Once More Into The Fray

Every now and then I wonder about what a quiet life might entail...especially when the builders are sawing away, the plumber is banging pipes loudly and the kids are helping Dad paint at the other end of the house....

Before I can drift into fantasy dream mode involving solitude and unlimited drinks I’m interrupted five times...

This week’s blog roundup falls heavily on the craft side...as that was top of my eye when starting to research this week, inspired by all the crafting around here as the builders and plumbers attempt to straighten out some of the kinks in this old cottage.

First the inspiration...you can do this... write like Neil Gaimen.

You can get a professional mindset.

You can increase your daily word count.

You can plan for the long haul like Lee Child.

All your story needs is some attention to...

Emotional structure in your novel.

Crafting subplots that make sense.

Characters who have goals...does this mean all of them?

How to dialogue an argument between characters...

So that later you will be able to step back and take the long view of the business

with and an understanding of ...

Cover design tips.

The US Department of Justice ruling on whether the big six were acting illegally explained (wittily by Maureen Johnson) and what it means to us (writers and readers) in the long term.

Staying safe in the digital age.

Building hype on Goodreads about your book.

and if all else fails you can always try these writing prompts.

I would like to thank Janice Hardy, Bob Mayer, Joel Friedlander, Romance University, KM Weiland, Maureen Johnson, Darcy Pattison, Stephen Pressfield, Neil Gaimen, Scribblers Cove and Chip Macgregor for all inspiration found today as I attempted to escape the racket.

Counting The Cost

I am writing this as builders work on our character cottage. Unfortunately the character of our cottage is that of a Saturday night drunk, happy but lurching and having difficulty standing straight. This is fine for a person who will wake up sober the next day but not for a house. Pulling off outside walls to find crooked framing which explains the crooked walls, which means the windows don’t fit properly which means there is rot...these are the hidden costs. We were prepared for some hidden cost but now I am dreading the call of my name from the builders at the other end of the house.

In the blogosphere Writer Beware has a guest post on why small publishers fail with a few scenarios of real situations that have you wincing for all those who are involved. This post responds to comments that asking publishers hard questions about their business  seems mean and intrusive. Given what each scenario details...as an author you’d better know the costs up front.

Sometimes this writing life costs us too much and you feel like throwing in the towel....

Miss Snarks First Victim has a great post on where the quitting decision may be coming from.

L M Preston solicits good advice for beating the blues and Ava Jae of Writability talks about writing through resistance...which echoes Stephen Pressfield's great book, The War of Art, which I bought last week...I recommend this book if you are struggling with the whole ‘what am I doing this for’ scenario.

Agent Mary Kole talks about the decisions of choosing a book to represent for love...or for the potential money...

Fiction is our way of creating a tribe for ourselves- Victoria Mixon This beautiful phrase comes from a very thought provoking post on writing that is challenging and inspirational and shows the costs to yourself as you follow this path.

Lindsay Buroker always has some interesting things to say and this post is no exception. How to improve your sales at Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and iTunes. Check out Lindsay’s previous posts on advertising while you are visiting.

Alan Rinzler has been looking at Book Publicity and he has interviewed three publicists about their work and tips that you can learn from them.

Joel Friedlander has a great rundown on blog widgets and how to get the most out of them design wise.

Jami Gold has a great tip for MS Word and Beta readers...and how to get all their comments all together in one place...tricky and the payment is a saving of your sanity.

This week the Scholastic Media president was interviewed on where Scholastic is going with eBooks enhanced apps etc etc. The interesting numbers from January 2011-January 2012 saw a 474% uptake in children’s eBooks. Scholastic predicts that 30% of all their revenue will be digital by 2015. It is a very interesting article and those of us who write for children need to be flexible in our thinking of where our audience is going.

Jody Hedlund is also concerned about audience and asks whether you really know the demographic that you are writing for. She raises some interesting points in her post eBooks vs Paper...are you taking your audience with you?

Next week hopefully the building work will be nearly finished and we will be counting the cost...and probably reaching for a bottle of solace.