Jen's Writing Journey

The past week was full of more bad news in the media. But I had one bright point: the Writer’s Market website appears to be back up and running. My suggestion is to use Internet Explorer or Safari instead of Firefox.

Anyway, here’s your roundup to get the week started.

Media Angst: Searcing for Profitable Business Models
At Davos, the doom and gloom was rampant, but people still focused on the future. What changes do we need to make to media models to continue to be relevant and profitable in the future. Pay particular attention to the comment posted by Mauricio. He is right on the money.

Could the Media Take a Bailout?
An interesting look at the role of money in media management. A government bailout would be a bad idea–we can’t afford our news outlets to look even more like government shills.

Washington Post’s Book World Goes Out of Print as a Separate Section
The Washington Post book reviews are being integrated into the main newspaper. It will still be available online. Will this change have an effect on book readers? Will they move online to find the reviews? Have they already?

Writing Careers: What Do You Want from a Writer’s Group
Your goals for participation in a group will dictate whether you want a group that critiques or a group that provides support.

Before Their Eyes, Writers Profane and Very Much Alive
A recounting of a dinner that mixed writers and teens as a means of increasing teens’ interest in literature and writing. I wish I was there–or that I had been able to attend a similar event when I was a kid.

Freelance Writing Is Not a “WORK AT HOME!!!” Job
Deb Ng lays out why freelancing is hard work that requires a serious commitment, no matter what the other people in your life might think about what you are doing.

Craft
Tiffany Colter shares the story of her first major manuscript. It is instructive, to say the least.

Self-Editing, Part 4
In the final installment of the series on self-editing, the Blood Red Pencil gals offer some bad passages and good edits of them. Making those types of edits will make it easy to do as Stephen King suggests and cut 10% on your revision.

Let’s all have a great writing week!

• Writing Roundup Reasons to Write: Writing for LoveChristina Katz reminisces about the romantic notions of a writer's life she held when she was younger and dreamed about being a writer. Then she provides an easy-to-follow road map to move beyond dreaming into doing.Tips for Recognizing Great Article IdeasIn the current economic climate,......
• Writing Roundup, August 28 Lots of good stuff out there as we look toward the fall. The Business of Writing How a Book Gets Published Agent Nathan Bransford gives a great, easy-to-follow description of how a book goes from finished clean copy on the author's desk to a shiny new book on the shelves.......
• How Often to Post? I came across an interesting post about blog frequency, and it got me thinking.I have set up a posting schedule for Pop Culture Curmudgeon--I post three well-thought-out analyses per week plus little bits here and there as the fancy strikes me.But, this blog has been a little harder to schedule.......
• Book Review: Novel Shortcuts by Laura Whitcomb Young adult author Laura Whitcomb shares techniques that will help even the most seasoned wordsmiths write better and faster....
• Writing Roundup, May 8 And, another work week for the 9-5 crowd comes to a close. I wonder if this song lyric would be true of me if I did not have a day job to do in addition to this crazy writing thing: "I wake up every evening, with a big smile on......

• Double the Income or Double the Expense Till Death Do Us Part Getting married is stressful and emotional, but when it comes to handling finances, things can get really scary. You’ll be combining two incomes in most...
• Book Review: Biography of the Dollar In keeping with the trend of have a short title followed by a longer title, the full cover of this book reads: Biography of the...
• Weekly Roundup Welcome to the Sunday roundup. I hope everybody has had a good weekend so far and that you are all staying healthy and fit. Check...
• Personal Finance Links ("Big Sign" Edition) Whenever I'm driving, I hand my wife navigating duty. I'm directionally challenged and I know it. Well, she'll make a comment that there's a "big...
• Cynthia on Sarah Palin's Book Tour As everyone knows, Sarah Palin recently published her book, Going Rogue.  At an upcoming appearance, officials have set guidelines for the press, including prohibiting non-English...