My goals for this month:
- Finish my two nonfiction books
- Write 10K words on my novel
- Finally create the submission tracking spreadsheet I keep talking about
So that is what I need to accomplish this month. It’s a lot, but I can do it.
What are you planning to achieve in June?
The Business of Writing
Effectively Combatting Piracy
DRM is a contentious issue in publishing. Many industry bigwigs seem to think that crack-proof DRM will stop piracy. But how well has that worked for the usic industry? At Dear Author, Jane presents her plan to combat piracy.
Stepping up Your Game
I love that agents go out of their way to tell us how to get their attention (in a good way). And I love that Nathan Bransford channeled his inner Coach Taylor to help we writers work through the despair this economy may be causing for us. (I’m a huge fan of Friday Night Lights.) Right now, money is tight, and editorial standards are tighter. We need to work even harder and polish our work even more to help it stand out.
Some BEA Observations
Agent Kristin shares her experience at BEA last weekend, with a articular focus on how spartan it seemed because of the economy.
Rules for Writing
An honest and amusing list of the rules we all need to follow. I would add another rule that had something to do with drinking copiously, but maybe that’s just me.
Craft
Does Editing a Manuscript Help It Get Published? Part 1
Robyn begins another good series on her blog, this time focusing on the importance of editing.
Developing Your Writer’s Voice
Voice is that certain je ne se qua that sets you apart from the myriad other writers out there. But developing it and describing it can be a real challenge. Camy Tang shares a series of posts on the topic of voice.
Fiction
I Scrapped It and Skinned It and Scored!!
Inez Kelley tells the story of cutting out more than half of her current WIP, cutting out the hero entirely. It sounds really scary, but it was the right decision for her story, and she is ready to rock with it now. I’m actually leaning toward cutting out one of my characters–it was an idea that came to me while I was listening to Philip Margolin speak on Tuesday–so reading Inez’s story was very useful to me this week.
Romance: The Same Old Same Old?
In this guest post at the Novel Journey, romance novelist Cheryl Wyatt discusses how she keeps her books from just being the same thing over and over again. It is particularly challenging in romance, where we all know there will be a happy ending, but her tips apply to other genres as well. I’ve certainly said that there are no ideas, just new ways of presenting them.
Freelancing
Monthly Marketing Mix: June 2009
Ugh, marketing. Who wants to market when the great late spring weather makes us all want to go outside and have fun with friends and family? Certainly not Jennifer Mattern, who provides us with easy ways to market our freelance services and have fun this month.
30 Sites Every Freelancer Should Visit and Utilize
The folks at Freelance Folder have compiled a good list of resources for freelancers. The only thing I don’t love about this post is that they listed their site first. I mean, come on, at least bury the blatant self-promotion. Well, that, and use “utilize” when “use” would have done just as well. The copy editor in me will never shut up about that one.
Happy writing!
You may be able to save yourself some time creating the submission tracking spreadsheet—and get something more feature-rich in the bargain. Check out http://www.writersDB.com.
Shack’s Comings and Goings » Sunday Wash-up // Jun 20, 2009 at 2:20 pm
[...] Writing Roundup Each week I am linking to Jennifer Roland’s Roundup, so if you have loads of time or the links here were not of high interest then pop over to her page. This week she has ten good links, so give her a visit and enjoy. [...]
Looks like an interesting tool, Charles. Thanks!