ANNOUNCEMENTS
We're looking for more intrepid blog readers!
Sadly, the blog reading is getting to be a little much for us, and Clara and I are getting worried that we are missing too many of the newer blogs that deserve recognition, and even some of the wonderful posts from blogs we have followed for years. This isn't for lack of will. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. SOOOOO. We would like to invite one or two friends, old or new, to help us out by spotting and reading blog posts and articles and suggesting them for our weekly round-up. If you're interested, please e-mail Martina. The winner of last week's MY BEATING TEENAGE HEART is Christy Lenzi!
This week's giveaway is: BEAUTIFUL CHAOS, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl's wonderful third book in the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Caster Chronicles series. Wow. These just keep getting better, and the southern gothic setting is pure deliciousness.
For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it isn't by Lena - and whatever is haunting him is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Even worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself - forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and most days he's too afraid to ask.
Sometimes there isn't just one answer or one choice. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending.
Are you ready? Enter by 12/15 to win. Fill out the form at the bottom of the page!
This Week's Round-Up
Clara's Favorites
- Write what you love to read. You and your readers will be happier.
WOW Wednesday: Tina Moss on Writing Like a Reader - Stina Lindenblatt on the benefits of joining a writer's association and how to find the right one for you.
Seeing Creative: The Twelve Days of Christmas for Writers: Day Five - Our new revision heroine is Shannon Messenger. What an inspiration!
Shannon Whitney Messenger: 20 ways to NOT write your first book - Squeee! THANK YOU Bookshelf Muse for naming us your Writing Heroes of December! We <3 you too! MWAH! @AngelaAckerman @BeccaPuglisi
The Bookshelf Muse: Writing Heroes: Adventures In YA and Children's Publishing - Which of these 2012 debut author novels will you add to your TBR? (Clara's answer: ALL OF THEM).
A Blog about Nothing: Debut Author Challenge 2012 - The difference between an antagonist and a villain. Brilliant!
Is Your Novel a Spineless Weakling? - Love, love, love this inspiring publishing story of TANGLED TIDES by Karen Hooper.
Market My Words: Never give up! (Karen Hooper, author of Tangled Tides) - Flashbacks are tricky! K.M. Weiland on what makes them flash or flail.
Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors: Most Common Mistakes Series: Are Your Flashbacks Flashy or Flabby? - Having dreams vs. having goals. Lovely and inspiring post
Dreamers Vs. Goalers: Writers Need to Be Both - We try to keep our writing weaknesses hidden, but there's a benefit to admitting them.
What Writing Skill Do You Suck At? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author - To write better descriptions, try something that forces you to observe: drawing. Brilliant!
If you want to write better descriptions, try this - Time to Write - Marilyn Brant on making the setting of your novel pertinent to your character growth.
Writer Unboxed » A Summer in Europe: Finding Meaning in Florence
- Important points about SOPA from Cory Doctorow.
Copyrights vs. Human Rights: big publishing and SOPA - Writing as an excuse to explore what you don't know...
Write What You Don't Know - Erika Liodice - Author's Website - Four questions to test your character arc and characterization.
Writer Unboxed » A Sense of Self - Love this! The paradoxes and nuances of creativity.
Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking | The Creativity Post - What's your social network? 2011 trends revisited.
Top Trends of 2011: The Social Network Battle - Good take on identifying your character's main traits.
How to Bring Your Characters Into Focus - An exhaustive list of resources for finding character names.
How Do You Come Up with Character Names? An Exhaustive List | T.N. Tobias - Another fabulous thesaurus entry from Angela Ackerman. Love the Bookshelf Muse!
The Bookshelf Muse: Weather Thesaurus Entry: Snow - StumbleUpon - Lots of buried gold in this post on reader expectation and author platform
Jami Gold and Harry Potter for Writers - Great reminder to leave room for developing angst and tension as you build toward climax.
Paranormal Point of View: Emo MCs - Great promo AND inspiration idea from Rosenfeld Media. Love this.
Rosenfeld Media | Bruce Lee, I need your help - Beautiful, heart-tugging post about life after publication.
YA Author Elana Johnson: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth - The year in review. Already. Inspiration of 2011.
WOW! What a year! Inspiring Moments. - Excellent post on what makes a scene worthwhile.
How to Make the Most of a Scene – Guest Post by Jami Gold - Wonderful, meaningful gift ideas for the humanitarian.
Gifts That Say You Care - Fantastic metaphor on the revision process.
The Geyser 5-Step Approach to Revision | WritersDigest.com - Great post! Committing to a project is scary, but writers write.
The Katacomb: GUEST POST: Writers Write – Sometimes more than one book at a time - Very good overview of the Amazon/Overdrive/Library/Penguin muddles.
Penguin, Amazon, and the Kindle Lending Library | Blog | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books | Romance Novel Reviews | All of the Romance, None of the Bullshit. - Lovely post on the writer's voice.
On Being the Writer You Are - I completely ADORE the new character thesaurus!
character-trait-entry-responsible.html from blogspot.com - StumbleUpon - Excellent article on the different paths to publication.
Paranormal Point of View
Book Reviews and Giveaways
- NPR starts a bookclub for kids who love to read.
NPR's Backseat Book Club : NPR - Just when you think you've seen enough angels... This sounds good.
Book Review: Avenger's Angel by Heather Killough-Walden - Blogcritics Books
Craft of Writing
- Four questions to test your character arc and characterization.
Writer Unboxed » A Sense of Self - Good take on identifying your character's main traits.
How to Bring Your Characters Into Focus - An exhaustive list of resources for finding character names.
How Do You Come Up with Character Names? An Exhaustive List | T.N. Tobias - An editor on why your ms might be getting rejected.
Mysterious Matters: Mystery Publishing Demystified: Oh, the Disappointment! - Another fabulous thesaurus entry from Angela Ackerman and Becca Pugilista. Love the Bookshelf Muse!
The Bookshelf Muse: Weather Thesaurus Entry: Snow - StumbleUpon - Lots of buried gold in this post on reader expectation and author platform from @JamiGoldand@HP4Writers
Harry Potter for Writers - Great reminder to leave room for developing angst and tension as you build toward climax.
Paranormal Point of View: Emo MCs - Excellent post on what makes a scene worthwhile.
How to Make the Most of a Scene – Guest Post by Jami Gold - Be that as it may, here's an actual fact: @writing_tips has 5 in order to tighten your prose. (Can you spot the tips I did NOT follow? ;-)
5 More Tips for Cleaning Up Your Writing Right Now - Make your scenes richer, deeper, and livelier by avoiding these 5 mistakes.
WOW! Women On Writing Blog: The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Writing Scenes - Most 1st novels never get published. Anne R. Allen's tips on how to beat the odds.
* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *: Can A First Novel Find a Publisher? 10 Do's and Don'ts to Increase Your Chances by Anne R. Allen - The difference between an antagonist and a villain. Brilliant!
Is Your Novel a Spineless Weakling? - Fantastic metaphor on the revision process.
The Geyser 5-Step Approach to Revision | WritersDigest.com - Lovely post on the writer's voice.
On Being the Writer You Are - Flashbacks are tricky! K.M. Weiland on what makes them flash or flail.
Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors: Most Common Mistakes Series: Are Your Flashbacks Flashy or Flabby? - From Idea to Final editing: The 5 turning points in finishing a book.
How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book: Five Major Turning Points on the Road to Finishing a Book - Get a crit from NYT Bestselling author of Beautiful Creatures.
Offered: Fiction Critique From Kami Garcia - I completely ADORE the new character thesaurus!
character-trait-entry-responsible.html from blogspot.com - StumbleUpon - Love triangles aren't cliche if they're done THIS way! Liz Penn explains how to get it right.
The Sharp Angle: Love Triangles -- A Match Made In Heaven? - We try to keep our writing weaknesses hidden, but there's a benefit to admitting them.
What Writing Skill Do You Suck At? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author - To write better descriptions, try something that forces you to observe: drawing. Brilliant!
If you want to write better descriptions, try this - Time to Write - Marilyn Brant on making the setting of your novel pertinent to your character growth.
Writer Unboxed » A Summer in Europe: Finding Meaning in Florence
- Important points about SOPA from Cory Doctorow.
Copyrights vs. Human Rights: big publishing and SOPA - Stina Lindenblatt on the benefits of joining a writer's association and how to find the right one for you.
Seeing Creative: The Twelve Days of Christmas for Writers: Day Five - Squeee! THANK YOU Bookshelf Muse for naming us your Writing Heroes of December! We <3 you too! MWAH! @AngelaAckerman @BeccaPuglisi
The Bookshelf Muse: Writing Heroes: Adventures In YA and Children's Publishing - Which of these 2012 debut author novels will you add to your TBR? (Clara's answer: ALL OF THEM).
A Blog about Nothing: Debut Author Challenge 2012 - Good info on the post-sale business/money side of writing.
Writer Unboxed » 11 Frequently Asked Questions About Book Royalties, Advances and Money - Very good overview of the Amazon/Overdrive/Library/Penguin muddles.
Penguin, Amazon, and the Kindle Lending Library | Blog | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books | Romance Novel Reviews | All of the Romance, None of the Bullshit. - YA is still hot and MG is getting hotter.
Young adult continues to be the literary world's fastest-growing genre
- Writing as an excuse to explore what you don't know...
Write What You Don't Know - Erika Liodice - Author's Website - Love this! The paradoxes and nuances of creativity.
Twelve Things You Were Not Taught in School About Creative Thinking | The Creativity Post - Three great motivational ideas.
3 Ways to incorporate NaNoWriMo into your every day writing. | Self Publishing Team | Duolit - Great promo AND inspiration idea from @RosenfeldMedia. Love this.
Rosenfeld Media | Bruce Lee, I need your help - Beautiful, heart-tugging post about life after publication.
YA Author Elana Johnson: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth - The year in review. Already. Inspiration
WOW! What a year! Inspiring Moments. - On revising: Don't just tinker. Writers who have the guts to start over reap the biggest rewards.
Kidlit.com · Big Revision - Our new revision heroine is @SWMessenger. What an inspiration!
Shannon Whitney Messenger: 20 ways to NOT write your first book - Love, love, love this inspiring publishing story of TANGLED TIDES by @Karen_Hooper.
Market My Words: Never give up! (Karen Hooper, author of Tangled Tides) - Great way to keep your writerly sanity.
WOW! Women On Writing Blog: Goal Setting for Writers - Wonderful, meaningful gift ideas for the humanitarian.
Gifts That Say You Care - Guess the YA character in each of these gingerbread cookies.
lamplight and shadows: Ginger-Who? - This little monster is too adorable.
Daily Drawing: Monster In Flight - Debbie Ridpath Ohi - Illustrator and writer - Great post! Committing to a project is scary, but writers write.
The Katacomb: GUEST POST: Writers Write – Sometimes more than one book at a time - Excellent article on the different paths to publication.
Paranormal Point of View - Having dreams vs. having goals. Lovely and inspiring post by @writetisideways Edit Dreamers Vs. Goalers: Writers Need to Be Both
- What's your social network? 2011 trends revisited.
Top Trends of 2011: The Social Network BattleAuthors NEED an online presense! Anne R. Allen's excellent tips on how and why to start a blog.
Anne R. Allen's Blog: HOW TO BLOG: A Beginner's Guide for Authors - Nuances and measuring results of your book promotion.
Basics of Book Marketing for the Beginning Self-Publisher, Part 3 — The Book Designer - Target your ideal reader, but also think outside the box.
* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *: Why Only Focusing On Your "Target" Audience May Hurt You - #kidlitchat transcript with excellent ideas on book launch strategies.
Kidlitchat Transcript – December 6
- Self-pub authors eligible for inclusion in Amazon's lending library.
Lending for KDP Authors | AARdvark - At 70% royalty Amazon can automatically reduce price of your ebook to match competitor.
Amazon price matching leads to lost royalties for one author
- Opportunity for UK based publishing assistant.
Publishing Assistant :: Jobs :: Contact us :: Nosy Crow - Most 1st novels never get published.@annerallen's tips on how to beat the odds.
* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *: Can A First Novel Find a Publisher? 10 Do's and Don'ts to Increase Your Chances by Anne R. Allen - Query letter breakdown example than intrigued @JenRofe.
Successful Queries: Agent Jen Rofe and “Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars” | WritersDigest.com - If you have a "boy book," John Rudolph might be the agent for you!
Literary Rambles: Agent Spotlight: John Rudolph
Other Weekly Round-Ups:
- Cynthia Leitich Smith at Cynsationsdoes a Cynsational author, craft, and book news review.
- Elizabeth Craig posts a comprehensive weekly list of all her helpful Twitter posts.
- Stina Lindenblatt does a fabulous Cool Links Friday post every week.
- YA Highway's Friday Road Trip hits the high points of the publishing industry, writing craft, submissions process, and other fun stuff.
Happy reading and joyous writing,
Clara and Martina
Great round up!!
ReplyDeleteGreat round up. You might want to add that I'm giving away a copy of Wildefire by Karsten Knight and Untraceable by Shelli Johannes-Wells at Literary Rambles.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your award! You deserve it.
Awesome links, as always. :) Thanks for sharing and for taking the time to find them for us!
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprise at the call for readers. I've always been amazed at how you keep up with all the posts. And then there's the time it takes to put this post together.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great links and all the hard work you put into this, ladies!
Oh wow, so many great posts I missed! I'm taking my kids to school but tackling those awesome posts when I return. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSo many great posts! Thanks :) Enjoy a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteThe usual THANKS for all this! I enjoyed the article on Villains vs Antagonists, as well as Jami Gold's article on how to make the most of a scene. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone! Yes, Martina and I absolutely LOVE reading all these writing blogs! There's so many out fantastic ones out there that we can't keep up with them all. It literally HURTS when I realize I've missed someone's excellent post and didn't link to it for you.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is interested in helping out, I can tell you that you will learn a lot about the craft of writing and the industry.
Let me repeat that: You. Will. Learn. A. Lot. Your brain will explode with new writerly wisdom. Doing Favorite Articles for this blog is the best thing I've done to educate myself about craft and the publishing industry. You will also learn how wonderful the writing community is.
And Martina, well, all I can say is she's one of the best people on the planet, and I'm jealous that I will have to share her. BUT! I'm willing to do it for all of YOU, so we can continue to link to all the best articles!
~Clara
Thanks so much! Great list. (Still gotta say I miss the old setup though :( )
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway. Can't believe I still haven't read Beautiful Chaos...
Yay! -digs into round-up with vampire teeth-
ReplyDeleteAnother great round up! You always make it easy for us with these posts :)
ReplyDeleteAnother bounty of information! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the round up and the chance to win Beautiful Chaos. I loved the first two books but I haven't read the third one yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, everyone, for the comments and encouragement. And yes, Natalie! Definitely that post should have been included. Riv Re, we miss the old setup, too. This is such a massive pain to do with Google now.
ReplyDeleteAnd Clara, WOW. You are so beyond sweet. And seriously? You make these round-ups not only possible, but enjoyable. If anyone hasn't met Clara on twitter yet or in person, she is AMAZING. I can't believe that I met her through this blog and SHE literally is one of the best people in the world. An amazing writer with an amazing heart. Big squeezy hug, Clara. THANK YOU for all you do for me and for the blog, and for all the other writers out there whose lives you enrich.
Hugs,
M.