3 Degree's Of Separation - RIP Pike River Miners.

It has been a tragic week here in New Zealand. 

Last Friday news came of a huge explosion in the Pike River Mine with 29 miners trapped. Yesterday, another huge explosion ripped through the mine just before a rescue attempt was about to start. There are no survivors.

People around the world talk about ‘6 degrees of separation,’ the layers of connectivity between you and the rest of the world. In New Zealand, (small Island nation of 4 million) it is about 3 degrees. Everybody knows someone, who knows someone, on the West Coast of the South Island. Everyone on the Coast will know someone connected to that mine.

Through twitter and facebook we were able to keep up to date with latest news from the mine and while I was scanning the boards I came across this article about using social network for writers.

I abandoned my attempts at writing because I couldn’t concentrate and instead found some good articles on plot, 6 signs of a healthy plot and a great collection of helpful articles on editing.

A friend has been looking at the brainstorming process while beginning to plot a new book and so I have been reading up on structure and came across this great article on how do you know your idea is strong enough for a book...and is it Mid Grade or Young Adult and while you are writing should you post any of it on your blog?

Over On Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have articles on

Exoplanet found in another Galaxy...(geeking, no apologies)

The Publishing Borg Are Here, Lead, Follow Or Get The Hell Out Of The Way. (Great Article By the 

Brilliant Bob Mayer)

4 Agent Pet Peeves...(read and don’t make the same mistakes...)

You Are Not Like MIlli Vanilli (shaking off the imposter syndrome)

How Do Authors Make Money-Thinking Beyond The Book.

Canceling A Project- Reality Check...(it’s a tough world out there, don’t think you’re home until the book is printed...)

After feeling completely depressed by events here in New Zealand, it was nice to read an article in Publishers Weekly about mid list authors who are having success after moving to a smaller press...and making the smaller press successful. Win Win.

My Thoughts and Prayers are with the people on ‘The Coast.’

RIP Pike River Miners (29 dead, aged between 17 and 62)

maureen

Making Like A Professional...

Tonight I had the privilege of being in a room full of children’s authors at a function hosted by The Children’s Book Shop and the Wellington Children’s Book Association. 

Christmas Book Buying Night, where the authors are on hand to talk about their books and sign them along with wine and nibbles and a 10% discount. 

A glass of wine helps any author to stand up and talk about their books and, for those of us there, the questions were really interesting. We talked about the publication process, the waiting for acceptance, the make or breaks for a book, and our current projects. 

One author showed off her book which has been made into an iPad application. For some guests it was the first time they had seen an iPad let alone a children’s book that could be played with, coloured in,  record your own voice reading the story.....

With new technology there are so many ways to get your message across.

Joel Friedlander of The Book Designer blog has listed 17 ways for writers to publish content. The comments on this article list a few more to think about especially repackaging content.

James Scott Bell has a great article over on Killzone. If you want to be a professional writer, start acting like one now. He has five marks of a professional and I saw all five in action tonight.

The writing blogosphere has been up in arms this week over a publisher who has been targeting MFA programmes to find young and hungry writers who know nothing about the industry and signing them up to punishing contracts which take away all their future earnings....  

John Scalzi has published an open letter to MFA programmes urging them to make available classes in publishing business practice and telling them they have a duty after taking all that money to make sure that their students don’t get caught in some very bad situations like this one...because students who think that having an MFA from a respected institution will protect them because they 'know all about the industry'...are being sucked in... 

If you haven’t heard about this (scam) Please take the time to read John's Letter and tell others to read it as well. We should all be aware that if it looks to good to be true...Read and Understand the Fine Print... (It is part of being professional!)

If you are thinking about reading some more industry blogs (in the spirit of being a professional) pop over to Writetodone. Leo Babauta, one of the top bloggers in the entire blogosphere, is hosting the 5th annual top ten blogs for writers contest. Already nominated are many of the blogs I refer to or have referenced in my blog over the last two years. But don’t take my word for it, go and have a look at what other bloggers are saying about the best blogs out there for writers.

Among the best blogs for writers out there is Angela Ackerman’s fabulous Bookshelf Muse. Angela’s project to compile thesaurus for writers on Emotions, Settings, Symbolism etc. Debbie Maxwell Allen has given a quick run down of Angela’s site...if you can’t take it all in at once, it is such a huge project! 

Congratulations Angela on making 300.000 hits to the site. Yes it really is worth a look! (I first referenced Angela back in May and look where the blog is now-talk about growth!)

Over on Craicerplus (My Amplify Page) I have links to Articles on

What Happened To Down Time- The Extinction Of Deep Thinking And Sacred Space. (This is one of those thought provoking articles that change your life)

Should I Tweet?- An Agents Perspective On Marketing...(This article has made best of the week lists all over 

the writing blogosphere.)

Kristin Lambs 3rd structure article- (Really good stuff!)

Is Contemporary YA A Difficult Market?...(comments on facebook and twitter about this one...)

A New Imprint Is Launched -YaYa- teen authors writing for teens.....

Deescribe has a great guest post on marketing by Aussie Tania McCartney. Tania has self published a series of popular books and she shares tips on how to market. This is comprehensive and full of good advice. After all that is what tonight was all about we were marketing....and we were having a great time doing it too.

FaBo is winding to a triumphant conclusion. The team has had a ball. The kids writing into us have stretched us and challenged us and astounded us with their brilliance. It has been a fabulous ride. Go over and check out the penultimate chapter....

enjoy,

maureen

pic is the cover of the movie.....yup that's us... children's writers....maybe the Fabo team....hehehehehehe