 |
| Photo by Steve Corey |
I’ve compiled another huge roundup of good articles, great books, and book giveaways published online and in the blogosphere this week. Scroll down to see the categories. I tried putting shortcuts to them last week, but blogger ate the links, so I’m giving up on that. The list is long because too many people are putting out great information. Which brings me to a question.
Please Tell Me:
Are you finding these round-ups helpful? With Google Reader going away soon, I am going to have to cobble together alternate ways to compile this weekly list. If we don’t have a lot of people who care much either way, I’m wondering if it’s worth the hassle. Reading all these blogs definitely cuts down on my ability to leave comments for people, because I’m reading through the reader instead of visiting. What do you think? Are you glad we brought back the THIS WEEK FOR WRITERS posts? Are they worth keeping? And if so, do you have any suggestions or wishes?
Helping Oklahoma:
I spent most of the week enjoying my kids. Hugging them. Smothering them, really, because every time I turned on the TV and saw the devastation in Oklahoma and elsewhere, it reminded me of how easy my life is, and how lucky I am. How much I owe the rest of the world.
Inspiration of the Week:
The heroes and victims from Oklahoma are beyond inspiring. So are all the people who are helping any way they can. If you haven’t pitched in yet, the Red Cross has three easy ways to help. Kate Messner also has a KidLitCares for Oklahoma post. There are others, but that’s a good start.
**Note from Jan – I live in Oklahoma, so if you are interested in donating to a local group who is collecting items for the victims, please let me know. I have contact info for some churches that are sending needed items and volunteers to the devastated areas daily.
And on a different but related note, here’s another bit of inspiration, a reminder that one person at a time can change the world. Watch it all the way through. It’s breathtaking and chill-inducing.
More Inspiration:
Great Book Art:
This photoset of 3D collages from classic books is incredible. Here’s a sample.
The Seven Minute Workout (i.e. Avoiding the Consequences of Butt-in-Chair):
We writers pride ourselves on having our butts in our seats and our fingers on the keyboard. Unfortunately, if I keep going the way I am, I’m going to need a bigger chair. Supposedly, there’s science that says this particular Seven Minute Workout is all we need to keep fit. Seven minutes? I’m game.
Books and Giveaways
- Cover Reveal: THE HISTORIANS by Trisha Leigh + Giveaway…
from Latest blog entries - EXCERPT AND GIVEAWAY: LOVE IN DARKNESS by E.M. TIPPETTS
from The Bookish Babe - You Never Forget Your First…Genie!
from Yes, This Will Be On The Test Leslie S. Rose - New YALit Releases 5/24-5/31 plus 3 Giveaways!
from Adventures in YA Publishing - THE DELIGHT OF BOOK DEDICATIONS
from Janet Gurtler- YA Addict - Happy Release Day, MISMATCHED!
from The Sharp Angle - All About THE FIRE HORSE GIRL: Behind the Book, Q&A,…
from Brooklyn Arden - PW Picks: The Best New Books for the Week of May 27,…
from PublishersWeekly.com News Articles - Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
from Pure Imagination - May Debut YA Novels
from Stacked - Review: The Girl With the Iron Touch by Kady Cross
from Candace’s Book Blog - THE CROWN OF EMBERS by Rae Carson
from YA Author Elana Johnson - [Guess Who Giveaway] The Rules by Stacey Kade
from Reading Teen - New Voice & Giveaway: Laurie Boyle Crompton on Blaze…
from Cynsations - Newly Discovered Pearl S. Buck Novel Coming
from GalleyCat - Clearing My Shelves Giveaways!
from Katie’s Book Blog - Interview with Lisa Amowitz, author of BREAKING GLASS
from The Enchanted Inkpot - Interview with Author Lisa Gail Green
from Julie Musil - Matilda 25th Anniversary Blog Tour & Contest
from Novel Novice - Why the F*ck Do People Love Jane Austen So Much? A…
from LitReactor - Giveaway: The Program by Suzanne Young!
from Katie’s Book Blog - Happy Book Birthday, PRAEFATIO and TRANSPARENT!
from We Do Write - Transparent Is OUT. I am PUBLISHED.
from Between Fact and Fiction - Happy Release Day!
from YA Author Elana Johnson - Tour: Excerpt & Giveaway – RESTORE ME by J.L. Mac
from Confessions of a Bookaholic - iBookstore Book of the Week is I’M NOT HER!!!
from Janet Gurtler- YA Addict - Review: Defiance by C.J. Redwine
from Confessions of a Bookaholic - Young Adult Review: Under the Light by Laura Whitcomb
from Candace’s Book Blog - Review: Ten by Gretchen McNeil
from Confessions of a Bookaholic - My Weekly Round Up in the Stacks (In My Mailbox #159/…
from Mundie Moms - So You Want to Read YA? Guest Post by Amy Stern, Literary…
from Stacked - Blog Tour & Giveway: The Best Place For Me by Amy…
from Candace’s Book Blog - Double Giveaway — The Diary of Minnie Bonner and…
from The Write Stuff - Contest and Tour Schedule
from Paranormal Point of View - Giveaway: Delerium, The Debt Collector Episode One,…
from The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experime - New Voice: Polly Holyoke on The Neptune Project
from Cynsations - COVER REVEAL AND GIVEAWAY: LOVE LIKE FIREWORKS by…
from The Bookish Babe
Inspiration and Smiles
- The Aroma of Reading
from Words from the Woods - Steve Jobs and 5 Tips for Being a Successful Author
from Kristen Lamb’s Blog - Terrible Writing & the Prologue of The Dream Thieves!
from Words on Words by Maggie Stiefvater - On Writing
from Caroline by line - Seven countries. Nine cities. One month.
from Victoria (V.E.) Schwab - On what literature is really about, and being a “serious”…
from Steph Bowe’s Hey! Teenager of the Year - Biz Stone: Abandon Your Failures
from 99U - Boundaries for Writers, by Kristi Holl
from Marcia Hoehne - Just Keep Going
from Seeking the Write Life - You Begin
from Shattered Prose - 6 Essential Tips For Your Own Stay-at-Home Writing…
from BookBaby Blog - What Are the Odds of Success? …Really?
from Kristen Lamb’s Blog - How To Talk To Important People
from 99U - Teen With Terminal Cancer Teaches All Of Us How To…
from BuzzFeed – Latest - When Stuck, Talk It Out
from 99U - A fresh start with a new agent!
from S.R. Johannes - Coping With Rejection
from Words & Pictures – Online Magazine of SCBWI - Embrace Your Obstacles
from Scene 13ers - The Tao of Ghostwriting by Molly Cochran
from Adventures in YA Publishing - Death by Comparison
from The Bookshelf Muse - Isn’t It About Time YOU Graduated, Writer?
from WOW! Women On Writing Blog - Rejection: #1 Cause of Writers’ Neurosis
from QueryTracker Blog - What I’ve Really Learned About Writing & Publishing…
from Natalia Sylvester - Have Writer’s Block? Take a Nap.
from 99U - 27 Moments You’ll Never Forget From The “Buffy” Series…
from BuzzFeed – Latest - The Company of Writers
from ShelfTalker - If You Give A Writer A Pen
from YA Stands - Cynthia Leitich Smith on Writing for the Long Haul
from Janni Lee Simner / Desert Dispatches – Janni Lee - Calm Down: Anxiety’s deaf ear to logic
from laurendestefano - What do you believe in?
from The Kindness Project - On Creativity: Narrative, Fiction, and Life
from Magical Words - How To Become Dan Brown
from BuzzFeed – Latest - Self-Publishing: It’s Not for Everyone
from Writability - Is Thinking about Writing …. Well writing?
from Writers On The Move
Writing Craft
- Rules for writing: block that metaphor!
from Books news, reviews and author interviews | guar - What’s Your Writing Process?
from Lia Keyes: The Scribbler - Required Reading: MAKE YOUR STORY A MOVIE by John…
from Red Sofa Literary - Letting Your Characters Lead
from AuthorCulture - Editing ‘As’ and ‘ing’ Phrases–a post by Gemma
from Bent on Books - What’s the Visual? Adding Power To Your Writing.
from Writers In The Storm Blog - Turning Story Opening Don’ts Into Do’s
from The Bookshelf Muse - How to write faster and finish what you start (the…
from Time to Write - Scene Stealers: Think out of The Box
from Write to Done - Tips for Productivity
from Blood-Red Pencil - Self-Editing Tips and Tricks: How to Make Sure Not…
from YA Stands - A “Breakdown” on Breaking Down a Manuscript; Two Conferences;…
from Brooklyn Arden - How To Overcome Writer’s Block – 10 Tips
from C H Griffin - BUT WHAT DO WE LEAVE IN?
from Writing In The Crosshairs - Moving Out of Your Writing Comfort Zone
from Writers On The Move - Shift Syntax to Strengthen Sentences
from Daily Writing Tips - All the Publishing Information You Ever Wanted
from Rachelle Gardner - Getting Over Writer’s Block: Listen To Your Characters
from Karen Woodward - How Convenient–Plot Contrivance
from Mystery Writing is Murder - You have to research to write
from Magical Words - This is all great, but why am I reading this?
from QueryTracker Blog - Heads Up: A Fun, New Crit Round
from Miss Snark’s First Victim - Writing Tool: WorkFlowy
from Writability - Are writing rules meant to be broken?
from chasingthecrazies - Steven Spielberg’s techniques and themes
from Go Into The Story - Good Writing vs. Talented Writing
from The Passive Voice – Latest Updates - (Re)tell Me a Story
from The Daily Dahlia - The Non-Google Research Tool That Makes Writing Easier
from Write to Done - What are your novel’s or screenplay’s 3 magic words?
from Time to Write - Plotting visually:You’ve got to see it to believe…
from The Kill Zone - Writing Time: A Guilty Pleasure or a Necessity?
from Author, Jody Hedlund - A Few Good Tricks
from Stina Lindenblatt - Hacking Away At Your Opening by Claire LaZebnick
from Adventures in YA Publishing - Four Tips for Beta Reading in Other Genres
from Jami Gold, Paranormal Author - What Parenting Books Can Teach Us About Critiquing
from Buried in the Slush Pile - Resonance: The Core of the Verse Novel
from Marion Dane Bauer: Just Thinking - There are two sides to every story
from All Write – Fiction Advice - The Two Power Questions Every Writer Should Ask
from The Kill Zone - Embrace the Messy Writing Process
from WOW! Women On Writing Blog - 5 Reasons You Should Stop Writing
from Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors - Four Fiction Felonies that Make Your Plot Unbelievable
from Marcy Kennedy - 3 Tricks to Increasing Tension in One Day
from A. Victoria Mixon, Editor - The Sensitive, Passionate Story
from Live Write Thrive - If This Is What I Want As A Reader. . . A Novel Matters…
from Novel Matters - A Conversation between Critique Partners: Trusting…
from Pub(lishing) Crawl - The Writers Voice Contest Entries for Team Brenda…
from Brenda Drake . . . under the influence of coffe - The Reality of Freelance Writing
from Daily Writing Tips - What Writers Can Learn From Dan Brown’s Inferno
from The Creative Penn - The Opening Scene: A Review of the Plot Whisperer…
from WOW! Women On Writing Blog - 5 Writing and Productivity Links You Can Use
from Copyblogger
Story Elements
- 3 Ways to Add Repetition That Pleases Readers
from Wordplay: Helping Writers Become Authors - Traumatizing Your Characters, Part 4: How Vulnerable…
from The Strangest Situation - Traumatizing Your Characters, Part 3: Factors That…
from The Strangest Situation - Traumatizing Your Characters, Part 2: Types of Trauma
from The Strangest Situation - Traumatizing Your Characters, Part 1: Generalities
from The Strangest Situation - Naming Characters: My Two Favorite Baby Name Books
from Wavy Lines - Three Tips for Naming Characters
from The Write Practice - World-Building 102: The Word-Smith’s Craft
from Blood-Red Pencil - World Building Tips Learned at the Louvre
from The Other Side of the Story - Deepening Character: a conversation with Cliff McNish,…
from Notes from the Slushpile - Tips For Building An Interesting World
from Karen Woodward - Writing Fiction: Bring Your Characters To Life With…
from The Creative Penn - Character Archetypes 101: The Lover
from The Character Therapist - Why We (and Our Characters) Fall in Love: Part Four
from Writers In The Storm Blog
Story Structure
- Specific Genre Structures, Part 4: Drama and Tragedy
from Cockeyed Caravan - Specific Genre Structures, Part 3: Horror
from Cockeyed Caravan - Genre Structure, Part 2: Thriller, Conspiracy and…
from Cockeyed Caravan - The Many Definitions of Plot
from Ingrid’s Notes - The 7 Basic Plots: Rebirth
from The Write Practice - Size Matters, Length Not So Much
from Veronica Sicoe – Science-Fiction Writer - The Shape of a Story
from Writer Musings
Getting Published
- Things that change in First Pass Pages
from Jodi Meadows - How I Started Getting Paid for My Passion
from Goins, Writer - Agent Spotlight: Christa Heschke
from Literary Rambles - Top Five Things Not to Put in your Query because Kristin…
from Hey, There’s A Dead Guy in the Living Room - A Writer’s Audience
from Blood-Red Pencil - Self-Publishing: Who Says Your Book Isn’t Real?
from The Creative Penn - Sometimes It Is Simply A Matter Of Liking It Or Not…
from Babbles from Scott Eagan - How To Write A Compelling Pitch and Synopsis
from fcmalby - 5 Book Publishing Paths Infographic
from GalleyCat - Submission: 6 Rules of Thumb From an Editor-Turned-Writer
from Jane Friedman - What do you look for in historical fiction?
from Chip MacGregor .com - The Quest Initative: 3 days and counting!
from Go Into The Story - Letting Go of Scarcity Thinking
from Rachelle Gardner
Networking and Promotion
- Copyright Implications of Yahoo Buying Tumblr
from Plagiarism Today - My “NEW INVENTION” in Book Promotion …
from The Alliterative Allomorph - 5 Website Resources for YA Writers
from Writers by the Shore - 30 Quick Editing Tips Every Content Creator Needs…
from Copyblogger - One Week Left to Register for Reaching Readers Conference
from Publishing Perspectives - How to Analyze Your Website Traffic
from Author Marketing Experts, Inc. » BLOG - Debut Dabbles Vlog with J.R. Johansson
from The Lucky 13s - An Inside Look at Today’s Book Reviewers
from Writers In The Storm Blog - School Visits: Seeking Them Out and Setting Them Up
from Caroline by line - Get What You Don’t Pay For
from Magical Words - TIP TUESDAY #163 AND INTERNATIONAL BE POSITIVE DAY
from Literary Rambles - PR and Marketing for Self-Publishing: Do’s and Don’ts
from Writer Unboxed - 31 Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips Based On…
from Heidi Cohen - This Week in the Blogs, May 12 – 18, 2013
from The Book Designer
Industry News and Trends
- The reductive approach to YA
from Stacked - Publishers Weekly talks YA Icons Tour
from Margaret Stohl - Mini-trend: Amnesia in YA
from Stacked - ‘Hunger Games’ Makeup? Now I’ve Seen it All!
from LitReactor - News from the Big Six, Apple Antitrust Settlements
from Good E-Reader – eBooks, Publishing and Comic New - Is Our Culture Becoming Too Critical and Open?
from Author, Jody Hedlund - Penguin and WHS partner on charity summer reading…
from Bookseller news - Lydia Davis wins International Man Booker
from Bookseller news - Amazon’s Fan Fiction Model: Is It a Good Idea?
from Jami Gold, Paranormal Author - Penguin Pays $75 Million Settlement In Apple eBook…
from The Passive Voice – Latest Updates - Award-winning Children’s Publisher Leaves Amazon
from LitReactor - Imagining a Post-Amazon World
from Nathan Bransford, Author - College Readiness: Librarians Can Help the Transition…
from School Library Journal - A Dream Come True
from Author Heather McCorkle - Only 7% of Children’s Books are Authored by Persons…
from Fiction Notes - Changes at New York Times Book Review – eBook Bestseller…
from LitReactor - L,B’s Blackfriars to publish crowd-sourced digital…
from Bookseller news - The Last Few Weeks in Books 5/20/13
from Nathan Bransford, Author - Mali: Timbuktu’s literary gems face Islamists and…
from Books news, reviews and author interviews | guar - Hugh Howey Leads Self-Published Bestsellers List
from GalleyCat - And Now, the Winners of the 2013 Nebula Awards…
from LitReactor - 16 Of The Funniest Lies You Can Tell A Child
from BuzzFeed – Latest - Which five authors are in the running for the 2013…
from Books news, reviews and author interviews | guar - The Next Stephen King Book Will Forgo a Digital Edition
from Good E-Reader – eBooks, Publishing and Comic New - Going Digital… Some New Plugged-In Approaches To…
from The Official SCBWI Blog - Juvenile Fiction Nominees at the Edgar Awards Ceremony…
from School Library Journal - When Books Are Really Good, Despite Being Written…
from YA Highway - The Twilight Debate
from YA Stands
YA Science Fiction & Fantasy – Part Two: From Humble…
from Fantasy Faction - Canada’s Forest of Reading Winners
from Cynsations
- Cynthia Leitich Smith has a great roundup at Cynsations
- Bestselling author Kami Garcia always has a fun, visual roundup on her blog
- YA Highway‘s Field Trip Friday is a must-read
- Publishing Pulse over at Querytracker always has great highlights, and
- Elizabeth Spann Craig does a Twitterific recap of her tweets for writers at Mystery Writing is Murder
Share Your Links
What have you read (or written) this week (books, blog posts, articles, thoughts, whatever) that struck a chord with you? Am I missing important posts from a particular site you’ve found? Share your thoughts and links in the comments!
Happy reading and writing. Have a great weekend!
Martina
