Claim Your Domain

Thursday, January 11th, 2018     by Debra DuPree Williams     Start the Conversation


by Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams
I got a notice in my inbox that it’s time to renew my domain names at GoDaddy. I’m glad they sent me a notice, even though it is a bit early. It won’t renew until March. Maybe it’s a good thing they told me early as my credit card numbers have changed since I purchased the sites two years ago.

This prompted me to ask if you have purchased your domain name. Even if you are just an aspiring author or business owner, chances are, someone out there shares your name. Mine isn’t all that common, especially when my maiden name is thrown in there, but I have run across someone with my name. Even the spelling of Debra as I spell it.

If you are a new customer, odds are, you won’t have to pay too high a price for your name, but if you are renewing, you can expect the cost to rise. Then, you have to consider if you want to purchase just a dot com, a dot net, or a dot org, or perhaps all three. Maybe I didn’t need to do so, but I went ahead and purchased all three, using Debra DuPree Williams in each one.


Those Unusual Names

If you have a name that could have many spellings, like agent, Steve Laube, you may need to purchase even sound-alike names. He talked about this in one of his classes this past May at BRMCWC. Or maybe I read it in one of his blogs. Either way, he purchased every name and every spelling he could that remotely sounded like his name. And for the record, his last name is pronounced, lobby.

If you think purchasing your domain name is without issues, consider author, Eva Marie Everson, who gave me permission to share this with you. She checked her name and there were no other Eva Marie Eversons’s around. She did her homework, bought her domain name, and next thing you know, someone else is using her name. Yes, Eva Marie Everson, Author. This woman is pretending to be the one and only Eva Marie Everson, author of The One True Love of Alice-Ann and many other fabulous works of fiction and non-fiction. Sad thing is, this is a true story. And it is on-going, God love her.You can’t make this stuff up!  I can’t tell you all the ins and outs, but next time you see the real Eva Marie, get her to tell you about it, and pray it has a happy ending.

Leap of Faith

Maybe you are still unsure of taking such a bold step, especially if you are as yet unpublished. Maybe writing is only a dream at this point. Let me encourage you to take that leap of faith. Faith in your abilities, faith in the process, faith that even before you were born, God already knew you would one day have this desire. My friend, He has already gone before you and prepared the way. He has opened doors or is standing ready to open them. You just have to be willing to put in the hard work, learn the craft, and walk through those doors.

Did you notice I said learn the craft? Writing isn’t something we’re born knowing how to do. Oh, certain people around us may have an extraordinary gift when it comes to stringing words together. I can think of a few people I’ve met in the past four or five years who take my breath away with their ability to combine words in such meaningful ways. But it is still a learned craft for most of us.

You had no clue how to write your name before someone taught you that skill. You didn’t know how to put together a proper sentence until someone taught you. Writing a devotional, an essay, a script, or even a novel is no different. You have to learn how it is done.

Purchase some good writing books. I have more of these than I probably should have, but I have learned something from every single one I’ve read. They are highlighted, and underlined, and flagged with those pretty little colorful flags. I have my go-to books, the ones I refer to time and time again. I have books on writing poetry, and children’s literature, and writing romances, and writing mysteries. And I have books on writing cozy mysteries, my chosen genre.

And read, read, read. Not just the how-to books, but books in your genre. Learn all you can from the best authors you can find. You should see some of the novels in my bookshelves. They are marked up just as much as my books on craft. I have a friend who wrote her first cozy mystery about a year ago. I sent her a photo I had taken of one of the pages in that book. I don’t know if she was appalled or flattered, but I do hope she knows it’s because I was learning from the best.

It’s Your Name -Go Get It

Let me tell you, if I can do this, you can do this. I’ve not published my cozy mystery yet, but I’ve almost finished the edits. I hired a professional to help me. After all, it will have my name on it.  Hopefully, one day it will sit on bookshelves among some of my favorite authors. And when that day comes, (see, here’s that faith in action) I’ll be ready to launch my author page with that domain name I purchased two years ago.

So, what are you waiting for? Go buy your name!
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