- The Triple T [Mary Demuth] Rachelle Gardner's guest blogger gives us an inspirational mantra.
- If you haven't already, check out Buffy Andrews' blog The Write Stuff for wonderful quotes!
- Toni Morrison Talks Motivation [Spkn Wrd via @iainbroome] Great video interview with the famous writer.
- Keeping a Writing Log [Literary Rambles Tip Tuesday] Great tip to motivate yourself by logging a) date b) chapter c) time spent d) words written e) running total of words in the project.
- Overwriter's Anonymous [Editorial Ass] A recovering editorial assistant shows you examples of eight ways overwritten manuscripts can work against you.
- Dashes, Parentheses, and Commas [Grammar Girl--@GrammarGirl] Parentheses are the quiet whisper of an aside, commas are the conversational voice of a friend walking by your desk, and dashes are the yowl of a pirate dashing into a fray.
- Sentence-level Tension and Reversals [Edittorrent] The same way reversals of fortune or condition can drive a plot, they can up the tension in an individual sentence to jump start a novel and engage readers quickly.
- To Prologue or Not to Prologue [Nathan Bransford] Vote on your feelings toward a prologue. Also reference Nathan's previous post on prologues.
- What's Driving Your Novel? [C. Patrick Schulze] Author defines character-driven versus plot-driven writing.
- Theme in Query Letters [editorrent] Exploration of your book's theme and including it in your query.
- Pace-It's Not a Race [Nicola Morgan] Help! I Need a Publisher! gives advice on pacing.
- An EPIC Resource [Angela Ackerman] The Bookshelf Muse directs us to a fabulous site for fantasy writers.
- Fight! Fight! Fight! [Jason Black via @inkyelbows] Plot to Punctuation discusses crafting conflict and portraying your characters.
- Dialogue Quick Tips [Robert Gregory Browne via @thecreativepenn] Eight great tips for crafting dialogue.
- My Dialogue Sucks [Publetariat via @IndieAuthor] Great links to everything dialogue.
- Don't build your story up only to have a blah ending! [JC Hutchins via @inkyelbows] Writer Unboxed gently remind us that we are obligated to deliver the goods.
- Pace It's Not a Race [Help! I Need a Publisher] The crabitty Nicola Morgan offers a comprehensive guide to setting the pace for your novel.
- What Makes a Great Setting [Nathan Bransford] Discussion on why certain settings are memorable.
- Why You Don't Need a Prologue [Learn to Write Fiction] List of reasons to include or exclude a prologue for your novel.
- Prologues [Nathan Bransford] What makes a good prologue and will it kill your submission?
- How to Make Your Writing Quirky & Edgy [Quips and Tips for Successful Writers via @QuipsAndTips] Great post on adding flair to your writing.
- Formulating a Plot [Justus R. Stone via @Bubblecow] Sometimes taking a step back is the only way to take a step forward.
- Self-editing for Fiction Writers: Show Don't Tell [WritersWrite.com] A great article with examples by the authors of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers
- Stages of Revision [Natalie Whipple] A great post about how to layer your revisions to improve your productivity and your mansuscript.
- Expanded Power Revision Checklist [Writing.com] A blow-by-blow of what to eliminate in your manuscript, including solid examples of the difference between imagery and description.
- The Power Revision Checklist [Writing.com] Tape this beside your monitor, folks!
- Big Mistake 3: Overwriting [Help! I Need a Publisher] Includes a good checklist to self-diagnose overwriting
- The Sandwich Rule [Megan Rebekah] The Write Stuff blog talks critique etiquette.
- What to Do With Positive & Negative Feedback [Jody Hedlund] Digesting the feedback your receive from critiques.
- Lessons From Jessica & Ashlee Simpson (yes, that's what we said) [Lisa & Laura Write] When receiving feedback, consider the source.
- Crit Partner Match -- The eHarmony for critique partners.
- Rejection From an Agent's Perspective [Rachelle Garder] An agent discusses why personal rejections just aren't feasible.
- Taking the Sting Out of Rejection [Brian] The New Author offers practical advice on handling rejection.
- Agent Spotlight: Chris Richman [Literary Rambles] The wonderful Casey McCormick continues her invaluable series that collects every bit of information available on an agent and consolidates it for easy reference.
- Why I Say Yes or No [AgencyGatekeeper] An old post but a great one, including pie charts.
- Query Recap [BookEnds, LLC] Jessica Faust describes the results of her quest through the slushpile.
- Theme in a Query Letter [EditTorrent] Unless your theme is very original, this clear post suggests creating a plot summary which supports the theme without resorting to cliches.
- Elana Johnson, young adult and SF/fantasy writer who also blogs for QueryTracker.com, for scoring a book deal from Simon Pulse for her novel Control Issues. From PM: Set in a brainwashed society where those gifted with mind control best join the powers that be, but one rebel girl tries to beat them at their own game.
- Becca Rogers, a YA writer, has landed a spot working for Demand Studios. She will be writing articles for eHow and Livestrong.
- YA Highway turns 1! Happy bloggiversary!
- Megan Rebekah for reaching 500 followers on her fabulous blog The Write Stuff!
- Margaret Duarte for reaching the quarter-finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award! And what a great prize -- a Publishers Weekly review of the whole novel? Amazing!
- B. Miller holds the Pay It Forward Contest
- Coming Down From the Mountain KarenG holds her own version of the Pay It Forward Contest
- Barrie Summy is giving away signed copies of her books and more.
- Megan Rebekah is holding a contest to celebrate the big 500!
- Lisa and Laura Write give us cupcakes and a contest. What's not to love?
- Dancing With Dragons is Hard on Your Shoes reaches 100 followers and gives away books!
- Paranormal Point of View holds a contest with book prizes.
- The Misadventures in Candyland holds a contest with awesome prizes!
- Keep Google from Making Book Piracy Easier
- Trends in Publishing 2010 [Writer Unboxed via @LiaKeyes] YA series books are stronger than ever and hardcover is making a comeback.
- ArmchairBEA [ArmchairBEA.com] Catch up with links to the official site and posts from around the blogosphere....
- Twitter for Writers [Elizabeth Craig] One of the queens of Twitter provides advice on how to use it to connect with other writers, improve your writing, and promote your work. She lists useful hastags & tips, too.
- Thinking About Blogging? [Angela Ackerman] MG and YA author gives points to consider if you are a writer considering blogging.
- 4 Ways Social Media Can Screw Up Your Writing [via Simon C. Larter ] A. Victoria Mixon makes the case against social networking as a writer.
- Twitter Power [USA Today] Reflection on the proliferation and impact of Twitter.
- Start Building Your E-mail List Now [Jane Friedman via @Bubblecow] Why authors should already be building an e-mail list for marketing and promoting.
- Emoticons for Advanced Writers [Hyperbole and a Half via @KatZhang] Have you ever been overcome with an emotion but unable to find the right emoticon to express yourself?
- Crazy Writer? You might be! [The Writer's Den] You might be addicted to writing if...
- The Feckless Goblin [Ziggy Kinsella] Nine unsavory character traits of real authors.
- The Phases of the Writer [Julie Roads via @Bubblecow] Which "phase" are you in as a writer?
Other Weekly Round-Ups
- Don't forget to check Nathan Bransford's blog later this morning for his weekly recap of publishing news and information.
- Jane Friedman of Writer's Digest also 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 stumbled across during the week.
Also, what do you think of the new format for these links? Better with explanations? Or do you prefer just the links?
Happy reading and joyous writing,
Martina & Marissa
Wow, this is amazing. I'll have to come back later and check them all out. Thanks for all the work you put into this. :D
ReplyDeleteIt's more work for you, but much better with descriptions of the links. We can go straight to the ones we're most interested in at the time, so it saves us a lot of time!!
ReplyDeleteThanks.
As always, amazing list.
ReplyDeleteWow. I'm sure this took a lot of time to write. I appreciate you including me! :D *hugs*
ReplyDeleteWhew! That took some time to put together, thank you so much for all the links! Thanks for the link back to my contest :) Your blog is truly a wonderful resource for writers!
ReplyDeleteWOW. WOWWWWWWWWWWWW.
ReplyDeleteyou two are AMAZING. so incredible!!
thank you thank you thank you for all the work you put into your posts! you're gems in the blogosphere!!
<333333
Stina, there's much to see! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteS.A., thanks! We hope it helps save you time.
Sarah, thanks for that specific feedback on the format. We thought a brief glimpse into the link may save people time.
Becca and KarenG, when we find great sites like yours during the week, we just keep track of it for Friday :)
Tahereh, you're so sweet! We just want to help other writers. We love your blog!
Seriously, everyone, I have to say that this Friday post is a selfish thing for us. There are so many generous writers, agents, and editors out there putting time and talent into their blogs to help other writers. Keeping track of them as we visit during the week lets us keep all the links for future reference.
ReplyDeleteGotta say, I love the blogosphere and twitterverse!
Thanks so much for your support! It's amazing how kind you all are.
Martina
Thanks for this great resource - and thanks for the mention!
ReplyDeleteHave a nice weekend!
Ricki :)
This is such a fantastic list!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah about the descriptions.
I'm hesitant to plug my own, but will anyway. I recently began putting a similar post up (most) Saturdays.
I also add links to new writing blogs I found during the week and have been including links to debates going on about e-books and self-publishing, since there seem to be a lot of them lately.
I can only repeat what everyone else is saying--Thank You! There's so much good stuff here, it's hard to pull myself away from it and get to work :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much. I already bookmarked the epic fantasy one.
ReplyDeleteOh NO!! I'm going to have to sit here FOREVER just so I can go through all of these amazing posts. My family may kill me! Deep breaths... Whew. And thank you for the mention. :)
ReplyDeleteRicki, thanks for letting us share your post!
ReplyDeletePaulo, thanks for the input. We're glad you mentioned your blog. E-publishing is such a hot topic right now.
Kenda, we appreciate your kind sentiment. :)
Natalie, the epic fantasy link is SO detailed! Have fun.
Lisa, a writer has to do what a writer has to do, right? You're welcome! Our pleasure!
I like the explanations along with the links. That's for putting this all together. It must have taken hours. Maybe days!
ReplyDeleteGreat round up M&M! I am loving all these exciting links!!!
ReplyDeleteBarrie, thanks for such a fantastic post this week! We are so lucky to have your insights.
ReplyDeleteT. Anne, I love the "M & M" idea :) That cracked me up. Thanks for a positive comment.
I love M & Ms. OOOH. Can I be purple? Pretty please?
ReplyDeleteM/2 (Martina)
Awesome links as usual. I shall be spending some time clicking down the list. :)
ReplyDeleteI have so many tabs open right now I'm afraid my browser will crash! This list is great. As usual.
ReplyDeleteI'm sending the crit partner matchup link to a friend in my RWA chapter. She's been looking for a crit partner who writes romantic suspense. Your site is helping authors who don't even write kid lit!
This is an EPIC Treasure Trove. Like I said in my Blogging post on The Sharp Angle, content that saves writers time is highly attractive to writers, and this is no exception.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your hard work and including me on the list...twice!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
Forgot to answer your question "Also, what do you think of the new format for these links? Better with explanations? Or do you prefer just the links?"
ReplyDeleteIt's probably a ton of extra work, but I love the explanations. :D
Angela, thanks for letting us link to you! Your site has great information and we try, as you suggest, to help save everyone time. Thanks to you, we can :)
ReplyDeleteJayceeKaycee, we appreciate the specific feedback. We keep a running list throughout the week, so it's easy to briefly summarize what's in the post right when you read it :) Glad to know it's worth that little extra blurb! Thanks for that HUGE compliment on helping writers of all types. That's so encouraging! We hope your browser doesn't crash ;)
Lindsay, just like JayceeKaycee, we hope you don't crash your computer as you click away!
yikes what a list. Thanks! I've spent quite a bit of time on these links already. Great resource.
ReplyDeleteWow - I'm going to have to bookmark this! What a great list of links - thanks so much for compiling it :)
ReplyDeleteI love the way list is now. Keep them coming. Lot of great info.
ReplyDeletePHEW - see what happens when you turn your back for a few days???
ReplyDeleteHad a lot of family stuff to catch up on and haven't commented for a while...NOT GOOD FOR ME! I have an awful lot of catching up to do.
I was thrilled that the book I voted made your list...must go back a few posts and go through everything in detail.
MUCH LOVE and HUGE HELPINGS of APPRECIATION LADIES!!!
:)
Okay, thanks everyone! We'll try to use this format from now on. Check back next Friday!
ReplyDeleteThis. Is. Teh. Awesome! I've got to set some time aside every week just to go through your Friday link roundup!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing resource this blog is. How have I never found it before? Definite new follower!
ReplyDeleteIncredible. Thank you!
ReplyDeletefantastic post! amazing! i have just learned SOOOOO much! thank-you!
ReplyDelete