Category Archives: Writing Business

LOTS of Tuesday Tips: Getting Your Writing in Shape

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So, whilst engaging in my early morning marketing (Okay, checking Facebook), I realized that the newest issue of WOW! Women On Writing was out. Wheee!

There are TONS of great articles, as always, but I’m a little partial to Get In Great Writing Shape for FREE! When I found all those university classes for free, I knew that info would make an exciting article. Because who doesn’t want FREE stuff?

So, I added a few more resources for FREE stuff for writers: conferences, books, professional memberships, and all those great giveaways that make me go wheee! Wheee! Wheee!

I hope you’ll go wheee, too. Because really, who doesn’t love free stuff?

Ooooh! A Baby Bobcat! (Or How I Found a TON of Stuff, Writing and Otherwise)

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Isn’t that the cutest bobcat kitten? I took this picture at a state park, a year or so ago. Now the little kitten’s all grown up and back in the wild.

Now, I hope you don’t think I’ve gratuitously posted a kitten picture just to pique your interest. There’s a writing tie-in. Eventually.

So, last week, I decided to get my carpets cleaned. Not the way I usually clean them, with my steam cleaner mostly smashing dirt and such back into the carpet. Oh, no. I contacted Super Cleaner Guys who will move ALL your furniture and leave your home spic ‘n span.

That was Mistake Number 1. Because one has to get super-prepared for Super Cleaner Guys. I moved TONS of stuff out of rooms, into bathrooms and shoot, I said to myself, might as well take this stuff down to the basement rather than lug it back into the room where it’s just hanging out, collecting dust.

That was Mistake Number 2. Because everytime I moved something, I found more dust. Goodness, I said to myself, that’s a lot of dust. Actually what I said was more like, “RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT’S THE ATTACK OF THE GIANT DUST BUNNIES!

I survived. But I still had to move all the stuff back. Well, I said (and really, it was more like a growl) I should go through all this stuff before I put it back in the bedrooms and the offices.

I found quite a bit of stuff, writing and otherwise:

*My Michael Buble CD (Oh, Michael, I missed you and your honeyed voice!)

*The remote so I could turn on the CD player and listen to Michael Buble (Whew! I’m not gonna lie-I had a hard time figuring out how to operate remote-less.)

*A note with the words: Psalm 51 ( I think because “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew in me a steadfast spirit.” is within that psalm. It’s a very moving psalm. I’m glad I re-read it.)

*Notes from a talk that editor Cheryl Klein gave, almost three years ago. (She discussed the theme of the Harry Potter books and stressed how important it is that your plot support your theme. What lesson does your character learn through the plot?) But I wouldn’t have checked out her swell website today and found that she has a forthcoming book! On plotting, revising and publishing for children and young adults. Wheeee!

*Issues of Writer’s Digest from 2008 and other outdated kid’s magazines (which I recycled to friends). Amongst the WD articles I skimmed before recycling(because there’s always a few you don’t get to), I read one about giving critiques and the do’s and don’ts of critique etiquette. Which brings us to kittens.

Say there’s a member of your critique group who shares a piece of writing wherein you are so offended or so confused or so non-plussed, that there’s simply nothing on the positive side to say.
Give ’em a kitten.

Finding Something Friday: Writer Beware

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I expect if you’ve been writing, you’ve been taken advantage of, writing-wise, somehow, some way. Which is really annoying, because writing’s hard enough as it is.

That’s why a group of brilliant writers banded together to bring the world Writer Beware. You’ve probably heard of this site, and know you can go there to get valuable information about scams and scoops, and help with your “problems or pitfalls” in publishing.

But did you know Writer Beware had a blog, brought to you by the same three authors? Not only do they bring you up-to-the-minute publishing news, but they also have links to tons of great blogs-agents, editors and info. It’s a quick way to find some of the best writing resources available on the ‘net.

Which is really swell, because I’ve got enough to do, producing scathingly brilliant writing.

(P.S. There’s still time to comment for The Quick and the Thread. I’ll leave the giveaway open till Monday so weekend visitors can have a chance to win this fun read. But it’d be really, really swell if you commented on that post.)