That chinese curse...

Today I asked my Facebook friends who put the chinese curse on me? You know the one...may you live in interesting times!

Yesterday was manic day...with NZ readers and writers week events to attend...as well as a book launch followed by the Arts Festival event the whole family was going to...(Circensus...mind boggling theatre.) Today I have to pack up family after a full day of activities and get them on the plane to attend a bittersweet family event that was supposed to be a highlight of the year...but now is a sad reminder and cope with all the family trauma surrounding this.

Yesterday in a great panel event on comics fantasy and popular culture chaired by Dylan Horrocks, Kelly Link, Denise Mina and Robert Shearman were asked a question about whether writers should seek to fill up their lives with experiences so they can write about them...The consensus from the panel...you should have a boring life but interesting friends!

So this is a shout out to my interesting friends...who are writers and artists... I hope that I am inspiring your creativity the way you are inspiring mine!

The publishing industry must be collectively searching for the disgruntled writers who put the chinese curse on them...as the US government looks to investigate the Big 6, Amazon and Apple over ebook price fixing.

This is a big story and will be played out over the year. To get a quick handle on it read James Scott Bell and Mike Shatzkin...they come in from different sides...James is kinder to the authors....There is a lot of comment and debate in the comments section for both of these articles and in the blogosphere so take the time to have a look. Porter Anderson has put together a linked list of opinions from all around the blogosphere on this topic.  Many bloggers are urging writers that they must get to grips with the publishing industry. Writers must make themselves aware of what is happening in publishing and how it will affect them and their careers.

While you are thinking about your career...check out this excellent post on Author Platform and best practice from Jane Friedman.

Interesting

To fuel your writing brain (are you an artist?), Justine Musk has a great post on your original creative voice and Kristin has one on whether publishing supports artists...

In craft tips...The great site Romance University has a fabulous post on pacing...and if you don’t know what that is you need it!

Times

Elisabeth S Craig has a post on time management...which you need when you write series books...and Jody Hedlund has one on managing social networks.

You

If You like cool information shown in graphs check out this infografic on the thematic flow of a book...

If You need to find out how to get more people to engage with your fan page on Facebook look at this list of 50 ways...

Writer Beware has a warning on dodgy writing competitions.... Last year I quickly did the maths on The Text Prize and came to the conclusion that they can’t be losing any money on it...and it looks win/win...and they are a reputable company. Check out the rules very carefully when you enter a writing competition.

Anne R Allen has a guest post by Mark Williams about how the Big Six are fighting back after the eBook publishing scare of writers taking this into their own hands.

Live in.

As I start investigating marketing opportunities for Craic I came across this useful site promoted on Goodreads.... One of the biggest drivers of how successful your book is in the world is how many people read it, loved it and then were prepared to write a review on it.  Reviews can be the biggest hurdle to overcome. So finding an eBook review site that you can participate in is a wonderful bonus.

If you commit to leaving a review, the writer will send you a free copy of the book, win/win. (Hint: Craic is available if you want to give it a try.) Writers go and check it out and share the love...

Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) is living in interesting times as he promotes his next book in this book trailer....

maureen