Writing Tools and Information
Dawn Field has written a keen post on the Bookbaby Blog called "The Key to Great Writing.”
This article is well worth the read for those writers who know that there isn’t some panacea that triggers great writing, but that there are some common features of bad writing you can avoid to make your writing stronger.
I just discovered a new resource for writers online. Well…at least it is new to me.
This week brings the latest post of Cathy’s Comps and Calls, where Cathy Bryant presents no-fee competition and submission opportunities (and does her best to indicate which ones pay). Check it out.
On her blog, Christi Craig offers some thoughts on choosing online writing courses. I have been thinking about taking some online writing courses to jumpstart my literary workrate...so these five points to consider are helpful and timely...hopefully you find them useful as well.
http://christicraig.com/2015/12/16/5-elements-to-consider-in-choosing-an-online-writing-course/
The website Build Your Own Blog is giving away a new MacBook Air to one lucky blogger! Worth a shot by entering - a chance to start your 2016 writing endeavors off on the right foot!
http://www.buildyourownblog.net/blog/free-macbook-air/?utmx=masmal15dec
If you are looking for some year-end book lists to catch up on the awesome reads you missed in 2015, you'll find an ever-updated compilation over at the Largehearted Boy blog:
http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2015/11/online_best_of_15.html
From the BookBaby blog: Here’s seven writing tips to increase your productivity. Productivity is a recurring problem for all writers, so these tips may serve as inspiration to push you towards being more industrious in your creative endeavors.
What if you knew all the common screw-ups writers make? Could that help you avoid (some) rejection notices? Maybe even make you a sharper writer?
Writers (freelancers especially) should all check out this post from the Making a Living Writing site: “Worst Writer Mistakes: 8 Editors Reveal What Makes Them Say ‘No’.”
From the Electric Lit blog: Here’s a fun infographic on day jobs that inspired famous authors.
A little bit of motivation for those of us who hold down a career while also slogging through the morass of a writer’s life.
http://electricliterature.com/the-day-jobs-that-inspired-famous-authors/
Check out bestselling novelist Warren Adler’s new website Writers of the World, an archive of personal essays from different writers about their creative processes. It is sure to inspire and motivate. And if you are so inclined, you can also submit your own personal story about why you write.
Writing when you feel like…meh.
It is something all writers face - what do you do when it’s time to write and you just don’t feel like it? For those moments when you just aren’t feeling motivated, here are seven remedies for writer’s apathy, from a posting on the BookBaby blog. I plan to use this advice for my own writing endeavors – maybe you can, too.
Although it ended its regular posting schedule almost a year ago, the Pitch, Publish & Prosper blog holds a usefulcollection of tips and hacks on science writing. Check it out if you are into science writing.
From Blue Light Press. If you've just published a book...you can find a crash course in shameless book promotion on the website at this link: http://bluelightpress.com/promo.php.
This seems like some useful advice that I hope to be able to use once one of my manuscripts find a home.
Coming to Chicago in 2017: the American Writers Museum, a national museum celebrating American writers. Expected to be interactive and high-tech museum, and anticipated to draw up to 120,000 visitors annually.
You can check out more about this coming attraction at the AWM website: http://americanwritersmuseum.org/
Sometimes the intent to write is there, but maybe you lack the motivation needed to put words on paper. If that is the case, find inspiration by taking a quiet moment to observe the world around you and within you.
Read more about this method of stimulating yourself to write in this posting from the BookBaby blog by Jim Dempsey. Then put his advice to good use. Be inspired!
That is a question I have wondered for years. Yet I still submit. Masochistic, I know. Maybe I secretly enjoy rejection.
But I digress. You should check out this take on the merit of writing competitions by Elisa Gabbert (on the Electric Lit blog).
Because I am passionate about continuous improvement (seriously), I stumbled upon a great article on the BookBaby blog: “How to keep blogging simple — 5 tips for authors.”
In this article by Cari Bennette, I found some useful pointers that I plan to use to improve my blogging endeavors – maybe you will, too.
So let’s try to keep it real here: Envy really can become a significant part of the writing life.
As close friends and writing partners garner success in the literature world, you just might find yourself left behind…and sulking inside like a spoiled brat about not getting those accolades yourself. It’s only human, but you don’t need to let it impact your writing efforts or relationships adversely.
David Ebenbach provides some solid suggestions for how to deal with envy. Not to mention he coins a new sweet phrase for your personal lexicon: “Envy Jujitsu”.
On The Millions: Nick Ripatrazone presents “Lessons from No: Writers on Their Most Formative Rejections.”
A presentation of seven writers and their most formative rejections. A solid read.
http://www.themillions.com/2015/08/lessons-from-no-writers-on-their-most-formative-rejections.html
So here’s a site that I’ve added to the rotation: Beyond Your Blog, “a site that helps bloggers get published on sites beyond their own blogs.” Interviews with editors are just one example of the resources available there.
I don’t want a style. Or I don’t want to be defined by a particular style. It’s taken years to evolve to this viewpoint, but I prefer each writing project, big or small, to invent itself without preset limits.
Once a writer determines what his or her style is, they are finished. Because then they’ve defined their own boundaries and subconsciously resist crossing them. They hear the voice of restriction resonating inside their heads louder than the voice of creativity. At that point they might as well tap out.
So I want to believe that I don’t have a style. I have poems and books and stories and undefined literary blobs that develop on their own and discover their own voice - their voice, not mine. And I want to maintain this blissful illusion until I die.