Self Examination

This week there have been some interesting posts by writers looking critically at their success or lack of it. A thread runs through all these articles of perseverance or maybe it’s  just mule like stupidity (paraphrasing Terry Gilliam here.)

Lisa Cohen has written an entertaining article on Writer Unboxed about the lessons learned over five years and six books. There are some great takeaways in here.

Taking the theme of challenging yourself... Paul Searles writes on the Save The Cat website about how he won the midnight challenge in screenwriting. The whole competition is about challenging yourself as a writer...

Fear of success is just as debilitating as fear of failure. Anne R Allen has written a blog post that is resonating across the publishing blogosphere. This is a follow on from articles I have highlighted in the last couple of weeks. An excellent read!

Roz Morris writes about moving from being a ghost writer to a writer with her own name on the cover of the book. Reviews hit harder... Accolades make you cry. This is a great article about the unexpected experiences of having your name on the book.

Joanna Penn has a great interview with David Wood on how to have bestselling series and running a small press. He publishes other Indie authors and has an interesting idea on the publishing future landscape.

Joanna Penn is coming to Auckland in February 2017. She is offering a one day seminar on self publishing. If you are dipping your toe in... or thinking about it, you probably need to go to this.

Publishing Perspectives has an interesting interview with Jason Cooper of Unbound, a crowd-funding publishing house. This model is becoming quite attractive to authors who have projects that are unusual. This comprehensive interviews talks about the crowd funding model and the future of this style of publishing.

In The Craft Section,

How to write a book with NaNoWriMo- NowNovel

Ten steps to plotting your practice novel- Writer Unboxed

Roz Morris- How to write emotions and feelings- Bookmark

Four tips for preventing flat descriptions- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

Kaizen Writing- Bookmark

The Master List of Romance plots- Bryn Donovan

The two minute writing workshop already at your fingertips- Larry Brooks- Bookmark

7 steps to writing the first novel- Joanna Penn

Trimming words from a too long manuscript- Janice Hardy

In The Marketing Section,

Tips for making yourself more promotable- Writers in the Storm Bookmark

How to create a box set bundle- Joanna Penn- Bookmark

Perfect Instagram marketing

DIY Print On Demand- The Who Is Doing What List and How Much It Costs.

Publicity for authors- Joel Friedlander interviews Dana Kaye

A case study in covers- Interesting read!

In the Print It Out and Post It On A Wall Section,

April Brown and Becca Puglisi have compiled the most exhaustive checklist of actions for publishing a novel. I think everything is covered here! (Of course you have to write it first!)

To Finish,

What Kind Of A Writer Are You? Stephen Pressfield asks the question of himself but this self examination throws up some truths about your own motivations for writing. An excellent and thought provoking read.

Maureen

@craicer

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Pic : Flickr Creative Commons/ Kaex0r