“In the Blogosphere” is a series, which lists links to writing-related blogs I’ve stumbled upon throughout a given week (usually).
I’m admittedly behind with my Blogosphere posts—I have about 50 links saved, dating all the way back to June (oh noes!)—but they are all still worth a look. I’ll catch up eventually, right?
GET WRITING!
My weekend plans fell through, so now I will be sitting at home [probably with all the lights on all weekend because this will be the first time I’m staying home alone at my house—how lame am I?] with my computer and my beagle. Which, as much as I love them both, can also both be time sucks! But I’m buzzing on my WIP right now and would LOVE to get to 30,000 words by Sunday. It will be a bit of a challenge, but I’m up for it.
Adorable little baby time suck. And a bunch of crap she'd dragged out everywhere and was chewing up. (And my husband's foot.)
All-grown-up time suck. 🙂
That said, here are some resources—some of which I’ve used and some of which I haven’t yet but might have to employ this weekend, in order to get words written.
- Write or Die—You can set your word count and your time goals, and this interface will get IN YOUR FACE [well, if you set it that way] until you reach your targets.
- WriteRoom—This is for Mac users. It’s a full-screen writing environment that rids you of the “clutter” of word processing programs. [Referred to by The New York Times as the “ultimate spartan writing utopia.”]
- WordWatchers—This has been working for me this month—and this isn’t just shameless self-promotion, as a number of writers have been getting tremendous amounts of work done using this writing program. It’s through The Write-Brained Network and, like its sister weight-loss program, is something each individual designs to fit his or her lifestyle. All us Write-Brainiacs participating have set challenging goals, and while we haven’t all been hitting them each week [guilty!] we have been getting tons of work done. And, some people have finished entire projects or gotten over slumps, due to the prodding encouragement of others.
QUERYING & SUCH
Here, literary agent Jennifer Laughran busts publishing industry myths that most writers believe or have heard.
Yeah, but this is real, though.
Two takes on the 5 stages of querying:
- The first, a guest post by writer Anne Gallagher on the Guide to Literary Agents blog
- The second, by the inimitable Tahareh
When when those rejections come, Holen Mathews at GotYA offers some constructive questions you need to ask yourself.
SOCIAL MEDIA TIPPAGE
Social media got you down? [If you’re Greyhaus Literary’s Scott Eagan, then yes.] Author Jody Hedlund offers some advice on how to use it effectively without allowing it to take over your life—and writing time.
And here, Daily Writing Tips lists 40 Twitter hashtags for writers.
CRAFT
I was going through my saved posts for “In the Blogospheres” today and came across this little jobby, by Heather Trese at See Heather Write, on the importance of having a pitch . . .
. . . which goes hand in hand with the post I wrote this week on plot vs. situation.
It was really hard to narrow down which picture I found to be the chachiest. So I went with this one.
Here is a lovely post by Christina Mandelski over at Will Write for Cake wherein she discusses the importance of setting in a story.
And here, Writing for Digital talks about the value of a good editor. One edit quite possibly changed the entire course of American history!
FANGIRL LOVE
I heart you, Meg Cabot. [the Allie Finkle #6, Blast from the Past, review she links to at the end of this post is MINE!]
PLUG!
Inky Fresh Press interviewed little ol’ me!
Grounding is important.
Happy weekend, everyone! Come harass me on the WB or Twitter and make sure I’m getting my words written!
Ricki Cardenas 