Welcome to my blog.
My name is Carol Benedict. I was a technical writer and instructor for many years, and have sold articles on a variety of topics. Most of my blog posts relate to writing, or things writers might find interesting. I like doing research and sharing information with others, so if there are topics you’d like to discuss or learn more about, let me know and I’ll try to cover them as soon as possible.
Besides writing, I’m interested in photography, science, and religion. I love animals, so you’ll see pictures of my pets or the local wildlife in some of my posts. I’m currently working on a historical romance novel inspired by my mother’s tales of life in the early 1900s.
I hope you’ll find my posts helpful. I appreciate having visitors, and try to respond to all comments. If you have questions or comments you don’t want to make public, please contact me via thewritingplace AT hotmail Dot com.
Thanks for visiting.
Carol
Gotta love a Beagle. 🙂 Cute dog.
You mentioned on my blog how he shakes (in fear) a lot. So does Max. My wife says Max will never be fat due to all the energy he burns with every thunderstorm. You wish you could make them understand, but it’s hard wired it seems.
Give Buddy a scratch behind the ears for me.
~jon
Oh, by the way I should have said, you have a lovely blog here. Nice lay out and concept.
~jon
Jon, thanks for the compliments on my blog, and on my dog.
Buddy is the only dog I have left; my dear, sweet Lab/Chow passed away from old age last summer, and our young, neurotic mutt got ran over by a motorcycle the summer before that. The vet warned us that coyotes in the area would love to have Buddy for lunch–as the main course, not as a guest–but fortunately Buddy thinks he’s a house cat now, and barely leaves the front porch, so I’m not too worried about his safety.
Carol
Lovely pupper, Carol.
They are such wonderful companions for a writer. My three hang out in the room with me, snorting and chewing bones, sometimes nudging under my chair until I dare not move lest I smash a tail or nose or toe.
Until lunch. That’s when they mindshift back into canines.
🙂 Hello to Buddy.
Ravenne
Hi, Ravenne. Buddy spends most of his time hiding from our 4 cats, so he isn’t usually much company. I love him anyway.
Carol
Great post! I’ll subscribe right now wth my feedreader software!
I’m glad you enjoyed my post about greeting card writing, Carol. THanks so much for leaving a comment. May I add you to my e-mail list for updates on my blog and books? If so, you can contact me directly at philbolsta@mac.com.
Blue skies!
Phil Bolsta
bolstablog.com
Author of “Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything” (www.sixtysecondsbook.com)
Phil, I’ve added your blog , Triumph of the Spirit, to my list of Blogs I Like.
Thanks for stopping by.
Carol
I was visiting for the first time – came by way of Elizabeth’s favorite blogs. What you have here in writing tips is just the kind of thing my students need – flashbacks one of my favorites when treated well. Such good help.
I made a tab (my poems) in my blog. Then made a list of every post, aplabetical, (all poems in mine). I copy the title once the poem is set into my blog and the title link active, then go to the list and paste in the new one. A great way for me to track what I’ve posted and go instantly with a click to the specific poem. Maybe you know this already? but if not, now you do. Smiles – I’ll be back.
jane/oma http://jpenstroke.wordpress.com
Jane, thanks for visiting and for the encouraging comments.
Your suggestion about listing every post on one page is one I’ll consider. The search function for my blog separates the posts by categories, which I think is useful for people interested in finding related posts. Listing them alphabetically wouldn’t always place the ones on similar topics next to each other, so it might not be as helpful as it is with your poems.
I’ll be visiting your blog later this weekend.
Carol
Hi Carol –
Love your blog. Love the ideas and thoughts that you post within – thanks.
I love writing and have re-committed myself to really pursuing my love of writing – any suggestions. I have written some poems, short stories, childrens story and would like to post them somewhere. Do you suggest a blog? How do you get started on the blog?
Hi, Debbie. I’m glad you enjoy my blog. I love writing, too, and blogging is a lot of fun for me.
If you just want to post some of your work for others to enjoy, a blog is a great place to do it. However, if you think you might want to try selling those stories or poems, be aware that anything you post on your blog will be considered “previously published” and that may make it harder for you to sell them.
There are several places you can use to start a free blog. I’m using WordPress here, but have a personal blog (pretty much abandoned lately) on Blogger. They are both easy to use, with some of the same features but small differences that might affect your choice. I know there are other sites offering free blogs, too, but I don’t know much about them.
Here’s the link to where you sign up for a blog on WordPress: http://en.wordpress.com/features/
Here’s where to go for one on Blogger: https://www.blogger.com/start?hl=en
Good luck with whatever you decide. Be sure to let me know if you set up a blog so I can visit!
Carol
Cute dog, but where’s the four cats? I have four of my own. Thought I’d check in and say hi. Heading off to the rest of your blog now.
Hi, Tricia. I can’t get my cats together for a picture as they don’t like to cooperate. My daughter brought home a kitten at Thanksgiving, so now we have 5. 😦
One word: AWESOME!
I mean this blog has SO much to teach me that I can’t wait to get started. Hoping to learn a lot!:)
Thank you. I enjoy sharing my knowledge and thoughts with others, and it’s nice to know my posts are helpful.
If you have questions you’d like to discuss on this blog, let me know. I always appreciate comments and suggestions.
Carol
Love your site, Carol! I’ve had it on my blog roll for some time, but only recently started blogging again, myself, so I haven’t visited often. I’m so happy I did, tonight!
Peace,
Cindy.
I enjoy your blog. Your Buddy is a darling. The title of my novel is “Buddy for David”. Buddy is a White Pyrenean Mountain Dog. He’s a main character and never speaks a word. The genre is Christian mystery. Buddy is a good name for a dog. Blessings to you…
I’m glad you enjoy the blog, Carol Ann. As for Buddy, he showed up in our yard one day and refused to leave. Every time we looked outside, he’d be following our older dog–or laying next to him in the shade. We started calling him Spike’s buddy, so the name stuck.
I’ve never heard of Pyrenean Mountain Dogs. I’ll have to look those up. I’m sure he’s a great character, and I hope I’ll get to read about your Buddy some day.
Hi Carol,
I am a new author struggling to create my first blog on wordpress… Yours is the first writer’s blog I’ve seen. I am really impressed with the information you provide.
I was wondering if you could answer a question for me regarding tags… I thought tags were used to help the search engines find one’s blog. But from what I’ve been reading on wordpress, the tags are only in the comments people make, not the pages one writes.
I found your blog by doing a search for the difference between commercial and literary fiction. Would you mind telling me what did you do to make that possible?
I’m a little overwhelmed by the information you have on your blog. It is so impressive. I’m wondering what I still need to do to make mine ‘work right’.
Here is the link to my book blog, The Thwarting of Mr. Dingsnapple.
http://lindagaleanderson.wordpress.com/
Thank you so much for your time.
Linda Anderson
Hi, Linda. Thanks for the nice comment about my blog.
I don’t know of any way to put tags in a comment on WordPress, just on the posts. WordPress uses our tags and categories to group related posts for those who like browsing other blogs. Search engines like Google use them to provide their search results based on key words that match the tags and categories.
I use broad categories for my posts–like Fiction, Writing Craft, or other general topics. For each post I also put a few more specific tags so that anyone searching for a particular subject will be able to narrow down which posts are most likely to be helpful.
I can’t claim any credit for doing something to promote the post you refer to in the Google rankings. It was written in October of 2009, before I understood search engines and tags. If I’d written it this year, I would probably have tagged it with “commercial” and “literary” so people would be better able to tell what the post was about. However, over the last couple of years, readers have been kind enough to mention this post on other blogs, and by linking to it they’ve alerted the search engines that it’s a popular search result for both commercial and literary questions. As a result, I average between 100 to 200 hits a week on that post from people searching those terms.
It will probably take a few months for you to determine what works best for you. There are lots of helpful sites on how to create a successful blog, but much depends on what you’re trying to achieve with it. Having interesting and/or helpful content seems like the best way to get readers to return to your blog, and that will move your posts higher in the rankings over time.
Good luck with your blog, and with your writing!
Carol
Dear Carol,
Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I though I was missing something important, and was completely bogged down with it.
Now I can see if I just keep on doing what I’m doing, that things will automatically work out. I don’t think I’m as bad off as I thought I was.
You have really been encouraging to me, and I appreciate it so much. You’ve also got some additional topics on writing skills that I definitely need to study.
Thanks so much,
Linda.
[…] The Writing Place with Carol Benedict […]
Hey there, I love your blog and I’ve nominated you for the Liebster award. Follow this link for more details. http://sofianruler.wordpress.com/2013/10/12/i-got-the-liebster-award-dancing/
Hi, Carol. I know we’ve both fallen off the blogging wagon but I still wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and the best for the New Year in 2014. I hope you still find time to write. I don’t get much of a chance anymore, mostly lack of will rather than time, but I am finally starting to get the itch again. Hope you and yours are well.
~jon
Jon, thank you for the good wishes. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year.
Like you, I have felt the urge to write but not made it a priority. Earlier in the year, I concentrated on reading rather than writing, thinking it would help me when I decided to resume work on my novel. Unfortunately, my time now is consumed with more important things as my husband has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Each day is a blessing as well as a struggle, and I would appreciate your prayers for success in overcoming this horrible disease.
Best wishes,
Carol