Jen's Writing Journey

• The Business of Writing
• Craft
• Fiction
• Freelancing
• Platform

The Business of Writing

Perseverance
Without the ability to stick to our goals and complete our writing projects, all of the talent and study in the world won’t mean a thing. How do you keep your motivation up even when you are facing a seemingly endless string of rejections?

Two Roads Diverged: Understanding Traditional and Self-Publishing Differences
Todd Rutherford discusses the differences between these two publishing paths at great length. This post is a great resource as you decide which path is right for you and your work.

Special Focus on the Amazon-MacMillan Battle
Last weekend, the fight between Amazon and MacMillan over ebook prices was seemingly the only topic worth following on Twitter. Here are a few posts that discuss what happened and the results fo the dust-up:

• Dispatches from the Ebook Wars: MacNMillan vs. Amazon
• Amazon’s Response, and My Insta-reaction
• Zinc Blinked
• The Kindle Missile Crisis

Fiction

Is Your Scene Cluttered with Inconsequential Blather?
Author Roz Morris discusses the problems inherent with too much text cluttering up a scene, using an example from her husband’s graphic novel to illustrate.

Tune In, Turn On, and Drop Out with T.C. Boyle
In an interesting interview with Powells.com, Author T.C. Boyle discusses the fictional world he created in Drop City.

Are You Using Setting to Deepen Your Characters?
Author K.M. Weiland discusses how to assess your setting and ensure that it adds to your overall story.

Freelancing

10 Actions for Writers in Providing Great Customer Service
As writers, it is so easy for all of us to focus on our writing and hope that the business side of things just takes care of itself. But, when we work as a freelancer, we are not just the talent. We have to function as the accountant, the business manager, and he customer service staff. How do you ensure that you provide customer service that keeps your clients coming back for more of your talent?

How to Work Less
When we want to earn more money and find more clients, we usually think we need to work more. Linda Formichelli has a much better idea: Work fewer hours, but make sure that those hours count. Don’t tweet or read blogs or sit on the computer waiting for an email response when you are supposed to be working. Work or leave the computer.

20 Writing Mistakes that Make Any Freelancer Look Bad
Whatever you do, don’t make these mistakes. Unless, of course, you never want to work for that client again.

• Writing Roundup, July 17 How is this collection working for you? Do you have any categories of posts you'd like me to include? Any blogs you think I should be following for potential inclusion? The Business of Writing Distance Insulates Journalists Have you ever gotten your hands on some ill-gotten research? Do you think......
• Writing Roundup, July 2 I decided to post early this week to avoid the holiday run-off. I wish you all a lovely holiday weekend. If, like me, you'll be spending a good portion of it writing, well then I wish you happy writing. The Business of Writing Could Changes in the Copyright Law Save......
• Writing Roundup, July 10 I hope you are all having as productive a month as you would like it to be. This seems like such a good time to take a breather and go light on the writing projects. Not me, I always seem to have big deadlines in the summer. Maybe next year,......
• 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.......
• Blog Roundup There have been some great discussions this week on the blogs I follow. Here are a few to get you thinking. Please feel free to share any posts you have come across in the comments section.Blogger's BlockIt amazes me how I seem to stumble across exactly the words I need......

• Customer Service - A Sweet Essence First let us specifically define customer service. It is the performance of a duty or responsibility due to a customer as a result of selling...
• Affordable Answering Service For Small Business When small and home-based businesses plan to implement an answering service, affordability is the key factor that comes under consideration. Choosing a hosted PBX phone...
• Business Calls Made Easy by VOIP Technology As high-speed Internet connections spread around the world widely, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology changed how people think of long-distance phone calls. Many see...
• How Boat Things Work : An Illustrated Guide by Charlie Wing After Charlie Wing published his book on living aboard, many readers were upset that it really didn't cover the technical aspects of life aboard a...
• How to Work Less and Make More Money With Multiple Streams of Income Most of us would like the chance to spend more time with our families, work a lot less and still bring in a sizeable income....