I am very excited to announce the lineup for our 2013 Writer Mama Every Day In May Book Giveaway.

You can view the Pinterest board here.

This is my sixth time hosting this ginormous giveaway celebrating author mamas from around the United States and I could not be more thrilled to welcome everyone.

Let the Mother’s Day Month celebration begin! Most of the books being given away are published between June 2012 and May 2013, with a few notable exceptions. Most are by moms, again, with a notable exception.

I will tell you all about each author and book as we go along. But in the meantime, feel free to visit their check out their books for yourself.

In order to win a book or books, participants must answer a question at the end of each giveaway post. You can read the complete rules here.

Some mom writers come back every year to participate in this giveaway. And I hope you will spread the word and tell all of your writer mama friends to come and join in the fun. 🙂

We are giving away both fiction and nonfiction, traditionally published and self-published, debut and veteran, and all totally excellent quality books.

And here they are:

Warm up day on April 30: Julie Kibler, Calling Me Home LINK (one winner)

May 2013 Dates:

1. Caroline Grant and Lisa Catherine Harper (editors), The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage: True Tales of Food, Family, and How We Learn to Eat LINK (one winner)

2. Nicole Baart, Sleeping In Eden LINK & Amy Hatvany, Heart Like Mine LINK (two winners, one for each book)

3. Monica Drake, The Stud Book, A Novel LINK (one winner)

4. Kerry Cohen, Seeing Ezra, A Mother’s Story Of Autism, Unconditional Love, And The Meaning Of Normal LINK (one winner)

5. Christa Hines, Confidently Connected, A Mom’s Guide To A Satisfying Social Life LINK (three winners for three e-books)

6. Anita Hughes, Market Street, A Novel LINK & Heather Barbieri, The Cottage At Glass Beach LINK (two winners, one for each book)

7. Jennifer Margulis, The Business of Baby, What Doctors Don’t Tell You, What Corporations Try to Sell You, and How to Put Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Baby Before Their Bottom Line LINK (one winner)

8. Nichole Bernier, The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D LINK & Randy Susan Meyers, The Comfort Of Lies LINK (two winners, one for each book)

9. Gina Barreca, They Used To Call Me Snow White…But I Drifted LINK (one winner)

10. Sharon Short, My One Square Inch of Alaska LINK & Amy Nathan, The Glass Wives, A Novel LINK (two winners, one for each book)

11. Jen Karuza Schile, Captain of Her Crew: The Commercial Fishing Mom’s Guide to Navigating Life at Home LINK (three books for three winners)

12. Mother’s Day Multi-book Author: Yona McDonough, A Wedding In Great Neck LINK & The Doll Shop Downstairs LINK, The Cats In The Doll Shop LINK, All The Available Light: A Marilyn Monroe Reader LINK, Eve And Her Sister: Women Of The Old Testament LINK (illustrated by the author’s mother, Malcah Zeldis)

13. Lara Krupicka, Family Bucket Lists, Bring More Fun, Adventure & Camaraderie Into Every Day LINK (three e-books for three winners)

14. Laura Whitcomb, Under The Light LINK & A Certain Slant Of Light LINK (both books for one winner)

15. Krysty Krywko, Late-Onset Hearing Loss, A Parent’s Perspective LINK (three winners for three e-books)

16. Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train LINK & Jessica Maria Tuccelli, Glow LINK (two winners, one for each book)

17. Judy M. Miller, What To Expect From Your Adopted Tween LINK (three winners for three e-books)

18. Marci Nault, The Lake House LINK & Barbara Claypole White, The Unfinished Garden LINK (two winners, one for each book)

19. Heidi Smith Luedtke, Detachment Parenting, 33 Ways To Keep Your Cool When Kids Melt Down LINK (three copies for three winners)

20. Therese Walsh, The Last Will Of Moira Leahy LINK (one copy)

21. Kelly James Enger, Writer For Hire LINK, Six-figure Freelancing LINK, and Dollars & Deadlines LINK (all three to one winner)

22. Mia March, Finding Colin Firth LINK and The Meryl Streep Movie Club LINK (one winner for both books)

23. Cindy Hudson, Book By Book, The Complete Guide To Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs LINK, plus Mother-Daughter Book Club Meeting Planner Guides Collections One LINK and Two LINK, and the Cultural Explorations Collection LINK (one winner for book + e-books)

24. Lela Davidson, Blacklisted From The PTA LINK, Who Peed On My Yoga Mat? LINK and Sexy, Smart & Search Engine Friendly LINK (one winner for all two books + one e-book)

25. Kathleen McCleary, House And Home LINK and A Simple Thing LINK (one winner for both books)

26. Malia Jacobson, Sleep Tight Every Night LINK and Ready, Set, Sleep LINK (three winners for three sets of e-books)

27. Erika Robuck, Call Me Zelda LINK and Hemingway’s Girl LINK (one winner for both books)

28. Christina Katz, Writer Mama LINK, Get Known Before The Book Deal LINK, and The Writer’s Workout LINK (one winner for all three books) and Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit LINK, Author Mama LINK, and Discover Your Platform Potential LINK (one winner for all books and e-books, I will also throw in a Writer Mama bumper sticker)

29. Heather Vogel Frederick, Spy Mice: The Black Paw LINK, For Your Paws Only LINK, and Goldwhiskers LINK (one winner for all three books)

30. Caroline Leavitt, three copies of Is This Tomorrow LINK (three winners)

31. Jennie Shortridge, Love, Water, Memory LINK, When She Flew LINK, Love and Biology At The Center Of The Universe LINK, Eating Heaven LINK, and Riding With The Queen LINK (one winner for all five books)

If you would like to see images of all the books, please visit the giveaway Pinterest page!

Please read “Da Rules” and thanks for spreading the word!

Technically, this post should have come before the last post because this is a list of how to be more creative when you are a mom who writes.

Imperfection rules the day, as always. Here is the list of books for creative moms who write or want to write:

The Right To Write by Julia Cameron LINK

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott LINK

Pen On Fire by Barbara DeMarco Barrett LINK

Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids by Christina Katz LINK

Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit (e-book) by Christina Katz LINK

Author Mama, How I Became A Published Author & How You Can Too (e-book) by Christina Katz LINK

Get Known Before The Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow An Author Platform by Christina Katz LINK

How To Become A Famous Writer Before You’re Dead, Your Words In Print And Your Name In Lights by Ariel Gore LINK

The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach by Christina Katz LINK

Use Your Words, A Writing Guide For Mothers by Kate Hopper LINK

Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues LINK

Oldies:

Writing Articles From The Heart: How To Write & Sell Your Life Experiences by Marjorie Holmes LINK

How To Be A Successful Housewife Writer, Bylines And Babies Do Mix by Elaine Fantle Shimberg LINK

Write Where You Live, Successful Freelancing From Home by Elaine Fantle Shimberg LINK

View the entire list of best creativity books.

I have been championing the careers of freelance moms for a long time now.

But don’t just read my books and e-books, also check out some of these great oldies, if you are a mom freelance writer. You’ll pick up some great ideas and advice!

(I will cover general mom writer books tomorrow.)

Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids by Christina Katz LINK

Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit (e-book) by Christina Katz LINK

Author Mama, How I Became A Published Author & How You Can Too (e-book) by Christina Katz LINK

Get Known Before The Book Deal, Use Your Personal Strengths To Grow An Author Platform by Christina Katz LINK

The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach by Christina Katz LINK

Oldies:

Writing Articles From The Heart: How To Write & Sell Your Life Experiences by Marjorie Holmes LINK

How To Be A Successful Housewife Writer, Bylines And Babies Do Mix by Elaine Fantle Shimberg LINK

Write Where You Live, Successful Freelancing From Home by Elaine Fantle Shimberg LINK

View the entire list of best creativity books.

So, I’ve been writing moments this month alongside the folks who are taking the 21 Moments Writing Challenge this round.

I have to say that this little challenge is even more powerful than I thought it would be. I am also hearing from others that the challenge has been powerful for them.

There seems to be an awful lot of violence, terror, and pain in the world right now. But of course, these things have been part of humanity for all of time, not that this makes any of it any easier.

But because being human comes with so many challenges, I am so glad to have writing in my life.

There are probably more reasons to write than I can possible count. I have tried to count them before and always feel like I am barely scratching the surface.

As a writing expert these many years, if I have learned anything, it is that people write for a whole range of reasons and often more than one reason at a time.

Here are a few things that I have noticed in the past nineteen days about the way that the writing challenge has changed me:

• I have been more present.
• I pay more attention to every moment.
• I notice more details in everyday life.
• I am experiencing life at a slower and deeper pace.
• I am more appreciative of artfulness in others.
• I am more reflective and less reactive.
• Time feels wider, deeper and richer.
• I am exploring topics that have interested me for a while that I wasn’t getting around to writing about otherwise.
• I am still getting all my other writing done. In fact, I seem to be getting it done more effortlessly.
• I am noticing that I can pretty much write about anything on any given day until I have an aha moment.
• I am appreciating the simple discipline of writing that is focused on “me,” rather than only working on writing that is already committed to someone else.
• I am noticing that everything around me is profound, even sacred.
• I feel free in my writing to say whatever I want.
• I am learning from writing things that I need to learn right now to keep up with the pace of my life.
• I feel like whatever I write is enough, and therefore I feel like I am enough.
• I feel a new freedom to think my own thoughts and say “no” to shoulds.
• I can express myself verbally better with less effort (probably because I am more present).
• All the pressure is off. All the creativity is on.
• I don’t want it to end, and yet I know a break in deadline pressure is always good.
• Most surprising, I actually miss creating a new challenge this month (because I’m taking the challenge rather than creating a new one), but I recognize that what I am doing this month is a totally different type of creativity than what I have done for the past three months.
• I notice that although I like both types of creativity (creating the challenge vs. taking the challenge) that taking the challenge seems to be more powerful, at least for me. Though I found creating all three challenges to be very moving and inspiring. The two processes are just different, I guess.

People have been giving me feedback about The 21 Moments Writing Challenge since the first one ended in late January, and I listened to what they said, but I don’t think I really heard it until I did the challenge myself.

In other words, this is powerful stuff. Now I get what you guys were saying!

So far, I have not heard from anyone who committed to the challenge and who said it didn’t do them any good. I’ve only heard things like, “Wow…this is good stuff.”

And now I get it. Yes, the examples are helpful. They are inspiring and instructive.

But the “good stuff” that everyone has been talking about is the stronger, tighter connection each of them feels towards their own writing process. And that’s not me or my examples; that’s them doing their writing.

And you know what? You really can’t put a price tag on that, because when a person who is supposed to be writing IS writing, well, then heck, all is well with the world. At least that’s how it feels.

I hope you can join me for the last round of The 21 Moments Writing Challenge this spring. It begins May 1st and will be the last one until we start back up in September for three more rounds in the fall.

I can promise you one thing if you do it. I can promise you, you.

And I don’t think I can make a better promise than that.

Registration is now open for May. You can learn more here.

Hope you can join us!

Ooo, I love me some freelance writing books. You know I do!

And I have read plenty over the years, both for personal use and as research for my own books.

This is my list of the clear stand-outs in the creative freelance writing category.

Some are dated, but I don’t care. They all have a special place on my bookshelf.

Writer For Hire: 101 Secrets To Freelance Success by Kelly James Enger LINK

Six-Figure Freelancing, The Writer’s Guide To Making More Money by Kelly James Enger LINK

Ready, Aim, Specialize, Create Your Own Writing Specialty & Make More Money by Kelly James Enger LINK

Starting Your Career As A Freelance Writer by Moira Anderson Allen LINK

The Renegade Writer by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell LINK

The Renegade Writer Query Letters That Rock by Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell LINK

The Writer’s Workout, 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques From Your Writing Career Coach by Christina Katz LINK

The Beginning Writer’s Answer Book edited by Jane Friedman LINK

102 Ways To Earn Money Writing 1500 Words Or Less by I. J. Schecter LINK

Freelancing For Newspapers, Writing For An Overlooked Market by Sue Fagalde Lick LINK

Make A Real Living As A Freelance Writer by Jenna Glatzer LINK

Writer Mama, How To Raise A Writing Career Alongside Your Kids by Christina Katz LINK

Writing Articles About The World Around You, How People And Places You Know Can Spark Ideas For Hundreds Of Saleable Articles by Marcia Yudkin LINK

Oldies:

Writing Articles From The Heart: How To Write & Sell Your Life Experiences by Marjorie Holmes LINK

How To Be A Successful Housewife Writer by Elaine Fantle Shimberg LINK

Write Where You Live, Successful Freelancing From Home by Elaine Fantle Shimberg LINK

Sell & Resell Your Magazine Articles by Gordon Burgett OUT OF PRINT

View the entire list of best creativity books.

If you have ever heard me speak, you have probably heard me refer to the years I spent in coffee houses in Chicago reading about being a writer before I was ready to dare to become one.

This is always the danger inherent in a world with so many well-written books about the writing life.

Do you want a writing life or do you simply want to read about the writing lives of others? Today, you have ample opportunity to do both.

Of course, you know me, I am going to encourage you to have your own writing life. But I don’t think it will do you any harm to read these gems. In fact, I am sure that they will inspire you in  all the ways that only they can. Why not keep them on your shelves at the ready for a rainy day?

These are some of my favorites. What are yours?

Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg LINK

The Right To Write by Julia Cameron LINK

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott LINK

If You Want To Write by Brenda Euland LINK

Writer Mama by Christina Katz

The Writer’s Workout by Christina Katz LINK

Pen On Fire by Barbara DeMarco Barrett LINK

Writing Past Dark by Bonnie Friedman LINK

Writing To Change The World by Mary Pipher LINK

View the entire list of best creativity books.

I am pretty creative these days, but I didn’t get here overnight.

I started out, way back in the day, reading awesome books by highly creative artists and authors.

Here’s the beginning of a new list for my site on “The Best Creativity Books Ever.”

These are from my shelf. Feel free to chime in with your favorites in the comments!

I am focusing here on raw creativity or creativity in the raw, as opposed to polished or entrepreneurial creativity (we’ll get to these later).

Here are my top creativity books so far:

Everything by Julia Cameron LINK

Everything by SARK LINK

Everything by Eric Maisel LINK

Everything by Keri Smith LINK

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp LINK

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott LINK

Writing Down The Bones by Natalie Goldberg LINK

The Writer’s Workout by Christina Katz LINK

Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain LINK

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon LINK

The War Of Art by Steven Pressfield LINK

View the entire list of best creativity books.

As professional creatives, we all know that search engine optimization is something that we all need to learn. But how do we translate it from something we should do to something we actually do?

This is where Lela Davidson comes to your mental and emotional rescue, bringing her hallmark sense of humor and intelligence to what can seem like a daunting task, but turns out to be not that intimidating, after all.

Let Lela’s new guidebook be your introduction to SEO if you are unfamiliar with the topic. If you are already familiar–indeed if you know too much and yet still do nothing to improve your SEO–you’ll find the task is easy and manageable after you read Lela’s e-book.

And if you finish the e-book, and you still feel like you could use some real-time support, you can call on Lela to personally walk you through a test-drive, so she can show you how search engine optimization can make your website sexier, smarter, and more search engine friendly.

Thanks for helping me welcome Lela Davidson, as she makes a daunting task not only manageable but also fun. And please help me introduce Sexy, Smart, & Search Engine Friendly: Get Found Online Without Losing Your Mind or Wasting Your Time.

Sexy and smart aside, what made you decide that it was important for your business to become search-engine friendly?

I wanted my website to become more search engine friendly so that I could reach more people. I wanted to create more points of connection for people who did not already know me and who would not likely be exposed to my work through social media.

Most folks strongly resist learning about search-engine optimization. How did you figure out how to make it so sexy?

Things are sexier when they are easy. What I really wanted to do was make this process easier for myself, and to make it a habit because I’ve never resisted learning about search engine optimization, but I have strongly resisted applying that knowledge in a consistent way.

Traveling as I sometimes do in the blogger circles, I know I’m not alone. A lot of us know too much. We know so much that the basic job of SEO starts to seem overwhelming and we decide not to do any of it. The fundamentals are not overwhelming and with a little guidance, they are easy habits to incorporate.

Can I optimize my site even if I am basically technically illiterate?

I’m not sure if you can optimize, but you can certainly better-ize. If you know how to update the content on your website, then yes, you have all the technical skills you need to improve search results. What I stress in Sexy, Smart, & Search Engine Friendly is that most of the work that goes into good SEO is offline. Most of the work lies in thinking about who your target audience is and what they are looking for when they hit the keyboard.

So many folks who work online spend a lot of time on social media, making new connections, and networking—are you saying that becoming search-engine friendly is just as important as being social?

Being social is increasingly a part of being search engine friendly so I would encourage readers to continue connecting with people they know in social media, of course. But you can reach a lot more people who are not in your online social circles through search. Search gives us all a way to reach those people we don’t already know. That’s a first step to making a sale.

These same folks, who spend a lot of time online, spend an awful lot of time on social media and yet they don’t see the results they’d hoped for in terms of exposure to their work. Can your e-book help?

Hope is not a strategy. The expectation that putting something out there in social media is going to cause everyone in your network to tell two friends, and then they tell two friends, and so on, is ridiculous. I talk in this guide about repetition. A lot of us (myself included) do not like to repeat ourselves. But repeat ourselves we must if we want to sell. And we must learn to do it in the right way. If someone is spending a lot of time on social media—in anything, really—and not getting the results they expect then they need to try something new and adjust their expectations.

I am sometimes disappointed with the page views I get in my blog. Often, my readers will love a post but it just doesn’t seem to get much wider play beyond my current readers. Does your e-book address this frustration?

Absolutely. There are so many reasons our loyal group of readers may or may not share something with their on social circles. The only control we have over that is to pay attention to what they do share and decide if we want to create more content like that. What we also have control over is making it easy on people who don’t already know us to find what we’ve posted, written, and listed for sale. This can be accomplished through search.

Can I become permanently search-engine friendly, and if so, what kinds of habits do I need to develop?

The world is changing fast, and so is search technology, but as I mentioned before, half of what you do in search is offline. When you get into the habit of thinking strategically about the audience you want to reach with search, everything you create online gets more focused. The value of the content you enrich with this new knowledge is yours and the more you practice the more natural the process becomes. Learning to see through the SEO lens forces you to think in niches and it’s usually easier for the small business to win a niche.

I understand you are offering search-engine friendly consults for individuals running their own businesses online? What does this service entail?

Yes, the consults are very simple and I’ll go so far as to say fun! I ask website owners to answer a few questions about their website’s performance, their goals, and any past efforts with search optimization. With that information I am able to research strategies I think are the best choices for them right now. We have a 30-minute phone conversation to go over my recommendations and answer any questions. So far, the consults have worked really well after someone has read the guide. This is a chance for them to get custom insights based on my years of experience. The consults are not a replacement for reading the guide, but once someone understands the basics, we can dig a little deeper into the specific strategies for their website at this time.

Okay, Lela, for the sake of argument, let’s say that I’m already sexy and smart. Can you give me four or five quick tips so I can also become search-engine friendly during my lunch hour?

First, obviously, read Sexy, Smart, & Search Engine Friendly: Get Found Online Without Losing Your Mind or Wasting Your Time. You can read through the whole thing in one lunch hour and then start practicing the strategies in ten-minute time chunks.

Create a Google+ profile and link your website to it. Post new content to Google+ even if that’s all you do on the social network.

Before creating a post, think about one ideal customer sitting at her computer with a need you can fill. Brainstorm the words she might type into the search bar and then use the Google Keyword Tool to select a few of those phrases to include in your post.

Think ten. Ten minutes is plenty of time to refresh old content. Take ten minutes in Google Analytics and make a list of the ten most popular pieces of content on your site—posts or pages. Spend ten minutes a day for ten days in a row beefing up the SEO quality of that content.

Thanks for coming by to learn more about Lela Davidson’s new e-book, Sexy, Smart, & Search Engine Friendly: Get Found Online Without Losing Your Mind or Wasting Your Time. You can learn more about Lela Davidson and her e-book as well as about her fun and funny humorous essays for moms at http://leladavidson.com/. Please join me in spreading the word about a great new e-book that every creative professional needs to read.