Jen's Writing Journey

Where has this month gone? How did you do on your goals? I got my spreadsheet going, and I’m using it. The two books are still in process, but I’ve got a whole weekend ahead of me! And I’ve gotten 3,000 words written on my novel.

The Business of Writing

Five Bonus Tips on How to Survive in Publishing
In this companion to the print article, Patricia Holt provides some tips to navigate the author-publisher relationship.

The Case for #RWAChange
The romance world is still reeling from the back-and-forth between RWA leadership and membership regarding e-publishers. Jane from Dear Author pulled together a nice collection of posts on the topic.

Pitching: Scoring a Home Run
Writer Jenn Bray-Weber gives good advice for preparing the elevator speech about your book and for how to comport yourself when you meet with an agent.

Low Publishing Salaries >===== Literature Suffers?
Moonrat gives an interesting take on who you will likely need to impress to get your book moved up the chain and published.

Writing a Synopsis Doesn’t Have to Kill You
Tips for pulling together the dreaded synopsis. It’s all about organization and understanding the structure of your story.

Craft

Good Reading Recipe
Another post from Dear Author, this lists the criteria they use when reviewing a book. It is an exhaustive list, and it can help you write a better book to begin with. When you are reading a draft, try to approach it using these criteria to decide how and where to revise.

Easy on the Hoopdedoodle
Elmore Leonard gives tips for creating gripping fiction. No, this wasn’t posted this week, but the editors at The Blood-Red Pencil did link to it this week.

I Do Not Have Time to Read This Crap
Author Anne R. Allen provides a quick and dirty list of writing don’ts.

Why You Should Not Write Your Novel
Andy Shackcloth shares an interesting opinion about the preparation a writer needs not only in writing but also in promotion and marketing before writing that first novel. I’m not sure I agree completely, although I enjoyed the concept of the post. We writers need to  be aware of the responsbilities we’ll have once we’re done with the book, but nothing teaches writing better than writing.

Fiction

How to Save Time and Money with Professional Editors
Jim Adams details the lessons he learned after getting his first novel edited by a professional. The second time around, he had his synopsis edited, and used the feedback to make changes to the complete work.

On Books: Gloating Villains
How many times have you read a book or watched a movie where the villain gloats over his or her victim, providing said victim with the time and opportunity to escape? And how many times did it make you want to pull your hair out? Elizabeth Moon reminds us that villains do often gloat; our job as writers is to make sure their actions are in character, not cartoonish.

Freelancing

Exposing Some Myths about Blogging Pay Rates
Jennifer Mattern provides some context to consider when setting rates for blog posts. There is such a wide range of price points, and beginning freelancers find it so hard to place appropriate value on what they do without pricing themselves out of the job.

Writers Never Run Out of Blog Topics
Victoria Janssen offers some guiding questions to help you jump-start your creativity when you just can’t think of a blog topic. The questions are also useful to freelancers looking for story ideas to pitch. You probably shouldn’t invite guests, unless they are your co-authors, but you can interview your friends for profiles in appropriate venues.

5 Places to Find Higher-Paying Freelance Writing Jobs
How to Attract the High-Paying Writing Jobs
These two posts are not from this week, but I am including them to help my visitors create strategies to find writing jobs that pay a living wage. Low-paying jobs are everywhere, and they are a good place to begin earning money while you cut your teeth on writing for clients. Use the lessons you learn in the lower-paying gigs to build your skill and portfolio so that you can go after the higher-paying jobs.

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