The week the world has been shaken up and now everybody is
thinking about mortality.
We are not invulnerable.
In the writing world Tech Crunch analysed the publishing industry and came to the conclusion that there
is a new parallel publishing universe happening. Welcome To The Dark Side.
Catherine Ryan Hyde has written an amazing post onrejection. This tells the story of Pay It Forward. Catherine has some great
advice for writers struggling with the lows of the publishing world.
Dean Wesley Smith talks about the times that the writer
becomes overwhelmed by the critical voice in their head saying ‘What’s the point?’ This is a great post about reconnecting with the joy of writing.
Jane Friedman recently wrote about the myths of writing and
then linked to an interesting article on writers and addictions by Douglas
Millikin.
Jody Hedlund has a post on How To Drive Yourself Crazy As AWriter. Jody gives great advice so make sure you drop in and read what not to
do.
By now you may be reaching for a stiff drink!
On the good news front. China needs more books. Publishers
Weekly has just covered the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair and the news is allpositive... and great opportunities are opening up.
Rick Riordan has managed to get his foreign publishers to stop white washing his characters on the cover of his books. This is great
news. I wondered if it was a language translation problem but sometimes that is
not the case... Marketing can make the wrong decisions! I was thinking about my
own characters this week and realised that all the characters in my head were
biracial... but I don’t describe them by skin tone. Something to work on
maybe...
In the Craft Section,
Molly Greene has a great novel outlining method
How to write violence like it’s real. Bookmark!
Joanna Penn on writing the first draft.
How to decide how many POV characters to have.- Angela
Ackerman/ Marcy Kennedy
How to create a memorable setting- Pat Verducci-Bookmark
Actions speak louder than dialogue- C S Lakin-Bookmark
Sabotaging your chance with an agent- Jane Friedman
How to write cliff hanger chapter breaks- K M Weiland
Bookmark!
In the Marketing Section,
Critical edits to Book Description Copy- Diana Urban -
Bookmark
4 easy things to do if you don’t want to market your book-
Penny Sansevieri-Bookmark
21 ways a reader might find your website- Bookmark
Book Marketing tips- Rachel Thompson- Bookmark
Website of the Week
Kristine Kathryn Rusch has been on fire this week with some
excellent posts on the publishing industry. She is a multi talented writer/ editor across many genres
and is much respected. She doesn’t pull any punches or suffer fools. She will
give it to you straight... Read Her!
To Finish
This week I’ve been thinking about talking. I’m comfortable with chatting to people
one on one, small groups etc. Then at our recent National Conference I had to
Skype interview in front of 100 people, the lectern was shaking I clutched it
so hard. A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed on radio for a new magazine
style programme being developed. That microphone looked like an interrogation
spotlight!
Talking in public is important for writers to master. Elizabeth S Craig has a great post on public speaking for writers.
The Podcast for Writers Island is in the sidebar if you want to listen to some cool Indie Music and Writer Tidbits and me. I guess I should probably tell you that a version of this blog is up on Bibliocrunch every week. Talking isn't so bad… when you are writing.
Maureen
@craicer
