Almost every month I find myself wondering if there are any
climate change skeptics still around. The weather will get more extreme. Storms
will be bigger.... and in the last week we have seen a Super Typhoon slam into
the Philippines.
Candy Gourlay has quickly put together a kidlit author
initiative and asked her fellow kidlitters to donate prizes for an online auction fundraiser. So far 125 authors have responded and there are some very
cool writers and items to be picked up.
This week in the publishing blogosphere Porter Anderson was waxing lyrical about the self publishers who originally eschewed gate keepers now banding together to differentiate themselves from the mass of self
published work out there and setting up gate-keeping awards as a badge of
honour. This discussion is being had in NZ with various bodies including the NZ
Society of Authors.
Rachel Gardner has a nice blog post on the tension between the business of writing and writing itself and another on 12 mistakes that authors make connecting with readers.
Writers Digest West conference has just wrapped up and
WiseInk has a great list of takeaways from it including a shift in attitude to self publishing.
Writer Beware has an alert out on an outfit from Germany offering to blog your book. I treated this as spam when it showed up in my inbox but
some people have been caught.
Roz Morris has reposted her comprehensive blog post on what to do before you spend money on publishing. If you missed this when I posted it
before its well worth a re-read.
Larry, James and Randy got together to talk storytelling craft. This is a great article and really they don’t need any other
introduction than their last names. Brooks, Scott Bell, Ingermanson, authors of
some of the best writing craft guides out there.
In Craft,
Anti Villains...great article
Two great articles from K M Weiland when characters want the same things and 7 ways to decide which idea to run with next.
On Stephen Pressfield’s site - the heirarchy of needs as it applies to your characters
Jami Gold- Do you know what you plan in advance?
This week’s Marketing Links,
Creative Book Launches from the Writers Helping Writers team
To Finish,
The Toast had an interesting article from Sarah Rees Brennan which explores sexism and self promotion. It is a thought provoking article and
echoes some of the conversations NZ has been having in the last week. I think
we are ready for a ‘climate’ change.
