writing more. Much more. I've written 15 novels since '02 when I landed in Diaryland.

I've blogged for Faithchicks. Now I'm intertwined with the lovely southern belles on southernbelleview. I blog there every Thursday, and for My Book Therapy.

By the time I consider my own blog, I'm out of words. Out of energy. Often, out of time. I've considered dropping this blog from my web site. But... I can't quite do it.

There has to be a place to do what I'm doing right now -- thinking out loud. Sharing my heart. My good friend over at girlswriteout, Kristin Billerbeck, also blogs her unique and funny view of the world over on girlygirl. She makes me green with envy at the time and patience she has to chronicle her life and musings.

I feel rather boring. We don't have TV channels so I'm not up to date on the Bachelor or American Idol. Lots of my writer friends blog about those things.

I don't have kids. My sister blogs hilarious stories about her babies (now 17, 15, 7 and 5!)

Awesome-hubs and I are kind of home bodies so I can't blog about my big adventure at the art show or kayaking on the river. I mean I could, but it'd be fiction.

I could blog about the great time we had last night with a half dozen or so folks who came to the house for our "Encounter God" night. We just put on Jesus Culture and worshipped for two hours.

Who needs "drugs" after that?!

What I've realized over time is that journaling or keeping a diary satisfied some deep, inner core need to tell a story. So it was my story. So it doubled as therapy. But putting words to the page reaches to the essence of my soul and makes it go, "Ahh! This is what I was made to do."

If no publisher ever wanted me again, I'd sit in my tower and write blogs. Though I'd rather write fiction any day over real events. I graduated from OSU's J-school but being a reporter never wowed me like being a novelist.

Don't get me wrong. Writing books is hard work. Oy! More than you realize before you start out. It's not enough to be a great writer, you have to be a promoter, a high-concept thinker, and so many other things.

But I do love it. "Ahh, this is what I was made to do."

So I'm blogging today. I've decided to stop feeling guilty that I don't have a bazillion blog followers, or that I don't blog regular, or have some kind of "brand" going on here.

It's just me. Rachel Hauck. My brand is friendship. A little bit of me sharing with a little bit of you. My brand is Jesus. Letting His love shine even in my weakness.

You know, I saw a twitter the other day that sounds sooo good, but in reality for those who follow Jesus, so missed the mark.

"You're stronger than you know."

Truth? We're far weaker than we know BUT Jesus is far stronger than we realize or dare to believe. Our problem is not being strong enough. Our problem is being weak and letting HIM be strong.

Ever see a little kid try to tote something heavy? They are so sure they can do it but the item is too big and bulky, too weighty. You try to help, but the kid says, "I can do it."

Yeah, really? I hope you have steel toed baby Nikes cause that thing is gonna fall and hurt. Despite the kid's best effort, he's not getting the job done.

What we have to learn to discern is the difference of bearing our own load and letting Him bear our burden.

We have to be strong... IN THE LORD, and the strength of His might. We do wayyy too much in our own strength.

Do you want to be strong? Be weak before the Lord. Let Him be your strength.

That's where I am. In everything. Weak before the Lord. If there's a next level, a next place for me, He must do it.

Who needs therapy or drugs when Jesus is in charge? He's the Prince of Peace. Rest in Him.

Writing A New Blog From Blogsy

I saw this really cool app today and decided tom try it for writing blogs from my iPad. Believe it or not, this kind of tool would've saved me a few times!

It was easy to drag and drop the picture from Flickr. Now to get more pictures into Flickr! Oy.

Catching Up

Hey, I'm such a bad blogger at times. I was finishing up The Wedding Dress so I could pass it off to a reader/proofer before flying to St. Louis for a board meeting.

Came home and have been prepping for this week over in Clearwater and the My Book Therapy Deep Thinkers Retreat.

I'll try to post pictures and notes over the next six days. BUT, I do have a plan for this little ole blog. I do. Hang tight. I'll get 'er done.

Thanks friends!

In the meantime, check out the Southern Belle blog! We're having fun over there. This week is the continuation of our island romance, Whirlaway Island.

Building your author brand online

Over on Michael Hyatt's blog, he talks about building your author brand online. Mike offers great advice -- from a CEO's chair.

With his genius in mind, I thought I'd write about building an author's brand online and managing social media from an author's point of view.

Just before my first Thomas Nelson book released, Lost In Nashvegas, I joined MySpace to keep up with kids in the youth church. Then I had a brain blip, "What if I use it to announce my books?"

And social media, which wasn't called social media in '05, came alive to me.

I hopped on Facebook the first moment it was opened to non college students. I have a Xanga and MyCCM account. I'm on Shoutlife, Goodreads, and BeenUp2. I have a Tumbr site.

I love Twitter. I blog here and on Faithchick.com.

I created all these accounts, signed up for blog rolls, to keep up with the public, generate buzz or interest in my books -- if possible -- but my real goal in life is to write great stories.

It is impossible to keep up with everything. I decided I had to pick the most traveled and popular cyber venues to concentrate my efforts. I casually keep up with the rest.

Concentration of efforts: Facebook and Twitter are my most active cyber spots. When I'm on deadline, it's easy to to tweet four or five times a day, link it to Facebook, than to keep up with blogging. Blogging becomes hard on deadline because I can't spare my creative brain power to write a comprehensive or slightly intelligent blog.

It's easy to respond to Facebook comments, Twitter replies and blog comments. And part of building an online presence is keeping up with dialog.

The giveaway concept: I'm just going to be honest here. This idea wears me out. One, I barely make enough money to help my household and keep up with business expenses, let alone give away books or gift baskets to keep readers interested and build an online presence. Giveaways has created a community of people who expect freebies. I've had folks sign up for my newsletter to get a chance to win. When they didn't, they removed their name.

I love giving away my author copies -- that's what they are for -- but so many authors are giving away big gifts like GPSs, iPods, gift baskets, and more. I'm not saying I won't ever do this again, but I've not found it to be productive. It's more discouraging than encouraging.

What do you think?

Building a street team or a tribe: This takes time. Little by little readers and fans begin to gather around and tell people about your work. This is the absolute best marketing. But writing books that make readers want to tell others about also takes time and energy. For me, this is my biggest focus and concern. I want to write great books. I believe the majority of my time and effort should be focused on my stories.

That is my continual gift to you. A great book.

For the release of The Sweet By and By, a street team member, April, created a Twitter account for the book. She gives away copies, tweets lines from the book, lets followers know what's up with Sara Evans or me. What a blessing she's been. She's part of our tribe.

You can't make a reader or fan create a Twitter for you, but sooner or later your fans will speak out!

Dialog with street team members is key, BTW.

But I'm not published yet: I recently spent a weekend with a bunch of writers. Between working on their craft, we talked about other things they can be doing to build their name and brand. Susie Warren and I encouraged them all to Twitter and blog.

Blogging is great for several reasons, but the key being to force you to write three, four, five times a week. Editing your blog posts trains you to write well. Blogging forces you to look at life and see beneath the surface. A good part of writing is about observing life and molding it into a story. If you can't observe enough to write a blog, you might not have enough texture and depth to write a compelling novel. Look for life's symbols and metaphors, blog about them. Figure out how to fold them into your characters.

Above all, be kind: If you're trying to build an online presence, and hope to one day see your work in print with your name on the cover, be kind to other authors! Don't blast their books. Don't snark at them in public, or private. Follow industry leaders like Michael Hyatt, Chip MacGregor, Rachelle Gardner, Steve Laube and others. Chime into conversations. If you disagree, do so intelligently. If you can't say anything nice... walk away from your computer. :)

Write reviews that edify. Write blogs that bring insight. I often blog about politics, but I try to do so in a constructive way because many of my fellow authors and readers might disagree with me.

Same with spiritual topics. My main goal is to edify Jesus. Not preach theology.

My sister blogs about her family and it's so funny. But she never puts any of them down in her posts.

What are your thoughts on building an online presence? Any additional advice? Any suggestions or thoughts?

Is there a med out there for blogfobia?

Because I think I have it. A disease. Blogfobia. See, I can't even spell phobia! How'd it all start, Rachel, you ask.

Well, um, see, a loooong time ago, 2002, I started blogging in Diaryland. Just fun little tidbits about my days, news of my writing, my first book contract, life at the office. Which, btw, was nothing like the TV show.

I switched to Xanga, then Blogger. I hopped onto MySpace, then Facebook and a myriad of other social sites. Blogging became key to a new writer's existence. Everyone started blogging.

All my deep, personal thoughts, funny bits about Santa Mouse Christmas songs suddenly became fodder for comparison to all the other genius writers now blogging. People started, gasp, giving stuff away. Books, iPods, prizes. Bloggers were funny. Wise. Full of publishing industry information.

Suddenly I'm Aubrey Montegue in Chariots of Fire, running the Steeple Race, landing in mud puddles, tripping over hurdles, coming in last.

Am I to be funny? Every day?! Am I to be deep and wise? Every day?! Should I give stuff away? Did I mention I'm a fledgling author?

Am I to go on about publishing industry news? Add posts of self promotion? Interview other authors. Write book reviews.

Ahhhh, I don't know what to blog any more! Is there such a thing as a blogging trainer? I need to get in shape!

I don't feel so good.... "Mooooommm!"

Don't worry. There's not enough people who read my blog to pick up my germs and spread the disease. Maybe there's a blogphobia hospital where I can recoup with all the other authors suffering from "what do I blog?"

I use all my best brain to write books! Now, I must write an award winning blog. Sorry, I'm just not that competitive.

Don't worry. I'm strong. I'm healthy. I'll recover.

Following my blog

Hey friends, if you were following my blog, it has a new link with this web site:

www.rachelhayeshauck.blogspot.com

Add me to your bloglines or Google follow if you care to!

Thanks!

Michael Hyatt, Thomas Nelson's CEO

Through Mike's blog, I listened to his talking on blogging at a conference he attended. I was so jazzed and energized by his insight, thrilled I'd had some of the same experience and thoughts, motivated to keep my blog going.

I'm having a web site redesign and was actually thinking of backing off of blogging. But, I'd recently started rethinking my position and Mike pushed me back into line.

If you're a writer, it's such a great way to stay in touch with readers and help the public understand who you are.

One of the points Mike makes in his talk is how we are such a voyeuristic society. So true. We want to know what's going in with people, inside their hearts and minds, what makes them unique.

It's what makes great characters in our stories.

The other point Mike makes that I applaud is our uniqueness. No one has my unique life experiences, thoughts, feelings, desires, relationships. While we are all similar, we are all uniquely created by the Divine and there is no one on the earth like "you."

Let's hear from you.

So, check out Mike's blog. If nothing else, he's articulate and engaging.

What about you? Do you blog? Why? Has it worked for you? What are some of your favorite blogs?

Does Anyone Read This Blog?

Ping....


Helllloooooo? Anybody out there? Oh, hey there ManOnTheMoon. Good to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog. Er, um, yeah, it's okay you don't comment. I understand.

How's the Moon. It looked really pretty the other night. I was driving down the road and looked up to see a low, bright, big, beautiful full moon suspended between evening clouds. The reflective light haloed the clouds.

Yeah, things on earth are going well. Busy. But God is good. (smile) Yes, He is good all the time.

Funny story about my day of silence? Yeah, it was interesting. But I think a more extended time would be more interesting. Like a whole day, not part of one. I know people who do that without a second thought or calling it a Day of Silence.

See you ManOnTheMoon. I'm off to work with Sarah.