Happy Holidays
I’m headed off to warmer climes for the holdays. I’ll be back starting January 11 with my regular posts and roundups.
I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and an amazing new year.
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Archives from month » December, 2009
The Joy of Pseudonyms
Based on all of the input I got in response to Monday’s post and my gut feeling, I have decided to better focus on my brand by creatng a pseudonym for my fiction writing.
But, picking another name is tough. I found a nice resource from an agent (“What’s in a Pseudonym?“), but I’m hoping for a little more crowdsourcing help.
If you currently work undera pseudonym, how did you choose it? Did you keep your first name the same to avoid confusion? Did you pick a literary name that has special meaning for you, or did you use a family name? (You don’t have to out yourself by giving your legal name and pseudonym. General guidelines and ideas are plenty.)
If you have only dreamed of pseudonyms, what types of names resonate with you?
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Top 5 Posts
With the end of the year approaching, it seemed like a good time to look back at the year and see which posts you found most useful. Here are the top 5, based on traffic and repeat visits.
(Side note: The writing roundups are typically the most visited pieces, but because of their cyclical nature, I didn’t include them here. If you would like to re-read them, click on Writing Roundup in the tag cloud.)
Build Your Online Press Kit
This post gives you a skeleton to use to build your own online press kit. I continue to refine mine, but getting it up in the first place was the major step. If you don’t have one, think about adding it to your list of New Year’s Resolutions.
Women and Sci-Fi
This rant, written in response to an asinine and sexist blog post that argued that we girls had ruined sci-fi, continues to draw readers. Maybe we did ruin sci-fi by insisting that it be more than just a “my machine is awesomer than your machine” pissing contest. I, for one, welcome the addition of characterization and depth.
How to Be a Healthy Writer
Many of us have seen our waistlines expand now that we have become “serious writers.” This collection of links provides ideas for shedding the pounds, inspiration to live a healthier lifestyle, and even some arguments that a more active writer is a better writer. Timely for anyone who wants to be healthier in the new year. BTW, I haven’t had a Rock Star in over a month.
Why Should You Blog?
Many writers try blogging as a means of platform development and, well, because they think they are supposed to. Christina Katz makes a big deal of giving back to the writers who come behind you, and I like to think that is what my little blog has become. My two cents? Blog if you love to blog, have a clear purpose, and can do some good in the cyber-world.
Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King
I’m cheating a little by including a review I wrote in 2008, but it still gets great traffic. On Writing is still my favorite writing book. What is yours? What writing books do you want to read in the coming year?
What have been your favorite posts this year? What cool lessons have you learned over the past year?
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The Pseudonym Debate Rears Its Ugly Head Again
As I work more on building both my fiction and freelancing careers, I am becoming more enamored of the idea of using a pseudonym for my fiction.
More and more of the freelancers/fiction writers I have come across use pseudonyms to keep their business and fiction separate. But, I have built some level of name recognition and have been open about my fiction aspirations.
So, I’m going to crowdsource this one. If you pseudonym, please tell me why and how it helps your business and your fiction. If you don’t pseudonym, please share your reasons. If the nature of the fiction you write has influenced your decision to pseudonym, please let me know.
Thanks!
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Writing Roundup, December 18
Digital ARCs Make Progress
Novelist L.J. Sellers looks at the move toward digital review copies. How will that affect writers.
Backlist Title Dilemma
How should authors deal with their less than stellar backlist releases? Shrug and hope their loyal readers see the progress they have made? Remove all poorly written pieces from circulation?
Seth’s Promotion
Bob Lefsetz distills Seth Godin’s book promotion wisdom into an instructive post.
Agents for Multiple Genres
Agent Jessica Faust responds to a blog reader question about whether a writer needs multiple agents for books in multiple genres: Don’t get ahead of yourself, and focus on one book at a time.
Gender Issues
The founders of Men with Pens admitted to being slightly less than masculine this week. Here are two interesting posts that share their different sides of the story.
It is obvious that these two have some bad blood between them, and the back and forth is not that interesting. But, the exploration of gender and pay issues is fascinating. Does gender still matter? Or will good work win out no matter what?
5 Quick Tips for Clear, Effective Writing
Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen provides good tips for writing and editing to create better prose.
7 Tips for Dealing with Distractions
Anne Wayman’s post is a nice follow-up to the article I included in last week’s roundup about technology tools to keep you focused. Sometimes, you need to make yourself focus rather than depend on emulation tools on your computer.
Portrait of a Multi-tasking Mind
I’m a multi-tasker from way back, and I know that it has had a negative effect on some of my work in the past. I have been trying to be more mindful and focus on one task at a time. This article gives me more impetus to keep that up.
Warrior Revisions Revisited
Jeff Posey shares the lessons he learned while editing the work he created during NaNoWriMo. How can we all apply these lessons to our own writing?
It’s All in the Details
Elspeth Potter visit Victoria Janssen’s blog to talk about research and the level of details necessary to write a believable novel.
Can You Use Dialogue to Spark Your Stories?
What can you do if you’re feeling blocked? Robyn Campbell suggests listening to what people around you say and then letting your mind wander down dark and twisty paths of inspiration based on their words.
Conflict in Every Line
Author Camy Tang guests over at Seekerville, sharing tips for achieving the goal of conflict/tension in every sentence.
Magazines Get Ready for Tablets
Finally, old school publishers are learning that they need to adapt to the new technologies sooner rather than later. A few magazines are releasing iPhone versions, and more are planning for the future of tablets (maybe even that rumored Apple iTablet). How will that affect the work that we do as freelancers? We will need to keep in close contact with our editors to find out what they need, and we will have to keep reading these electronic magazines to see how story structure is changing.
5 Best Article Writing Posts
Freelance Writing Jobs posted a top 5 list that should provide some great ideas to we freelancers.
Promoting Your Book with Twitter
This week’s Writer’s Weekly included a nice marketing piece by Steff Green. She offers some great tips and warns against some of the obnoxious behaviors that make you lose followers faster than Typhoid Mary.
8 Tips on Creating an Army of People to Market Your Book
Tony Eldridge gives some great marketing tips in this post. He echoes some of the tips I heard from Caroline Miller’s speech at the Willamette Writers November meeting–sometimes you need to call in a little help from your friends/colleagues.
Free Selling Your Novel PDF
Bob Mayer has links to some great free downloads to help you better sell your work.
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The Novel You Never Finished
Today, I’m over at The Romantic Journey talking about the books we abandoned. I’d love to have you visit and share your orphaned novel stories.
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Writing Roundup, December 11
Should Publishers Delay E-book Releases?
This was big story this week, as publishers reported that they would try to save paper publishing by delaying important e-book releases. Agent Nathan Bransford explains the flaws in the logic and looks at the issue from the reader’s perspective.
Digital ARCs Make Progress
Novelist L.J. Sellers looks at the move toward digital review copies. How will that affect writers.
Backlist Title Dilemma
How should authors deal with their less than stellar backlist releases? Shrug and hope their loyal readers see the progress they have made? Remove all poorly written pieces from circulation?
Seth’s Promotion
Bob Lefsetz distills Seth Godin’s book promotion wisdom into an instructive post.
How to Turn Off the Internet While Writing on Your Computer
Have you struggled with the lure of Twitter, Facebook, and Google while you write? Other than turning off the wireless card or unplugging the Ethernet cable, how do you get down to writing rather than surfing? This post points you to some technology solutions that help you keep your focus.
Tips for Self-Editing Burnout
Editor Kathryn Craft provides solid advice to get you through your self-editing projects.
The Written Word: Mining for Ideas
John Roundtree helps you mine your life for ideas.
Time, Dimension, Backstory, and Keeping Your Story Short
Kimberly Davis gives great advice to help you create fully developed characters without bogging the story down with backstory.
Why I Canceled My Subscription
Freelance writer Sue Lick canceled her newspaper subscription because it no longer meets her needs. She turns that small act into a lesson for writers in keeping audience needs at the forefront.
How to Write an Elevator Pitch for your Freelance Writing Business
Do you effectively sell your services? If not, this no-nonsense post can help you create an effective and brief sales pitch to use with potential clients.
Nine Things to Clarify about Your Platform (Part 2)
Platform master Christina Katz closes her short series on pulling together an effective platform. Read part 1 here, if you missed it.
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Looking for Like-Minded Romance/Urban Fantasy Writers
The Romantic Journey, a group blog for romance readers and writers is looking for a few good writers interested in joining the team.
Responsibilities include posting one or two full-length posts per month and soliciting guest interviews/giveaways.
Visit the blog to see what we’re doing, then email me if you are interested in being part of the group. Also read my post “The Power of Fellowship” for more on why I pulled this group together.
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New Year’s Resolutions
The end of the year is a great time to review your goals and plan for the coming year. What are your plans for 2010? Will that be the year you finally polish that novel up and send it off to agents or publishers? The year when you make the break and become a full-time freelancer? Or that year when you finally get serious about writing and submitting short stories?
Let me know in the comments.
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Writing Roundup, December 4
What Can I Expect of My Agent?
Moonrat posts a nice description of what you can expect in your relationship with your agent. Read this post, then visit agent Kate Schafer Testerman’s blog for a follow-up and expansion on the ideas from an agent’s point of view.
Publishing Your Book: Is It Worth It? (Or, the Costs of Publishing)
Rebecca Emrich looks at the financial and emotional costs of publishing. We all pursue that goal with such determination, but it has some non-monetary costs that we don’t always anticipate.
How to Respond to a Manuscript Critique/Editorial Letter
Agent Nathan Bransford moves into the craft section this week as he gives solid tips to help you deal with feedback and criticism of your work. Remember that no matter how much you love your story or characters, you must also take a detached perspective and look at your work without emotion in the shoes of your ideal reader.
Hitchcock, The Birds, and Me
Writer Joanna D’Angelo discusses how a skilled storyteller can manipulate the audience into empathizing with even the least sympathetic character. How can you apply Hitchcock’s techniques to your own work?
What We Learn from Writing
Agent Rachelle Gardner opened up her blog to her writer followers. She asked what they had learned and experienced during NaNoWriMo. See what they said, then let me know if you agreed or if your experiences differed.
Tips to Maximize Research
Tricia Goyer gives some great tips to help you make the most of your research time. The more efficient your research time is, the more time you have for the actual writing, right?
Interview with John Olson
Randy Ingermanson discusses the concept of “writing in the shadows” with John Olson. Olson provides some great advice that I know will help my fiction. How can you apply his lessons to your own projects?
Tough Mommies Work at Home
Do you dream of an easy life of working at home as a freelance writer? According to this post, easy may never be part of your vocabulary.
10 Ways Twitter Helps Me to Become a Better Freelance Writer
Is your social media a time waster or a skill builder? Deb Ng has some ideas to help you ensure that you build skills and your client base while you work online.
Upcoming Classes
Platform master Christina Katz is offering some courses that could help you build your writing business in the coming year.
Creative Ways to Use Your Email Signature
Do you build your platform constantly? If so, you probably already use your email signature to build new business or market your work. If not, Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen has some ideas to help you leverage that tool.
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