Platform

After reading this article about platform, I started looking at mine. The biggest thing going for me is my license in Marriage and Family Therapy. I loved counseling and learning more about how to help people with varying degrees of mental disorders. I also felt that this population was underrepresented in Christian fiction (although I will concede that there are a few authors out there who have included a secondary character here or there with a serious mental problem), and this became sort of a soapbox of mine. So Mind-Healing Fiction was born, as was my tagline, "Where Romance Meets Therapy."

According to the platform article, these things must be on your business cards, which you hand out at conferences or tack up on community boards, etc. Now platform is most essential for non-fiction writers, but it can't hurt for fiction. I love how Scoti Springfield Domeij wrote that a platform isn't all about YOU. It's about a "God-given passion, understanding how God gifted you, and using your writing and speaking to make a difference in the lives of others." He asks you to begin by asking who your audience is, how you can serve them with your distinct mesage/specialty/niche, and what information are you offering for your audience to benefit them?

Tough questions, some of them. But it's got me thinking about what else I can use this blog for besides just writing about my dream to publication. So, I'm asking for your help. I'd like to start a weekly "help" post, sort of like practical ways to fight a particular mental disorder or something like that. I could maybe highlight one disorder per month. What do you think about this idea? What could I call the weekly post? (Like, think Mary DeMuth's "Free Critique Per Week" kind of idea...something I would call the post every time.) Something catchy. And thoughts would be appreciated!