February - The Month We Have A Love/Hate                        Relationship with. 

"Every Day is a New Beginning - Smile, and Start Again!"

Ah, February - love it, hate it, look forward to it, dread it....so many feelings about this, the second month of the year. It trails along after January, which has usually pelted us with bad weather, with cold, snow, ice...depending, of course, on where you live.

February holds out the promise that Spring isn't far away. And then dumps a foot of snow on you, just to make the point. Pictures abound on calendars and magazines, tempting you to believe that any minute now, bright daffodils and sweet smelling lily of the valley are going to spring into being...and then reality dawns. Living here, in Ontario, these poor wee signs of spring would need a power hammer to beat their way out of the snow and ice that covers them.

But there are some special things about February. St Valentine's Day, the most romantic day of the year - well, maybe you have other choices, like New Years Eve or your birthday, whatever - just bear with me on this for a while.

One good thing about the month is that it's shorter than the others - because when the calendars were being put together, the creators used lunar months. They wanted to get an even number of days in the months, so it looks to me like poor old February was short changed amongst all the 30 and 32 day contenders. 

It's the only month on the calendar, though, that has the compensation of being able to add a day, once every four years. Interesting for most of us, but possibly a bit frustrating for folks born on - yes, you've guessed it - February the 29th. It could mean that you only get a birthday party once every four years. Alternatively, you don't age as fast as the rest of us. If you're a leap year baby, when your friends and relatives hit, let's say, 40, the leap year baby is only 10 years old....figuratively speaking.

February didn't exist in Ancient Roman times, when the calendar didn't have months and the time was just referred to as 'Winter'. Shiver, can you imagine having no time markers between months, just one long period of cold, dark winter making it hard to comprehend when will the summer come....

That all changed around 700 BCE, possibly because people needed the sense of hope that ticking off those much shorter calendar months gave them, rather than having just one long, long Winter month. It's a psychological thing :-) 

Here in Canada, February is claimed to have more sunshine than other winter months, and the sun shines on the snow and makes it look pretty. Oh, the deceptions of nature.

February is also Heart month, when we're bombarded with reasons why we need to get more exercise (really? In three feet of snow and windchill of -OMG?) and to eat healthy (sure, we can add chocolate and wine to our lettuce leaf salad, yes?)

It's also now Black History Month, from Feb 3 - Feb 20. An interesting addition but sounds like that's a bit short changed, calling it a month when there's only 16 days....but that's February for you.

And then there's Winterlude - a huge festival which takes place in our capital city, Ottawa, with skating on the Rideau Canal, ice sculpting, and lots of things happening all over that very beautiful city.

And don't forget the Hôtel de Glace in Quebec, where you can book rooms in a genuine ice palace, the only one known in North America. Dress warmly...

Meanwhile, my friends, I'll be cuddled up to a blazing woodstove with a good book and waiting Winter out.

Wednesday’s Writing: If You Can Talk, You Can Blog.

@GlenysOConnell
 Blogs are a great promotional tool for writers – and they can be fun, too! I know some people back off from the idea of blogging and there are many reasons.

The most common would be: 1)  What Do I say? 2) Who’d Be Interested? 3) Every Week! I don’t have time! 4) It’s too complicated. 5) I’d feel silly – what would it actually achieve?

Taking number 1) If you can talk, you can blog. The best blogs are conversational in tone, and you can chat about what interests you. I have a blog most Mondays which simply features quotes that I’ve found inspiring and hope will inspire others.

2) Who’d be interested? Lots and lots of readers actually seek out blogs for information and entertainment. Write yours well, make it interesting, post on social media, and they will come.

3) I don’t have time! Sure, I confess that sometimes I miss a blog date because of deadlines, personal happenings, or being just too darned tired to be inspired. But mostly, blogging has become part of my routine and I enjoy the challenge of coming up with a subject and writing 500 words, less or more, about it. Usually I can find something that interests me enough to chat about, either from experience or from research that I do on a subject. Think of it as a way of increasing your own knowledge and strengthening your writing skills!

4) It’s actually not complicated at all. You can dedicate a page on your website - you do have a website, yes? – or use one of the free blogging engines like Wordpress or Blogger. Quite a few writers don’t bother having a formal webpage any longer, as they can use their blog for the same purpose. These blogging sites offer templates and lots of help programs built in. Trust me, if I can do it, you can!

5) What would it actually achieve? Wow! Obviously that depends on your subject, why you’re blogging, and how you go about it. The first thing, really, is to give some value to your readers, something they can take away. That can be as simple as information, with links to further information if you can, (mentioning the source, especially if it is from someone else’s blog, with a link will get you brownie points!) or something to think about, or a smile that brightens their day. Blogging makes you visible, and the reason many authors aren't selling their books is because of 'invisibility'. Readers need to get to know you, and a blog is great for that.

A title helps bring people to your blog – look at the one on this page: If You Can Talk, You Can Blog. It got you here, didn’t it?

Blog titles are a bit like book titles: they grab the readers attention either by offering information or by something intriguing. I have a book titled The No Sex Clause and yes, that grabs a lot of attention. Sounds a bit raunchier than it is, but people want to know why there’s a need for such a clause, and what happens between the sexy couple on the cover…an attention getter.

This blog is called Romance Can Be Murder, because that’s what I write about: Stories with romance and mystery (and a few murders). I also have a touch of humor in my books, which is reflected in the blog title, too  

Some of the most successful blogs combine information with a style like chatting to your best friend. They can be very short, or quite long, but bear in mind this is work that will appear on the Web, so try to keep paragraphs short, dole out in formation in little bits rather than huge lumps that would choke a reader.

Most of all, while blogging is a great way to get your name in front of readers, it shouldn’t be used to constantly sell, sell, sell your work. Mention a book release, use your work as an example, but constantly asking readers to buy, buy, buy your books without giving them anything else is going to mean your blog gets lonely fast.

So, now it’s your turn. What adventures have you had in the Blogosphere?