Kristine Carlson Asselin

I'm not sure what the odds are of someone suing me over pictures on my blog. On the other hand, I'm sure that Roni Loren never thought it could happen to her either. I read her story about being sued over the use of pictures on her blog last week.

Click here to read Roni's story.

It scared me. I've never used a picture with anything but the thought of adding to my own content. I've always credited the website where I grabbed it. But that's not necessarily crediting the photographer. Or getting permission to use it.

As a creative person, I thought about how I would feel if someone used something I created without permission. And I decided to go through and take down any blog pictures that I couldn't credit or use with the creators permission. I opted to leave up book covers and head shots.

I'm not quite done yet. I have over 400 blog posts, so it's taking a bit of time. Many of my blog posts don't have pictures or images, but I'm viewing each and every one.

I've started to keep a library of my own pictures to use on my own blog.

What do you think? What pictures do you use?

For the briefest of moments, I fantasized about going to BEA. But there was no way it was going to happen. So when I came across the site for Armchair BEA, I jumped on it without hesitation. It was so much fun participating in the Twitter Party, checking out other blogs, and watching author video on the Armchair BEA homesite.

I think my favorite part was the Twitter Party! The feed rocked by very fast, but it was so much fun to see the answers to the moderator's questions. And get to know people a bit.


Thanks to the Armchair BEA team, and all the participants this year!

Why do I blog? I started because I wanted to record my journey. Then I wanted to connect with other writers. Being able to blog about books and writing has been an unexpected joy. I love reading comments from others, and sharing our love of books.

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com.

My lovely friend Anita over at A Still And Quiet Madness gave me this very cool award:

As I said in her comments, lately it's not so much "on fire" in my world, as dowsing the flames. But I have been trying to post daily and it seems to be showing in my traffic. I promise I'll have some type of contest soon--my local SCBWI conference is next weekend and I'll try to get some cool swag/books to giveaway.

So in the spirit of paying it forward, I'd like to present this award to a few of my new friends and followers.

Barbara Kloss
Laura Josephson
Angela Ackerman
Joyce Shor Johnson

And a few older ones:

Laura Pauling
Heather Kelly
Kelly Polark
Tina Laurel Lee
Anita Laydon Miller
Jonathan Arnston 
Michelle Teacress

I think you all have been better at commenting around the blogosphere than I have been. You're all fabulous and it's been a pleasure getting to know you!

And today's twittergame will be hashtag #thingsIletMykidsdosoIcanwrite. Please play along! Also playing (I think) are Laura (@laurapauling), Kelly (@kellypolark), Tina (@tinalaurellee), Heather (@HeatherGKelly) and Anita! Make sure to follow all these lovely ladies so you don't miss out on a single game!!

Thanks to Anita Howard for having me on her new blog! It's all about people who've had success using QueryTracker.net.

Hop over here to read my guest post.

I've decided to participate in the A to Z Blogging Challenge. This means I'll be trying to blog every day except Sundays for the month of April.

I don't have the whole month planned out, but I've got some ideas. The real issue is going to be finding the time.

The cool thing is I've already got some posts scheduled. And I think I like most of them. I hope you will, too!

And a shout out to Marcus at Writing Investigated for the "next" and "surprise me" buttons under the A to Z icon on my sidebar. Makes checking out the participants easier!
Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com

A month ago I went from being an EXPERT Non-Agented Author, to REALLY NEWBIE Agented Author. I'm the same person. My expertise is the same. My experience as a writer is still evolving. The difference between one month ago and today is I'm Agented.

Does the writing community look at me differently?

I've been asking myself that question. To me, it means I've pulled myself up to the next level. But there are responsibilities that go with that, I think.

I've updated the look of my blog. Got rid of a bunch of extraneous stuff to make it look cleaner. I hope it looks more professional. I'm trying to post as many days of the week as I can. I'm struggling to look cool on twitter just in case anyone is looking. Not that I didn't do that before, it's just that now people might be looking.

As a newly agented author, what are my responsibilities to the writing world? I'd like to pay it forward like others before me have. I'd like to WOW you all with my wisdom. But...is it valuable? Do I even have anything WOW-worthy?

What do you look for in a writing blog?




Comic used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com