Blogger of the Week:
Donna McDine--Write What Inspires You!...

Donna McDine worked as a cashier, a personal assistant, and a web designer before she figured out where she belonged--in the world of children’s books. She placed 12th in the children's/YA category of the annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition and recently signed her 1st book contract with Guardian Angel Publishing for The Golden Pathway.

Donna joined Stories for Children Magazine as Marketing Manager in January 2009, where she is responsible for featured guest interviews, establishing sponsorship and advertisers, and customer service inquiries. Her publishing credits include more than 15 print and ezine publications and she's a member of SCBWI and Musing Our Children. Visit her website and her blog--Write What Inspires You!--which she talks about below.

Why did you decide to start your blog?

When I started taking children’s writing courses in 2006, I started hearing about the importance of making your presence known and creating your platform. Of course, my initial reaction was “What the heck is a platform?” The Internet truly brings the world to your fingertips and with research and networking I have met many established authors along the way who gave me sound advice and guidance on starting a blog. I began my blog, Write What Inspires You! in May 2007 and have never looked back.

What’s the focus of your blog?

My blog offers writers of all levels an opportunity to learn from veteran authors with personal interviews, book reviews and valuable writing information links to writer’s resources. Up-to-date info will keep readers informed on upcoming events at the Metro NY SCBWI, Eastern NY SCBWI, and Musing Our Children. I am subscribed to several newsletters and when I come across a topic I think would be of interest to others I post part of the article with a link back to the newsletter, such as, Publishers Weekly, The Horn Book, SFC Newsletter for Writers, and Children’s Book Insider. Over time, my blog (I’m sure like many others) has taken a life of its own on.

What kind of posts will readers find there?

My posts vary and lately I’ve been focusing on hosting children’s authors with an interview posting and quite often a book review the day before the author visits. We encourage readers to leave comments and/or questions for the guest author to respond to. It creates a true give and take forum, one that I feel my visitors enjoy. Many times, a visitor will meet an author they never knew about or has known and this gives them the opportunity to “pick the brain” of the guest author.

What’s your advice for writers just dipping their toes into the blogosphere?

Start out slow. Clip ideas to blog on and blog 1-2 times per week. You will find over time, the ideas begin to flow and blogging will be a snap. Gather links to websites and blogs you find valuable (this helps tremendously in building a network). Comment on other blogs--this is important in getting yourself known and returning traffic back to you. Ask questions--no question is silly. At one time whoever you are chatting with was new to blogging too and I’m sure they will be more than happy to help you out.

What People Are Saying About the Recent SCBWI New York Conference...

In my recent newsletter (click here to subscribe), I asked to hear from writers and illustrators who attended the SCBWI Mid-Winter Conference which took place in New York February 8-10. I was not able to attend so this was my way to live vicariously through those of you would did.

These bloggers alerted me to their posts about the conference: Kristi Valiant; Mary Cronin; Donna McDine; and Darcy Pattision whose blog includes links to other attendees conference reports.

I'm keeping me fingers crossed that I'll get to attend the SCBWI Conference in LA this summer.
If I do, I'll be blogging like mad, just as I have the past two years. (See my August 2007 and August 2006 archives if you're interested. I just now relived the last conference as I read through my old post. It was lovely to think about being in sunny Los Angeles, abuzz with children's book people, instead of here in cold, snowy, icy Cincinnati.)