writing Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Reetta Raitanen's Blog

(Note: It will likely take at least a year of dedicated work and a few books behind you to reach the lowest of these milestones. See these as long-term goals, not as something you compare yourself to when you’re just starting out)

Are Self-Published Books the New Query Letter by Erin Kern

Ruth Harris Reports: Editors and Editing Part 4

Self-Published Authors: Reach New Readers With New Genres, Story Elements and Categories by D.D. Scott

Self Publishing On the Wrong Side of the Atlantic by Catherine Ryan Howard

Book Review Blogs That Accept Self-Published Work by Karen Woodward

Who Is Reading the 99c Books? by Catherine Ryan Howard

Blogging

Should All Authors Blog? by Rachelle Gardner

How To Blog Smarter (And Get More Readers) by Shannon at Duolit

7 Blogging Tips For Authors by Chris Robley

50 Things To Blog About When You Have Writer’s Block by Caitlin Muir

How To Use Headlines To Get To “One Thought” by Sean D’Souza

56 Guest Posts and Counting: How To Keep On Top of Them All by Timo Kiander

SEO Tips & Tricks: How To Make Google Love Your Blog by Karen Woodward

How To Attribute Artwork Licensed Under the Creative Commons by Karen Woodward

Social Media

Twitter For Writers: Three Essential Types of Tweets by Ryan Casey

10 Twitter Hashtags to Get You Writing (And Keep You Writing) by Krissy Brady

3 Ways To Grow Your Email List With Twitter by Gregory Ciotti

3 Principles For Facebook Fan Pages by Jane Friedman

How To Run a Goodreads Giveaway With Maximal Results: 11 Tips by Emlyn Chand

Collected Wisdom

Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig

Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas

Deep Stuff

Why Not All Who Wander Are Lost by Debra Eve (Are you a Renaissance Soul?)

Six Clever Tricks For a Better To Do List by Ali Luke

Know Yourself by Mark McGuinness

How To Achieve Your Full Potential As a Writer by Carol Tice

The Beginner’s Guide To Unschooling by Leo Baubata

Tinsel Town’s New Favorite Trope: The Female Scientist by Emily Asher-Perrin

The Symbolism of Rabbits and Hares by Terri Windling

Fun Stuff

What Lord of the Rings Character Are You? by Marcy Kennedy

Designing From the Bones: Fruit From the World Tree by Gene Lempp

Fiction Affliction: “Genre-Benders” For October by Suzanne Johnson (such fascinating concepts)

Fiction Affliction: November Releases in Fantasy by Suzanne Johnson

10 Characters Whose Genders Were Swapped In Production by Susana Polo

The Pinterest Effect: The Economic Impact of Pinterest by Traci Davies

Playground Parents by Traci Davies

Posted by Reetta Raitanen on Oct 31, 2012 in Writer Wednesday | 7 comments

Link Feast For Writers, vol. 26

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.

If You Have Time For Only One Thing

When Is It Time To Quit by Marcy Kennedy

On Writing

12 Tips: How To Be a Writer by Karen Woodward

The DIY Writing Career: The One Thing Holding You Back From Becoming a Successful Writer by Krissy Brady

Physical Therapy For Your Writing by Jenny Hansen

6 Proven Tips to Get Into the Write Mood by Steve Maurer

Writing As a Sculpture: Do You Build or Carve? by Jami Gold

Structure Part 6: Getting Primal & Staying Simple by Kristen Lamb

The Power of Nothing: Something Happens Where Nothing Happens by C.J. Lyons

Common Hero Archetypes by Susan Walsh

Female Archetypes and Men Who Love Them by Susan Walsh

Pre-Plot for NaNoWriMo by Martha Alderson

NaNoWriMo Prep: Campbell, Vogler, the Hero’s Journey, The Writer’s Journey and Narrative Structure Cheat Sheet by Alexandra Sokoloff

How To Learn Story Structure In Two Minutes or Less by Larry Brooks

Beat Sheat for The Hunger Games Movie by Jessica Brody

Chapter Breaks and Cliffhangers by Elizabeth S. Craig

I, Feminist by Rachel Aaron (How your ideologies affect your writing? Or should they?)

Spheres of Existance: Writing Other Experiences With Integrity by S.E. Sinkhorn

The Eternal Return of Vampire by Karin Rita Gastreich

7 Better Steps to Start Writing by The Creative Cartel at Jennings Wire (develop pre-writing rituals and stick to them)

Check Your Writing For Adverbs and Other Problem Words: MS Word Macros by Karen Woodward

12 Writer Woes and the Books to Cure Them by Roni Loren

Donald Maass on His New Book, “Writing 21st Century Fiction: High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling” (Writer Unboxed)

90 Inspiring Author Videos For Aspiring Authors

Great SF Authors Share Their Biggest Writing Setbacks and How They Triumphed by Charlie Jane Anders

Your Author Platform

Goodbye Feedburner! Hello Ownership of Our Platform by Jami Gold (Feedburner closes down on Oct 20th)

Michael Hauge’s Workshop: You’re the Hero of Your Life by Jami Gold

The 5 Keys to Pain-Free Book Promotion by Joel Friedlander

Build Your Readership by Simplifying Your Menu by Lydia Sharp

31 Book Marketing Ideas You Can Use Today by Toni at Duolit

How To Sell More Books: 10 Questions You Need To Answer Honestly If You Want To Sell More Books by Joanna Penn

How To Turn Your Author Website Into a Resource Center Your Readers Can’t Live Without by Chris Robley

J.K. Rowling’s Terrible Branding Mistake and What You Can Learn From It by Mars Dorian (Do you think that Rowling should have sticked with MG/YA books?)

A Business Plan For Self-Published Authors (Part 1) by Denise Grover Swank

A Business Plan For Self Published Authors (Part 2) by by Denise Grover Swank

How To Write a Press Release Without Tearing Your Hair Out by Natalie Hartford

Amazon Categories, Keywords and Tags, Oh My: Why Should an Author Care? by M. Louisa Locke

How To Design a Great Looking Cover by Karen Woodward

How To Add Up Your eBook Sales In a Snap by Jenny Hansen

Self-Publishing: Second Class No More by Terri Giuliano Long

Blogging

1 Trick to Secure Your WordPress Blog From Hackers by Amy Lynn Andrews

What Are You Blogging For? by Veronica Sicoe

Is Blogging a Time Suck For Writers? by Jody Hedlund

Blogging Goals (Pushing Social)

The Art of Being Interesting by Jonathan Morrow

Copyblogger’s Content Marketing Codex: 53 Best Posts by Demian Farnworth

On the Hunt for That Magical Read by Pauline Baird Jones (to review books of friends or not, and Kindle Sampling)

7 Tips on How To Get Your Guest Post Accepted by Karen Woodward

16 Effective Ways To Get People to Read and Retweet Your Content by Daniel Sharkov

Why You MUST Have Information Filters by Michelle Schaeffer

3 Simple Ways To Save Time and Keep Up With Your Favourite Blogs by Michelle Schaeffer

Social Media

Selling Our Books on Social Media: Don’t Be a Space Invader by Kristen Lamb

10 Golden Rules of Twitter by Garin Kilpatrick

15 Tactics For Going Viral on Twitter by Garin Kilpatrick

7 Ways To Integrate Facebook Into Your Author Platform by Thomas Umstattd

10 Ways To Get More Facebook Fans This Week by Thomas Umstattd

How To Schedule Posts On Your Facebook Author Timeline by Caitlin Muir

Collected Wisdom

Blog Treasures by Gene Lempp

Twitterific by Elizabeth S. Craig

Friday Features by Yesenia Vargas

Deep Stuff

Five Questions To Ask Ourselves To Get Ahead (Vision Nord Ouest)

Time Management Tips That’ll Work For Your Life by Penelope Trunk

Becoming More Productive by Re-engineering Your Morning Ritual by Michael Hyatt

Memory Plucking and Listening to Your Heart by Kristin Nador

The Red Shoe Effect: A Tribute by Lisa Hall-Wilson

When Words Kill: October Is the Anti-Bullying Month by Judy Dunn Lee

Men Are More Aggressive, Women More Emotional – Actually Not by Kassandra Lamb

The King or Queen of Cool by Catie Rhodes

Welcome To Gattaca by Diana Beebe

Imagine That: Three Late Bloomers Created Our Favourite Genres by Debra Eve

Fun Stuff

The Fart That Almost Altered My Destiny by Anna Lind Thomas at HaHas for HooHas (Thank you for the link, Jenny Hansen. The site is hilarious. Check it out.)

Dirty-Minded Signage… “If You Know What I Mean” by Jenny Hansen

50 People You Wish You Knew In Real Life by Dave Stopera

Secrets Revealed In Joss Whedon’s Avengers DVD Commentary by Emily Asher-Perrin

What’s New in YA? Mashups by Sue Corbett

Up From The Grave by Ellie Anne Soderstrom

A Different Take on Vampire Mythology by Denise Verrico

Posted by Reetta Raitanen on Oct 19, 2012 in Writer Wednesday | 5 comments

Link Feast, vol. 25 – NaNoWriMo Special

What is the biggest amount of words you’ve typed during one month?

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenges us to write a 50K word novel in 30 days.

It is doable as thousands of challenge winners from past years show us.

This week’s Link Feast provides you with tips and tools to imagine, plot, write and finish your NaNo novel.

Yes, there are links too 😛 *coughs* I got a little carried away with my own tips.

Please leave a comment and share what kind of a story you’ll write this year. Or if you don’t participate NaNo, tell us what you’re working on right now.

And if you have advice on how to finish a novel, we’d love to hear it 🙂

Happy browsing. And have fun writing!

Imagine It

Ack, I don’t have a clue what to write about.

1. A story idea can start with a genre. What kind of books do you like reading? Are they mainly within one or two genres?

Have you every thought it would be cool to read a book that did something different? Say, about vampires who don’t drink blood but leech off emotions.

Horror movie 30 Days of Night showed us really monstrous vampires during a month in Alaska when the sun doesn’t rise at all. Dun dun dun. Not your average shiny vampire boyfriend story.

2. Take a trope or a cliche and twist it. For example in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series the Chosen One failed years ago and ushered the world into a dark era. And in Stephen King’s The Stand, the Chosen One is an old lady.

TV Tropes is a great resource for finding cliches to revamp.

3. Change an old plot and make something new out of it. George R.R. Martin set his War of the Roses to a fantasy world with his Game of Thrones series. You could set your war… in space.

Or how about Shakespeare in modern day high school? You get the movie She’s The Man, a Twelfth Night remake where a girl pretends she’s a guy.

Not to mention all those new Pride and Prejudice versions, like the one with zombies. Or the erotica edition. Basically, combine any old idea with a new angle and run with it.

4. Come up with a character concept, or a single scene and build up from there. I’ve gotten ideas from news titles. Visual prompts might also help. I use Pinterest to mine visual ideas.

Female Character Inspirations (A Pinterest board)

Male Character Inspirations (A Pinterest board)

Badass Villains (A Pinterest board)

5. Brainstorm a few dozen of awesome beginning lines/paragraphs that would hook you to read on. Pick the one that resonates the most with you and see where that seed leads you. Get ideas from your favorite novels.

Two of my favorites are:

“The last camel collapsed at noon.” – Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett

(I can see a desert setting in my mind’s eye and the caravan in dire straits)

“Janice Capshaw liked to run at night.” – Midnight by Dean Koontz

(I instantly want to know more. I’m imaging a horrible scene where poor Janice is mauled to death)

6. Adopt a plot. Or a character or a quirk. Adoption Society board in NaNoWriMo forums has threads dedicated to various concepts to adopt.

Those are just some ideas. If you need more juice to kickstart your creative engine, see the links below.

But seriously, don’t go with the first idea that comes to your mind. Come up with at least a dozen and see which one has the most potential of becoming a full 50K (or more) words novel that you want to finish.

Picture by Catie Rhodes @WANACommons

Plot It

1. What is your story about? Try condensing it into a log-line that has the following elements:

1) your protagonist 2) active verb 3) active goal 4) antagonist 5) stakes

Like: Batman must stop Joker before he destroys Gotham City and kills the woman Batman loves.

2. Know your characters. At bare minimum you need the main character, the antagonist and a few side characters. Maybe a mentor, sidekick or a love interest. The Big Boss Troublemaker might need some minions too.

To get into the main character’s mind and to get their voice down, you could do some pre-writing excercises during October, like write letters or diary entries as the character would write it. Or write a short story about an event in their past.

3. Know yourself and your writing process. Do you like to plot every detail of your story before starting to write? Or do you write by the seat of your pants?

If you’re a plotter, you get stuck if you don’t know what the big picture is and what will happen next. If you’re a pantser, you get bored if you know too much about your story in advance. It feels like the story has already been told.

If you don’t know which you are, there are links to help you with identification.

4. A compromise between the two is figuring out just the major events of your story.

See more at the links below. They have great examples and explanations of what story structure is.

5. Every scene must have a purpose and conflict. Someone must oppose someone and something needs to change as a result.

In the best case scenario, you’re totally jazzed to write every single scene. If you’re not, think about why. What could you add to the scene or change so it would thrill you more? For example, if it’s a transition scene, like characters travel from one place to another, you can just scrap it.

Or spice it up somehow. For example, bandits could attack, or the characters have a fight of the decade that leads to one of them breaking off the party.

Write It

Image by Kristin Nador @WANACommons

1. Organize your life for November so you can write. To reach 50K words, you need to write 1666 words per day, every day. Depending on your writing speed, that means at least an hour of writing every day, more likely 2 – 4 hours.

Free that time. Get your family and friends on the same page, and stress to them how important this project is to you. During November, cleaning is not necessary, writing is. During November, your kids can eat canned food. During November, you do fun stuff with pals only after you’ve written your daily quota.

It’s just one month. You can do it.

2. Develop pre-writing rituals. Athletes do warm ups before the real excercise. Musicians warm up their fingers. Writers need to get their mind on the creative mode too. How do you get into the zone in 5 -15 mins?

3. No editing while writing. When you release your inner Editor, your creative Muse runs away screaming.

4. Write crap. Lets face it, some of your writing will suck. Accept it and love it. Without the steaming pile of turd, you won’t get the pearls either. And you will polish the story to perfection when you edit it. Then it will shine. But first you need to get the words on paper. The good and the bad. It’s impossible to write only divine things.

Picture by Jenny Kaczorowski @WANACommons

5. Tip for a pantser: It’s OK to write the story in non-chronological order. If you don’t know anything else about your story except the bare bones, expand from there. What would logically happen next? What would be the most interesting consequence? What would be the nightmare scenario? Show us how your characters react to what just happened.

6. Tip for a plotter: It’s OK to revise the plan in the middle of a story. You might spot an inconsistency, come up with a brilliant alternative, or realize you just aren’t excited about your story. Take a break and realign your story. Then continue writing.

Finish It

1. Show up. When you’ve decided when you will write, that time should be for writing only. Even if your mind is totally blank, don’t turn on the internet. Just sit there and wait. You can even close your eyes. Eventually your Muse will be so bored that you’ll get some words.

2. Stop writing in the middle of the scene. Even better, in the middle of a sentence. That way you know exactly what you need to write next.

3. Reward yourself. Every time you finish your daily word count, do something awesome, like read or eat chocolate. During November, don’t do those awesome things at any other times. Only after writing. Soon your brain will work like a well-trained Pavlovian dog, eager for the treat.

If you get stuck, here are some angles to unstick you:

Unstick your writing

4. Try writing in a different way. Write longhand. Or go somewhere else to write. Try a cafeteria or the library.

5. If you know the ending, or even one event that might happen further in the story, backtrack from there. What needs to happen for your characters to get there?

6. Sleep on it. Think your story while laying down and drifting to dreams. Maybe your unconsciousness will give you the answer.

7. Enter ninjas to your story. Or make something explode. Or write a sex scene. Just because. Anything that lights the fireworks for you and remotely fits your story.

More Scene Unstickers (NaNoWriMo Forums)

8. Ask a writing buddy for advice. If you don’t know any other writers, post your question to the NaNoWriMo forums or Tweet it with a hashtag #NaNoWriMo , #writing or #MyWANA

You might hit a moment when you seriously consider dropping your story and starting a new one. Stop. Reconsider.

9. Why did you start writing this story? What excited you about it? Was it a character, a scene, an idea? Does it still thrill you? Have you deviated away from that kernel of awesome? How can you steer the story back to it? Or can you add other kernels that jazz up the whole story?

The most important thing is: believe in your writing. You can do it. You will rock NaNoWriMo 2012.

There. Pep talk is done.

And now the links you’ve been waiting for.

Imagine It

First You Need an Idea by Alexandra Sokoloff

The Struggle For Ideas by Janice Hardy

Writing Ideas by Glen C. Strathy

How To Steal a Plot For Your Book and Get Away With It by Suzannah Windsor Freeman

Four Tips on Adding a New Twist to an Old Plot by Janice Hardy

How to decide which idea to go with?

Choosing the Right Idea for a Book by Tony Leville

9 Ways To Overcome the Too Many Ideas Syndrome by Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant

I Have an Idea For a Novel! Now What? by Janice Hardy

You Need a Compelling Premise to Finish 50K Words by Kara Lennox

Build It

If you write fantasy, urban fantasy or science fiction, your setting needs to be as detailed as your characters. A vibrant setting will inspire your plot and add depth and unique touches to your characters.

World Building Link Mashup by me

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions by Patricia Wrede

30 Days of World Building

World Building Part 1: Physical Setting by Fae Rowan

World Building Part 2: Social and Cultural Aspects by Fae Rowan

World Building Techniques — Keep Your Reader Grounded In Your Story by Fae Rowan

No Stress World Building by Lori Devoti

World Building on a Theme by Janice Hardy

Writing the Paranormal Novel: Techniques and Exercises for Weaving Supernatural Elements Into Your Story by Stephen Harper (Amazon link)

This book is the best resource I have ever seen on building cultures for your urban fantasy species (vampires, werewolves, faeries etc.) Works 100% for fantasy cultures and alien races too.

Animate It

Under Development: Ways To Create Characters by Janice Hardy

How To Create a Character by Holly Lisle

Characters by Jim Butcher

What Makes a Female Character Strong by Jami Gold

The Three Dimensions of Character Development by Larry Brooks

Crafting Backstory by Larry Brooks

Like Me! How To Create Sympathetic Characters by Roni Loren

The Art of Creating Believable Characters: No Mr. Nice Guy by Karen Woodward

Antagonist Links:

A First Class Bad Guy: How X-Men Can Help You Craft a Better Antagonist by Janice Hardy

Black Swan: The Trick to Inner and Outer Demons by Kristen Lamb

5 Quick Fixes to Make Readers Love Your Villain by Shannon Donnelly

Crafting a Character Arc by Larry Brooks

5 Steps To Building a Believable Character Arc

And then something for romance writers:

Michael Hauge’s Workshop: An Antidote to Love at First Sight by Jami Gold

Michael Hauge’s Workshop: Are These Characters the Perfect Match? by Jami Gold

Plot It

Are You a Pantser? How To Overcome Plotting Envy by Roni Loren

Look at how you plan things in real life. If you plan just the main points but not every step, you’re likely not a Plotter

What Is Your Plotting Process Like? Four Levels of Plotters and Pantsers by Roni Loren

What Is Your Premise? by Alexandra Sokoloff

How To Write Your Story’s Logline (one sentence description of the story)

Structure Part 4: Testing Your Idea – Is It Strong Enough To Make an Interesting Novel by Kristen Lamb

Structure Part 5: Keeping Focused – Understand Your “Seed Idea” by Kristen Lamb

Going Both Ways: Outlines For Plots, Pantser For Characters by Janice Hardy

To Finish Your Novel, Plan the Basics by Holly Lisle

How To Create a Plot Outline in 8 Simple Steps by Glen C.Strathy

Michael Hauge’s Workshop: Making Emotional Journeys and External Plots Play Together by Jami Gold

The Three-Act Structure Review & Assignments by Alexandra Sokoloff

What Finding Nemo Can Teach Us About Story Action by Kristen Lamb

Structure Part 2: Plot Problems: Falcor the Luck Dragon & the Purple Tornado by Kristen Lamb

Structure Part 3: Introducing the Opposition by Kristen Lamb

(For Pantsers) Outlining Without Outlining by Janice Hardy

(For Pantsers) Writing Out of Order by Elana Johnson

How To Write a Novel: The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson

The Hero’s Journey – Mythic Structure of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth

(For Plotters) The Three-Act, Eight Sequence Structure by Alexandra Sokoloff

(For Plotters) The Index Card Method and Structure Grid by Alexandra Sokoloff

(For Plotters) Story Elements Checklist For Brainstorming Index Cards by Alexandra Sokoloff

Putting It All Together by Jim Butcher

The Four Part Structure of the Character Arc by Larry Brooks

Beat Sheet for The Hunger Games Movie by Jessica Brody

Making Your Book Memorable: Creating Moments by Roni Loren (What are your favorite moments from the books you love?)

Scenes by Jim Butcher

Sequels by Jim Butcher (how characters react to events)

How To Make the Most of a Scene by Jami Gold

Every Scene Should Have At Least 3 Key Elements by Janice Hardy

The Scene Element Worksheet by Jami Gold

The Great Swampy Middle by Jim Butcher

Plot Fixer, Part 7: How To Pick Up the Pace in Your Story by Kara Lennox

5 Ways To Bring Your Descriptions To Life by Janice Hardy

Novel in 30 Days Worksheet Index (Writer’s Digest)

Writing Cheat Sheet (PDF crammed with writing advice)

Finish It

Be part of the NaNoWriMo community. Find yourself accountability partners. Report them your results daily. Your husband, friend or mom will do too. Read the daily pep talks. Read and post to the NaNo forums. But only after you have finished that day’s word count.

25 Things You Should Know About NaNoWriMo by Chuck Wendig (Set your expectations right)

Can’t Finish That Novel? Try Dopamine by Chuck Wendig (I mentioned rewards already but he says it so much better)

NaNoWriMo Tips From Veterans (About.com Fiction Writing)

NaNoWriMo Tips For Success by Michelle Schusterman

Finishing NaNoWriMo – One Writer’s Cautionary Experience (Plot To Punctuation)

All times of the day are not equal for writing. Whether you are an early bird or a night owl determine when you are on your most productive and creative mood. Try to write at those times.

How Heatmapping Your Productivity Can Make You More Productive by Charles Gilkey

Like there is an optimal time for writing, there is an optimal environment too. Some like the peace and quiet of their home, others need background music or the buzz of the crowds at a cafeteria to write. What do you need to be creative?

Why You Need To Write Every Day by Jeff Goins (To create an habit)

How To Write Every Day: Jerry Seinfeld and the Chain Method by Karen Woodward

The Only One Who Can Hold You Back Is You by Rachel Aaron

The #1 Reason You’ll Never Finish Writing Your Novel by Suzannah Windsor Freeman

Three Ways To Avoid Pantser Pitfalls by Roni Loren

The Danger of Writing All The Good Bits First by Aprilynne Pike

Unpredictable… That’s What You Are – Keeping the Plot Fresh by Janice Hardy

Finishing Your Novel – Resources by Timothy Hallinan (great links)

Yay, you made it to the end! 🙂 Take a perseverance point. You will totally ace NaNoWriMo this year. Thank you for reading.

Posted by Reetta Raitanen on Oct 12, 2012 in Writer Wednesday | 9 comments

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