8 Best Articles This Week for Writers 6/10/11

ACK! I've completely lost my marbles. Forgot to post a HUGE congrats to Ara Burklund for signing with Kerry Sparks of Levine Greenberg! (Sorry Ara!!!!) We're so happy for them both!

After the Sale

• Swag [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Does conference swag translate into sales?
• Promoting Your Book: The Dos and Don’ts of Being a Great Interviewee [QueryTracker.net] Eight tips to improve your interview persona.

Book Reviews

• Blogger Confidential: Rating Systems [Emily's Reading Room] Eleven book bloggers and how they determine rankings.
• Hourglass by Myra McEntire: Sara’s Review [Novel Novice] HOURGLASS sweeps you up in the excitement, adventure, mystery, setting and characters.
• Summer Reads: Paranormal & Supernatural Books [Novel Novice] Eight great books with a supernatural twist. Need some recommendations for your TBR list?
• First Page and Giveaway: SIRENZ [First Page Panda] Prize pack and first page peek at SIRENZ by Natalie Zamen and Charlotte Bennardo. Fun!
• Ignoring the Light in YA Fiction [Buried in the Slush Pile] Some fun and frothy non-problem books to couter the Wall Street Journal's dooma and gloom.
• Hourglass Author Myra McEntire’s Reading List [Novel Novice] Five book recommendations by @MyraMcEntire.
• Beauty Queens Blog Tour w/ Libba Bray [/- LA FEMME READERS -/] Video clip for the brilliant @LibbaBray's BEAUTY QUEENS.
• BETH REVIS INTERVIEW AND BOOK GIVEAWAY [Literary Rambles] Inspiration from Beth Revis, her ten trunk novels, and how she almost quit.
• Guest Elise Allen on YA = Your Age [The Divining Wand] Love: Young adult = self-doubt and uncertainty and a desire to be loved for yourself.
• Book Birthdays!! [A Blog about Nothing] Twenty awesome book birthdays http://tinyurl.com/23hj7v9for #giveaways.
• Hourglass by Myra McEntire: Time Travel Reading List [Novel Novice] Best time travel books -- great reading list to prepare for @MyraMcEntire's HOURGLASS.
• Tour Review: The Eternal Sea by Angie Frazier [Confessions of a Bookaholic] Complex plot, engaging characters. Magical review for THE ETERNAL SEA
• How Honest Should We Be With Each Other? [Author, Jody Hedlund] Three keys to deciding how honest to be about a book or manuscript you didn't love.
• Books for Relaxation: Dystopian [WORD for Teens] Five brilliant distopian YA series. Have you read them all?
• Novel Novice’s Summer Reads: Books for the Beach [Novel Novice] Eight YA beach reads you won't want to miss.
• The problem with sweeping generalizations . . . [Alissa Grosso] Some not-so-dark-and-disturbing YA books to break the stereotype.

Congrats!

• Michele Shaw: So it seems...I have an agent! [micheleshaw.blogspot.com]
  Congrats to Michele! We're so happy for you! 

Contests

• Giveaway: Ruby Red [WORD for Teens] Enter by 6/14 to win RUBY RED by Kerstin Gier.
• #TaggedPOSSESSION [Lisa and Laura Write] Win a signed copy of @ElanaJ's #taggedPOSSESSION!
• Iggi & Gabi Swag Bag Giveaway [Iggi & Gabi] Enter by 6/12 to win BEA swag.
• Contest Monday [Sisters in Scribe] Three more book giveaways rounded-up by @SistersInScribe

Craft of Writing

• Is Your Motor Running? [Words and Such] Seven ways to rev up the beginning of your ms.
• 5 Tips for Getting Things Done Before the Deadline [Quips and Tips for Successful Writers] How to save time and maximize your writing productivity.
• On Story Arcs [Magical Words] A tale of two tests and how what comes in between builds a character arc.
• Write Your Query FIRST for a Better Book [Writer Unboxed] Couldn't agree more! Draft the query before the book.
• Adding Character Depth With The Zodiac [Falling Leaflets] Quick astrology tips for character strengths and weaknesses. Great!
• How to Craft a Mystery in a Novel [Nathan Bransford, Author] Character's desire + Consequences/stakes + Obstacles + Delay = Mystery
• On Boredom [Jennifer Represents...] Your characters have to be doing something interesting to interest your readers.
• Conflict Lock: The Fuel of a Story [GENREALITY] The conflict box, a GREAT tool for plotting.
• Actions vs Choices: Crafting Better Plots [The Other Side of the Story] Add tension to your ms. Turn inevitable decisions into difficult choices.
• Introduce Important POVs as Soon as Possible [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Get that POV character in early to avoid reader shock.
• Villains: Empathy and Motivation [Let The Words Flow] Great tips on giving depths to your villains.
• Tip Tuesday #91 [Literary Rambles] Great tip: Tell, then show for quick story planning.
• Character Clinic: Day 2 [The Character Therapist] Playing with obsessive personalities. What is your character afrad of?
• How to Plot Wrong, in 3 Easy Steps [A. Victoria Mixon, Editor] A hook casts its shadow over your entire ms. Three ways to plot it wrong.
• Noteworthy Links: Creating Conflict [The Other Side of the Story] Subtle ways to add conflict
• A bad book? No, it’s a good book you haven’t fixed yet [Nail Your Novel] It's all about the idea. Three questions to see if yours makes a solid book.
• Subplots--Where To Find Them and How To Use Them [YA Highway] Three tips for developing subplots that flesh out your characters and plot.
• Getting that Sagging Middle Into Shape [* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *] .@RoniLoren's excellent post on what's wrong with the middle of your ms & how to fix it.
• Reading from the End--An Effective Way to Troubleshoot Your Writing [How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book] A unique way to find trouble spots in your ms
• Most Common Mistakes Series: Is Your First-Person Narrator Overpowering Your Story? [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] 1st person narrative is tricky to get right. Are you making any of these mistakes?
• How Screenplays Help You Write Better Dialogue [Beyond The Margins] Why dialogue is the most important component of fiction, and how to make your dialogue shine.
• Conflict = Tension = Emotion - Part I [Writing Fiction Right from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin] Four kinds of conflict your manuscript should have.
• Conflict = Tension = Emotion - Part II [Writing Fiction Right from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin] Six tips to wring emotion from the conflict in your manuscript.
• Character Traits Thesaurus Entry: Proper [The Bookshelf Muse] Add conflicting characteristics to round-out your "proper" character.
• The Cliché: Unloved and Underappreciated [QueryTracker.net] Own the cliche. Find a balance between the predictable and the unpredictable.
• Plot Busters – HEX HALL Breakdown (1) [Laura Pauling] Need help understanding plotting? Here's an HEX HALL example.
• Friday 5 – How to rise above cliche. [Laura Pauling] Cliches are more than phrases. Editors reject predictable premises, characters, plot, & more.

Critiquing

• Working Within a Critique Group [The Blood-Red Pencil] Four tips for being a successful critique group member.
• Bidding has started at Crits for Water! [The Katacomb] Bid on the Crits for Water auction. Some amazing stuff for a good cause!
• 4 Ways to Make the Most of a Critique Group [There Are No Rules] Four tips on critique survival and a wonderful cartoon.
• The critique pact [sarahs_blog] Going to LA for SCBWI? Greenhouse Literary gives advice for your ms critique.

Inspiration

• Are you a Mozart or Beethoven? [GENREALITY] Do you work to write the pieces into a whole, or do your ideas develop fully formed?
• Character Clinic: Day 4 [The Character Therapist] What makes a character build a wall around himself? @JeanineCampbell discusses the psych.
• ON BEING TOO SCARED TO SHARE A WORD [Grab a Pen] Never forget why you write, why you dare to dream and dream big.
• WOW Wednesday: Kiera Cass on Drive and Effort in Writing Success [Adventures in Children's Publishing] It's not about your name on the cover. It's about the book in someone's hands.
• Character Clinic: Day 3 [The Character Therapist] Need a reality check for your character's reactions? Try the Character Clinic.
• In Which I Give You My Baby [YA Author Elana Johnson] In which @ElanaJ talks about the long road to POSSESSION. Great inspiration.
• Guest Author Myra McEntire: On Brainstorming [The Other Side of the Story] Ten ways to brainstorm -- plus excellent tools and resources.
• Time to write: stop in the middle [Time to Write] Keep writer's block away forever with this trick from Hemingway.
• Places to find character names [Buffy's write zone] Get inspiration for character names from the documents in your life.
• ELANA JOHNSON DEBUT PARTY AND MEGA BOOK GIVEAWAY [Literary Rambles] @ElanaJ spent more MONTHS querying POSSESSION than days to write it.
• Character Clinic: Day 1 [The Character Therapist] Character reaction insight from a therapist. Brilliant!
• Inspirational Quotes [Writer Musings] Fifteen brilliant quotes on writers and writing.
• Deadlines - Start Working With Them BEFORE You Are Published [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Create your own deadlines to prepare for publication.
• Rejection Is Not Personal [Nathan Bransford, Author] Rejected? Don't get mad.
• 7 Things I've Learned So Far, by Liane Moriarty [Guide to Literary Agents] Liane Moriarty has some excellent advice for you on all things writerly.
• Training to Be a Career Author–Writing is More than the Writing [Kristen Lamb's Blog] Another brilliant post by @KristenLambTX. How does she do it? By training to be a writer!

Just for Smiles

• Six Reasons You Should Stick With Legacy Publishing [The Creative Penn] Six reasons to stay with legacy publishing. You'll smile, I promise.
• Sexy, Saucey Secrets to Successful Blog Posts – A Video Tutorial [Beyond The Margins] Writing a blog? (Or an ms?) You can relate to this. :D

Self-Editing

• Edit in an Instant? Ain’t Gonna Happen [The Editor's Blog] Put in the time it takes to edit. Invest in yourself. Write well and edit wisely.
• That Pesky Exclamation Point!!! [Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent] Eliminate all exclamation points and add them back with caution and deliberation.
• Beware These Writing Pests! [The Blood-Red Pencil] Ten dangerous pests that can invade and destroy your ms.
• Revision--The Long View [Julie Musil] Revision takes time, patience, and hard work, but future readers deserve nothing less.
• 5 Fluctuating Forms of Gender-Specific Language [Daily Writing Tips] Gener-neutral trends in writing. Here to stay?
• 3 Ways to Avoid the Waffle in Writing [.W.I.P. It] Tips for tighter writing and a better novel.
• 11 Resources To Make Editing Your Novel Easier [www.publetariat.com] Eleven good resources to help you edit and check your ms pre-sub.
• Checklist for Editors [The Editor's Blog] FANTASTIC checklist for self-editing.
• Step 3:Bare Bones of DIALOG [Writers' Ally aka ➔ sa larsenッ] Revision technique: strip out dialogue and then expand.
• What’s the Nutritional Value of Your Writing? [Words from the Woods] What are your high-calorie words and phrases?
• B is for (To) Be Verbs [The Blood-Red Pencil] The good, the bad, and the ugly of 'to be' verbs.
• WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING STYLE [Writing Fiction Right from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin] Eight tips to take the beginner out of your writing style.

Social Media

• Get the Best Bang for Your Blog [* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *] All the things you shouldn't do when blogging. vi @RoniLoren @KristenLambTX
• A Social Media Plan [Katie Ganshert] "Social media is an integral part of being a successful author."
• Sacred Cow-Tipping–Why Writers Blogging About Writing is Bad [Kristen Lamb's Blog] Expand your blogging horizon. Write what excites you and you'll excite your readers.

To Market

• Email checklist (maybe this time it'll work!) [Seth's Blog] Thirty-six things to check before you hit the send button. Great list!
• Chasing Trends [kt literary] Agents aren't looking for the next____. They're looking for a brilliant STORY.
• Footnotes: 5 Articles on Knowing When to Submit [Guide to Literary Agents] Want to avoid rejection? 5 posts to help you decide if you're ready to query.
• Agent Advice: Taylor Martindale of Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency [Guide to Literary Agents] Taylor Martindale seeking good action, humor, strong characters, and creepy mystery.
• Agent Spotlight: Stephen Barr [Literary Rambles] Stephen Barr at The Writer's House is actively seeking new clients.
• SEVEN QUESTIONS TO ASK A PROSPECTIVE AGENT [Writing Fiction Right from novelist Gail Gaymer Martin] Seven questions you need a prospective agent to answer correctly.
• Dream Agents [Kathryn Jankowski] Query your dream agents first, or do a trial run--what is fair and smart?
• Author-Agent Speed Dating Service [Beyond The Margins] Speed dating for authors and agents? Great investment op or big, fat flop?
• Queriers Beware! [Seeing Creative] Why the wrong agent is worse than no agent at all. Read this!
• Before You Hit Send... [Write About Now] Even bestsellers get rejected, but make sure you're not querying too soon.
• Bold New Frontiers [Writer Unboxed] Is your book a blend of genres? Sell it anyway.
• What are the Odds of Getting an Agent? [Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent] Multiple requests for your ms and no bites? Consider fixing instead of subbing.
• Another agency for writers to beware [Time to Write] Writer Beware: Clark, Mendelson, and Scott. NEVER pay an agent to sub an ms.
• How I Got My Agent: Holly LeCraw [Guide to Literary Agents] Great example of believing in yourself and your ms through a daunting agent search.
• Interview with LARA PERKINS, Publishing Manager for LAURA RENNERT [ROOTS IN MYTH] Unresolved tension and a mix of familiar/unfamiliar hook an agent in first pages.
• Please Don’t Serial Query [Kidlit.com] Learn from each rejection, evolve and go to the next writing level before requerying.
• Writing Conference ROI: Before the Conference [Excuse Editor] Conferences can be expensive! What to do before it starts to get your money's worth,
• First Page or Last? Which is More Important? [Author, Jody Hedlund] "The 1st page is critical in making the 1st sale. The last chapter is crucial to making the 2nd."
• New Agent Alert: Jessie Cammack of JABberwocky Literary Agency [Guide to Literary Agents] Agent Jessie Cammack wants epic fantasy, YA science fiction, literary fiction.
• “The Help” – Ripping Into The Opening Act [storyfix.com] Structural breakdown of THE HELP. Food for thought!

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? Anyone? Please leave a comment!

Happy reading and joyous writing,

Martina, Marissa and Clara