Jen's Writing Journey

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

The Business of Writing

Before You Sign That Publishing Contract
Diane Craver guests at Writers Weekly to remind us to take time to read our publisher contracts, assess the points, and decide whether the contract is really right before we sign.

It Takes All Kinds
Agent Rachelle Gardner tackles the demon of “if that book could get published, why can’t mine?” from an agent’s perspective. It is nice to know that it’s not just writers who have those thoughts, and it is nice to have an example of how to become more shall we say charitable in our thinking.

Readers Have Rights, Too
Author Courtney Milan discusses the ability to share digital books. Spurred by the New York Times article on e-book adoption, Milan looks at the level of sharing allowed with Kindle books and how that type of book sharing relates to piracy. (Hint: They are no relation.) Also read this related post on Emily Bryan’s blog.

15 Twitter Users Shaping the Future of Publishing
Here is a nice list of publishing people to follow on Twitter.

An Inspirational Story of Publishing Success: J.C. Hutchinson, Thriller Novelist
Have you heard of J.C. Hutchinson? He is one of the self-publishing to traditional publishing success stories. After countless rejections, rather than giving up, he released his book series as a podcast. Now, his books a re being released in print format. Would you take this route? Or would you move on to another story?

D Is for Digitize
Here is a compilation of information from the D Is for Digitize conference. You’ll find some interesting stuff, including video from the presentations.

Agents and the  Trust Factor
Maria Schneider discusses the different levels of the agent-author relationship and the importance of trustworthiness.

Craft

Indecision
What tool do you use for your writing? I have tried yWriter, but I keep going back to Word. DarcKnyt gives a nice roundup up the various writing-specfic software tools.

The 5W’s of Motivation
Rachel Zurakowski asks some guiding questions we can all use to keep our motivation up when we’re tired, blocked, or distracted.

Which Tense Is Best?
Agent Jessica Faust shares her thoughts on tense in writing. Is past truly the be all-end all?

Cake or Death for Writers
Mary Danielson has committed to a lot for the month of November. She has three Golden Heart entries, two of which are in need of serious polishing. But, she has a plan and a set of strategies for ensuring that she actually achieves her goals.

Fiction

Dispelling Popular Fallacy
Want a quick and dirty outline to follow for your next synopsis? Author Ann Aguirre has that.

First Chapter Misadventures
Author Rachel Vincent describes the novel openings that she later re-wrote. It is always nice to know that we aren’t the only ones who get it wrong on the first try. If you’ve read her books, you can compare her original versions to the final versions, which might be a nice exercise to help you get your first chapter into shape.

Freelancing

20 Things You Can Do today to Market Your Freelance Writing Services
Jennifer Mattern provides some great marketing tips that can help you get that next client.

Is Anyone Really Listening? Social Media Marketing
Ever wonder why you bother with blogging, tweeting, and posting on Facebook? Thursday Bram offers ideas and insight that will help you ensure that your social media isn’t time wasted.

Are You a Snotty Artist?
James, at Men with Pens, responds to the ever-present debate over freelance rates. He takes issue with the people who say that those who work for and those who offer low rates are devaluing the work we all do. It is tough. We all need to make a living, and I am a firm believer in refusing to work for rates that won’t allow me to do so. But I also accept that people do what they need to do to get buy. If a content mill is providing the pay and experience you need, who am I to judge you? If your budget wouldn’t allow you to hire me, should I call you out as an evil carpetbagger? Where do you fall on the issue?

Platform

The First 5 (Simple) Steps for Growing Readership on Your Blog
A lot of writers blog, but not all of us are effectively using our blogs to build our platform. Jane Friedman gives some great introductory tips to help you bring more readers in so they can find out just how much you have to offer.

Throwing the Baby Out: Or Why Social Networking Is Important and How to Keep It from Taking over Your Life
Writer Eliza discusses the right way to use social networking tools to build your online community. She also provides some great time management tips to keep from wasting an entire weekend tweeting. (Don’t think it can be done? It can. Believe me.)

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14
• Writing Roundup, July 31

Here is a handy table of contents that will help you quickly reach the topic of your choice. Let me know if you like it this way.

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

The Business of Writing

Freemium for Writers Is Two Debates
Don Holloway provides interesting insight into the concept of using free content to increase readership and, we hope, encourage readers to buy our paid content.

The Library in a Digital Age
If you were building a library from scratch, what would you put in it? Scads of books? E-book readers? Digital televisions? Internet-connected computers?

How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Kassia Kroszer shares her story of the founding and then closure of Quartet Press. I was sad to see Quartet close down this week, and I wish all of th best to all who were involved. Kroszer makes some interesting points about the future of publishing and the need for authors to stay on top of the new developments so we can figure out how they may affect us.

Maybe You Shouldn’t Quit Your Job Just Yet
Agent Rachelle Gardner gives a great breakdown on just what you can expect with your first advance. She describes the payment process and the amounts that will go to your agent and that you should set aside for taxes. It’s a nice dose of reality that we can all keep in mind when we plan to trajectory of our writing careers.

Craft

Identifying and Eliminating Your Habit Words
Patricia Stoltey gives some good tips for using technology to weed out your most repeated words. What are yours? I find that my habit words change from WIP to WIP, but they tend to be the connector words, such as “however” or “in addition.”

People Watching: For Spies or Writers?
Kristine Meldrum Denholm likens writers to spies. Both vocations require you to observe people, looking for their habits and their tics, and then to process those actions through a filter. How often do you spy on people to enrich your characters?

Fiction

The Value of the Unanticipated
Novelist Camy Tang offers a tip to enliven a scene that is missing that little something special: an unanticipated conflict.

Where Do You Write?
Kimberly Farris share her writing location of choice and asks you to share yours. I find that different locations work best for different types of writing. Nonfiction? In the office with no distractions. Blogging? Just about anywhere. Fiction? In the living room with my two dogs and the TV on.

A Limited Number of Words
Novelist L.J. Sellers isn’t writing as much on her novel this year, and she thinks the culprit is her other writing job. I definitely feel as if I have a limited amount of writing juice, and my day job has been getting the bulk of it lately. What about you? Do you have an infinite pool of words to put on paper?

Stay Fresh
Elle Scott discusses the use of brand names and important figures in your writing. Don’t do it, she says, it will only make your writing sound dated, even by the time it comes out. J.R. Ward, are you listening? If you insist on including brand names in your fiction, Jessica Faust gave some good tips on how to do so last week.

Freelancing

10 Reasons Why Old-School Freelancers Need to Lighten Up and Stop Whining
Deb Ng looks at the realities of web writing. Many of us got our start in print, and we try to apply our print logic to the web. Print pay is typically higher, so we get offended by lower-paying online gigs. That’s fine, until we start judging our fellow writers who write for those sites. Read Deb’s thoughts and the comments.

20 Not-So-Obvious Blogs for Freelancers
We all have our favorite writing and entrepreneurial sites, but what about productivity sites? Or innovation sites? Even money management sites? Freelance Folder lists some great resources for business building and management that you might not have thought of.

Platform

Building a Platform: Day 1
Jacqueline Vick provides some guiding questions to help you decide on your niche. Once you have a niche, you can begin to build a platform that targets that niche.

How to Write a Really Good Query Letter, Part XI: What do you mean you want me to talk about my writing credentials?
Anne Mini discusses the importance of describing your platform in your query letter. As part of that discussion, she gives some great ideas to help you build a platform, including contests, article writing, and education.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14
• Writing Roundup, July 31

Public Service Message: If you are affected by the Google Books settlement and you want to opt out, today is the deadline. Here is the link to opt out.

The Business of Writing

Books: The Big Story Is Consolidation
This Financial Times article argues for further consolidation of book publishers so they can compete with Amazon and Google. I understand the operational efficiencies companies realize when they consolidate, but I can’t help but wonder what effect it will have on our economy, authors, and ultimately readers. Is a monoculture as damaging to the economic ecosystem as it is to the natural one? Will authors find their advances and percentages cut because of less competition for publishing rights? Will they then move to self-publishing? And, will readers find low prices but a less diverse selection?

Profit and Loss
The ladies at New Shelves describe the different costs that go into publishing a book and how publishers turn a profit.

Publishers Must Change the Way Authors Get Paid
M.J. Rose offers an interesting look at the amount of money authors are paid in relation to the amount of marketing work they are expected to do.

Christina Dodd Celebrates Her First Forty Books
In this inspirational and, yes, Christina, funny post, this author reflects on her 40-book career and provides equal doses of inspiration and realism to aspiring writers.

How and What Piracy Can Cost Readers
Shiloh Walker shares her feelings about book piracy and her responses to common excuses. It’s unfortunate that a writer’s time must be spent chasing down pirated books.

Interview with Newly Repped Writer Tess Hilmo
Robyn Campbell gives us a nice interview with Tess Hilmo, who recently signed with an agent. Tess shares the feeling of getting “the call,” the work she is doing to her manuscript at the behest of her agent, and her thoughts on author marketing.

Craft

Order in the Court
Jenn Bray-Weber discusses the work that goes into judging contests and how you should choose which contests you might want to judge. What does judging a contest have to do with making you a better writer? A lot. You will see a lot of examples of successful and unsuccessful writing, and you can use that knowledge to improve your own.

Free Critique per Week: Lizzy
Mary deMuth offers an almost completely clean critique this week as an example what to do. Read the passage, then let me know if you agree with deMuth’s assessment.

Deep Purple
No, not the band. Elle Scott discusses the joys of creating purple prose as contrasted to the torture of reading it. Write it for fun and quickly delete it, is her advice. That way, you can get it out of your system and get on with writing sentences readers will actually enjoy.

Fiction

There’s Only One Way to Write a Novel
“Unfortunately,” Emily Bryan continues, “no one knows what it is.” Bryan gives a good description of the major approaches to novel writing in this blog post.

World-Building and Characterization
Lauren Dane shares her experiences building not only worlds but also well-developed characters to inhabit them. She stresses the importance of backstory, whether it appears in the manuscript or not.

Choosing Short Fiction Markets
Victoria Janssen provides a good guide for selecting the right markets for  your short stories. Is pay the most important criterion? Prestige? Not sure why you would waste your time on short stories when you could be writing your novel? For the answer to that question, please review my post regarding short stories as a learning tool.

Freelancing

A Real Look at Residual Income
Jennifer Mattern provides a thorough look at the potential income from content sites that pay only residual income from page views and/or ad clicks. She uses her experience working for some of these sites in the past as well as her experience in higher-paying freelance gigs to make her argument.

Think Big
Michelle Rafter reviews some of the current ideas being floated by big business and adapts them to the freelancers mindset. Of particular interest is the idea of collaborating with other freelancers on a project. I’m doing that, pulling together a collaborative blog with some fellow romance writers that will debut soon. I’ll keep you up-to-date on that.

Platform

How to Create a Rock Star Online Presence
Under 30 CEO gives great ideas for building your online presence and keeping it up.

Time Out with Christina Katz
Katz provides a fresh look at the ideas in her book Get Known Before the Book Deal as well as a summary of the platform mistakes none of us are going to make.

Fun Stuff

Hear Me Roar: Extraordinary Women in Music
A little girl power to send you into the weekend. Chiron O’Keefe discusses some of her favorite female songstresses and solicits reader recommendations. This post could be the blueprint for the female vocalist hall of fame.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14
• Writing Roundup, July 31

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 to get an agent? Kate Schafer Testerman says, no, not directly. She doesn’t visit contest sites looking for new authors to represent, and she doesn’t imagine that most other agents have time to do that either. I believe contests are still viable ways to gain buzz for your work, and they might be a nice entry in your query letter, though.

Passion and Confidence in Publication, Part 1 of 11
Rebecca Emrich begins a new series on the role of passion and confidence in your writing. Does your writing reflect your passion? Are you following your dream when you write, or are you simply trying a different career path?

What We Agents Talk about when We Are Talking about Auctions
Agent Kristin explains the different types of auctions that may be involved when your agent is selling your work.

Stanza and the Future of Ebooks
Author JA Konrath shares his thoughts on the format wars for digital books. He includes a bit of the history of format wars for music and video, and he concludes with his recommendations for writers who are planning how the shift to ebooks will affect them.

Craft

Dear Diary: A Bit on Journaling
Rebecca Emrich shares a conversation she and a friend had about journaling. Would-be writers have long been advised to keep a journal to build their daily writing habit and increase their skill. Do you journal? How has it helped you hone your craft?

School of Write
Writing can be an expensive undertaking, if you attend every conference, buy every writing book, and complete a master’s program in creative writing. And the expense of all of those options can be overwhelming, especially when your writing has not yet brought any income. But, agent Rachelle Gardner reminds us that learning can come cheap–there are many low-cost writing resources out there, including all of the great writer and agent blogs–and it is essential if we want to earn more money from our writing.

Revision in Action
Writer Jennifer Hubbard uses an excerpt from her own work to show how she revises. She discusses the idea of when you might want to kill a phrase you love to make your story better, which I touched on in my post about prologues on Wednesday.

Fiction

Urban Fantasy: Science Fiction’s Future?
GalleyCat looks at the bright economic prospects of the urban fantasy genre and how it might affect the rest of speculative fiction in the future. Also read the follow-up discussing the difference between urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

Writing F/F(/M) for the Female Gaze
Kristin Saell guests at Victoria Janssen’s blog to discuss how to write sex between two women that will actually appeal to straight women. The advice she offers reminds us of the importance of keeping the reader’s perspective in mind when writing. She also draws on the feminist theory of the male gaze to show why mainstream romance readers haven’t enthusiastically embraced F/F romance. After reading this, think about whether your fiction is based on reality and speaks in the language of your ideal reader.

Don’t have an ideal reader? Here are two posts that will help you understand why you need one and how to create one.

Freelancing

Job Posting: Quartet Press Editorial Positions
Quartet Press, a new romance publisher, is hiring contract content and copy editors.

60 Tips for Getting Started in Your Freelancing Business
Deb Ng shares the lessons she and other freelancers have learned the hard way. Use their combined wisdom to ensure that you start (or continue) your business on the right foot.

Which Freelance Writing Services Should You Promote the Most?
Jennifer Mattern gives tips for choosing which services you should promote on your web site and networking. Hint, you probably want to promote the services that pay your bills so you can afford to spend time doing the one’s you love. Mattern reminds us that we freelancers are first and foremost a business, and a business must be run with a balance between passion and practicality.

Platform

We’re Even Crowdsourcing Bookstore Appearances Now
GalleyCat reports on a contest being held by Melinda Blau. She is asking her Facebook friends to visit their local bookstores, ask strangers to take their pictures with her book Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don’t Seem to Matter…But Really Do, and submit them to her. Other authors have done similar contests. How can you use social media and crowdsourcing to build your platform?

Get Known Before Your Book Deal
Christina Katz shares her platform-building wisdom at the Under 30 CEO blog. Of particular interest is her answer to the question of mistakes made by writers when trying to build their platforms.

Fun Stuff

The Things They Don’t Tell You When You Sign the Contract

Very funny–and accurate–things you need to know about the writer’s life. I have been a victim of the Non-Einstein-ian contraction of the space-time continuum. Where’s Doc Brown when I need him?

Hey, Where’s the Doggies of Publishing Go?

Desperate to share photos of your dog? GalleyCat shares a few opportunities and a fun video about Dean Koontz’ dog.

More Links

Thursday Midday Link Roundup
The ladies at Dear Author post a daily collection of links about the industry that is worth adding to your Google Reader. Be warned, though, that this is an active site, so you’ll see your unread count increase quickly.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, August 21
• Writing Roundup, December 4
• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4

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 when the journalist is acting as a personal user? What decisions do you make when you interact with others using social media tools?

Who Are You Online?
Another piece exploring the personas we put out on the web. I have three Twitter accounts that I use for different purposes. @jenroland is to discuss writing and romance issues. @pccurmudgeon is to discuss pop culture. And @EdTechJen is focused on educational technology–because I thought teachers might be turned off by the occasional tweet about the peen.

Tech’s Heavyweights Put Google Books Deal in the Crosshairs
Microsoft, Yahoo, and others have come together to challenge the Google books settlement, arguing that it gives Google an unfair copyright advantage that other businesses would be unable to match.

Angela James Joins Quartet Press
Angela James has been a heavy hitter in the e-publishing segment of the romance market for a while. It was announced this week that she is joining Quartet Press, a new publishing company “founded on shared principles to create a high-quality, community-centric, and reader- and author-friendly digital publishing house,” according to its press release.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Kindle
Nathan Bransford shares his thoughts on the various e-reading options out there. He, like me, prefers using his iPhone to read books.

Lucienne Diver: Agent and Author
Lucienne Diver, who was taking pitches at the Willamette Writers conference, shares the crazy hectic life she leads as both author and agent. Of the most interest is her description of why she is not her own agent.

Craft

Your Advice Needed
Agent Janet Reid plans to meet with some beginning authors who need a lot of guidance. As such, she asked her readers to share the best advice they got when they were first starting out. And boy, did they bring it. The comments are a treasure trove of time-tested and useful tips.

Weak Verbs One and Two
Writing mentor Mary DeMuth discusses the need for strong, active verbs rather then weak, boring helper verbs.

Fiction

Does Size Matter?
At Dear Author, Janet explores the rumor of shrinking page counts. Does a shorter book mean less value for the reader? Or does it mean a higher-quality, better-edited work?

Tighten Up Your Manuscript
Agent Rachelle Gardner offers tips to help you cut your word count to fit the new, shorter mindset.

An Unusual Take on Conflict
Jennifer Hubbard shares the lessons she learned from reading Guru by Jeff Griggs. We writers often hear that conflict is an essential component of our fiction. However, Griggs suggests that the relationship between the hero and the villain is richer and more interesting than their conflict. How can you apply that idea in your writing? Will you ensure that your villain is as fleshed out as your hero? (Or, if you’re like me, will you go back to the draing board and breath more life into your protagonist?)

Freelancing

For Publishing Companies and Their Suppliers, a Surge in Bankruptcies
Many magazine publishers are in bankruptcy or will likely file bankruptcy soon. This article from Folio discusses what those bankruptcies mean for the industry. We writers need to know what it means for freelancers. Will there be an increase in freelancing opportunities as magazines more to even-more-bare-bones staffs? Or will freelance pay drop to ensure the magazines financial success?

Save Time. Organize Your Space. Now.
Freelancer Julie Steed reminds us of the importance of proper organization. Can you take a few minutes now to ensure that your writing time will be productive for at least the next few months? Why waste your precious writing time looking for pencils or paper clips?

30 Day Marketing Boot Camp
Jennifer Mattern is planning a marketing boot camp on her Query-Free Freelancer site in September. The Query-Free Freelancer is focused on helping freelancers build a business that doesn’t rely on pitching for low-paying jobs on job boards.

Platform

Writing for a Blog Tour Versus Writing for a Book
The Blood-Red Pencil has been focusing on promotion this week. Here, Marvin Wilson discusses the differences between blog tours and book writing.

Book Tours and Book Reviews: When to Give up Control
And here, guest blogger Elizabeth Spann Craig shares her experience with interviews about your book.

Promotion Routines for Writers
Finally, Camy Tang talks about her promotional tools. Her big tip for writers: Only market in ways you are comfortable with. If you can’t bear the thought of wasting time on Twitter, don’t do it. If you can’t keep to a regular posting schedule, don’t blog. If you shudder at the thought of standing in front of a classroom of writers hungry for the knowledge you can share, don’t teach.

Fun Stuff

Apparently I Like Vampire Books. Who Knew?
Amanda Brice shares her new-found love of certain vampire books with the ladies at Fictionistas. I have always loved everything vampire. How about you?

Are You a Cat or a Dog?
December Gephart shares a couple fun quizzes. In case you needed some further ways to procrastinate.

Looking for more? Andy Shackcloth presents his own list of writing posts on his site. I suggest bookmarking it or adding it to your Google Reader.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, December 4
• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4

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 or 15 minutes.

The Myth of “Just an Author”
Agent Nathan Bransford discusses the role of an author in publicizing and marketing his or her book. It seems to be very clear to non-fiction writers that they are their platform, and they must spend a lot of time building their reputation to ensure good sales. But, it is murkier for the fiction writer. We understand the need for book signings and events like that, but we don’t always enter into our writing life with a strong idea of how we will be expected to market our work and our selves.

Can Self-Publishing Damage Your Career
Agent Noah Lukeman addresses a writer’s question about self-publishing. I am still of the belief that rejections are opportunities for you to polish your manuscript and make it more publishable, so I would be reluctant to suggest using a POD publisher to get a book contract. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work for some writers.

The Future of BEA
Publisher’s Weekly captures the changes you can expect to see at next year’s Book Expo America. It sounds as if it will be pretty much the same–the changes are mainly tweaks. This article serves as a nice description of what goes on at the conference for those of us who have never been.

Mystery Author Sandra Brown Answers Your Questions
It’s hard to write a summary of this–the headline sums it up quite nicely. Ms. Brown discusses rejection, getting that elusive first book deal, conferences, and more.

To Agent or not to Agent. That Is the Question.
Debbie Mumford answers the question of when you need an agent.

Craft

Research Junkie: When Is Enough, Enough?
Minnette Meador discusses the fine art of research. When should you keep going, and when should you sit down and start crafting your story? She suggests using real-life research instead of a bunch of boring fact searches.

Take Time to Edit
Stop with the queries and the pitches! Instead, take the time to ensure that your story is edited and polished before you send it out. So says Elle Scoot at Writing Advice for the Absolute Newbie.

Training Our Inner Editor, Part 3b
The Blood-Red Pencil comes through again. Linda Lane provides an example scenario written from omniscient POV and from the POVs of two central characters. This exercise is important in helping writers decide which POV is the best for telling the story and showing how to use the POV you choose.

Fiction

Reasons to Make Your Delivery Date
Moonrat reminds we writers that when we are on contract, we need to meet our deadlines. When we are writing for fun, we can be leisurely and procrastinate until we feel like it.

More Tips on How to Present Backstory
Camy Tang gives us more tools for giving the dreaded backstory. Yes, long gone are the days when we writers could begin a book with a line such as “I am born.” Instead, we must start in the middle of the story and find artistic ways to include the necessary backstory without boring our readers to death. (Also read her first set of tips on presenting backstory.)

How to Stay Motivated as a Writer
Lonnie Ezell guests on the Publishing Guru blog with nine tips to help you keep your motivation up, even during the boring middle of your novel.

Freelancing

Don’t Let Your Good Ideas Go to Waste
Jennifer Mattern has been running challenges to freelance writers to help them keep their businesses moving forward. In this one, she asks you to take an old idea and do something with it.

Finding Time to Be Yourself and Stay Sane
In a guest post on L.J. Sellers’ blog, author Pam Ripling shares her tips for knowing where you  spend your time. Once you know that, you will be able to better allocate your writing time and estimate project costs for your clients.

Caught in the Time Warp
Sue Lick reminds us of the need to ask questions before we write a piece. We don’t want to waste our time writing something that won’t be used–we are trying to make a living here, after all.

Platform

Do You Blog for Yourself or for Your Readers?
Jessica at Racy Romance Reviews discusses her philosophy to blogging. She tries to ensure that her posts provide something new to the world, but she often wants to comment on things others have said on their blogs. What do you look for from the blogs you read?

2010 GLA Excerpt: Blogs, Facebook, and Social Media
In this excerpt from Ron Hogan’s article in the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents, we writers are instructed not to start a blog just to promote your book. Instead, Hogan argues, blog if you want to blog, and write your posts about things that interest you. Readers will see through a thinly veiled advertisement every time.

Fun Stuff

Vampire Romance: Mortal Men No Longer Cut It
Apparently, Twilight has ruined all hopes for any of us to have normal relationships. Damn you, Stephenie Meyer and your sparkly mens. (I was alerted to this story by a post at Marta Acosta’s Vampire Wire blog. Marta writes the hysterical Casa Dracula books.)

iPhone and Smart Phone Apps for Writers/Bloggers
This post at the Pen & Muse collects a bunch of super-cool apps to help us do our jobs better. As you know, I’m in love with my iPod Touch, so I am now officially in love with this post, too.

Unleash Your Story
Help raise funds for cystic fibrosis research and treatment, just by writing? Yes, through the Unleash Your Story program, you can raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This post at Novel Journey provides a great summary of the the program.

Looking for more? Andy Shackcloth presents his own list of writing posts on his site. I suggest bookmarking it or adding it to your Google Reader.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, July 31

Ah, another month draws to a close. We are nearing the end of a stretch of record warm weather in the Portland area, and the heat really sapped my energy. I did not do as well this month as I had hoped. What keeps you from meeting your goals?

I’ve pulled together a group of writing-related posts that should help energize you and keep you writing, even in the summertime, when face it, most of us want to be out doing fun things, not sitting in front of a keyboard typing away.

You’ll notice a new section on platform this week. You like?

The Business of Writing

Ballyhoo
at Rose City Romance Writers, Lisa Hendrix shares a little about the wild world of book promotion. She also asks what makes a good author blog.

Interview with Angela James
Angela James, one of the editors at Samhain Publishing, shares her tips on how to submit, how to write, and how to promote. Edit/revise your book before you submit it, proofread your query, and never, ever address any correspondence to Mr. Sam Hain.

Subtract from Your Writing Life
Linda Formichelli discusses the need to let go. Not just of things, but of undone writing tasks that weigh you down.

Panelists Clarify Whether Rights-Holders Should Opt Out of Google Books Settlement
I haven’t been following this too much, because it doesn’t apply to me, but I think this session report gives a good idea of who should opt out.

Time for Another Live Blog
Agent Kate Schafer Testerman live blogs her reactions to query submissions. She has some great nuggets of wisdom that you can use to help your query stand out.

Craft

Grammar Saturday
Jessica Dotta, at Novel Journey, shares a very cool set of grammar videos.

Fit to Write: Start Your Day Off Write
Kelly James-Enger visit the Writer Mama blog and reminds us that its not just kids who need to start the day off with a good breakfast. I’ve shared my ridiculously unhealthy writing fuel (aka Sugar Free Rock Star). How do you fuel your writing?

Using Contractions in Your Writing
Helen Ginger gives tips on how and when to use contractions in your writing. She focuses mainly on dialogue and how the appropriate use of contractions makes it sound natural to the reader’s ear.

Don’t Ignore the Elephant in the Room: A Law of Description
Physical description is essential in written works. The context and appearance of the world of our characters can change the readers’ perceptions. Through a few specific examples, this post teaches the importance of description in fiction, though the lesson is just as important in nonfiction.

Fiction

Rules for Anchorites
Are you a writer? Or are you simply a vessel for the amazing words of your muse? In this post, the intrepid writer dashes all thoughts that writing isn’t work.

What not to Write. 10 Ways to Commit Romance Novel Suicide.
These tips for what makes a bad romance are useful across genres. Likeable characters, appropriate foreshadowing, and follow-through work for any novel!

The First Three Pages
In this first post in a series designed to help you learn from the work of a successful novelist, Writing Career Coach Tiffany Colter asks guiding questions to help you assess what works in a favorite book. Make sure you check out the entire series, which will continue into next week.

The Basic Building Blocks of Good Story Structure
Camy Tang guests over at Squirrel’s Treehouse with a great post about story structure.

Freelancing

Web Content Sites Versus Private Clients
Deb Ng lists the pros and cons for these two different types of freelance clients. She covers pay, the job search, job security, the resume-building cache, and more, giving a good overview of why you might want to pick one type of client over the other.

You Just Graduated from Journalism School. What Were You Thinking?
The Village Voice talks to some fresh-faced graduates from top-notch journalism schools about their assessment of their career options. Interesting stuff that can help us guide our careers, too.

Help a Reporter Out
No, this isn’t a new blog post. But it is a useful tool for writers looking for expert sources. Use it to request experts, but also consider signing up to receive the newsletter. You never know when a fellow writer will be looking for a source in your area of expertise. Here is a tip when requesting sources: Be very clear what stage your story is in. If it is in the pitch stage, say so. If it is to be written on spec, say so.

Platform

Writer’s Website Guidelines
Yes, I know that a website alone does not a platform make. But, it is an essential component of any writer’s platform. L.J. Sellers shares some common design tips and her take on each.

Get Known Now!
The platform master, Christina Katz, reminds us that articles are still an important part of our platform. She provides the whys you need to keep in mind when you think about whether writing articles is worth it. (Short summary: It’s totally worth it.)

Looking for more? Andy Shackcloth presents his own list of writing posts, and he had some great ones this week. I suggest bookmarking his site or adding it to your Google reader.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14

The Business of Writing

Ain’t That a Shame
Author Justine Larbalestier shares her thoughts on the cover for her book Liar. The protagonist is African American, but the girl shown on the cover is White. Larbalastier campaigned strongly for a different cover, but she did not win that battle. What do you think about book covers? Does it bother you when the people on the cover look nothing like the characters in the book?

Industry Notes
Theresa at Edit Torrent gives some information about the trends in publishing based on what she saw and heard at RWA. Fewer trades; more mass market. Fewer standard erotic titles. And a publisher who slipped under the $1,000 advance mark.

Teresa Says It Loud and Says It Proud: I Write Romance Novels
Teresa Medeiros shares some amazing stories of the profound effect her books have had on people’s lives.

Is It True? Are 40% of Books Pulped?
Moonrat gives a thorough report of the sometimes crazy ins and outs of the publishing profit and loss philosophy.

Craft

Deep Point of View Versus Omniscient
Author Camy Tang discusses the publishing’s move toward deep point of view–when the reader is inserted fully into a character’s mind and body–and how to use it in your writing.

Writerly Round-up: Revision
I’m not sure if it’s overly tautological to link to another roundup, but here it is. A great collection of posts about revisions.

Fiction

Some Great Tips from Mystery Author Betsy Webb
F. M. Meredith of The Blood-Red Pencil attended a conference where she got the chance to hear this author give her tips of crafting a compelling novel.

Crazy People Think They Are Sane
Writing Career Coach Tiffany Colter provides a method for ensuring that your villain is compelling and believable. Remember: no villain thinks he or she is the bad guy.

Freelancing

Six Signs It’s a Job Scam
CNN and Career Builder provide a good resource for evaluating the at-home writing jobs you see on the job boards.

Five Must-Have Qualities to Become a Top Freelancer
In the first of the Freelance Folder posts I’ve included this week, Glen Allsop gives his tips to building a strong freelance business.

Are You Undervaluing Your Freelance Business?
My guess is that the answer is yes for a lot of us. Freelance writer Laura Spencer helps us get over our insecurities and begin to treat our writing businesses as important and lucrative endeavors.

Special Focus on E-publishing

Aside from the Publishers: How the Other Stakeholders Fare as Ebook Adoption Continues
A good look at the history of ebook publishing and how it has worked for the end user and the distributors.

From the Comments
Here, Theresa from Edit Torrent responds to some of the comments on the post I included under The Business of Writing. In response to Green Knight, she offers her viewpoint on the Rogue Digital Workshop at RWA, which included epublishers and epubbed authors talking about the business model and realities of epublishing.

Rogue Digital Workshop
Another summary of the rogue epublishing workshop at RWA, this one by Elisa Logan.

Will Publishers Ever Make Money Off E-books?
Paul Sweeting looks at the profit model of ebooks. I personally think the point is moot. Ebooks are the future, and publishers need to figure outa way to make money on them.

Amazon, Orwell, and the Truth about DRM
P. Bradley Robb discusses the recent deletion of copies of George Orwell’s books from users’ Kindle devices. Amazon has since apologized for the way they handled the situation–read the apology here. The really interesting part of Robb’s article is his discussion of how DRM turns us into renters of content rather than owners.

Fun Stuff

The Writer’s Cave
Ever wonder what your favorite author’s writing space/office looks like? Paige Cuccaro has pulled together a collection of photos.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14

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 it is okay for journalists to use less than legal methods of gathering information? Where would you draw the line?

Beware Bogus Literary Agents
Anne R. Allen brings us another great post. Here she helps her fellow writers avoid being scammed by a fake agent. Like many things in life, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is. After you read her six tips, read the addendum, added in response to agent Janet Reid’s feedback.

RWA Mid-Day Summary
The ladies at Dear Author give a rundown of the rogue digital publishing seminar, including some interesting history and financial information.

A Lot of B.S.
Eric at Pimp My Novel describes the BookScan system and how it relates to your success as a writer.

Publishing with a Small Press
For some authors, it can be a good idea to go to a smaller press or an electronic press. You can get more personal attention, and your time lines might be shorter. Elle Scott shares her experiences to help you decide what type of publisher will meet your needs.

Craft

The Fine Art of Feedback
Joe Finder gives some great ideas to help you not only take feedback–both positive and negative–but also make sure you are soliciting useful feedback.

To Splice or Not to Splice
Heidi Thomas takes on the nasty comma splice in her post at The Blood-Red Pencil. She also brings up the interesting question of when it is okay to break the rules of grammar. Do you allow it more in your fiction? Can a skilled writer break the rules in nonfiction?

Fiction

Novice Novel Writer in Need
On Pop Culture Divas, a blog I absolutely love, a novice writer asked for some advice. Read her story, then check out the comments. How can you apply the advice to your own writing life?

How Many Is Enough?
Have you ever found yourself falling out of love with a series, as if you could feel the author losing interest in the characters with every page? Or have you bemoaned the loss of a beloved series too soon? L.J. Sellers discusses series length. (I also talked about this last year on my pop culture blog when I realized I was watching some shows out of habit.)

Freelancing

3 Tips for Taking Back Your Life
This post makes me so happy. I wish I had followed this advice earlier this year–that way I wouldn’t be feeling so overwhelmed. Oh well. You live and learn.

10 Tips for Kicking Ass as a Freelance Writer
James Chartrand gives some great writing tips in this post. They all seem to boil down to one key point: put yourself in your readers shoes, then get out of the way and tell the story. This is helpful advice for fiction and non-fiction writers.

65 New and Useful Posts for Brand New (and Veteran) Writers
Not done reading about writing? Here is a collection of great posts from the folks at Freelance Writing Jobs.

Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14

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, I will schedule things differently…

The Business of Writing

How Blogs Changed Everything
Scott Rosenberg looks at the heavy influence blogs had on our desire to engage in two-way communication with our media. I will admit that in the early days of blogging, I thought it was quite narcissistic to think that anyone would want to read what amounted to an online diary. I am glad to see that blogs have grown into truly useful tools for conversation and information dissemination.

A Writer’s Guide to Social Networking
The only thing not covered in this piece is how to make the time for it! Great overview of the tools out there to connect you to the editors and agents you need to meet. After you read this piece, visit Q4U: Social Networking Anyone? and share your experiences with online networking tools.

How Do You Know?
Agent Jessica Faust explores the author-agent relationship. No matter how much homework we do before even querying an agent, the thought of putting our careers into someone else’s hands to some level can be scary. I think you should do your homework and follow your gut. The relationship will grow and change over the years, and there will be bumps. But you’ll know if it is right.

Dreams
Another compelling question: How do you know when it is time to give up on your dreams? Travis Taylor explores this question and asks for commentary.

Craft

How to Combat Writer’s Block
In this article in Women on Writing, Sue Bradford Edwards shares her recent experiences with writer’s block and how she fought it.

Everything You Need to Know about Writing a Novel
Victoria Mixon shares her writing truths in a guest post on agent Nathan Bransford’s blog. Lots of great information distilled into a nice, concise piece.

Interview with Randy Ingermanson
If you aren’t familiar with Randy Ingermanson’s Advanded Fiction Writing site, please take a moment and visit it right after you read this interview at So You Want to be Published?

Fiction

Scholarly Writers Empower the Romance Genre
You can’t go anywhere without hearing about how the romance genre is now respectable and how much economic clout its readers hold. In this piece, USA Today provides some historical context and shares the experiences of the Smart Bitches.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
This post at the fictionistas allows us all to share a bit of our process. Visit the site, post your comment, then direct your readers there to read your and other writers’ responses.

Best First Book Nominee: Private Arrangements
In this interview with Dear Author, Sherry Thomas shares a bit about her book, some of the background of her publishing career, and her writing process.

Freelancing

Freelance Writing in Piss Poor Shape? I Don’t Think So
A lot of us get down about the plethora of low-paying freelance gigs. Truly, it seems as if $1 a word is the American dream of 2009. Jennifer Mattern puts it in perspective and gives advice for what we need to do to ensure that we can make a  living off our writing.

Self-Publishing Books: An Interview with Peter Bowerman
Remember how I like to mention the need for multiple income streams? Peter Bowerman, the author of The Well-Fed Writer, shares his rationale for self-publishing nonfiction books to not only create income but also build your reputation of expertise in your chosen specialty.

Does Working More and Earning Less Hold You Back from Success?
James Chartrand makes an argument for working less and charging more. See what you think.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, October 23
• Writing Roundup, September 11
• Writing Roundup, September 4
• Writing Roundup, August 28
• Writing Roundup, Aug. 14