Links of Interest to Writers

Reading, writing, reading about writing, writing about reading, reading good writing, repeat!

• Social Media Today:  SMTookbox:  Tips and Tools for Mastering Google Plus from Martin Shervington @MartinSherv Posted by Steve Rayson @SteveRayson 

• Mary Carroll Moore:  How to Keep Your Writing in Your Over-the-Top Busy Life:  Helpful Techniques from the Experts @writeabook

• Beyond Paper Editing:  Why Editors Use Word--Authors Can Harness Word's Powers, Too! by Corina Koch MacLeod @CKmacleodwriter

• Social Media Just for Writers:  8 Tips for Writers Using Pinterest by Frances Caballo @CaballoFrances

• The Narrative Breakdown:  Character Goals and Philosophies [Podcast] with Matt Bird, Cheryl Klein, and James Monohan @chavelaque

• iO9:  The Universal Shapes of Stories According to Kurt Vonnegut by Robert T. Gonzalez @rtg0nzalez @iO9

Links of Interest to Writers

Here are some of my favorite blog posts about writing this week.

• The Creative Penn:  The Intentional Writer:  Finding the Time, Space, and Inspiration You Need to Write by Erin Bartels @ErinBartels @TheCreativePenn

• Marcy Kennedy:  Does Genre Still Matter in 21st Century Fiction? @Marcy Kennedy 

• Creative Writing With The Crimson League:  On Continuity in Creative Writing by Victoria Grefer @vgrefer

• The Bookbaby Blog:  3 Tips to Writing Action Scenes by Chris Robley @ChrisRobley @BookBaby 

• Elizabeth Spann Craig:  Twitterific Writing Links @elizabethscraig

• Writers in the Storm:  How to Avoid the Dreaded Dialogue Tag by Laura Drake @PBRWriter

Links of Interest to Writers

Here's a little writing inspiration for your reading pleasure.

• Lauren Sapala:  Trimming the Fat (a post about time) @losapala

• Seekerville:  Settings That Captivate Readers by Janet Dean @lihauthor

• Writing is Hard Work:  Dialogue and Description:  The Delicate Balance by Roger Colby @RogerDColby

• Positive Writer:  A Crazy Myth Writers Need to Kill by Bryan Hutchinson @ADDerWORLD

• Kayla Curry:  My Self-Publishing Journal:  The Costs @KaylaCurry1

• Sandy Appleyard:  Email Subscribers Lists:  The Why and The How @SandyAppleyard

Links of Interest to Writers

A few gems on writing to inspire you!

• Creative Writing Video Tutorials for the Multimedia Age:  In Depth "Show Not Tell for Creative Writing by Cy Porter @drawnovel

• Author, Jody Hedlund  6 Key Things to Consider When Developing Characters @JodyHedlund 

• Clear Writing With Mr. Clarity:  Meaningless Nouns Make You Sound Phony by Joe Roy

• Fiction Notes:  Author Website Tech:  Professional Email by Darcy Pattison @FictionNotes

• Kate White:  How to Make Time for What You Love @katemwhite

• Catherine, Caffinated:  To Do:  A Social Media Spring Clean by Catherine Ryan Howard @cathryanhoward

Links of Interest to Writers

Spend some time improving your writing craft!

• The Write Conversation:  Keep Writing -- Sometimes You Have to Go Through the Junk to Get to the Gems by Edie Melson

• Emu's Debuts:  Making Time by Megan Morrison

• Daily Writing Tips:  Showing Dialect in Dialogue by Maeve Maddox

• Writers Helping Writers:  Softening a Hard Character to Make Them Likable by Angela Ackerman

• Narrative Breakdown:  Middle Grade Fiction with Author Jill Santopolo

• Huff Post College:  Ink on Paper:  Some Notes on Note-taking by Wray Herbert

Links of Interest to Writers

Happy writing to all you authors out there!

• Daily Writing Tips:  Do You Mean Passive or Just Weak? by Maeve Maddox

• Pen & Prosper:  What We Can Learn From The "Little Engine That Could!" Tips to Move Forward ... by Jennifer Brown Banks

• The Seekers:  On Deadline:  How To Make Your Writing Deadlines Work for YOU by Sarah Ladd

• Positive Writer:  Use Discipline to Cultivate the Creative Flow by Stacy Claflin

• My Book Therapy:  Ten Things I Learned On My Writers Retreat by Rachel Hauck

• Pub(lishing) Crawl:  Making The Most of Social Networks As a Writer by Erin Bowman

Links of Interest to Writers

Write because you love it!

• Writer's Digest/Brian Klems:  A 12-Day Plan of Simple Writing Exercises

• Artzicarol Ramblings:  Ordering Your Words by Carol Riggs

• Seize The Day:  Novel Craft:  5 Common Scene Problems by Molly Blaisdell

• The Write Practice:  Make The Most of Your Writing Time

• A. Victoria Mixon, Editor:  3 Reasons Description Is Important; 3 Reasons It's Not

• Live, Write, Thrive:  Novel Construction Begins With Concept by C. S. Lakin

Links of Interest to Writers

Did you write today?

• W.I.P. It:  How Writers Can Balance Time Spent Online by Lynda R. Young

• Aliventures:  How to Create a Writing, Publishing, & Marketing Plan For The Year [Includes Template]

• Omnivoracious:  Beyond Orcs & Elves:  Stacy Whitman on Writing Cross-Culturally by Susan J. Morris

• All Write - Fiction Advice:  Common Writing "Myths" by A.J. Humpage

• Just Write a Book:  Book Editing:  How To Turn a Mess Into a Book by Angela Booth

• Project Eve:  10 Tips To How To Stop Procrastinating by Danielle Boulton

Links of Interest to Writers

Writing advice for fun and inspiration.

• Writers Helping Writers:  Prologue Done Right by Becca Puglisi

• Pink Tea and Paper:  Time Management:  Working Full-Time and Writing by Ellen Brickley

• Simply Scrivener:  Tutorials for Scrivener Users (Scrivener is a great software for writers that's reasonably priced!)

• Stavros Halvatzis:  Avoiding Repetition in Stories

• The Creativity Post:  How to Dramatically Reduce Time Typing by Elizabeth Grace Saunders

• The Other Side of the Story:  Pace Yourself! Some Thoughts, Various & Sundry, on Pacing Your Novel by Tiffany Reisz 

Links of Interest to Writers

Enjoy the latest links to writing information that I found on the Web!

• The Business of Being an Author:  Turn Your Author Dreams Into Working Goals to Achieve More by Marquita Herald

• All Write - Fiction Advice:  Creating Character Dynamics - Part 2  (For part 1 scroll down to the December 9th links.)

• Bestseller Labs:  The REAL Secret to Writing a Bestseller by Jonathan Gunson (Includes a great poster to remind us to WRITE!)

• Courage 2 Create:  3 Paradigm Shifts to Help Make Pursuing Your Passion More Meaningful by Ollin Morales

• From the Write Angle:  5 Ways to Make Author Friends by Jean Oram

• Writers in Charge:  How to Start a Freelance Writing Business in One Hour a Day by Tom Ewer

Links of Interest to Writers

Writing is best served with a bit of reading.

• Jami Gold:  NaNo Wrap-Up:  Beat Sheets 101

• The Write Practice:  How to Draw an Image With Your Words by Monica M. Clark

• Moody Writer:  Using Deadlines To Get That Story Finished

• Writer's Digest:  5 Tools for Building Conflict in Your Novel by James Scott Bell

• Susan Kaye Quinn:  Do You Know Your Character's Primary Trait? by Becca Puglisi

• Bestseller Labs:  5 Rules For Conquering Chaos That Every Writer Should Know by Claudette Young

• C. Hope Clark:  Build Your Own Story Pizza by Raazia S. Ali

Links of Interest to Writers

You never know what great writing advice you'll find on the Web! Here's some that I came across:

• The New York Times Opinionator:  Helpful Definitions for Modern Authors by Steve Macone

• Hub Pages:  The Fairies are Afoot! - Modern Fairy Beliefs by Carolyn Emerick (For fantasy writers!)

• A Writer's Journey:  Behave Yourself on Social Media by Nat Russo

• Association of Writers & Writer Programs:  8 Questions Writers Should Ask Themselves by Roxanne Gay

• Author, Jody Hedlund:  Character Building:  Using Quirks to Reveal a Personality

• Charlotte Rains Dixon:  Procrastinating on Your Writing? Try This

Links of Interest to Writers

For those in the United States, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Here are a few articles to read while digesting all that food! (Those living outside the U.S. can just eat a lot of food and enjoy the articles without having to put up with all those family members.)

• The Business of Being an Author:  How Hard Will You Work to Fulfill Your Dream? by Marquita Herald

• The Narrative Breakdown (Podcast):  Storytelling in Front of a Live Audience with Melanie Hamlett

• The Write Conversation : Tips to Adjust Your Writing Schedule and Enjoy the Holidays 

• WUSF:  What Children's Authors Make of Common Core & Education Policy by Sammy Mack
• Book Riot:  Common Core:  What it Means for Fiction in Schools by Josh Corman

• Flavorwire:  The Greatest Monsters in Children's Literature by Alison Nastasi

• The New York Times Sunday Book Review:  100 Notable Books of 2013

Links of Interest to Writers

Here are today's offerings. Writing stuff I found on the Internet:

• The Kill Zone:  Crafting an Effective Opening  by Clare Langley-Hawthorne 

• Mental Floss:  Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work & Whether It Was Intentional by Lucas Reilly

• Kirkus:  Best Children's Books of 2013

• Publishing Crawl: Twisting Your Plot by Marie Lu 

• Stavros Halvatzis:  How to Choose Character Names

• The Bane of Your Resistance:  No Time to Write -- Really?  by Rosanne Bane

Links of Interest to Writers

Some great writing blog posts that caught my eye!

• The Write Practice:  The Power of Sacred Time:  The Writers Edition by Birgitte Rasine

• Writers in the Storm:  11 Frequently Asked Questions About Book Royalties & Money by Chuck Sambuchino

• The BookBaby Blog:  Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling by Chris Robley

• All Write - Fiction Advice:  Suspending Disbelief for Readers - Part 2  (Find the link to Part 1 in the October 8th links below.)

• Anne R. Allen's Blog:  Why Writers Need to be on Google Plus...Plus a FREE Tutorial On How to Use it Effectively by John Base (Allen)

• Ninie Hammon:  Three Ways to Use Thoughts to Create Unforgettable Characters

• Positive Writer:  Why You Need to Risk Writing Something Dangerous by Bryan Hutchinson

Links of Interest to Writers

Write, write, and then write some more!

• The Other Side of the Story:  The Alchemy of Inspiration - How to Turn Ordinary Ideas Into Gold by Tiffany Reisz

• Prolific Living:  9 Mistakes that Rob You from Living Your Dream Life 

• A Writer's Journey: Killing Your Darlings by Nat Russo

• Pink Tea & Paper:  Time Management:  Working Full-Time & Writing by Ellen Brickley

• Daily Infographic:  The Psychology of Book Abandonment [infographic]

• Author, Jody Hedlund:  Plotting:  How to Know Which Scenes to Include in Your Book

• A List Blogging:  What Exactly Makes a Blog Fail? by Mary Jaksch (Some great info in the comments on this post!)

Links of Interest to Writers

Advice from the masters!

• Brain Pickings:  Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story

• Amanda Bumgardner:  On Avoiding Unnecessary Narration

• The Write Practice:  What are Stock Characters and How Can They Enliven Your Story by Liz Bureman

• QueryTracker:  Ten Things I Need to Tell You. . .About Dreams Coming True by Rosie Genova

• Writer's Digest/Brian Klems' Blog: 6 Secrets of Writing a Novel by Steven James

• The Writers Alley:  Deb Raney on Time Management 101

• Luc Reid:  Still Not Getting to That Goal? Four Essential Factors

Links of Interest to Writers

Here they are - some tips to help your writing!

• Imran Writes:  From Plotting to Writing to Editing to Submitting

• Worddreams:  5 Ways to Write Like Your Hair's on Fire by Jacqui Murray

• Kristen Lamb's Blog:  "Write What You Know" - Paying Attention to the Character's Journey 

• Molly Greene:  Business Plan Basics for Authors & Bloggers

• Marcy Kennedy:  Are You Writing in the POV You Think You're Writing In?

• School Library Journal:  Horror in YA Lit is a Staple, Not a Trend

• The Picture Book Academy Blogateers:  Setting Up for Success by Lori Mortensen

Links of Interest to Writers

The writing part is the fun part - the revision, not so much! Maybe these articles will help ease the pain.

• Mystery Writing is Murder:  Novel Revision: Twenty-page Sessions by Jack Smith

• Positive Writer:  Are You Unwittingly Sabotaging Yourself by talking About Your Writing? by Ali Luke

• Novel Matters:  Protecting the Quiet by Kathleen Popa

• Shelli Johnson:  My Favorite Writing Advice - Make a Writer's Contract

• Write to Done:  This is What Blocks Your Writing (And How to Bust Through)

• MiG Writers:  My Love-Hate (Ok, Mostly Hate) Relationship with Rejections, Plus What I've learned Along the Way by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

• LucReid.com:  Tools for Naming Characters

• The Writer's Alley:  How to Write a Novel While Standing on Your Head Backwards, Chewing Gum, and Texting at the Same Time by Krista Phillips

Links of Interest to Writers

Articles for the discerning writer.

• Catherine, Caffeinated: How Much Time Do You Need to Write? by Catherine Howard

• Writer's Digest:  13 Quirky Workplaces of Famous Writers by Zachary Petit

• Worddreams:  19 Tips for Children's Writers by Jacqui Murray

• Worddreams:  59 Tips for Fantasy Writers by Jacqui Murray

• Jami Gold:  Being a Writer:  Commitment vs. Self-Doubt

• Writer's First Aid:  Rituals: Jump-Start Your Writing by Kristi Holl

• Laura Sapala:  How Your Grand Vision is Holding You Back

• Moody Writing:  Inside Inner Conflict