The Craft Of Writing...

What do I have for you this week.

Looking over the links I have gathered for you, today’s blog is turning into the craft of writing post...with the bulk of this weeks links across the publishing blogsphere spotlighting craft issues.

It could be that writers are gearing up for NaNoWriMo...yes I know we are in September but you can’t prepare too early....

First tho some interesting articles that caught my eye.

Kristine Rusch writes about the scammers who are targeting authors...unfortunately some of them are reputable publishing houses. This is one of those writer-you-must-know-what-your-rights-are posts, especially when publishing houses try to change contracts after they are signed...and it is not an isolated incident.

The advent of Kindle Serials has got everyone talking. Back in the old days writers like Dickens published their work as a serial changing parts of the story to fit audience reaction. Check out Jane Friedman and Porter Anderson’s round up of the opinions now that Amazon are giving this model a spin...

Rachelle talks about learning to pitch your potential to agents and editors.

There are new agents on the block looking for kids lit stuff.

Harper Voyager is having a two week window to unagented submissions...

Jami Gold touches on a few head scratchers for authors...print vs ebook, long tail vs out of print, actual bookstores  vs backlist. How does this impact the author now?

K M Weiland has a thoughtful post on the excuses writers have for not writing and how to combat them....

Indelible Writers have a great post on marketing books...know your hook, line and sinker.

Joel Friedlander has a post on gatekeepers...There aren’t any now and also a  great post on the hub and outpost method of Social Media marketing.

Now on with the great caft list...something for everyone here.

13 ways to put urgency in your writing from Rachelle Gardner

Are you preaching in your PB and how to tell from Mary Kole

The seductive but deadly sin that wants to kill your story from Larry Brooks

How to get your readers to love your villians- from Writers in the Storm

When your characters cry –from Superheronation

Archetypes - Neville Longbottom, the perfect foil from Harry Potter for Writers

Revising to raise the stakes in your story from Aimee Salter based on Janice Hardy’s advice.

If you can’t afford an editor...advice from Nicola Morgan

A must bookmark now post on scene structure from Randy Ingermanson...(The snowflake guy) Truly if you only have time to check one of the craft links today check this one...

To finish,

Every now and then I put a link to Chuck Wendig...he has a striking way of getting his point across...Here is a link to Chuck’s personal rules of writing now...(warning its Chuck! You will laugh and you will wince!)

‘Write as much as you can, as fast as you can. Finish your shit. Hit your deadlines. Try very hard not to suck.’ –Chuck Wendig

pic from http://www.flickr.com/photos/donovan_beeson/6879567474

Paying The Piper

Oh the pain and the angst in the publishing world this week when the news broke that a  *reputable* author had been buying 5 star reviews for Amazon copies of his books...and not only that he had done it but that it was even possible...thus skewing the system and maybe breaking a few codes of conduct practices on the way. 

This has put the spotlight onto reviewers...how much should they charge? 

Now you are getting in to tricky territory...

If you said nothing...how do reviewers make a living with falling print media and newspaper layoffs? And where does that leave Kirkus who charges $425 US for a Kirkus review to Indie authors under their Kirkus Indie column. (They say it will be a Kirkus review. They don’t say it will be a good one...and it isn’t.)

Porter Anderson, critic and all around great guy, sets out the arguments in Extra Ether on Jane Friedman’s site and over 100 comments in a short space of time sees this as an important moment in publishing. What will be the status of the review in the future...He wants every reviewer to clearly put their relationship to the writer in the reviews... otherwise it is fraud!

The knives are out for authors who may have puffed up their stats with paid reviews but it does highlight a problem about review visibility to independent authors and small publishers. (and on that note the knives should be out for writers behaving badly when they solicit fan hate mail to reviewers)

While on this subject Catherine Ryan Howard takes a look at 50 Shades of Grey and wonders how you can call it a self publishing success story...

Julie Musil talks about what you do when critique partners disagree with your work.

Writer Unboxed challenges you to really know who your audience is...and how to find out.

JJ from Pub Crawl talks about what happens in her head as she has to reject a manuscript from her publishing house.

After all this gloom you need a pick me up. 

The wonderful (witty) Inkygirl has written about how a rejection got her a publishing contract...A feel good story to give Illustrators hope....

This week Mike Shatzkin (publishing futurist and guru) posted an article with lots of important points to think about in the publishing future...especially in the developing world where he sees the 0 print phenomenon happening there faster because of the costs of printing and shipping print books vs ebooks. A very chewy read with lots to think about now that Amazon has opened up India!

Rachelle Gardner is also looking at the publishing future and what authors will need in their tool box.

In the craft section,

10 steps to decontructing the novel to find out how it is done...

17 reasons to write something now....

Jane Friedman sneak previews The Plot Whisperers new workbook with an excerpt, 7 essential elements of scene and structure.

i09 has the hard hard task of telling you how to fix the plot hole in your book...Read with tongue firmly in cheek.

Writers write has a look at the 12 common archetypes...for those of you who love infographics.

Novel Rocket examines two forms of historical research and how you should combine elements of them for effective research.

and to finish

DIYMFA  has a lovely post on how to get your creative muse to show up every morning. It’s psycological....

Tonight I am off to celebrate 20 years of the wonderful Children’s Bookshop in Kilbirnie...It’s going to be a PARTY!

CONGRATULATIONS JOHN AND RUTH McINTYRE!

maureen

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpellgen/6023131824/

Write On Writers

This week has been a busy one. 

Two writing deadlines and in the middle of that WRITEONCON.

This year WriteOnCon was in the middle of the week...as it is based in the Northern Hemisphere our time zones don’t quite match up...but WriteOnCon is online so even if you don’t get to all the live forum events you can still follow along as everything stays online.

There is a HUGE amount of information. To give you an idea...there were more than 30 kidslit agents and editors. They hosted panels and keynotes from YA to PB where they decontructed pitches and queries that were randomly selected from the many many submitted. This was great learning. It was always exciting when one of them in the forum said I’ll message you privately for a full request. 

There were keynotes and workshops on all sorts of topics from more than 30 experienced writers, illustrators and editors. Attendees were encouraged to register their pitch, 1st 250 words, first five pages and their query. A team of Ninja Agents would troll the lists over the two days looking for projects that interested them...No one knew who they were, they had code names...but everyone soon knew when they were ‘in the house.’

This year there were 15000 attendees from around the world  and more than 2 million hits on the web site in two days.

Check out the feast of links and set aside some time with a huge cup of coffee. You will not regret it....Then make plans to attend next year!!

WriteOnCon is the brain child of seven writers who got together in 2010 to offer an on line conference for people who couldn’t get to one. A fabulous idea which struck online gold straight away...Many kudos and writer prayers to this stellar bunch of writers!

Because WriteOnCon was the bulk of my online  trawling this week I have a short (but good) list of links for you to check out.

For those of you looking at self publishing these two links have been getting lots of rave comments this week.

Joel The Book Designer, On why a book looks self published and what to do about it.

Roz Morris looks at Createspace and Lightning Source...which one is better for POD books.

Agent Rachelle Gardner looks at ways to promote your books.

Joanna Penn interviews  Lisa Cron about using brain science to hook readers. This is an interesting article on why we like genre...it’s all biological!

One of the talking points in the blogoshere this week was the Forbes article looking at Publishing entitled Publishing is broken we’re drowning in indie books and it’s a good thing!  Some very interesting comments about gate keepers and what happens next in the industry.

FaBostory is ramping up...we have some keen young writers out there. It’s quite tricky knowing that they are soo good(when you are trying to write your own chapter!) Pop into the website and read some very good young writers!

Needing tissues...

What a nasty week...My body decided it was the time to lie down and let a rampant cold stomp all over me...cue tissues. I retired from the world as far as internet was concerned. The problem with that is, the emails still keep coming and the things to do list just gets longer.

So crawling back to my notes, made a couple of weeks ago what interesting tidbits from the publishing blogosphere do I have to share with you.

Penguin’s acquisition of Author Solutions still has everyone talking.

Mike Shatzkin looks at the moves to publish in the cloud and why it makes sense if you are a small to medium sized publishing company...here small means up to 200 titles a year.

Roni Loren recently got burned using a pic on her blog post...She talks about the hazards of pictures and how you can get around law suits from photographers.

Porter Anderson has been checking out the author shadow career...do you have one...it’s called author platform and it happens when you misuse the 80/20 rule. 80% networking....There are some interesting observations in the article and check out Eion Purcells link right at the bottom...

For those of us who like an inspirational story Inkygirl has a link to an interview with Helaine Becker...something in this interview for everyone.

Catherine Ryan Howard has tips for anyone who has ever tried to get a US Tax number....

Karen Woodward has the writers definitive must have gadget if you get your best ideas in the shower....

Rachelle Gardner has reposted her article about top ten query mistakes. It makes good revision reading...especially rhetorical questions that ask the agent to answer NO.

Victoria Shockley writes about what it is like to be a virtual assistant to a bunch of writers.

Cheryl Shireman sends a thoughtful open letter to all traditionally published writers.

The magnificent Chuck Wendig has written a thoughtful response to a question about whether writers should care....This is worth the read to discover that Chuck can write without using any dubious humour or needing any warnings on language...It is quite touching...grab the tissues.

Over in the craft section,

Check out these wonderful links

Josh Whedon’s top 10 screenwriting tips

Super agent Donald Maass on predictable plot turns...and how to shake them up

Roz Morris takes a hard look at dream sequences...

The write practice shows you what to do with loglines...especially when your log line doesn’t match your manuscript.

After the shock of Margaret Mahys death last week, New Zealand children’s writers and illustrators have been discussing how best to remember the colossus of our genre. Several writers had a bright idea to gather in public libraries around the country and read Maragret Mahy books at 11 oclock on the 11^th August...the day that there is a big public memorial to Margaret in Auckland.

We would like to throw this date and time open to the world so wherever you are across the time zones...at 11’oclock on the 11^th grab a Margaret Mahy story...there are over 200...find some kids or read to yourself and remember this remarkable storyteller and the impact she has made on children’s literature around the world. You can let us know what you are doing on the official website where you can get a cool poster and craft activity.

photo: Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/photos/burstyriffic/4569392331/

There Be Ice Bergs Ahead....

Today I had an email interview with a reporter on the subject of FaBo Story. One of the questions asked was how did Fabostory get started. This got me thinking about the power of Facebook for writers. Facebook can be a timesuck, a waste of time, a time waster, and sometimes it can be a catalyst for a really cool project.

On my second day on Facebook, Kyle Mewburn (cool Kiwi kids writer) said ‘Wouldn’t it be neat to have an online kids story which lots of writers can contribute to.’ A bunch of us started talking about how it could be done and before long it had morphed into an online writing challenge involving children’s writers, illustrators and kiwi kids all writing against each other in an hilarious mad story, which lasted for 18weeks! 

We did it again last year trying out one off stories, in different genre’s on another planet. 

This year there is a huge sporting event happening...What could go wrong at the Titanic games?....well we are about to  find out! FaBostory3 launches next week!

Around the blogosphere there has been lots of talk about the excellent piece on creative writing courses by Kristine Rusch. I posted it up on Facebook where it got picked up and discussed by tutors in creative writing around the country. Judging from the huge pile of comments it has struck a real chord in the online community. I know some of the sentiments struck home personally. At a writers lunch I attended last week, there was first hand description from a writer who was a student on a masters course in creative writing. The description of how a University Tutor (and name writer) conducted this course was hair raising!  Read the Kris Rusch's article and all the comments...It is worth the $5000 the poor writer, at lunch last week, paid.

Ploughshares Literary Magazine has published a piece on Plagiarism as Pedagogy from a creative writing tutor...who confessed they taught a student to plagiarise unintentionally and then thought about it and gave them an A. Their arguments make for interesting reading and so do the comments!

 They say a week is long in politics...at the moment it is the same in publishing. David Gaughran turns the spotlight on Authors Guild...who seem to have completely lost the plot in their recent diatribes against Amazon. He questions whether they are really serving their members well when they direct them to go to Publish America (a vanity publishing firm with eye watering tactics and prices, read Writer Beware.)

This morning I turned on my computer to see the news that Penguin have bought Author Solutions, a sister ship to Publish America operating on the same lines. And the comments are flying on Twitter! Will they do a Harlequin and offer rejected authors a  ‘but if you pay us $000’s we will publish your manuscript in our ‘boutique’ self publishing operation...’solution. This will be a big story to watch! (And watch out for the ice berg underneath,Writer Beware comments.)

Another blog to get a lot of comment was Porter Anderson asking whether publishers are doing any R&D? The comments about how self publishers are doing R&D are very enlightening...(marketing 301)

The Atlantic Monthly has an opinion piece on why the new books coming out are all looking the same. Does it have anything to do with e readers? Check out this crop of covers.

The Stats are out....and are getting commented on all over the place (yesterday in my car the local rock station DJ commented on them!) Ebooks are now 31% of the total publishing market and have doubled in sales to $2 Billion. Children and Young Adult books are the fastest growing category.

Joel (the Book Designer) has gathered up a collection on resources for you on the best book fonts to use that will warm all designers hearts.

Bestseller Labs has a fabulous interview with Lorna Suzuki about being a bestselling indie author and how she did it. Reading about Lorna is an inspiration in itself never mind that she writes as well!

In the craft section,

Jami Gold talks subtext using the recent spiderman movie. (brilliant as always)

K M Weiland tells you why your hero needs a yappy sidekick. (brilliant as always.) 

K M Weiland is so brilliant that others have taken her words and examples and made them into beautiful notes cards to print out and post on your wall.  Check out this set on story structure.

In the marketing section,

Kevin Franco lets slip some more details over his Enthrill system...ebook cards in retail stores...some great innovations happening here.

Bookbuzzr reminds you that marketing should be creative fun...

Bookbaby shows you how to market your book on a budget of...not much.

It’s conference season in North America.

Bob Mayer and Jen Talty reports on Thrillerfest and the new moves ahead there.

Both of these reports are interesting for new tech but also new ways of looking at the industry.

Harry Potter For Writers, which is a great site for writing craft have checked out the fan writing convention. Yup a writers conference for fan fiction!

To finish,

I have been chatting to long time industry participants about Agent Rachelle Gardner's blog on why contracts are taking longer to negotiate. Contract language is changing and there are many hidden icebergs being slipped in that writers should be wary of. Passive Guy is always a good resource so I have linked to an article he wrote a few months ago to alert you to the tip of what is a very scary iceberg, especially if you negotiate your own contracts. (As always I urge you to read the comments so you can get a fuller picture.)

NZ Authors and Illustrators take note...perpetuity rights, rights reversion, length of copywrite, ebook publication, it is all being tweaked and not for the creators benefit. 

Looking Sideways

This week I have spent a lot of time staring out through car windows as we have traveled the length of the North Island. We don’t usually travel this trip in mid winter and the familiar summer landscape morphed into unfamiliar with ice and snow touches which generated lots of interest inside the car. The volcanoes looked spectacular and we detoured to give the kids an hour playing in the snow.

My reward for driving the tricky mountain icy road and taking lots of pictures of my snow loving family was to spend a good hour chatting with my fellow FaBo writing team member Kathy White as we plotted dastardly twists that we could put into the next FaBo story...heheheheh.

Fabo 3 gets underway next week, so tell a child near you to check it out. Nine writers...a story that twists and turns...and a challenge to KIWI KIDS to try an outwrite us every week for prizes and fame...and coz we might need some ringers when we need a break....

Today I have been thinking about the marketing options writers have with movies....I hear you all saying WELL DUH! but it is bigger than that. Popular teen authors have this whole movie buy in sorted. They get their fans to come up with dream casting of their favourite characters... promote and discuss these...and if they have a film option generate hype for every little piece of news...this of course feeds into the books...with competitions for best fan book cover, best fan book cover for movie tie in...movie poster art with your dream cast...etcetc. What makes this a marketing mania tour de force is that the books titles are constantly being talked about in a sort of sideways move.

Today Cassandra Clare, having a keen finger on the fan pulse, had a pivotal piece of news to share with her fans on the casting of a major character in the City Of Bones movie. She told her fans she wouldn’t reveal it until they made it a trending topic in Twitter. One hour later it was the worldwide trending topic and she had to spill the beans. Cassandra is generating huge hype for the movie but at the same time those books are getting pushed in front of everyone. Not bad when she has two more books to go to wrap up two series and launch a third.

Catherine Ryan Hyde, she of Pay It Forward fame, talks about what happens when Hollywood gets hold of your book and then rewrites it...how does an author cope...

Both of these posts look at author marketing in a slightly different way. The next two links help you to understand what is going on. Betty Ming Liu teaches social media in her journalism class and she has put together the guide to the best way to use Twitter. This is how I use Twitter and how I tell others to use this tool.

Catherine Ryan Howard talks Google and SEO which is something that authors need to understand...especially Metadata. How does a search engine even find your book?

LJN Dawson reminds us that this whole book explosion thing is recent and nobody has a handle on Metadata...but we should.

Chuck takes a look at 25 Bad writing behaviours....(warning It’s Chuck...so be prepared to have your hair stand up! You will nod and laugh sheepishly at the same time tho.)

Laura Hazard Owen talks about the new publishing kid on the block for women writers...you pay but they vett...an interesting model that may well point to the way of the future!

Agent Rachelle Gardner talks about 7 ways that writers give up their power and why this is not a good thing.

For the illustrators out there Debbie Ridpath Ohi has the most magnificent helpful collection of blogs for writers...but she is a talented kids book illustrator. She has started a blog just for kids book illustrators...which you should check out!

In the craft section

K M Weiland talks about tone...do you struggle with it?

Janice Hardy talks about filtering...that is words that distance the reader from the POV character.

Agent Mary Kole talks about a common problem she sees often in manuscripts...when the problem is too difficult...the characters become unbelievable...

Writer Unboxed has a stand out post on the curse of the middle book..that is the one in the middle of a trilogy...How do you get it to stand on its own when everybody knows it’s the middle book!!!

To finish,

Ollin Morales always has an interesting blog and this piece on the ten rules of grammar all writers need is an inspiring reminder to look at rules sideways.

maureen

pic is from this cool tee shirt on line shop

Passing The Hat

This morning I have been thinking about Creative Tribes and their power.  

When the tribe idea was first being kicked around I blogged about it ...yes way back then...and this grew into a series of posts around the 1000 fans concept that same year. Just type 1000 fans into my search box.

This week I have been struck by the power of the Tribe in funding creative projects. 

Amanda Palmer is having a block party in New York as I write this, because she raised over $1 million in her Kickstarter campaign for her creative project. She didn’t set out to do this. All she wanted was $100,000 but her Tribe got the word out and all through the month of May she has broken every Kickstarter record.

Yesterday my friend Fifi Colston put up her request for funding an Art Exhibition of her work here in Wellington on the New Zealand site Pledge Me. Within 24 hours she had reached her modest target. 

The reward system that Kickstarter and Pledge Me use is interesting. Think of it as buying the product or experience before it is made. I don’t know if anyone has bought Fifi’s offer for a personal portrait of themselves but that would be worth having...she is so talented.

Fifi’s comment when she reached her target...

Whatever I earn goes straight back into the business of being a freelance creative. I am currently trying to have some money in reserve to enable me to work on my next book project. It will be months of writing, illustration and photography to get it done. And it will be a stunner. So thanks for all your support to me and everyone in the arts...

Around the blogosphere this week there was a lot of comment on The New York Times article on writers slacking if they ony write one book a year.... Most of the comment was on the ‘brutal’ regime of writing 2000 words a day but there were lots of other red flags being waved at writers through publishers comments in the article.

Kristine Rusch examines this article and some of the flags raised, including the current publisher asks of short form novella ebooks effectively for love as a marketing tool for publishers and what it means to a writers career. This is a great and timely article and a good heads up for people.

Elizabeth S Craig has another take on the N Y Times article about being a writer who puts out 3-4 books a year and what it means for her.

As always, I urge you to read the comments of both these posts...for extra information and insights.

Writer Unboxed had two posts this week that got everybody talking.

What Authors Seem To Forget About Marketing and

Tawny Stokes On The Bandit Creek Series.

The Bandit Creek series is written by a writers collective, who write stories based on the fictional town of Bandit Creek, as a cool self publishing experiment for themselves outside of their traditional published roles. 

You all know how interested I am in writer collectives, this is a really interesting model and with FaBo 3 in the planning stages...it could morph (just kidding Fabo team....)

James Scott Bell has a great post on 5 things every author needs to know before going the self published way.

Catherine Ryan Howard finishes up her month of blog posts on self publishing by looking at the best way to use Amazon.

In the Craft section

James Killick has a post on why writing a treatment before you write the novel is a good idea.

There is a great post on storytelling the Pixar way

A group taking storytelling into the business world is doing some great stuff - take a look.

And for those who like pretty pictures, here is the periodic table of Storytelling!

For those of you into numbers...

Galley Cat has an info graphic on how many kids are reading on electronic devices.

Roz Morris has help for you on doing your Taxes.

Rachelle Gardner takes a look at what a publishing contract should contain.

This week I have been finalising details for a group doing a writing course at Karaveer Writing Retreat.

Writing retreats are great for an all out focus on your work. I get huge hunks of work done when I am on a writing retreat because there are no interruptions from kids, phone, internet, kids.... You get the picture.

If you can’t get away to Karaveer you could look down this list of inexpensive ideas for a writing retreat for yourself. Of course if you want to take a trip up North...and get some hands on tutoring from one of the best romance writers in the world, well Karaveer could be just the place.

I leave you with a fun comic on critiques by Inkygirl who’s website is well worth a look around.

maureen

Being In Charge

When you decide to independently publish your own work, you discover that there are many more things to think about than the simple ‘hey kids, let’s make a book’ model. You are in charge of everything...even things you never knew you needed to do....

Authors in charge of their own publishing efforts have been finding creative ways to get together and help each other cross promote or to think outside the box to find ways to publish new work.

Here are two examples which caught my eye in the last two days.

This group of writers are all self publishing their back list...so they have got together and branded themselves and put a logo on all their books...check out how they put the concept together.

Children’s writer Kate Milford is doing something different involving a bookshop, an espresso print machine, a tied in novella to her children’s book being launched soon by a big trad publisher...and kickstarter funding...very interesting idea!

Nathan Bransford takes a look at what the bookworld might look like after the big court case on publishers possible pricing collusion.

It has been said that it takes years to become an overnight success.... Amanda Hocking tells the story about making it onto THE LIST. The list is the New York Times Best Seller list. For some authors it completely changes their lives...and for others, like Amanda, it has another effect.

Joel has some good things to say and do to help authors  use Goodreads effectively in a guest interview with Publicity Hound Joan Stewart. Joel has plenty of good things to say about Joan and her webinars on publicity as well.

Liz Castro is one of those rare US based writers who understand that there is a whole world outside the US and actively seeks ways to connect and sell to countries that don’t have Amazon....yes there are quite a few...Check out her blog post on how to sell worldwide easily....

In the craft section

There are some great links for you this week. The editing blues have been hitting different friends lately so here are some great tips. 

Rachelle Gardner has a great post on how to eliminate thousands of words relatively painlessly.

Mary Kole talks about how to spot a lack of emotional punch when a character has a change of heart.

The wonderful K M Weiland asks, do you really need that subplot? Answers vary...but don’t be so quick to junk them, there are reasons why you should have a well crafted subplot.

Film director, Billy Wilder’s, ten tips for screenwriters...wraps up stories pretty well too.

Jane Friedman has three exercises you can do to sharpen your first page.

Bob Mayer has an interesting article for Digital Book World where he looks at Amazon and how they are bringing efficiencies (and military professionals) into the publishing model....before you choke on your coffee just stop and think... what are Amazon good at...What are military people good at...why is Amazon putting the two together...now choke and read the article.

I am flying to Auckland to speak about my independent publishing journey with eBooks...at a workshop this weekend. If you want learn a bit more about publishing eBooks and you are around Auckland this Saturday check out the programme. There are some great speakers!

Checkout this delicious twist on an idea.

maureen

What's The Name Of That Song?

Today we have a typical New Zealand weather day...that’s the one with four seasons in one day...subject of popular songs by Kiwi bands.

When you live on a large island the one thing you know for sure is that the weather will change quickly...bit like the publishing landscape at the moment.

In the blogosphere over the last few days...another shift has taken place with Amazon acquiring the print and ebook rights to the Fleming Estate for the next ten years. Amazon has Bond...there must be a collective shiver going around the big six.

Rachelle Gardner has been wondering about the publishing landscape too. She took time out from her busy agent career to speculate on the changes and what everyone is doing now to better position themselves in the sun.

Publishing Perspectives has taken a look at who is buying print publishers...and it makes for interesting reading...the numbers are staggering and the implications for more change on the horizon very clear...at the moment Apple with cash in hand can buy the whole publishing industry and not worry about the change...

In a rare interview Larry Kirshbaum, ex CEO of Time Warner and the guy now running Amazon publishing talks about what they are doing, what they plan to do and what excites him now...Children’s Writers take note!

In the craft section...there are some goodies for you.

K M Weiland talks about talking...specifically if your characters are talking too much...

Darcy Pattison has a great post on 11 questions to ask yourself when revising.

The Editors Blog has a great post on Backstory and how and when to dribble it in...This is one of those read it and bookmark posts!

A few weeks back I posted a link to a part one of a discussion on midgrade writing between an agent and an editor...part three wraps up the discussion and it has been really insightful for those of us who love writing for this age group. If you didn’t get a chance to read parts one and two, go to it. I really recommend it!

Mary Kole of Kidlit.com has a great post on the reality check of a critique and how many writers looking for golden prize of being discovered don’t realise the hard work that has already been put in by those who are....

Check out 25 things to sell your book and not be spamming from badredhead media...actually just check out this site!

Joanna Penn has an uplifting post on intellectual assets...of course you have them.

The wonderful Storyfix site has a great guest post on mash ups...I love mash ups...Go and get some inspiration...and creative writing prompts.

Watership Down meets Star Wars anyone?

The builders are still in...that's three blog posts written to the sound of hammers, drills and crowbars...Next week all will be quiet...the kids will be back at school...the builders will be somewhere else and the house will be mine... all mine...mwaahhaaaaahhahhhh Crazed writer takes a trip to the big smoke.....