Best Articles This Week for Writers 3/18/11

Our lovely Cam is posting her agent story on her blog today, and announcing all sorts of goodies and celebrations that she will be sharing with you. Stop by her blog and say congrats, would you?

And we're starting something new this week. I'm going to bold some of my favorite articles, and we'd love it if you would comment and let us know your favorites. We'll try to share the best of the best lists with you periodically, too.

After the Sale

• Before and After Being a Published Author [Denise Jaden] A careful analysis of how things will change.
• The Power of Peer Recommendations & Reviews [Author, Jody Hedlund] Three great tips for engaging readers and influencers.
• Gnome Attack Roundup: Some Coverage, and Analysis of the First Six Months (Part II) [Guide to Literary Agents] Great case study of a book release.
• Ginormous List Of Online Self-Published Book Reviewers [Self-Publishing Review] Great resource if you're self-publishing.
• Write Lots Of Books Or Build An Author Platform. Which Is More Effective? [The Creative Penn] Which camp are you in? What do you love doing?
• Promoting a Book – Should You Hire a Book Promotion Company? [Quips and Tips for Successful Writers] Do your research before you hire.

Book Reviews

• Something Epic. Epic I Tell You. [Some Things I Think...] Release day is Tuesday for Kate's new collaboration!
• Betrayal by Lee Nichols - ARC Review (Haunting Emma Book #2) [Reading, Writing and Waiting] If you liked book #1, this one's for you.
• Hunger Games: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss [WORD for Teens] So who's playing Peeta? And what do you think?
• Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau - Review [Reading, Writing and Waiting] Great review for @HeleneBoudreau!
• Review: Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O’Roark Dowell [Novel Novice] A universal story told in a unique way.
• The Page Turner [Beyond The Margins] Five excellent page turner recommendations. Get reading.
• First Page: Clarity [First Page Panda] Ready, set, read! Definitely going on my TBR pile.
• Books for Relaxation: Paranormal [WORD for Teens] Five more books for your TBR pile!
• March Madness, Book Style [Caroline by line] Battle of the Kids' Books starts today!
• Readers and Writers [GENREALITY] Do you read differently when you are writing?a
• Stork by Wendy Delsol - Review [Reading, Writing and Waiting] Great review for Wendy. (And fwiw, we loved it too!)
• Finally! New titles on the top 10 best sellers list! [Novel Novice] Excellent. And CONGRATS to @LadyHawkins! Reading that now and loving it.
• Sean Griswold's Head by Lindsey Leavitt: Review [Emily's Reading Room] 5 stars for this sweet story of 1st love.
• YA Books I Loved That Didn't Get A Lot of Hype [Reading, Writing and Waiting] Ooo, I am adding all of these to my TBR list.
• DEMONGLASS by Rachel Hawkins [YA Author Elana Johnson] Hat trick: Funny, emotional and angsty.
• Kimberly Derting Shares Her YA Book Recommendations [Novel Novice] Five great reads. And oh, yes, @KamiGarcia & @MargaretStohl can WRITE.
• Debut Authors of the Class of 2k11: Bettina Restrepo [Through The Wardrobe] The novel she re-wrote a million times to teach herself to write better, stronger, deeper

Congrats

• http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RoseCooper/~3/JIP0bgbWgeA/news-good-bad-and-great.html [Rose Cooper] A third printing and bumping up the sequel. SQUEE!
• Congratulations Amy Fellner Dominy! [TerryLynnJohnson] Congrats! Sale to Walker for pub in 2012!
• Winners of 4th Anniversary Bash [Beyond Her Book] Congrats on 4 years, @barbaravey & congrats to all your winners!
• Carolina's Agent Singing Mega Celebration [Heather's Odyssey] CONGRATS Carolina and her new agent Vickie Motter! Plus a GIANT #giveaway!
• FOLLOW FRIDAY- Adventures in Children's Publishing [YA Muses] Thanks, YA Muses! We <3 your blog too.
• National Book Critics Circle Award Winners Revealed [GalleyCat] Congrats to Jennifer Egan and the other winners!

Contests

• I would have given anything to be like... (AND A CONTEST!) [Shannon Whitney Messenger] Enter by 3/26. Signed copy of Like Mandarin!
• 500 Followers Giveaway [.W.I.P. It] Enter by 3/25. And congrats to Lynda!
• Agent Pitch Contest - Diana Fox (Fox Literary) [Market My Words] Nail your hook in 140 characters and you could win a critique.
• March Secret Agent Early Info [Miss Snark's First Victim] Advance warning! New YA/MG/WF/PR/UF/M contest opens on 3/21.
• Review &amp; Giveaway- Between Shades of Gray [A Blog about Nothing] Amazing review: This one must be read, that this story needs to be known and told. Enter by 3/21.
• Contest: Num8ers &amp; Num8ers: The Chaos by Rachel Ward [Novel Novice] Enter by 3/21.
• 200+ Follower Contest [The Daily Harrell] Enter by 3/15.
• RED GLOVE CONTEST! [Holly Black] Enter by 3/21.
• BIG BOUFFANT — An Awesome Giveaway! [ROOTS IN MYTH] Enter by March 18.

Craft of Writing

• How To Write Your Novel's Hook [www.publetariat.com] Thirteen choices to get your creative juices flowing.
• Six Limitations of the First Person POV [Ingrid's Notes] Beware imprisonment and the tell tell tell trap.
• What makes a book great? [Personal Demons] What makes you rush out to buy the sequel on release day?
• Ten Reasons to Practice Freewriting [Cheryl's Musings] Grow as a writer with this method.
• Top Ten Tuesdays: Please Welcome Victoria Mixon [storyfix.com] AMAZING. All writers MUST read this.
• Is That You? Developing Voices for Different POVs [The Other Side of the Story] BRILLIANT post!
• T3 - Predicting Fictional Breakups, Part Three [The Character Therapist] Remember to show the past rewritten!
• Author Voice vs. Character Voice - Finding Both [* Fiction Groupie *]
• The Art of Chaptering [The Blood-Red Pencil] Woo your readers again and again with chapter breaks.
• Description: Fiction Characters and Setting [Dark Angel Fiction Writing] Tuck description into action & dialogue, & engage all the senses.
• Excel Your Goals [Paperback Writer] Free tool for tracking your writing progress.
• Thursday Next [A Writer's Blog] Great point about backstory and motivation.
• How to Use Dialogue to Avoid Lengthy Info Dumps [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Let your characters argue or discuss the information you need to convey.
• Characters and Phobias [Secluded Charm] If you give 'em a phobia, make sure you test them!
• And in the end. . . [Beyond The Margins] We give our books to the reader. What do we leave them with?
• Good writing versus beautiful writing: Is there a difference? [Personal Demons] Can prose be too beautiful?
• Talking about Voice, part 6: Helpful links [Dancing with Dragons is Hard on Your Shoes.] Two more great posts.
• Literary Devices in the Non-Literary Novel [Mystery Writing is Murder] Love: In our pursuit of story, literature happens.
• Guest Author Vincent O'Neil on Improving Your Writing Through Research [The Other Side of the Story] Always leave them wanting more.
• How and When to Use White Space In Writing [Write It Sideways] Many good points in this post!
• Prithee, Inform Me: The Rules of Writing [Pimp My Novel] Kurt Vonnegut's 8 rules for fiction.
• Five Reasons to Write in the First Person Point-of-View [Ingrid's Notes]
• On Languages, Linguistics, the Future, and the Fantasy [The League of Extraordinary Writers] Differences in language shows differences in setting.
• How Changing The Structure Of Your Novel Can Help Get Your Book Published [BubbleCow]
• Let It Go [Supernatural Underground] Go ahead, kill your darlings. It can be liberating.
• GIRL VS BOY: WHAT’s EASIER TO WRITE [LM Preston] And the challenges of each.
• Lunchtime Link: What is Good Writing? [The Other Side of the Story] And why some best-sellers did so well without it.
• 7 Things I've Learned So Far, by Alexander Yates [Guide to Literary Agents] Sound advice for writers of all genres.
• Hook Line and Sinker [Paranormal Point of View] Start with the right action and give us something we can care about.
• Writing advice from the pros [Buffy's write zone] Thirteen tips from the best of the best.
• Exploiting Point of View to Make Characters Come Alive [WOW! Women On Writing Blog] Five questions you need to ask.
• How Many Is Too Many? [Writer Musings] Multiple POVs used effectively can strengthen a story. But...
• Sequels [QueryTracker.net] Sequels need to complement each other and address the same questions.
• Third Person-Style Narration in First Person [Kidlit.com] Examples of a subtle problem in creating a natural POV.
• Can Confidence In Writing Be Defined? [The Literary Lab] Yes--and this post does a good job of it.
• Expanded Story Elements Checklist (Act II:2) [Alexandra Sokoloff] Another fantastic plot analysis and breakdown.
• Building Character Arc: Why a Motto Is Vital [* Fiction Groupie *] What's your MCs motto? And what's yours as a writer?
• Changing Views: Take a Second Look When Switching POV Styles [The Other Side of the Story] EXCELLENT, in depth post.
• Talking about Voice, part 5: Differences in character dialogue [Dancing with Dragons is Hard on Your Shoes.] Full characters cut to the chase and their dialogue advances the story.
• Are You Asking These Important Questions About Your Fantasy Setting? [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Great start to worldbuilding.
• Cues from the Coach: Taming Your Characters [The Blood-Red Pencil] The more you know about them, the more real they will be.
• Symbolism Entry: Knowledge [The Bookshelf Muse] Need to foreshadow knowledge to deepen your story? Check here.
• Stuck in the Middle: What Makes a Good Middle [The Other Side of the Story] Middle is for deepening the story and fleshing out what's already in place.
• Literary Agent Natalie Fischer On Nailing Voice -- And a 1st Chapter Crit [Adventures in Children's Publishing] In case you missed this one, we love Natalie's take on voice!
• T3 - Predicting Fictional Breakups, Part Two [The Character Therapist] Flooding and bodylanguage. Love these posts for characterization.
• In Pursuit of Persona [WOW! Women On Writing Blog] Step into character to add life to your writing.
• Quote of the Week: Point-of-View [Ingrid's Notes] View point must always serve as filter for the voice that is revealing the story. - Uma Kirishwami
• Clichés - They Sneak Up On You [Sisters in Scribe] Thank you so much!
• Elements of Fantasy – Heroes and Heroines [Fantasy Faction] Love: heroes represent mankind’s desire to find unconditional love.
• Guest Blog: Kimberly Derting – “The Good Old Days” [Novel Novice] How one former pantser had to adapt (and coped).
• The Antagonist Part One–Introducing the Big Boss Troublemaker [Kristen Lamb's Blog] Solid discussion of antags and great tip for handing antag defeat in a series.

Critiquing

• If you can't say something nice... [My Bloggish Blog Thing] Good arguments against the sandwich method of critiquing.
• More important than writing what you know, is knowing what you write. [The Kill Zone] Great points in this 1st chapter critique.
• Should Beta Readers Match Your Market? [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author] Thought-provoking post. Are you staying in your comfort zone?

Inspiration

• Breaking Writer's Block: 10 Tips To Get You Back On A Writing Roll [www.publetariat.com] Smart strategies.
• The Grass is Always Greener [Author/Agent Mandy Hubbard] Finding satisfaction. (Psst... I'm stealing that cork idea!)
• The Voices in Your Head [The Blood-Red Pencil] Who is your internal critic? Is he a bully or a friend?
• When Going Green’s Not So Cool: A Writer’s Antidotes for Envy [Beyond The Margins] Great post and five strategies for getting over yourself.
• 100 Things About a Novel | Koreanish [koreanish.com]
• BE A WRITER, A BAKER, A CANDLESTICK MAKER [Grab a Pen] LOVE: Take a chance on yourself.
• Character Stereotypes: The Narcissist [The Character Therapist] Do you have a narcissist in your story? To what degree?
• The Importance Of Not Being Earnest All The Time [YA Highway] Love: Success rarely happens overnight, so in the meantime, enjoy the ride.
• Layers not Lines [Claire King] Interesting description of a writer's process.
• Tough Lessons from a Debut Novelist, part 2 [Writer Unboxed] Tremendous story of perseverence.
• Question from a Young Writer: Dealing with Fear of Criticism &amp; Rejection [The Blood-Red Pencil]
• You Don't Have To Be Published To Be A Writer [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Be a tortoise, not a hare. Don't pitch if you aren't ready.
• Real-Life Characters [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Does using people you know as characters limit your creativity?
• Tough Lessons from a Debut Novelist, part 1 [Writer Unboxed] Nine tips you'll want to read.
• Monday Miscellany [TheWriteGame] Eleven quick tips to help you get that first book pub'd.
• Things YA Novels Have and Have Not Prepared Me For [Frenetic Reader] Some great book ideas in here, writer tweeps! :D
• Writing Exercises to Get Your Pen Moving [YA Highway] Four great things to do when you're stuck.
• The Horror of Writing [Paranormal Point of View] LOVE: Why are we writing? Because we can't NOT write.
• How Come Some People Have All The Luck? [Denise Jaden] SO GOOD: Speak the positive, persevere, be thankful, and be don't overfocus on one thing.
• On Sticking with it... [Author/Agent Mandy Hubbard] Publishing is a process--luck, talent, timing and above all perseverence are required.

Issues, Trends & News

• Writers For the Red Cross [Jennifer Represents...] Two amazing prizes for a good cause.
• The Writing Community Takes Action [Heather's Odyssey] Live auction at Authors For Japan through 3/20.
• Spotlight: Crits for Water Campaign [The Other Side of the Story] For every $ you donate, Kat Brauer will critique 250 words of your ms. How generous!
• Ebooks are making me recall the history of mass-market publishing [The Shatzkin Files] Fascinating perspective.
• I Didn't Know I Was Bullied [Kody's Blog] SUCH an important post. Do you have any "friends" you need to redefine?
• Library Card Catalogs Turned Into E-Reader Storage Drawers [PWxyz] Great story.
• Support the Red Cross &amp; win a hand-illustrated custom poem from yours truly [Inkygirl.com: Daily Diversions For Writers - by Debbie Ridpath Ohi] Beautiful item to bid on--and a cause that's so important.
• Baby, We Were Born This Way [Kody's Blog] Speaking out against bullying. Go, Kody! And Lady Gaga.
• Help Plant Seeds of Success [Words and Such] Help get kids on the road to reading.
• AUTHORS FOR JAPAN [Help! I Need a Publisher!] More great stuff for the auction. Pitch in. Help.
• What if your writing partner turns into Charlie Sheen? [Time to Write] Great reminder to formalize those partnerships!
• Buying the Bestseller List [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Not even sure what to make of this. What do you think?
• Barnes &amp; Noble Stock Dips with Borders Optimism [GalleyCat] Sad that reducing space for books is "good" news.
• Is The Face of Publishing Changing? [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Be careful when spinning the numbers.
• Reporting On YALSA’s Online Class: Connect, Create, Collaborate [YALSA] Fascinating conclusions on teens and tech.
• Authors for Japan Auction Opens Online [GalleyCat] Great items for writers to bid on. Show your support!
• Author Leads Shelterbox Fundraiser for Earthquake Victims in Japan [GalleyCat] Please donate!
• Literary Genres by Marie-Louise Jensen [An Awfully Big Blog Adventure] Great post on genre fiction disrespect.
• Why Some E-Books Cost More Than the Hardcover [Nathan Bransford - Blog] Amazon, loss-leaders, Kindle's and where we go from here.
• What if editors got royalties? [Hey, There's A Dead Guy in the Living Room] Intriguing post about the possible future of editors and publishing in general.
• The Stigma Of Finding One's Self [Kody's Blog] When is it worth doing? And what do you gain?
• Red Cross Auctions – Week Three [Writer Unboxed] Bid on critiques of your query and 1st 30 & 50 pages.

Just for Smiles

• Quotable Quotes [The Sharp Angle] So cute. Check this for a big smile.
• Share Your Stories Using Broadcastr [There Are No Rules] This is SO cool.
• Luke Skywalker vs. Harry Potter [Chronicles of a Novice Writer] Who would win in a throwdown? State your opinion.
• You Know You Live in a YA novel When... [The Katacomb] LOL! Too true!
• How Critiques Are Like America's Next Top Model [Carrie Harris] Had to laugh at this one.
• Monday Motivation [Anna Staniszewski] Need a pick me up? Here are several!
• Odds Schmodds [My Bloggish Blog Thing] Cling to the belief. You COULD be the next big thing.
• Proof that You're a Writer... [Write About Now] OMG. I can relate to ALL of these.
• NOT HELPING [The Rejectionist] LOL, I have two of these. Sometimes simultaneously.
• 9 THINGS EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT WRITERS [Grab a Pen] We are never going to stop writing. Ever. :D
• Sequel, mequel, double-bubble-beequel. [The Secret Archives of the Alliterati] Just loved this post. And the hamstersaur? Snarfalicious.

Self-Editing

• Self-Editing Part 3: Character Development [NouveauWriter] Don't lose sight of your character's true self.
• Avoid Rejection: Editors Pet Peeves [Fantasy Faction] Seven problems and fixes. Em dash? Autonomous body parts!
• POV Slippage [Where Fantasy and Love Take Flight] Good example of a mild but common POV problem.
• MY REVISION ARSENAL [YA Muses] Some great revision and self-editing techniques.
• Hello? Is Your Protag Home? Getting the Most Out of Your Main Character [The Other Side of the Story] Problems and fixes to help you balance internal and physical action in your story.
• Regaining Perspective on Your WIP [Anna Staniszewski] Five tips to help you see the story beneath the words.
• Things I Overheard [Babbling Flow] LOVE: "Changing one word can change an entire sentence." ~ Editor Marilyn Bingham
• Too Much of a Good Thing: Over Plotting Your Novel [The Other Side of the Story] And how to get it back under control.
• Fixing a Problem Scene—4 Approaches [Mystery Writing is Murder] Stuck on how to fix a problem spot? Try one of these.
• Back to Basics, part II: Organizing Your “Writing” Time [Magical Words] Balancing the creative & business parts of writing.

Social Media

• What Brings You Back to a Blog? [.W.I.P. It] The features that keep us coming back for more.
• Online Community for Writers of Young Adult [Dark Angel Fiction Writing Tools] Have you joined YALitChat yet?
• 8 iPhone Apps to Grow &amp; Connect With Audience [There Are No Rules] Branch out and experiment with these tools.
• Social Media: There's No Such Thing as Too Early [Nathan Bransford - Blog] NOW is the time to start connecting with your readers, even if you don't have any yet.
• A Few Great Writing Blogs You Should Check Out. A Few Great Reviews You’ll Find There. [storyfix.com]
• Secrets to Blogging [unedited] Five ways to make blogging faster and more meaningful.
• Slow Blogging Works: A Blogiversary Success Story [Anne R. Allen's Blog] How starting small and being passionate can make the difference.
• Ten Gifts of Twitter [Cheryl's Musings] Great post. Starts with community and builds from there.
• Blogging and Maintaining Our Sanity–Part One [Kristen Lamb's Blog] Great points about the opportunity to control platform! BUILD your career through social media.
• Blogging &amp; Maintaining Our Sanity 2–The New Fast Food of Writing [Kristen Lamb's Blog]

To Market

• From Self-Pubbed to Contract [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] POD is not the kiss of death. But what are you working on now?
• March Live Event Participants [WriteOnCon.com] Today's Market 5 PM 3/28 w/ agents @MichaelBourret and Jim McCarthy!
• Lists of agents [Janet Reid, Literary Agent] Four places to check when preparing your query list.
• Do Writers Have To Be Closers? [GENREALITY] Crawl out of your safe house and go sell that ms.
• Publishers That Accept Writers Without Agents: Alma Books [BubbleCow] UK writer? Here's another gift from @Bubblecow.
• Workshop Wednesday [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Great insights and a query critique from Kim Lionetti.
• Agent Advice: Doug Grad of the Doug Grad Literary Agency [Guide to Literary Agents] Looking for YA!
• Two For Tuesday: Genre Grudge Match [Kate Hart] Deal and advance breakdown by YA genre with charts. Awesome.
• Myth Busting - Day 2 [Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent] True or false? Agents are snarky, scary, and mean...
• Writing from the Place: TEN WAYS TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF A WRITING CONFERENCE [ROOTS IN MYTH]
• Diana Fox (Fox Literary) talks Marketing [Market My Words] The role authors should play in promoting their work.
• Using Conferences to Your Querying Advantage [Guide to Literary Agents] Five ways to increase your odds on that agent hunt.
• Another place to submit your superhero story: Wily Writers [Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels, comic books and graphic novels] Between 1-5k. Enter by 4/3/11.
• New Agent Alert: Saritza Hernandez of L. Perkins Agency [Guide to Literary Agents] Looking to rep e-pub authors!
• M is for Manuscript Format [Michelle Teacress] Good link for specific instructions.
• We ALL want you! [Janet Reid, Literary Agent] But for how long? Find out before you sign with an agent.
• Query Writing: How Brief is Brief? [* Fiction Groupie *] Focus on hooking, not explaining.
• Writers' League of Texas YA A to Z Conference! [ROOTS IN MYTH] We may have to get ourselves to Texas for this one!
• Do I Need an Agent? [Editorial Anonymous] Read this to learn why you DO need an agent.
• Revisions Happen, Now Prove You Can Execute [Babbles from Scott Eagan] The revision test, and should you take it?
• Ask the Agent Power Panel [There Are No Rules] $129 for query crit, 3-day access to 4 agents, and 3-months WD.com subscription.
• Do You Have to Sum Up Your Book in One Sentence? [The Literary Lab] LOVE: A query is like dangling a worm on the end of a hook...
• I like to steal good advice from other bloggers and post it here [Janet Reid, Literary Agent] Seven things you shouldn't do after a writer's conference.
• Myth Busting – Our 3rd and Final Day [Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent] Dreams come true all over the place. But don't quit your day job.

Other Weekly Round-Ups:

• Jane Friedman of Writer's Digest does a wonderful list of best tweets of the previous week. 
• Alice Pope does a Wednesday Tweet Roundup for the SCBWI Children's Market Blog.
• Northern Colorado Writers do This Week in the Writing World every Friday.
• Jennifer Roland does a Writing Roundup on Fridays.
• Ricki Schultz does an "In the Blogosphere" post on Fridays where she lists posts she's enjoyed during the week.
• Elizabeth Craig posts a weekly list of all her helpful Twitter posts.
• And don't forget to check  Nathan Bransford's blog later this morning for his weekly recap of publishing news and information.
• Saturday Link Party [Forever Young] Jessica rounds up fun and interesting links.
• Stina Linddenblatt does a Cool Links Friday. This week, she caught a lot I wish we had on ours. I know what I'm doing for the next few minutes!
• DuoLit does a weekly list of links with some emphasis on self-publishing and marketing.
• YA Highway's Friday Road Trip hits the high points of the publishing industry, writing craft, submissions process, and other fun stuff.
• Cynthia Leitich Smith at Cynsations does a Cynsational author and book news review.

Did we miss anything? Have a favorite among these? Please leave a comment!

Happy reading and joyous writing,

Martina, Marissa and Clara