Everything is clickable. It’s basically a live tweet. One that you’ve highlighted. One that you want to share with your blog readers.
I do like Twitter but, let’s face facts, that thing moves like ticker tape. It’s so easy to miss tweets from your tweeps. Depending on how often you post, that tweet is going to be much more visible here.
And it doesn’t have to be just one. You can make an entire post from tweets. Maybe you’ve had an interesting conversation about traditional vs indie publishing. Or the best way to make brownies. Or whether spiders or rats have had better PR. (I’ve had that last convo quite recently: Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man. It was weird.)
Regardless, it makes for a fun post and people can interact with each tweet by liking, retweeting, and even replying to it right from your blog.
A pop-up box appears, they write 140 characters (or less) in reply to you, then click “tweet”. This shows up on their timeline and yours. Nice!
“No, no. Look,” she grabbed the spoon. “You have to stir it slowly. Poison isn’t instant pudding! Pay attention.”#FP
* I tried a poll a few years ago and, when I posted about it, most bloggers said they hadn’t seen the poll on Twitter. If you embed it, both your blogging friends and your tweeps can vote.
Hope you found some fun ways to use a tweet on your blog. Remember…a well-placed tweet can make a good post great. (I just made that up but it’s kind of cool.) 🙂
You’ll see a drop-down menu with all sorts of neat things like “pin to your profile page” (or “unpin” if it’s already pinned), “share via DM”, and “delete tweet” (for those times when Twitter decides to add a typo after you’ve posted). Click on “Copy link to Tweet”.
Here is what you’ll see. Select and copy. It’s a URL so you can use this anywhere you’d use a link. (UPDATE: OCTOBER 2017 – There is no longer a URL to cut and paste. Once you click on “Copy link to Tweet”, the URL is automatically copied.)
We’re going to embed that tweet now. Hold on to your hats. Choose the tweet you want. Click on the cute, little grey v-shaped thingy in the top, right corner. There’s that drop-down menu. Click on “Embed Tweet”.
Let’s switch to “visual” view and see what happens… There they are! Except, erm, they look different. Click “Preview”.
Embedding has a few more options and benefits but, for the sake of brevity (and for those who don’t play well with html), these are two ways to get a tweet into a WordPress post. Pick one, have fun, and tweet on.
Tune in tomorrow, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel, for my follow-up post on embedding tweets. What they are and why you want to use them.
And…here it is: Why You Should Embed Tweets in Your Blog Post (the what and why of embedding tweets)
I was minding my own bloggy business when I messed up a post that I had spent some major time setting up. I don’t know how I even did it but I turned the entire thing into one big link to a Google search. Huh? Right. Moving on.
WordPress would NOT let me ‘undo’ as I usually do when I muck something up. I was stuck. In the muck. Oh…
And non-techie me figured out how to fix it. Little ol’ me! Most of you probably already know this but I thought I’d share just in case I could save a fellow friendly blogger the trouble of rewriting a post. (I even have visuals. This is all mind-blowing, I know.)
Mess up your awesome blog post and panic. Then notice how you now have “Revisions” over to the right. You didn’t have that before. You must “Save Draft” at least twice before that shows up. This “Revisions” is your key to salvation. Or your post’s salvation. Same, same. Click on “Browse” over in “Revisions”.
You get a choice here. You’ll now see two versions of the post. Click on “Previous” on the left of your screen OR slowly move the sliding arrow in the middle of your screen over to the left.
Cool! You’re getting closer to your original (or the version you want back). It says this was my “9 minutes ago” revision. But…it still has my mistake in the green there, see? I don’t want this.
Neat! You’ll notice the big, blue button that says “Restore This Revision” is now clickable. (It wasn’t before.) Click that button when you see the post you want. Ah! My mistake is no longer in that green area.
Look! It says “Post Restored”. I have my Wonderful New Post back. Click “Save Draft” then “Publish”. (Or schedule, if that’s your thing.)
People comment, email, and DM to apologize for not visiting my blog or doing so a week or more after I’ve posted.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s very sweet (the chocolate and your apology). And I’ll admit I’ve done this myself to fellow bloggers.
Every once in a while (or more often), we get overwhelmed in the blogging world. We can’t keep up. Either with writing our own posts, reading others’ posts, commenting, or replying to comments.
I do not believe blogging should be a source of stress in people’s lives. And, yes, we are people. With lives. Outside the bloody internet.
Sometimes, we can’t catch up and need to rid ourselves of guilt and empty our inbox. I think we’ve all been there. Or most of us, anyway.
But I also will not tell you you’re wrong for wanting to be everywhere and do everything. Sometimes, we do this to ourselves.
So, if you really feel the need, you could pop over here and leave a smiley face and I’ll know you were drowning in notifications. Then I could save you, you know? It’d be a secret code or something.
If you’re overwhelmed, stressed, falling behind in the blogging world…take a breath, empty your inbox, and throw away the guilt. If people get upset about you missing a couple of their posts or not replying to their comment…well… *shrugs*
Tagged apologies, blog, blog comments, blog posts, bloggers, blogging, blogs, comments, life, overwhelmed, reduce stress, stress, stress-free, writer, writing	
So, naturally, I wrote about it, hoping readers would help. They did. That post generated quite a few comments. I learned a lot. I also made a decision to at least try Scrivener because I need the organization.
My main problem with it was that you had to download it to your laptop and leave it there. That did not work for me.
No, no, no! Say it ain’t so. This is my main issue with Scrivener. I’m a total tech floozie, too. (Nice accidental alliteration there, if I do say so myself.) I use different devices and need a program that is available on all. I can’t imagine this isn’t an issue for many writers. Why on earth hasn’t Scrivener…created an app?
Exactly. I use two different laptops plus type a lot on my phone (I know, but it’s convenient if not a bit tricky). I’m going to do the trial but this was my main problem with it. *shouts* “Fix this, Scrivener techies!”
A lot of writers had the same issue. They used more than one device (because, really, who doesn’t?) and/or wrote when they had a second between errands, taking care of kids, work, commuting, sleeping, eating…
But now lots of us writers will buy your program to “write anywhere” with. How do you like them Apples?
Those of you who use Scrivener, are you going to get the app? Those of you who didn’t (specifically because you used different devices) are you rethinking using Scrivener?
Tagged amwriting, Apple, blog posts, iOS, iPad, iphone, iPod, laptop, novellas, novels, PC, Scrivener, Scrivener app, short stories, smartphone, word processing, word processors, wordpress, writer, writers, writing, writing apps, writing programs, writing software	
On Sundays, I publish a post of 200 words (or less). But every blogger knows anything under 300 500 1,000 (what is it now?) words is not a “real” post.
Huh. My fingers were flying across the keyboard as my ideas were pouring out. I recall reading and responding to comments. I could have sworn that was real.
Even my full-length posts are usually only 300-700 words. I say what I need to say then get the hell out of Dodge.
When I taught, I rarely gave my students a firm word count. If the assignment would clearly benefit from a strict number of words I did but, most of the time, when they asked, “How long does it have to be?” I answered, “As long as it needs to be.”
If you go on and on (and on and on) when you write, maybe you should think about whether you need every single word. If you simply love writing long pieces, that’s great. Go for it.
I prefer short, to-the-point posts. I enjoy writing them, and I enjoy reading them. I will read lengthy posts but only if they’re super duper awesome with a cherry on top. I don’t have anything against long blog posts.
Reason #1. It won’t be picked up in search engines. That’s kind of my problem, not the reader’s. They don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be fine. Really.
Reason #2. “It’s annoying” to click on a link and be directed to a post with less than X number of words because it has no “substance”. This one irks me. Substance and length have absolutely nothing to do with each other. I have read some loooong posts with lots of “keywords” that were fluff. A bunch of letters grouped together on a page without saying anything. Those are impressive. I mean, seriously, that’s got to be tough to do. How does one even go about writing 3,000 words without saying anything? I’ve got to take a class on that.
If you have a lot to say on a subject and it takes 2,000 words to say it, that’s cool. I’ll read it. But please do give the little posts a chance. Writers can sometimes surprise you with how much they can say in 400 words (give or take).
I was going to stay far away from this but I… Just… Can’t. So, for you, gentle readers, here’s what I’m saying in a nutshell: It’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it.
Do you have a specific word count you stick to? Do you force yourself to keep writing a post because it’s too short even if you feel like it’s done? Does the size of your blog post really matter?
Tagged blog post length, blog posts, bloggers, blogging, blogs, editing, Google, life, long blog posts, SEO, short blog posts, thought bubble, wordpress, writer, writers, writing	
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