Oh, Chuck. I knew I could count on you to keep the quality coming while I was away. As usual, Chuck Wendig kept up his 25 posts: Ways To Fight Your Story's Mushy Middle, Reasons This Is The Best Time To Be A Storyteller, Things You Should Know About Writing Fantasy, Things You Should Know About Writing Sex.
Greta van der Rol wrote about local colour and asked, "How much is too much?"
Into the Morning had this interesting post on the subject of reviews. She breaks down her comments in a list to reviewers and to writers. Worth a look, I think, especially if you're a reviewer... or an author who has received a negative review.
Isis Rushdan had a simple, inspiring post on hard work.
If you want to be a bloody awful writer, James Killick has some tips for you.
Paperback Writer is such a wonderful resource blog. This month, she had a number of great posts: No-Nos for the Nasty, a review of a free editing program, and a list of short story sins.
Among her other useful posts this month, Aimee Salter wrote about the critical requirements for successful self-editing.
Sierra Godfrey's How to Sell Books post could really apply to any product you want to sell, as evidenced by her anecdote about spearmint.
Sirra collected another round of her Twitter writing tips.
I typically don't include posts from Somebody Has To Say It, but two posts stood out for the month of June: this one on dialogue attributes and this one on publishing contracts.
Stella was my most recent Blog Roundup feature, so you should already have read some of her most recent entries. If you haven't, start with this Tip of the Week post on editing and professionalism.
Showing posts with label ciara ballintyne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ciara ballintyne. Show all posts
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Monday, September 12, 2011
Blog Roundup: September 5 - 11, 2011
This week, I discovered Avery Olive, an author with a name I think is too cool for words. I enjoyed the tips posts on naming characters and editing because I thought they were both concise and useful. Even if you're familiar with the points brought up, it's worth it to revisit the tips in someone else's voice.
I don't know if I've mentioned the Erotic Romance blog before, but it's worth checking out for up-to-date information on the erotic and romance publishing industry/ies. There's no bullshit over there, something I find quite refreshing.
Rik Davnall's post on marketing is worth recommending again. I found it very useful.
I'm a big fan of learning things no one told you. James Killick's post on five things writing experts won't tell you is a good example of why. Particularly the second, third, and fourth things catch me up. In the process of editing chapter one of my current WIP, I found several lines that made me stop and smile because they were just so me. If I always followed the rules, I would have deleted them--and killed any originality I might have.
Rob On Writing's post about being needles in a stack of needles just reinforces what I've been telling myself all week: just keep working. Any day I get over ten blog hits or one hit on my book page at Smashwords is a good day as far as I'm concerned.
Sirra did her post on standard manuscript format! Go read it!
Ciara Ballintyne posted on the etiquette of self-promotion on Twitter. I think her list is more along the lines of things not to do rather than a question of etiquette, but it's worth reading regardless.
I don't know if I've mentioned the Erotic Romance blog before, but it's worth checking out for up-to-date information on the erotic and romance publishing industry/ies. There's no bullshit over there, something I find quite refreshing.
Rik Davnall's post on marketing is worth recommending again. I found it very useful.
I'm a big fan of learning things no one told you. James Killick's post on five things writing experts won't tell you is a good example of why. Particularly the second, third, and fourth things catch me up. In the process of editing chapter one of my current WIP, I found several lines that made me stop and smile because they were just so me. If I always followed the rules, I would have deleted them--and killed any originality I might have.
Rob On Writing's post about being needles in a stack of needles just reinforces what I've been telling myself all week: just keep working. Any day I get over ten blog hits or one hit on my book page at Smashwords is a good day as far as I'm concerned.
Sirra did her post on standard manuscript format! Go read it!
Ciara Ballintyne posted on the etiquette of self-promotion on Twitter. I think her list is more along the lines of things not to do rather than a question of etiquette, but it's worth reading regardless.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday Miscellany
It was 94 degrees here last week, and this week, it's hovering around the 60 degree mark. It's fabulous. The kid has so many cute pajamas and we took her shopping for new cooler-weather clothes this weekend. Another bonus of the colder weather: baking! I made two separate batches of cupcakes (I use this recipe for chocolate cupcakes, and I add about half a teaspoon of lemon extract to bring out the flavors of everything; you can also use lemon zest). Cold-weather food is also on the menu. We're having meatloaf for dinner tonight, and I think I'm making lemon-herb roast chicken for dinner tomorrow night.
If Facebook wasn't such a necessary social networking tool, I would get rid of my personal account and my author page. Every time they "improve" things, my privacy settings end up altered and I have to waste half an hour of my precious time fixing those settings. I am not one of those people with hundreds or thousands of friends. In fact, I have 42 friends--and 27 of them are my in-laws or friends of my husband. I use my personal account for keeping up with loved ones and sharing pictures of my daughter. If I believed my family and friends would check their email regularly, I would switch to a mailing list.
Late last week, I started reading Amelia James' blog. You should, too. She's clever and funny and she writes pretty sexy stuff. I enjoyed her post about balancing writing and family life. It made me think. Our kids are about the same age, it seems. I tend to write while the kid is asleep--she's napping right now, actually--but my little one likes her alone time, and several times a day, she deliberately separates herself from me to do something she likes. (Usually, she pretends to read a book or she plays with one of her larger interactive toys. Sometimes she just sits at the back door and watches the trees outside.) I use that time, too. If I'm all caught up on my housework, I write or cook or read. Things can get kind of tense if I feel like I'm on a deadline and she's being unusually needy, but for the most part, she and I work well together. It doesn't hurt that I keep my sense of humor about things ("Do you want to go to college? Then let Mom write!") and that I have no problem parking her butt in her swing, jumperoo, or in front of her favorite movie for half an hour while I get things done. I'm fortunate enough to be a stat-at-home-parent and part of the point of me staying home was to get my writing career off the ground. It's slow going, but then I knew it would be.
This week's blog posts are probably going to cover the subjects of words that are not words, what I was thinking when I wrote Cass, and why I don't think self-publishing is career suicide. Those are the posts I'm going to shoot for finishing, at least. That last one about self-publishing was inspired by an email I received from a local milspouse who claims that no publisher is going to take me seriously now that I've self-published. It was also sort of inspired by this post by Ciara Ballintyne.
I checked my Distribution Channel Manager over at Smashwords this weekend, and it looks like Cass Gets Her Kicks should be showing up at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Diesel in the next couple of weeks. I'll keep you updated.
However, if you've made it all the way through this post and you're interested in reading my first release right now, drop me a comment here or send me an email at ldotleonadavisatgmaildotcom and I'll send you a coupon code to download a free copy from Smashwords.
If Facebook wasn't such a necessary social networking tool, I would get rid of my personal account and my author page. Every time they "improve" things, my privacy settings end up altered and I have to waste half an hour of my precious time fixing those settings. I am not one of those people with hundreds or thousands of friends. In fact, I have 42 friends--and 27 of them are my in-laws or friends of my husband. I use my personal account for keeping up with loved ones and sharing pictures of my daughter. If I believed my family and friends would check their email regularly, I would switch to a mailing list.
Late last week, I started reading Amelia James' blog. You should, too. She's clever and funny and she writes pretty sexy stuff. I enjoyed her post about balancing writing and family life. It made me think. Our kids are about the same age, it seems. I tend to write while the kid is asleep--she's napping right now, actually--but my little one likes her alone time, and several times a day, she deliberately separates herself from me to do something she likes. (Usually, she pretends to read a book or she plays with one of her larger interactive toys. Sometimes she just sits at the back door and watches the trees outside.) I use that time, too. If I'm all caught up on my housework, I write or cook or read. Things can get kind of tense if I feel like I'm on a deadline and she's being unusually needy, but for the most part, she and I work well together. It doesn't hurt that I keep my sense of humor about things ("Do you want to go to college? Then let Mom write!") and that I have no problem parking her butt in her swing, jumperoo, or in front of her favorite movie for half an hour while I get things done. I'm fortunate enough to be a stat-at-home-parent and part of the point of me staying home was to get my writing career off the ground. It's slow going, but then I knew it would be.
This week's blog posts are probably going to cover the subjects of words that are not words, what I was thinking when I wrote Cass, and why I don't think self-publishing is career suicide. Those are the posts I'm going to shoot for finishing, at least. That last one about self-publishing was inspired by an email I received from a local milspouse who claims that no publisher is going to take me seriously now that I've self-published. It was also sort of inspired by this post by Ciara Ballintyne.
I checked my Distribution Channel Manager over at Smashwords this weekend, and it looks like Cass Gets Her Kicks should be showing up at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, and Diesel in the next couple of weeks. I'll keep you updated.
However, if you've made it all the way through this post and you're interested in reading my first release right now, drop me a comment here or send me an email at ldotleonadavisatgmaildotcom and I'll send you a coupon code to download a free copy from Smashwords.
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