Work In Progress Right Here and Now

Many changes for me within the past two years.

I seriously doubt anyone would've guessed I'd move to Albuquerque in June after visiting in May. I certainly didn't see that one coming.

As for my two most significant life changes since 2016, viz. returning to core identities as artist and Jew, those were probably predictable. By psychotherapists over the years. But maybe also by you? After all, I did write about the mosaic thing and got three posts about "Politics, Identity, and Activism" up here in May 2017.

Since then, crickets and that, too, is about to change.

Refocusing and redesigning this blog is on my list of things to do before we get too much further into 5779 and 2019 C.E. begins--in three weeks!

Meanwhile, if you have the time and inclination, here's a lengthy conversation (read: soliloquy) I had with artist and teacher, Sadelle Wiltshire for her series about Creativity and Faith:

To see what I'm up to with mixed media mosaics, visit: http://www.meditativemosaics.com

To see artwork in progress plus pictures of cats and food, follow me on Instagram.

More will be revealed here but it's already pushing midnight (Mountain Time) and I've promised myself to get to sleep by 1:30am instead of 3:00am.

Writing Online Content (Excerpt from The Social Media Gospel)

Today's (multiple) online conversations about how to write online content has prompted me to post this excerpt from my book, The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News in New Ways. Actually, this is a version of Chapter 24 edited to be more readable...online.

*      *     *

A Bit of How To: Writing Online Content

Writing for the Internet is quite unlike writing for print, something I needed to learn before I could land paying gigs writing web content. Since it would be read on a screen, text had to be written for online readability. This meant content had to be brief, so readers wouldn't have to scroll down the screen. Some long-standing rules could be broken. For example, sentences could be incomplete. And, only a few words.

            
Paragraphs could be one sentence or one word.

                        
Seriously.

                        
This is what writing for online readability looks like.  

As for style, ponderous content just doesn't work well on websites. It's flat-out boring for blogs and e-newsletters. 

So, I quickly got into the habit of converting everything from passive to active voice. I started using more welcoming personal pronouns (e.g., our) and contractions (e.g., we're, instead of we are). I routinely stripped the words “that,” “to be,” and “in order to” from almost everything I wrote -- and everything I edited for others.

Because I’d already logged time writing short snappy magazine pieces and ad copy, my transition from print to web was relatively painless. Not so for those whose primary communication is oral (e.g., clergy) or whose style of writing is complex (e.g., theologians and academicians). 

Neither length nor heft are problems when writing for magazines or academic journals that simply post their print issues online. Length and heft become major problems when writing blog posts, e-newsletter items, or website content.

Here are some guidelines:

• Blog posts need to be short (i.e., 300 to 500 words). If the blog post is running longer, break it up into a series if posts. 

• E-newsletter items must be even shorter than blog posts (i.e., 25-150 words). You can get away with a bit more in both formats if some content is listed in bullet points.

• Website modules generally needs to run 75-125 words, depending on the site's design.

Now that mobile devices have arrived on the scene, another set of best practices has emerged. Smartphones and tablets have significantly smaller screens. Content is navigated by touch, which means fingers will block content. And the content moves – scrolling up and down; pushing in and pulling out horizontally. 

To maximize reading comprehension on a mobile device: 

• Sentences need to be short; no more than 14 words long.

• Words need to be three or fewer syllables.

• Paragraphs may run two sentences but making them one short sentence is more effective.

These new specs are easily accommodated by experienced digital content writers and anyone unfazed by the 140-character limits of Twitter. 

Just about everyone else needs to either get trained or be edited for online readability. ProTip: Getting edited by an online content pro is good way to get trained in this type of writing.

Habemus Book Title! The Social Media Gospel: Sharing the Good News . . .

The Social Media Gospel: 

Sharing the Good News in New Ways

forthcoming July 2013*

from Liturgical Press**

How many Christians did it take to come up with this book title? Lots! But that's because I'm:

1. deeply committed to working ecumenically, 
2. use social media to engage with people from all denominations, and 
3. understand the power of crowd-sourcing.

In some instances as many as three folks from these denominations opined about title options: Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ECLA), Presbyterian Church USA, PCA Presbyterian, Roman Catholic Church, and United Methodist Church.

This note from the publisher, "Wooooo hooooo! And I love your Vatican II ecumenical process!"

Some good titles landed on the proverbial cutting room floor, but these things happen when majority rules. All glory, honor, and praise to those whose #1 choice wasn't chosen.

More to come about the book's content (e.g., excerpts) and how to pre-order. You already know that I'd love to visit your church, right? More information about what I offer at my website: meredithgould.com.

* Unless, by some miracle, the production process gets goosed.

** On my publishing bucket list for years.

An Author's Life: Beginning Again Again*

This post has been on my list of Posts to Write for a while, but before hunkering down tonight, I had to do one more thing. I reread all previous ones tagged "author" to get a sense of my own twisted history. Sentimental journey, for sure.

Four years ago, I invoked the pregnancy metaphor to write about book dedications and the ridiculousness (read: stupidity) of writing one book after another.

Such a great metaphor, here it is again: Having recently endured two book miscarriages, I needed to wait a few months before announcing that I'm expecting a new book to be out this Spring. It will be my ninth.

I wanted to wait until a mutually-acceptable contract was signed (done!), until I'd connected with my new editor (done!), and until I'd gotten far enough into writing to fall in love with this new manuscript, even when it's giving me heartburn and sleepless nights. Manuscript due: January 1, 2013. Publisher: Liturgical Press. Working title: Building Church and Faith With Social Media: Embracing a Future That's Already Here.

So there you have it, news about this author's life as well as an explanation for skimpy posting on this blog.

Had to laugh (at myself) as I read through my previous posts about my writing rituals. Yes, my nails are once again clipped down to power-typing length and our refrigerator is stocked with salami. For this book I've switched from Diet Cream to Diet Orange soda; from Cheez Doodles to corn chips. This change in protocol seems to be working so far.



*I've stopped numbering these posts for two reasons: 1) I've lost count; and 2) I stink at Roman numerals.