10 Best Articles This Week for Writers 9/16/11

After the Sale

• Promotion ideas [Janet Reid, Literary Agent]
• 6 Ways to Tame Writers' Public Speaking Fears--by Deborah Sharp [Mystery Writing is Murder]

Book Reviews

• A Resurgence of Dark (Teens Aren't Stupid) [WORD for Teens] Great post!
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALLI! [ROOTS IN MYTH] CALLI by @JessLeeAnderson.
• Book Birthdays! [A Blog about Nothing]
• Exclusive Q&A with Goliath author Scott Westerfeld [Novel Novice]
• Authors - National Book Festival (Library of Congress) [www.loc.gov] 9/24 - 9/25 2011 on the Washington Mall. #books
• Forced Smiles For Reading [Let The Words Flow]
• Should authors really be on Goodreads?* [Steph Bowe's Hey! Teenager of the Year] Important read.

Contests

• First Page and Giveaway: WITCHLANDERS [First Page Panda] Amazing first page. Win Wintchlanders from @FirstPagePanda
• Win A Crit From Us! [Sisters in Scribe] Hurry, bidding closes on Saturday and proceeds benefit the American Red Cross!
• It's the YA SCRAMBLE! Huge Giveaway! [ROOTS IN MYTH]
• Next contest! [Janet Reid, Literary Agent] Make a photo poem of your book spines. Enter by 9/18.
• Interview: Sharon Gosling (& Giveaway) [WORD for Teens] Enter by 9/20. #giveaways
• THE FAERIE RING by Kiki Hamilton Review & Giveaway [ROOTS IN MYTH]
• P.J. HOOVER INTERVIEW AND BOOK GIVEAWAY [Literary Rambles] Lovely interview and a chance to win SOLSTICE!
• Goliath: Win the Leviathan Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld [Novel Novice]
• September Giveaway! [Class of 2K11] Win Alissa Grosso's POPULAR or BAD TASTE IN BOYS by Carrie Harris.
• September Secret Agent Early Info [Miss Snark's First Victim] Contest opens 9/19 for Fiction, including YA & MG!
• Lisa McMann: The Unwanteds & Dead To You ARC Giveaway [Novel Novice] Enter by 9/16.
• YA Book & Critique Giveaway [Artzicarol Ramblings] Congrats, @artzicarol! And great giveaway. Enter by 9/14.

Craft of Writing

• Universal Story -- Test Your Story [Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers]
• 9 Essentials For Writing Your Climactic Scene [www.publetariat.com]
• Weather Thesaurus Entry: Rainbow [The Bookshelf Muse]
• Talking about Talking--Thoughts on Dialogue [YA Muses]
• Pseudo Dialogue Tags [YA Muses]
• 7 Ways to Develop Dazzling Dialog [Author, Jody Hedlund]
• Voice Is Not Everything (but it is vitally important) [The Sharp Angle]
• Writer's Wednesday: Openers [Oasis for YA]
• Misconceptions About Outlining [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Great points!
• Voice Begins with Word Choices [Fiction Notes]
• Survey of Fantasy Subgenres [Fantasy Faction] Nice post.
• Tip Tuesday #105 [Literary Rambles] Ommwriter software for the writer who is easily distracted.
• If You Can't Describe Your Story, There Probably Isn't A Story [Babbles from Scott Eagan]
• Guest Author Claudia Gray: I Said, He Said: First Vs. Third Person [The Other Side of the Story]
• No-no's in Character Actions [Coming Down the Mountain: A Writer's Blog] Really? Because sometimes, a character just does have to smile.
• 14 Do's and Don'ts for Introducing Your Protagonist [Anne R. Allen's Blog]
• Frustration: Your Novel's Best Friend [The Bookshelf Muse] Love this post!
• Backstory: Where and How Much? [Paranormal Point of View]
• What She Said -- My Monologue on Dialogue [YA Muses]
• Voice Matters: Does Yours Fit Your Genre? by Ashley March [* Roni Loren - Fiction Groupie *]
• Contrast to Compare [Writer Unboxed] Build character traits that bring out the best and worst at inconvenient times.
• Bloom's Taxonomy and New Authors [Babbles from Scott Eagan] Where are you on the learning scale?
• A Writer’s Main Objective [Kidlit.com] Make the reader feel.
• Dated Writing? [The Literary Lab] Keeping a story timeless.
• Curiosity Killed the Cat but Captured the Reader [Harry Potter for Writers] Great post.
• Why Your Hero Absolutely Must Pet a Dog [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] Make your anti-hero sympathetic.
• My Love (Hate) Affair with Storyboards [How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book] Excellent.
• Why I Pushed My Heroine off a Cliff . . . Almost [Writer Unboxed] Are you too soft on your heroine?
• Head-Hopping Gives Readers Whiplash [The Editor's Blog]
• Five W’s of Writing [GENREALITY] Back to basics, and a great reminder.
• How to Find Clichés in Your Writing [Beyond The Margins] Love this tip about honesty in our writing.
• TO PLOT OR NOT TO PLOT: Part 2 – Taking a Closer Look at Story [Ingrid's Notes]
• TO PLOT OR NOT TO PLOT: Part 1 – Terminology and the Difference between Narrative and Story [Ingrid's Notes]
• 5 Writing Secrets From William Shakespeare – The Bard [Quips and Tips for Successful Writers]
• Deadly Sin of Writing #7–Treating the Reader Like a Moron [Kristen Lamb's Blog]
• How To Get The Most Out Of A Critique, Part One [Writer Musings]
• My Honest Thoughts On How To Get Published - A Simple Post and a Celebration for My Novel, Monarch [The Literary Lab]

Inspiration

• Where Do You Get Your Ideas? [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author]
• burning man: still amazing [Kirsten Hubbard: YA Author + Travel Writer] Incredible -- and the pics are beautiful. In a word, it's Living.
• How Do You Stretch Yourself? [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author]
• Tuesday Ten: Skills Every Writer Needs [Cheryl's Musings]
• JoNoWriMo+1.5 Starts THIS Wednesday! [Jo Knowles] Want a warm up to NaNoWriMo?
• Literary vs. Genre Fiction [The Katacomb]
• READY TO BE PUBLISHED? [Help! I Need a Publisher!]
• Best Advice I Ever Got: Luke Reynolds [Anna Staniszewski] Love this!
• Guest Post: Every Writer Has a Bit of Harry Inside ‘Em [Harry Potter for Writers] Lovely post!
• The 3-Step 3-Minute Writer's Workout Warm-Up(™): Easy, Fast, and Super Wordtastic! [YA Highway]

Issues, News, and Trends

• McGraw-Hill to Split into Two Companies [GalleyCat]
• 20 Companies Use Computer-Generated Stories to Save Money on Writers [GalleyCat] So writers are obsolete?
• 15 Reasons for Writers to Love Libraries [Mystery Writing is Murder]
• Should Agents Respond to All Queries? [Nathan Bransford, Author]
• Thoughts On: Articles about YA Books (Or lack thereof) [WORD for Teens]
• Your Public Persona - Proudly Wearing the Author Badge [The Sharp Angle] Present yourself professionally--everywhere.
• What Will Amazon’s ‘Netflix for Books’ Do to Libraries? [PWxyz] What do you think?
• Here’s the thing about fiction… [Behler Blog] Learn to navigate this bumpy road.

Self-editing

• 9 Forms of the Past Tense [Daily Writing Tips]
• Wrong Word Usage - Part 4 [*Lynnette Labelle* @Chatterbox Chitchat]
• Word Origin Influences Your Writing Voice [Daily Writing Tips]
• Evocative Writing: An Ah-ha Moment [Katie Ganshert] Great technique for when a line doesn't work.

Social Media

• What’s Hiding in Your Archives? [Confident Writing] Does your blog need a face lift?
• 10 Marketing Strategies for New Writers [Author Marketing Experts, Inc. » BLOG]
• Getting Yourself Out There in 30 Minutes or Less [YA Author Elana Johnson] Quick social networking
• How Writers & Readers Can Use ifttt [GalleyCat]
• 5 Points to Ponder on Pottermore for Writers [Harry Potter for Writers] Lessons writers can use to engage their readers.
• Hurricane Irene Relief Auction [The Katacomb] Critiques and goodies for a great cause. Bid quickly!

To Market

• The times they are a'changin', yes indeed [Janet Reid, Literary Agent] Put an intro on your site if you post pages.
• Not Right For Us At This Time [The Blood-Red Pencil] And what that might mean for your manuscript.
• Looking Around While Still Represented [Kidlit.com]
• Facebook Marketing App For Writers & Publishers [GalleyCat] Can't wait to give it a try!
• An Actual No Means No--For Us Anyway [Pub Rants] This is why Kristin Nelson is fabulous. And yes, I wish she was on Twitter.
• CLOSED TO QUERIES + UPDATED: THE HOWs AND WHYs OF GETTING PUBLISHED [Jill Corcoran Books]
• When An Agent Offers to Rep You [Rachelle Gardner]
• Why Direct Publishing Will Prevail [edittorrent]

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