Link Feast For Writers, vol. 24
Writing blogs are a great way to learn about the craft and marketing our work. Enjoy the posts I’ve hoarded, some older, some recent.
Next week’s Feast will be a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) special, dedicated to writing links that help you to plot your NaNo story, write it and finish it.
For those who don’t know what NaNo is, it’s a challenge to finish a 50 000 word story during the November. That means you must write at least 1,666 words per day over the 30 day period.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Will you participate NaNo this year? What challenges are you facing when plotting and writing your stories?
And then on to the links.
On Writing
Structure Part 3 – Introducing the Opposition by Kristen Lamb
Using Scrivener For Plotting by Hope Ramsay
Han Solo vs. Luke Skywalker: Who’s the Better Hero? by Tiffany Reisz
3 Ways To Create Incredible Characters by Karen Woodward
Taking Characters On a Voyage of Self-Discovery by Elizabeth S. Craig
Ax Your Cliches: Why and Whom by Margie Lawson
7 Tricks To Add Variety To Your Dialogue by Marcy Kennedy
The Sensual Writer: Sight by Lisa Lickel
What Are the Best Ways To End a Story by Christi Craig
Sometimes Stories Aren’t Yours – Writing Oppressed Classes by S.E. Sinkhorn
Revision Checklist For Compelling Characters by Kathy Steffen
How To Write Proficiently About Things You Don’t Know About by Jody Hedlund
Why Build a World When You Can Steal One by Lori Devoti
Politics, Religion, Social Media & How Great Writers Change the World by Kristen Lamb
J.K. Rowling Shows Why Muggles Obsessed With Class by Simon Hooper (themes of her new book)
J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy: We’ve Read It, Here’s What We Think by Lev Grossman
Calvinball Mythology and the Void of Meaning by Jonathan McCalmont (long, cool article about building mythologies for TV series and movies)
What Should Newbie Writers Focus On by Jami Gold
How To Avoid Distractions and Create a Career in Fiction: Interview with Holly Lisle by Joe Bunting
On Willpower, Self Discipline and Cake by Candy Gourlay
Lessons Learned From 1 Year As a Full Time Author Enterpreneur by Joanna Penn
Your Author Platform
People Want the Real You by Chris Brogan
Finding Your Novel’s Target Market: 7 Hidden Keys In Your Novel by Jan Bear
The Genre-Free Author: Looking For the Common Themes In Your Writing by Ami Hendrickson
Finding the Right Readers Using Warning Labels by Elle Casey
Wordsmithing Your Brand by Lynn Viehl
The Secret to Attracting 1000 True Fans (Pay To Exist)
7 Steps To Writing an Author Business Plan by Susan Spann
When (And How) Should You Start Marketing Your Book by Yesenia Vargas
The Simple Power of One a Day by Seth Godin
How To Prepare For a Book Launch by Jody Hedlund
35 Ways To Engage Your Book Audience in the First 90 Days (Wise Ink)
How To Create a Killer Marketing Plan For Your Book Launch by Srinivas Rao
What Is the ONE Thing You Have Done That Brought You More Readers? Advice from Indie Authors by Laura Pepper Wu
What Is the ONE Thing You Have Done That Brought You More Readers? Part 2 by Laura Pepper Wu
What Is the ONE Thing You Have Done That Brought You More Readers? Part 3 by Laura Pepper Wu
How To Get Amazon’s Top Customer Reviewers to Review Your Book by Laura Pepper Wu
Email Marketing: How To Not Be a Dirty Rotten Spammer by Sonia Simone
Link of the Week: Booksai (Muse Tracks) – a tool for finding books similar to yours
The Seasons of Publishing by Dean Wesley Smith
Choosing the Right Publishing Route For You by Talli Roland
7 Common Self-Publishing Fears and How To Banish Them by Karen Woodward
Book Marketing Tips For First Time Self-Publishers by Karen Woodward
Ruth Harris Reports: Editors & Editing – Part 3
The Key 11 Questions Every Indie Author Must Know About the Competition (Wise Ink)
Amazon KDP: The Best Long-Term Strategy by Karen Woodward
How To Make the Most of Your eBook’s Free Days / KDP Select Days by Laura Pepper Wu
Where to Promote Your KDP Free Days by Cheryl Bradshaw
Blogging
Top 10 Self-Sabotaging Mistakes of Author-Bloggers by Anne R. Allen
When Traffic Isn’t Enough. 3 Questions Every Blogger Should Ask Themselves by Chris Drucker
How To Write and Maintain a Great Blog That Helps You Sell More Books (With Blogging Hero Gretchen Rubin) by Laura Pepper Wu
7 Ways Partnerships Can Work For You by Michelle Schaeffer
(Some win-win partnerships that come to mind are Joanna Penn’s & C.J. Lyons’ writing courses, and Ruth Harris as a regular poster in Anne R. Allen’s blog)
One Time-Saving Way To Manage Your Author Blog by Yesenia Vargas
A 6-Step Process To Turn Ideas Into Blog Posts by Ali Luke
Writing Great Content: 3 Tips by Amy Lynn Andrews
The 6 Magic Words That Always Get Clicks by Caitlin Muir
Why You Need To Work Harder on Your List Posts by Ben Barden
How To Run a Blog Series and Get More Subscribers by Annabel Candy
How To Write a Strong Opinion Piece For Your Blog by John McLain
How To Win Some Blogger Love: Scoring the Book Review, Guest Post or Interview by Kristen Lamb
Social Share Buttons: Just Pick Three (Pushing Social)
Social Media
Social Media Explained With Coffee by Michelle Schaeffer
The Top 10 Social Networks for Creative People by Mark McGuinness
40+ Tips on How To Become a Social Media Rockstar on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ by Kristi Hines
Find the Right People To Follow on Twitter by Kristi Hines
Blogging Playbook: Getting More Twitter ReTweets (Pushing Social)
How To Use StumbleUpon: Your Comprehensive Guide by Kristi Hines
Pinterest For Authors by Jennifer Bray-Weber
Collected Wisdom
Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp
Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig
Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas
Fill-Me-In-Friday by Roni Loren
Bring On The Bloggy Brilliance by Jenny Hansen
Deep Stuff
The Danger of Learning Only From Succesful People (And What To Do Instead) by Dorian Mars
Is It Time to Rethink Your Routines? by Lynn Johnston (I loved her eBook Kaizen Plan For Organized Authors)
Boring Is Productive by Robert C. Pozen
The Science of Procrastination and How To Manage It by Maria Popova (2:49 min video)
The Complete Flake’s Guide to Getting Things Done by Sonia Simone
Dreading a Task? 5 Tips For Getting Yourself To Tackle It by Gretchen Rubin
5 Best Literary TED Talks (Elizabeth Gilbert’s Creativity talk is phenomenal)
50 Best Social Psychology Books on Persuasion, Influence & Understanding Your Brain by Gregory Ciotti
The Unintended Consequences of China’s One Child Policy by George Dvorsky
Fun Stuff
Beautiful Pins (40K+ gorgeous photos ranging from fantasy to humor, traveling and cheesecake)
What We Learned About the Hobbit Movies at DragonCon by Chris Lough
33 Geeky Insults You Can Use Almost Anywhere by Jason Cranford Teague
27 of the Most Insane Martial Arts Battles Ever Filmed by Cyriaque Lamar (includes video snippets)
The Most Thrilling Sci-fi and Fantasy Books Coming in September by Charlie Jane Anders
All the Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You Can’t Afford to Miss in October by Charlie Jane Anders
Announcing Pony Fest #12 by Rebecca Enzor
(Want to win a custom made My Little Pony looking like your book character? Sign up there *points up*)
The History of English in 10 hilarious minutes (11:21 min video)
Real-Life Superheroes: 10 People with Incredible Abilities (Oddee.com)
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About Reetta
I'm a Finnish fantasy / urban fantasy writer who loves reading, roleplaying and all things medieval. 
I don’t plan on trying NaNo this year. Am launching my children’s book next week plus babysitting grandbaby 9 hours a day, so no time NaNo. This is an awesome mashup, Reetta! Thank you!
Lynn Kelley recently posted..Happy First Birthday WANA 1011
Whoa, Lynn. You have a lot on your plate. Good luck with your book launch! Your grandkid’s parents are really lucky to have you helping them out.
When I saw your post it hit me how close November is–yikes! I’m going to do NaNo again. I love the built in discipline–and I got a great story out of it last year. 🙂 I am a panster, so I will be going in with an idea and a couple pages of notes.
Thanks for the links Reetta!
Coleen Patrick recently posted..Photography Inspiration: The World is Full of Magic
October really crept on me too. Only three full weeks left to plan. Have fun with NaNo, Coleen 🙂
Wow, Reeta, thanks for the link to Writers in the Storm!
And the hours of great info here!
Thanks for dropping by, Laura 🙂 And for contributing to the awesome Writers in the Storm blog.
Thanks as always for collecting such a great bunch of articles in one place! Dean Wesley Smith’s is a must-read IMO, and Kristen Lamb’s on how great writers change the world is one of my favorites of hers.
I’ve only done NaNo once, but I did “win.” I’m trying to get a new book outlined this month, between all my other goals, but having trouble fitting it in. So I’d like to do NaNo this year, but not quite ready to commit. Looking forward to seeing your links on it next time!
Jennette Marie Powell recently posted..WANA Wednesday: Happy Birthday, WANA1011!
I agree with you about Dean’s and Kristen’s articles. Really useful stuff. I hope the outlining goes well and you’re ready to start writing in November 🙂 Maybe not 50K words but any words on the screen is progress.
Fantastic list of links, Reetta! I’m not partaking in NaNo but would love to one year. Enjoy and good luck!
Sheila Seabrook recently posted..Break Out Of A Creative Rut & Happy Birthday WANA1011 Class!
Thanks Sheila. I hope you can do NaNo next year.
I don’t know yet if I’m doing NaNoWriMo. Since I discovered Fast Draft, NaNo is a lot less compelling than it used to be. But I haven’t missed a year in a long time so, who I kidding? I’ll probably be NaNo-ing away with the best of them.
Thank you for including my link from More Cowbell and so many links from Writers In The Storm! We appreciate it.
I’ve got like 12 tabs open, lady!!! Great mashup. 🙂
Jenny Hansen recently posted..The Secret To Writing by Chuck Wendig
Hah, when you’ve done the hardcore thing and realized you can do it, I bet NaNo feels like the wimp path 😛 But it would be great to have you join the fun, Jenny.
And it’s always a pleasure to read the newest post of your blog and Writers In The Storm. You know how to deliver maximum value and entertainment.
Awwww, thank you Reetta!! I just read this sweet comment. 🙂