- Matt Staggs Launches Free Book Pitch Service [GalleyCat] Interesting.
- Six Prescriptions to Cure the Heartbreak of Being Published [annerallen.blogspot.com] Reality check.
- SURRENDER Cover Reveal!! [YA Author Elana Johnson]
- The Essentials of YA? [WORD for Teens] What would you put on the reading list?
- Children's books | The Guardian [www.guardian.co.uk] Great site on all things Kidlit and YA.
- Teen Roundtable: Halloween, Horror, and Paranormal Romance [YA Confidential] Real teens talk.
- The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa [The Story Siren] A big thumbs up from TSS for this next book in the series.
- You may not have heard of this book, but you really should have. [WORD for Teens] Let's read these!
- Book Review: Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe [Candace's Book Blog] Beautiful & inspiring.
- Bookanista Buzz - Ditched by Robin Mellom! [Market My Words] Great review!
- New Voice: Matt Blackstone on A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie [Cynsations]
- Book Review: On The Fringe by Courtney King Walker [Mundie Moms] OOH! I need to go get this one.
- New PB Sale [Kate Messner] Congrats to Kate Messner for a new picture books sale and the recent release of OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW, which looks amazing!
- Teen Writing Contest Winner, First Place [www.spillinginkthebook.com] Congrats to 15-yr-old Abby M. on a great entry!
- Myra McEntire: MY Bits of Shiny News [myramcentire.blogspot.com] Congrats on the 20th Century Fox option for HOURGLASS!
- New class of Whiting Award winners announced [Jacket Copy]
- Congrats on the Sale of Two Novellas in the Denazen Series [www.jusaccardo.com] Yay Jus Accardo and Kevan Lyon.
- Every Poster Has a Story: The Scoop on the First-Ever Golden Kite Awards Poster [The Official SCBWI Blog] Fun read, and a job well-done.
- Giveaway Time: Destined by P.C. and Kristin Cast [/- LA FEMME READERS -/] Enter by 11/5.
- Halloween Spooktacular Contest with Natalie Lakosil [elizabethbriggs.blogspot.com] Submit your creepiest 500 words by 10/31.
- First Page and Giveaway: THE PRINCESS CURSE [First Page Panda] Enter by 11/9.
- Ten Literary Questions: A Contest [documentdriven.com] Fun! How many can you answer?
- Book Tour: Bridger by Megan Curd Excerpt and Giveaway! [Candace's Book Blog] Enter by 10/30.
- Haunted Halloween: YA #Giveaways #2 [Confessions of a Bookaholic] Three wonderful prize packs. Enter by 11/3.
- Break the Rules and Become a NaNoWriMo Rebel [keystrokesandwordcounts.wordpress.com] Six ways to make NaNo work for you.
- Writing scenes with Tom Huang [Buffy's write zone] Excellent, succinct post.
- NaNoWriMo #27: How to Optimize Your Scenes [storyfix.com] Get to the point. More is less.
- Act Naturally: Why Writers Should Experiment With Theater [YA Highway] Get some character.
- NaNo Prep: Planning Your Novel’s Beginning [The Other Side of the Story] And setting up your middle.
- Horton Hears A How [The Literary Lab] Surprising prose. So important!
- Nanowrimo: Elements of Act Two, Part 1 [Alexandra Sokoloff] Rising tension and progressive complications.
- Write and SELL your NaNo Book [Jill Corcoran Books] Couple GREAT WRITING w/ ORIGINAL AND COMPELLING CONCEPT.
- The Skill List Project: Plot Flow [www.sfnovelists.com] Making a story hang together.
- Writing Tip: Get In Late, Get Out Early [bryanthomasschmidt.net] Excellent tip about scene structure.
- The End: Wrapping Up Your Stories [Fantasy Faction] Do's and Don'ts for your endings.
- 12 Writing Fiction Checklists [Fiction Notes] Great resource!
- Back to Basics: Writing a Novel Synopsis [Jane Friedman] Fantastic tips.
- Do As I Say, Not As I Do...Err Did [YA Highway] Do teens make enough mistakes in YA Lit?
- 8 Tips for Slicing Through the Research Jungle [Julie Musil] Great tips.
- NaNoWriMo #25: A Strategy for Introducing Your Hero [storyfix.com] Two ways to do it.
- Improving Your Story With David Baboulene [The Creative Penn] Framework elements and subtext.
- Divide #NaNoWriMo Time into Four Parts of Traditional Story Structure [Lia Keyes: The Scribbler] Great post from @PlotWhisperer.
- Tip - Use Magic Early, Consistently, and Wisely [Literary Rambles] Excellent post for Laura Lascarso.
- My secret source of ideas for stories and characters [Time to Write]
- Creating Fear in the Minds of Readers [Paranormal Point of View] Do's and Don'ts.
- The Problem With First Person, But Why Writers Are Drawn To It [Babbles from Scott Eagan]
- Situation v. Plot [Fiction Notes] Transform a situation into a plot.
- Keeping Your Superpowers From Getting Stale [Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels, comic books and graphic novels] Great ideas for your paranormal characters.
- 5 Elements of a Resonant Closing Line [Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors] A book's last line is as important as the 1st.
- My Book's Pop Culture Is So Cool It Hasn't Been Invented Yet [YA Highway] Referencing current pop culture: good or bad?
- Character Traits Thesaurus: Talented [The Bookshelf Muse] Positives, negatives, & cliches of talented characters.
- YA Cafe: Building Suspense [Iggi & Gabi] Suspense isn't WHAT, but HOW. Excellent.
- Five ways to banish drama from your scenes [James Killick's Blog]
- Karen Baney » Dialogue: Common Mistakes Part 1 [www.karenbaney.com] Overuse of Character Names.
- Backwards NaNoWriMo – The Reward System [All About Writing] How do you WriMo?
- Structure Part 4–Testing Your Idea–Is it Strong Enough to Make an Interesting Novel? [Kristen Lamb's Blog]
- NaNoWriMo #21: Still Struggling with Your ‘Concept’? [storyfix.com] A short cut to premise.
- NaNoWriMo #23: Harness the Power of ‘Resentment’ [storyfix.com] How to write compelling fiction.
- PiBoIdMo Official Sign-Up [taralazar.wordpress.com] Can you come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days?
- The Writing Process Is a Numbers Game [Daily Writing Tips] Writing = words + time
- Guest Post: Greg R. Fishbone on Surving the Sophomore Outing [Cynsations]
- Nikhedonia [jessicacorra.wordpress.com] Def. The anticipation of victory: Believe it will happen.
- Reader Archetype [Musings of a Novelista] Do you keep your reader in mind while writing?
- Exclusive Q&A: When You Reach Me author Rebecca Stead [Novel Novice]
- This Week in the Blogs October 16-22-2011 [www.stumbleupon.com] Some interesting posts on promo and self-pub.
- Book promotion sure ain’t what it used to be [www.dystel.com] Interesting post from Jane Dystel. Also read the comments.
- Kidlit/YA News Quickie Round-Up [Inkygirl: An Illustrated Guide For Writers]
- Kidlit News Quickie Round-up [Inkygirl: An Illustrated Guide For Writers] Three pieces of news you'll want to know.
- Q&A: National Book Award Un-Nominee, Lauren Myracle, Felt “Gutted and Ashamed” | Blogs | Vanity Fair [www.vanityfair.com] A true class act and a generous artist.
- A Cynic's Guide To Foreshadowing [www.publetariat.com]
- Twitter Tuesday: All Hallows Read with Neil Gaiman & Harper Teen [Mundie Moms] GREAT idea!
- john green book covers by fans [johngreenbookcovers.tumblr.com] Love the Harry Potter one.
- The Rejectionist: A YA Op-Ed Mad Lib, For Your Editorial-Writing Convenience [www.therejectionist.com] LOVE this!
- Writing Superstitions and Rituals [From the Write Angle] Lemon drops & jazz fingers. I'm soooo gonna try that.
- Comic: Bibliophile Bus Stop [Inkygirl: An Illustrated Guide For Writers] I love this!
- A Giant Giveaway Gets Even Bigger! [kt literary] Great thing to do! Spread the word.
- Tightening Your (Manuscript’s) Belt: a Checklist for Eliminating Unnecessary Prose [Cheryl Reif Writes] And even more tightening tips!
- How to Write Tight - Part 2 [*Lynnette Labelle* @Chatterbox Chitchat] More tightening tips
- Writing Clearer, Simpler, Cleaner [Artzicarol Ramblings] Tighten your prose with these tips
- 5 Tips for Styling Numbers [Daily Writing Tips] Know the number rules of grammar?
- questions that helped during revisions [Left and Write Brained] Some excellent questions to ask.
- How to Write Tight - Part 1 [*Lynnette Labelle* @Chatterbox Chitchat] How to get to the point!
- Using Social Networking to Promote Your Event [WOW! Women On Writing Blog] Three great tips.
- Passing the Torch: My Final SCBWI Blog Post [The Official SCBWI Blog] Alice Pope steps down from the SCBWI blog. A loss!
- Novelists: Stop Trying to Brand Yourself [Rachelle Gardner] Your book is more important than your platform!
- Agent Spotlight: Karen Grencik [Literary Rambles]
- Publishing Debates: Should We Take Sides? [Jami Gold, Paranormal Author] Questions on contracts.
- More On Queries - An extension of what Jessica Faust wrote about... [Babbles from Scott Eagan] A query is a job application.
- The Archaic Query [BookEnds, LLC — A Literary Agency] Writing queries is a different skill set but necessary for success.
- Ten Surefire Ways to Turn Off a Prospective Agent [johnmcusick.wordpress.com] Humorous but true.
- Lit Agency Trident Media Launches eBook Division - AgentQuery Connect [agentqueryconnect.com]
- Things I heard in New York [sarahs_blog] What are editors sick of? What are they craving?
- The Why Behind One Writer's Decision to Give Away Her Book [tenaciousink.blogspot.com] A very sad story.
- Suzie Townsend Moves to Nancy Coffey [Confessions] And offers a great op for query feedback!
- What 3 Agents Want To See [Falling Leaflets] Stephen Malk, Tina Wexler, and Taylor Martindale.
- How to Write Your Bio for a Byline or Query [Write It Sideways] Great, detailed post with examples.
- A Bunch of Articles on the Submission Process [Writer Musings] Great!
- The Art of Pitching [Confessions] The importance of comparable titles.
- HOW TO GET AN AGENT [Jill Corcoran Books] Bookmark this post!
- Agent Spotlight: Roseanne Wells of Marianne Strong [Literary Rambles] Another great profile.
- Want to Make Money Writing? Build Relationships With Editors [Quips and Tips for Successful Writers]
- Elizabeth Craig posts a weekly list of all her helpful Twitter posts.
- And don't forget to check Nathan Bransford's blog for his weekly recap of publishing news and information.
- 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.
Happy reading and joyous writing,
Martina, Clara & Marissa