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Turn Off the AutoFeeds on Facebook – Boost your Blog BB#100

By: Trish Corlew1 Comment

Now that we have gotten to know our audience, our competition and what is feeding our blogs and websites… now it is time to put some of that into action!

Today’s Challenge

So here is your challenge for today and here it is at the top of the article! I recommend you turn off all the autofeeds to your Facebook page… at least for a little while. You need to really be in there with our readers and followers to see what works. So everything you post will be manual. I know this is a ten day challenge, but I highly recommend you try this for a month or so.

Boost your blog BB#100

Why, you ask…

3 Reasons to Turn off the AutoFeeds

1. Facebook is attempting to bring relevant content to members.  There has been chatter that anything that doesn’t appear organic may not show up in your feed. With our posts being seen by fewer and fewer followers everyday, we certainly don’t need anything to prevent us from getting our posts seen. That is a big enough reason in and of itself.

2. Engagement is more timely. Getting engagement on your posts is critical to its ability to be seen. The more a person engages with your posts, pictures, etc, the more likely your posts will appear in their feed. So, go forth and engage! Seriously, chat with your followers. Have a meaningful conversation! Give them a reason to want to support you and your efforts.

3. You get to see what is working and what is not in real-time. You get to feel what time of day works best, what posts are working, what your followers want to see and hear about. I have found that at different times of day, our followers engage differently. You will figure that out too. And you will quickly realize that one size does not fit all.

I think that is one of the most important things I can tell you. There are a lot of folks out here making lots of money telling you how to do this or that… but I will say it again… one size does not fit all. Don’t waste your money on shortcuts. Do the hard work and it will pay off because you will know your audience. Well!  Brands want to work with those of us that have this kind of pulse on our market.

Let me know what your thoughts are about turning all the autofeeds off!

Be sure to read the other posts in this series:

Be sure to visit the other co-hosts and do their challenges as well!

  • Lisa from Squishable Baby wrote a series on Giveaways
  • Michelle from Simplify, Live, Love wrote a series on Grammar
  • Thaleia from Something 2 Offer wrote a series on Blog Photos and one on Commenting
  • Martiel from Amazing Success Academy wrote a series on SEO and one on Blog Titles and Topics
  • Honey from Honey’s Life wrote a series on Twitter

Until next time…

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Middle and High School LinkUp #18

By: Trish Corlewcomment

Welcome to our Middle and High School LinkUp #18 for tweens, teens and their Moms! We are so excited to have a linkup for our children to have a creative writing outlet and for us moms to have a place to share middle school and high school homeschool tips and techniques.  The students are provided a creative writing prompt (usually).  They write their article on their own blog or on their mom’s blog and then link their articles below.  I am so encouraged and excited seeing how their writing skills are developing and their creativity is flourishing!  This has been such a blessing to me personally and to our own homeschool!  Thank you all for being a part of it!

You can link up at any of the following co-host’s sites:

Amy at Homeschool Encouragement

Clara at Clara’s Blue Moon (teen co-host)

DaLynn at Holy Splendor

Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs

Laura at Day by Day in Our World

Trish at Live and Learn Farm

Vicki at 7 Sisters Homeschool

Wendy at Homeschooling Blessings

 

Middle and High School Linkup for Students and Moms!

If you are interested in joining us, linkup your article below. If you want to co-host, email me and let me know.  Our focus for the co-hosting  is for only moms of the teens, or the teens themselves to co-host.

guidelines for the linkup:

  • The link-up will be open Monday through Saturday evening.
  • Please link directly to the url of your post (permalink).
  • Please check back and visit at least one of student’s submissions and leave a comment for them.  Our job is to encourage writing, their Mom (or Dad) will take care of the critique :-) 
  • If you don’t mind, please place the button and code in your blog post so others can find out about the linkup also!
  • That’s it!

and now it’s time for the link up!

This is our last month for the creative writing link up.  So, why don’t we let the last month be all about the author’s choice.  Each week for these last four weeks, our students will get to write their own stories.  I know we have one contributor moving to Germany as we speak… what a great topic to make into a series.  Another just went to her first formal with her dad.  So many wonderful life experiences to write about that I think we would all love to hear about.  So, share away!  I look forward to reading fiction or non-fiction… whatever you guys decide to write is fine!!


The Goal of Social Media – Boost your Blog BB#100

By: Trish Corlew4 Comments

How have the first two challenges gone?  Do you feel like you are really getting a handle on good Facebook content for your audience?  Now that we have spent time analyzing the numbers on Facebook, let’s get off Facebook and look at your blog’s numbers.  We need to remember what exactly the goal of social media is and decide if we are using it effectively.

Boost your blog

The Goal of Social Media

So we have spent all this time analyzing metrics of how different posts performed on Facebook, but now we get to where the rubber meets the road. Did any of these Facebook posts lead them back to your blog? Because, ultimately, that is the goal, at least for bloggers, to drive traffic to our sites.

Is Social Media Doing its Job?

If you are a Word Press site and have the JetPack Plugin, you have the numbers to study where your traffic is coming from.  If you haven’t implemented this plugin, Navin wrote a great article for Tech Info Blog about setting it up and how to use it.

Google Analytics tracks where your traffic comes from no matter what you are using for your blog.  Ian Cleary wrote a great article on how to use Google Analytics to analyze your engagement.  Pay attention to number 5.  For my articles (which focus on Facebook), that is the number we need to focus on.  If you need to know how to set it up, here is an article on Shout Me Loud on how to set it up.

If you are like me, I am visual, BIG TIME.  I like to see charts and graphs.  Similar Web is one of my favorite tools to help me see our website. Check it out! I think this tool will analyze your site and return your traffic metrics without the other two tools being implemented. Be sure to let me know if that is not accurate!

Challenge: Determine if  Your Current SM Strategy is Working

So what have you learned from this picture that traffic paints?  Are you successfully using your social media to drive traffic to your blog?  I know it is so easy to get caught up in the “numbers game” and just look at our social media as if IT is the goal.  I get caught in that trap sometimes too. But ultimately, we don’t want our audience to be on a platform we have no control over. As we have seen with the changes Facebook is currently making, that is a risky proposition. So, we have to keep this goal in mind whenever we are analyzing our success with social media…. IS IT DRIVING TRAFFIC TO MY SITE?  If not, you now have an actionable goal to focus on how to do that!

NOTE: If you don’t already have diagnostic tools setup to determine where your traffic is coming from, get them now!  THAT is your challenge for today!!

Share Your Thoughts, Tools and Insights

As you are working through my challenges, please share your thoughts and insights in a comment.  If you are using different tools that are working, please include those as well.  I am not the sage of Facebook social media… I just spend a lot of time analyzing and trying to help grow our Social Media success.  So help me learn from you as well!  I am just like you, I want to grow my blogs too, ya’ know 🙂

Be sure to read the other posts in this series:

Be sure to visit the other co-hosts and do their challenges as well!

  • Lisa from Squishable Baby wrote a series on Giveaways
  • Michelle from Simplify, Live, Love wrote a series on Grammar
  • Thaleia from Something 2 Offer wrote a series on Blog Photos and one on Commenting
  • Martiel from Amazing Success Academy wrote a series on SEO and one on Blog Titles and Topics
  • Honey from Honey’s Life wrote a series on Twitter

Until next time…

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Know Your Competition on Facebook – Boost your Blog BB#100

By: Trish Corlew6 Comments

Did you learn a lot from studying your analytics about what types of posts your audience likes and interacts with?  Now we will take that very information we found for you on Facebook to Know your Competition! Yes, we are going there. But, let’s call it benchmarking… because really that is what we are trying to do. Determine how successful we are compared to others in our niche. We can learn a lot from others who are bigger than we are. We will look to the pages that are really growing to see if we can gather some intelligence about YOUR audience.  How do we know who they are?  Keep reading…

Know your audience on Facebook

Graph Searches

If you haven’t started using this powerful search, you will fall in love once you try them. This is how can we study other pages that your audience likes. Simply use this search string in Facebook and replace “hip homeschool moms” with the name of your blog:

Favorite pages of people who like Hip Homeschool Moms

So what are we going to do with this information?

The Challenge: Study Your Most Successful Competitors

Now let’s spend some time understanding what is working for your largest competitors. Study the engagement, see which types of posts were the most successful.  Document the following information:

  1. How often did the post?
  2. When?
  3. What type of posts (pictures, links, statuses, videos, contests, trivia, )?
  4. What were the most successful posts?
  5. How much did the page interact with their audience?
  6. Notice the apps and tabs they are using would these benefit your audience?
  7. Do they repost other brands content?
  8. Do they use hashtags often?
  9. Do they post sponsored content?

The key comparison to track is engagement rates by days, time of post, by content type and topic allows you to really start learning.

Resources to Help Analyze Your Competitors (and Yourself)

  • Likealyzer.  LikeAlyzer helps you to measure and analyze the potential and effectiveness of your Facebook Page. It allows you to monitor, compare and explore all the possibilities of your Facebook Page by evaluating your activity to ensure your success on the most popular social network in the world – Facebook.
  • Fan Page Karma.    is a paid tool that provides a free version that allows you to do a pretty detailed analysis of your Facebook Page and a comparison with your competitors.
  • Conversation Score.  CScore is a free tool that performs an analysis of your Facebook Page, categorizes and gives it a score based on the behavior of your Page.
  • AgoraPulse Barometer. This report provides an analysis of your Facebook Page and compares it against other companies’ Pages (that also used this tool) that have a similar number of fans. It calculates the average percentage on several criteria based on your last 50 posts. The report shows the score for your Page received compared with the average score for other Pages that ran this assessment.

Share Your Thoughts, Tools and Insights

As you are working through my challenges, please share your thoughts and insights in a comment.  If you are using different tools that are working, please include those as well.  I am not the sage of Facebook social media… I just spend a lot of time analyzing and trying to help grow our Social Media success.  So help me learn from you as well!  I am just like you, I want to grow my blogs too, ya’ know 🙂

I know these challenges are harder than most, but because Facebook is changing, we have to really understand our niche to be effective.  I encourage you to take your time…. if it can’t be done overnight, come back after you have completed that day’s challenge before you start the next one.  These challenges will build on each other!

Be sure to read the other posts in this series:

Be sure to visit the other co-hosts and do their challenges as well!

  • Lisa from Squishable Baby wrote a series on Giveaways
  • Michelle from Simplify, Live, Love wrote a series on Grammar
  • Thaleia from Something 2 Offer wrote a series on Blog Photos and one on Commenting
  • Martiel from Amazing Success Academy wrote a series onSEO and one on Blog Titles and Topics
  • Honey from Honey’s Life wrote a series on Twitter

Until next time…

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Know Your Audience on Facebook Boost Your Blog BB#100

By: Trish Corlew10 Comments

Well, Facebook picked a fine time to change the way they treat Company Pages… right before I am about to write my portion of this challenge! And I’ll go ahead and confess, I am one unhappy lady with Facebook right now. Let me also mention while I’m at it, that I am one of the co-owners of Hip Homeschool Moms.  So my perspective is being shared here on my personal blog (Live and Learn Farm), but my experience is from doing the Social Media for Hip Homeschool Moms.  I also need to tell you I make everything a game!  So, although I’m mad as fire at Facebook, I’m determined that we are going to figure out how to continue reaching our audience despite this dramatic reduction in organic reach to our audience that took the time to like our page!  But before we go there, let’s get some basic items covered up front and get right to our first discussion… Know your audience on Facebook.

Boost your Blog Facebook Day 1

 

Facebook is a Business

I know… that is obvious. But it needs to be stated at the beginning of our discussion about this platform. Just like we are in business to make a living, so are they… and they now have shareholders to answer to. The days of getting a bunch of free advertising are pretty much over on Facebook. That does not mean we need to leave Facebook! Far from it! In my opinion, that would be very short-sighted to consider leaving Facebook. After all, it is still the most popular social media platform on the internet (right now). And, at least for our audience, they are primarily on Facebook. What it does mean is…  we all need to get extremely smart with our approach! So what’s a blogger to do?

Know Your Audience

I cannot emphasize this point enough! We have to know our audience, know what makes them want to read our posts, know what they love about our sites (and don’t like so much), know why they share some posts and not others, I mean KNOW them. That is the most important piece of advice I can give you. Period. It doesn’t matter what platform we are talking about.  If you don’t know your audience and how to connect with them, you are batting a zero already. Relationships. That is what social media is based on. If you are not developing a relationship with your audience, you are losing them to someone who is!

How do you get to know your Audience?

You spend time with the analytics and numbers from your site.  Take some time to study and compare all the analytics from all the platforms you use. Facebook insights are easy to navigate and a treasure trove of information. You  can learn so much via the insights that Facebook provides:

  • Where your audience is geographically
  • What time of day and days of the week your audience most uses Facebook
  • The demographics of your audience (age, location, gender)
  • The reach each of your posts receive
  • What posts garner the most engagement with your audience and what type those posts are (pictures, comments, links, etc.)
  • What technology your audience used to view your page
  • Details about audience numbers (how many you have gained and lost) and even if they hid a post, all your posts or reported your posts as spam!
  • If you pay to have any of your posts boosted, you will see the results compared to organic reach as well.

I am a numbers-aholic, so I track everything. I don’t necessarily recommend you spend more than an hour on this exercise, but I do encourage you to pay special attention to the type of posts, when, and notice what is special about it that helped engagement.  Was it a fantastic photograph? A great tag line? A post that was time sensitive? Make note of these items.

Resources to Help you Analyze your Numbers

There are so many resources you can choose from to help you understand your Facebook Analytics and this list is not extensive nor all inclusive.  If you have other resources you love to use, please let me know in the comments below.

John Loomer wrote a great article about page insights for Social Media Examiner. I highly recommend you spend some time understanding your metrics

Another site you need to visit that will provide a detailed explanation of how to find the data, download it and understand it is by Web Marketing Today.

The Challenge…

Download and study your numbers for 2014.  I know that might be a lot of data… but Facebook is changing! You have to know your data to see the trends! If you are not intimately aware of your numbers, you wont notice the numbers as they shift.

Share Your Thoughts, Tools and Insights

As you are working through my challenges, please share your thoughts and insights in a comment.  If you are using different tools that are working, please include those as well.  I am not the sage of Facebook social media… I just spend a lot of time analyzing and trying to help grow our Social Media success.  So help me learn from you as well!  I am just like you, I want to grow my blogs too, ya’ know 🙂

Be sure to read the other posts in this series:

Be sure to visit the other co-hosts and do their challenges as well!

  • Lisa from Squishable Baby wrote a series on Giveaways
  • Michelle from Simplify, Live, Love wrote a series on Grammar
  • Thaleia from Something 2 Offer wrote a series on Blog Photos and one on Commenting
  • Martiel from Amazing Success Academy wrote a series onSEO and one on Blog Titles and Topics
  • Honey from Honey’s Life wrote a series on Twitter

Until next time…

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Middle and High School LinkUp #17

By: Trish Corlewcomment

Welcome to our Middle and High School LinkUp #17 for tweens, teens and their Moms! We are so excited to have a linkup for our children to have a creative writing outlet and for us moms to have a place to share middle school and high school homeschool tips and techniques.  The students are provided a creative writing prompt (usually).  They write their article on their own blog or on their mom’s blog and then link their articles below.  I am so encouraged and excited seeing how their writing skills are developing and their creativity is flourishing!  This has been such a blessing to me personally and to our own homeschool!  Thank you all for being a part of it!

You can link up at any of the following co-host’s sites:

Amy at Homeschool Encouragement

Clara at Clara’s Blue Moon (teen co-host)

DaLynn at Holy Splendor

Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs

Laura at Day by Day in Our World

Trish at Live and Learn Farm

Vicki at 7 Sisters Homeschool

Wendy at Homeschooling Blessings

Middle and High School Linkup for Students and Moms!

If you are interested in joining us, linkup your article below. If you want to co-host, email me and let me know.  Our focus for the co-hosting  is for only moms of the teens, or the teens themselves to co-host.

guidelines for the linkup:

  • The link-up will be open Monday through Saturday evening.
  • Please link directly to the url of your post (permalink).
  • Please check back and visit at least one of student’s submissions and leave a comment for them.  Our job is to encourage writing, their Mom (or Dad) will take care of the critique :-)
  • If you don’t mind, please place the button and code in your blog post so others can find out about the linkup also!
  • That’s it!

and now it’s time for the link up!

The story prompts seem to be working well… so I’m going to continue with these.  Here is a list of prompts I found to help get your creative minds flowing!  I combined two lists to choose from this week (one from Buzzle and the other from Practical Creative Writing):

  • Procrastinate now, don’t put it off”.  Write at least 5 advantages of procrastination.
  • A random cleaning up of the house leads to the discovery of an old diary. What happens next?
  • The new house owner discovers an old photograph in the attic.
  • A spaceship stumbles onto a planet full of aliens who look like flowers.
  • “This pendant is the only way that you can enter the castle.”
  • Compose a piece telling readers exactly how one should go about caring for a pet Komodo dragon.
  • Write at least 300 words on the life of a mosquito.
  • The whole family sat down for the picnic, and the bear sat down with them.
  • She was running faster than she thought possible.
  • The sun set over the rooftops.
  • It was more than just another place on a map, it was where everything happened.
  • She heard tapping on the window.
  • The fire had gone out and the air was cold and damp.
  • She placed it in her pocket, turned and ran.
  • He pulled the rope slowly, not sure what would happen next.
  • The man had seen better days that was for sure. His nose was bent, his eyes bore old bruises and he had forgotten how to smile.
  • The edge of the carpet was pulled back. He bent down to look.
  • It wasn’t far now. She had walked for hours.
  • The sea was the darkest blue and so was the boat. He didn’t want to get in but he had no choice.
  • The tall building seemed to sway but she knew that must be an illusion. Buildings didn’t move.
  • The cows gathered at the top of the field. They knew what he was going to do.
  • The train was packed. She would have to stand all the way.
  • The plaster crumbled around the window.
  • The man whistled so cheerfully you’d never guess he had a corpse in his suitcase.
  • The color green reminded him of home.
  • She went slowly along the corridor, trying to find the source of the noise.
  • It might take a while to finish the task but she knew it had to be done. Unpleasant tasks always have to be done.
  • The owl swooped down and took the mouse, just as she knew it would.
  • His eyes were brown with a tiny fleck of gold at the edge.


Middle and High School LinkUp #15

By: Trish Corlewcomment

Welcome to our Middle and High School LinkUp #15 for tweens, teens and their Moms! We are so excited to have a linkup for our children to have a creative writing outlet and for us moms to have a place to share middle school and high school homeschool tips and techniques.  The students are provided a creative writing prompt (usually).  They write their article on their own blog or on their mom’s blog and then link their articles below.  I am so encouraged and excited seeing how their writing skills are developing and their creativity is flourishing!  This has been such a blessing to me personally and to our own homeschool!  Thank you all for being a part of it!

You can link up at any of the following co-host’s sites:

Amy at Homeschool Encouragement

Clara at Clara’s Blue Moon (teen co-host)

DaLynn at Holy Splendor

Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs

Laura at Day by Day in Our World

Trish at Live and Learn Farm

Vicki at 7 Sisters Homeschool

Wendy at Homeschooling Blessings

Middle and High School Linkup for Students and Moms!

If you are interested in joining us, linkup your article below. If you want to co-host, email me and let me know.  Our focus for the co-hosting  is for only moms of the teens, or the teens themselves to co-host.

guidelines for the linkup:

  • The link-up will be open Monday through Saturday evening.
  • Please link directly to the url of your post (permalink).
  • Please check back and visit at least one of student’s submissions and leave a comment for them.  Our job is to encourage writing, their Mom (or Dad) will take care of the critique :-) 
  • If you don’t mind, please place the button and code in your blog post so others can find out about the linkup also!
  • That’s it!

and now it’s time for the link up!

The story prompts seem to be working well… so I’m going to continue with these.  Here is a list of prompts I found to help get your creative minds flowing!  Let’s take a break from fiction for this one and get into some more thought-provoking questions to prompt your writing this week… Many of the questions came from this list.

1.  A television network is looking for ideas for a new television series for homeschooled teenagers. Write a letter to the president of the network explaining your idea for the new television show. Include all the information that will help the president evaluate your idea, including the show’s title, what kind of show it is (such as reality, comedy, music, game, or sports), specific details or features of the show that would be appealing to teenage viewers, and an example of what viewers might see in a typical episode.

2.  A magazine is looking for ideas for a monthly feature series for homeschooled teenagers.  Write a letter to the editor of the magazine explaining your idea for the new series. Include all the information that will help the editor evaluate your idea, including the series’ title, what the focus of the series would be, specific details or features of the series (like what the first 3 articles would be) that would be appealing to teenage homeschool readers.

3. Explain the importance of being able to see a situation from another person’s point of view. You might create a story to support your perspective.

4. Explain why it is important to forgive.

5. Music impacts every culture and every individual’s life. Explain what role music plays in our culture and how it impacts your own life.

6. Describe what makes a great leader.  If interested, create a story around a great leader.

7. In some countries every young person must serve two years of military service. Should we have a similar policy in the United States? Write an essay stating your position on this issue and supporting it with convincing reasons. Be sure to explain your reasons in detail.

8.  Quote me. Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?


Until next week….

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No Linkup this week!

By: Trish Corlew1 Comment

Sorry guys … I forgot to tell you we are off for spring break / Passover this week.  So, we won’t have our next linkup until Monday, April 21st. Be watching for it!

We hope you have a great week!!

 

Middle / High School Linkup

 

Trish, Chase, Gage and Blake

Live and Learn Farm

Middle and High School LinkUp #14

By: Trish Corlewcomment

Welcome to our Middle and High School LinkUp #14 for tweens, teens and their Moms! We are so excited to have a linkup for our children to have a creative writing outlet and for us moms to have a place to share middle school and high school homeschool tips and techniques. Although most of the moms seem to be so busy, we just don’t have time to pull this off.  The students are provided a creative writing prompt.  They write their article on their own blog or on their mom’s blog and then link their articles below.  I am so encouraged and excited seeing how their writing skills are developing and their creativity is flourishing!  This has been such a blessing to me personally and to our homeschool!  Thank you all for being a part of it!

You can link up at any of the following co-host’s sites:

Amy at Homeschool Encouragement

Clara at Clara’s Blue Moon (teen co-host)

DaLynn at Holy Splendor

Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs

Laura at Day by Day in Our World

Trish at Live and Learn Farm

Vicki at 7 Sisters Homeschool

Wendy at Homeschooling Blessings

Middle and High School Linkup for Students and Moms!

If you are interested in joining us, linkup your article below. If you want to co-host, email me and let me know.  Our focus for the co-hosting  is for only moms of the teens, or the teens themselves to co-host.

guidelines for the linkup:

  • The link-up will be open Monday through Saturday evening.
  • Please link directly to the url of your post (permalink).
  • Please check back and visit at least one of student’s submissions and leave a comment for them.  Our job is to encourage writing, their Mom (or Dad) will take care of the critique :-)
  • If you don’t mind, please place the button and code in your blog post so others can find out about the linkup also!
  • That’s it!

and now it’s time for the link up!

The story prompts seem to be working well… so I’m going to continue with these.  Here is a list of prompts I found to help get your creative minds flowing!

  1. Shadows quivered on the wall as the candle flickered, then fizzled to nothing.
  2. I could just make out the windows high in the castle wall.
  3. She SO did not want to be here, especially when. . .
  4. He slammed forward as the brakes screeched and the car . . .
  5. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen, with tubes and wires . . .
  6. The lane was night-dark, even at noon.
  7. He stared at the credit card, numbers blurring in front of his eyes, wondering if . . .
  8. She ducked as the plate smashed against the wall behind her.
  9. She hesitated at the post box, not knowing if she should really send the letter.
  10. It was one of those days when everything seemed to go wrong.
  11. My hand trembled as I punched the number into the phone.
  12. She knelt on the tile floor, carefully picking up the shards of glass. Why did it have to be this one that broke?
  13. Colors swooped and swirled behind his closed eyelids as the music soared, taking him back to . . .
  14. The chattering birds made her smile, until she heard a growl.
  15. The dream last night had seemed so real… it was just a dream, right?
  16. The storm whipped the trees outside and she huddled under her quilt.
  17. Sun, sand, sea—total relaxation. So why couldn’t he let it go?
  18. She tore through the alley, ducked into a doorway, and tried to squeeze into nothingness.
  19. Trapped. A rat in a maze, a tiger in a cage, every cliché he could think of—he was trapped.
  20. The building shook, lurching and jumping, and the little china horse fell off the mantel.
  21. The prickles on his neck told him he was being watched.
  22. The sun was soft and the boat rocked gently. It wasn’t so bad running out of fuel, until . . .


Middle and High School LinkUp #13

By: Trish Corlewcomment

Wow, it is our Middle and High School LinkUp #13 for tweens, teens and their Moms! We are so excited to have a linkup for our children to have a creative writing outlet and for us moms to have a place to share middle school and high school homeschool tips and techniques. Although most of the moms seem to be so busy, we just don’t have time to pull this off.  The students are provided a creative writing prompt.  They write their article on their own blog or on their mom’s blog and then link their articles below.

You can link up at any of the following co-host’s sites:

Amy at Homeschool Encouragement

Clara at Clara’s Blue Moon (teen co-host)

DaLynn at Holy Splendor

Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs

Laura at Day by Day in Our World

Trish at Live and Learn Farm

Vicki at 7 Sisters Homeschool

Wendy at Homeschooling Blessings

Middle and High School Linkup for Students and Moms!

If you are interested in joining us, linkup your article below. If you want to co-host, email me and let me know.  Our focus for the co-hosting  is for only moms of the teens, or the teens themselves to co-host.

guidelines for the linkup:

  • The link-up will be open Monday through Saturday evening.
  • Please link directly to the url of your post (permalink).
  • Please check back and visit at least one of student’s submissions and leave a comment for them.  Our job is to encourage writing, their Mom (or Dad) will take care of the critique :-) 
  • If you don’t mind, please place the button and code in your blog post so others can find out about the linkup also!
  • That’s it!

and now it’s time for the link up!

For this week’s linkup theme, here are your options:

  • Alphabet Poem. Write a 26-line poem using all the letters of the alphabet. Have the first line start with the letter “A,” the second “B,” the third “C,” etc.

  • Back From the Future. A knock at the door catches you off guard. Upon answering it, you’re greeted by a man who says he’s from the future—and he can prove it. More important, he says he has information that will save your life.

  • Stacey was bored. It was halfway through the summer and he was fed up, so he decided to go exploring.

  • “Base to Captain SkyFighter, Base to Captain SkyFighter. Come in Captain SkyFighter.” “Captain SkyFighter. Come in Captain SkyFighter. Where are you?”

And a few from last week  prompts I found at Writing Forward., because they seemed to be popular!

  • You’re digging in your garden and find a fist-sized nugget of gold.
  • Write about something ugly–war, fear, hate, or cruelty–but find the beauty (silver lining) in it.
  • The asteroid was hurtling straight for Earth…
  • There’s a guy sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper…
  • He turned the key in the lock and opened the door. To his surprise, he saw…
  • Silvery flakes drifted down, glittering in the bright light of the harvest moon. The blackbird swooped down…
  • The detective saw his opportunity. He grabbed the waitress’s arm and said…
  • There are three children sitting on a log near a stream. One of them looks up at the sky and says…
  • There is a magic talisman that allows its keeper to read minds. It falls into the hands of a young politician…
  • And you thought dragons didn’t exist…
  • Write about nature. Include the following words: hard drive, stapler, phone, car, billboard.
  • The nation is controlled by…
  • You walk into your house and it’s completely different–furniture, decor, all changed. And nobody’s home.
  • Write about one (or both) of your parents. Start with “I was born…”
  • The most beautiful smile I ever saw…
  • I believe that animals exist to…
  • A twinkling eye can mean many things. Start with a twinkle in someone’s eye and see where it takes you.
  • Get a package of one of your favorite canned or boxed foods and look at the ingredients. Use every ingredient in your next piece of writing.