Welcome to the new home of Jen’s Writing Journey, the blog that chronicles Jennifer Roland’s writing life and provides useful information for new and seasoned writers. If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or my email updates or follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!It is easy for writers–especially [...]
Entries from August 31st, 2009
Do You Know When to Say When?
August 31st, 2009 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
Tags: time management·writers life
Writing Roundup, August 28
August 28th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
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.
Ask Daphne: What about Contest Sites?
Are contests a route [...]
Tags: blog roundup·craft·fiction·freelancing·fun stuff·platform·promotion·the business of writing·writers life·writing roundup
Death to All Prologues
August 26th, 2009 · 6 Comments · Uncategorized
I’ve been hearing all of the agents and editors talk about how much they hate prologues.Why did I care? Well, my WIP has a prologue.
I couldn’t imagine how my story would work without that preamble, so I kept it. I thought about calling it Chapter 1 so the entire prologue problem would be avoided. I [...]
Tags: conference·fiction
Short Stories Can Improve Your Writing Skill
August 24th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized
Finally! Here is a tidbit I picked up from the Willamette Writers Conference.
A few months back, I questioned whether writers can work on short and long pieces at the same time. Published writer Eric Witchey says not only can you, but you should.
Witchey offered some great ideas in his session Short Fiction for Fun, Money, [...]
Tags: conference·fiction
Writing Roundup, August 21
August 21st, 2009 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
We’ve got a lot of interesting news posts this week in addition to the regular blog suspects.
The Business of Writing
The Limits of Control
This article from the American Journalism Review provides a good synopsis of the ethics policies and guidelines major newspapers are asking their reporters to follow when using social media. Are these policies enforceable [...]
Tags: blog roundup·blog tours·craft·fiction·freelancing·fun stuff·platform·promotion·the business of writing·writers life
I’m a Kreativ Blogger
August 19th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
I got a wonderful comment on Monday’s blog post from Rebecca Emerich, whose blog Living a Life of Writing has been featured in my weekly Writing Roundup quite a few times. Rebecca is a prolific blogger who maintains three distinct blogs and posts on her writing blog daily–even on the weekends. And she has two [...]
Tags:
Guest Post: Troubleshoot Your First Draft in One Pass
August 17th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Uncategorized
Today, we’ve got a post from novelist and writer’s writer Roz Morris. Roz is here to tell us about a tool she has developed to help her writing: The Beat Sheet. It allows you to boil your novel down into a manageable chunk and assess how well the whole thing works. The Beat Sheet not [...]
Writing Roundup, Aug. 14
August 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized
So many great resources, so little time. Thus, I avoid preamble and move directly into this week’s links.
The Business of Writing
5 Reasons Pitches Can Be Detrimental Rather Than Helpful
Jane Friedman, who took pitches at the Willamette Writers Conference, offers a little advice to writers making pitches: Don’t pin all of your hopes on that 10 [...]
Tags: blog roundup·craft·fiction·freelancing·platform·the business of writing·writing roundup
What I Learned about Attending Conferences
August 12th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized
I’m going to share some session recaps from the Willamette Writers Conference here on the blog later. Today, I’m going to share the tips I learned about the nuts and bolts of attending a conference.
1. Volunteer
You can save a lot of money on registration by volunteering–as much as 75% off the cost of attending. You [...]
Tags: conference·willamette writers
An Ode to the Ever-Suffering Spouse
August 10th, 2009 · No Comments · Uncategorized
After spending the entire weekend at the Willamette Writers Conference, I was reminded of Stephen King’s discussion of the spouse in On Writing. He said,
whenever I see a first novel dedicated to a wife (or a husband), I smile and think, There’s some one who knows. Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes [...]
Tags: relationships·writers life
