My 15 minutes of fame

As you know I wrote Fifteen Minutes of Fame from a writing prompt and posted it on Triond. I received a private message from a fellow Triond writer who is a seasoned writer, educated in writing. He requested my flash fiction for his blog. That is quite the compliment. You can find it here:

http://pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com/ This is MY 15 minutes of fame. LOL!

With the Olympics upon us, it is a timely little story. Eh, oh, Canada!

Nine Ways to Trick Yourself Into Writing

This link from the blog of a writer in the U.K. Writer's Relief posted it on Facebook. You may want to take a look.

http://www.matthewhillswebsite.co.uk/2010/01/nine-ways-to-trick-yourself-into-writing/

Blog Roll-Up: Best of the Week's Writing Blogs

Okay, so I missed a week or two. I’ll make it up to you by including a few posts from those weeks in the roll-up.

Tips, Tips and More Tips

• If I’ve ever helped you edit a piece of writing, C. Patrick Schulze’s Tips for Editing Your Novel won’t come as a surprise to you. He doesn’t nag about “as-ing” construction as much as I do (okay, no one nags about it as much as I do), but he does explain the problem with it, and several other errors you might make in your writing as well.
• Add “Ka-Pow!” to your writing with How to Write Better—5 Quick Tips for Clear, Effective Writing from Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.
• Melissa Donovan at Writing Forward writes, “You can do just about anything in a poem. That’s why poetry is so wild; there are no rules.” So, instead of rules, she brings you 36 Poetry Writing Tips.
• If children’s books are more your thing, stop by the Guide to Literary Agents blog for 10 Tips on Writing Picture Books, a guest post from picture book writer Jean Reidy.
• Also on the Guide to Literary Agents blog, you’ll find Footnotes: 8 Articles on Synopsis Writing. If you scroll down the list of categories on the left hand side and click on “Synopses,” you’ll also find several examples of movie synopses to help.
• Freelance Folder offers Productivity Tips for Freelancers with Toddlers Underfoot. Don’t let the title fool you—there are some great tips here for every writer.
• Deb at The Freelance Writing Jobs Network’s 6 Tips for Finding New Freelance Writing Markets are applicable for short story and poetry markets as well.

“Best of” Lists

• Writing and Illustrating is a blog for “sharing information about writing and illustrating for children,” but Kathy Temean’s  Top Twelve 2009 Posts is useful for any writing. Her list includes posts about proofreading, revision, character arcs and dialogue.
• QueryTracker.net has a feature on their blog called Top Ten Lists. You can find the most queried agents, the most requested (by agents) fiction genres and the most non-responsive agents. I won’t tell you who the number one requested agent (check out the blog post to find out!) but I will say this: I’m not surprised.
• Lisa Romeo Writes shares the best information and tips from the notebooks she filled during her MFA program in a series of 14 posts: Gold in Them Notebooks.
• Be sure to stop by The Freelance Writing Jobs 20 Top Posts of 2009, which include tips for starting your freelance writing career, free online writing courses and who to follow on Twitter.
• Speaking of Twitter, Jane Friedman at There Are No Rules posts a weekly Best Tweets for Writers, with links to great posts such as “When to Stop Revising.”

Defining Genres

• Writing children’s books? Writers’ Digest Questions & Quandaries blog tackles Defining Picture Books, Middle Grade and Young Adult.
• Agent Scott Eagen of Greyhaus Literary Agency visits the Guide to Literary Agents blog to talk about Romance vs. Women’s Fiction.

Finally, I know that Christmas is over, but, you’ll need some time to practice Toni McGee Causey’s An Author’s 12 Days of Christmas before 2010’s Christmas party.

Blog Roll-Up: Best of the Week's Writing Blogs

Novel Writing

What Makes a Great Book? A Voracious Reader Shares her Insights. Nina Sankovitch read a book a day for a year and wrote about the experience on her blog Read All Day. Christine Baker Kline adapts her insights on her own blog, A Writing Life.

How do you know when you're done editing? A. Victoria Mixon, Editor explains the long process professional writers (i.e. published authors) do it, as well as an alternative: finding a really great editor in her post: Being in the Right Place at the Right Time.

Jane Friedman at There are No Rules shares A Big Mistake to Avoid in Story Openings.

Querying Agents

Should you send your query out to agents during the holidays? Some agents are taking a query hiatus: Rachelle Gardner at WordServe Literary (December 15th-January 14th) and Nelson Literary Agency is closed over the holidays (from December 18th until the new year). Five other agents weigh in on Holidays and Queries to Agents over at the Guide to Literary Agents blog.

Query Ninja joins the Query Shark in critiquing query letters.  This time, Kate Steps Up to the Plate with her query letter for a young adult novel.

C. Patrick Schulze offers some help in writing the dreaded synopsis with his post: 11 Elements of a Successful Synopsis.

The Social Side of Writing

Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent has updated his blog, which now includes discussion forums. His blog has always been a great source of information of all things writing (and probably more than you need to know about the show The Bachelor), but now it's even better.

Jane Friedman at There Are No Rules again brings you the week's Best Tweets for Writers which include the 14 bigggest mistakes even the best-selling writers make and a self-editing checklist.

Why should you go to conferences, tweet and blog? Janet Reid, Literary Agent tells you in her post 10 Things Crime Writers Can Learn From Paris Hilton.

Dreams and Writing

Are Your Dreams Trying to Tell You Something? Jeanie Franz Ransom at Storytellers Unplugged thinks so . . . and I think a couple members of our group might agree!

Member Blogs

Diane Bator had a busy blogging week despite being sick with pneumonia and hosting an art show. Check out her post about A Romantic Life for a bit of inspiration.

Weekly Laugh

Courtesy of the blog of Janet Reid, Literary Agent, this terrific parody of The 12 Days of Christmas, just for
writers: The Twelve Tips on Queries.

Blog Roll-Up: Best of the Week's Writing Blogs

I discovered two new blogs this week thanks to QueryTracker.net: Creative Writing Contests and Storytellers Unplugged.

Writing & Editing

C. Patrick Schulze offers some advice about How to Increase the Pace of Your Writing and 8 Tips for Writing Compelling Imagery.

Write to Done discusses the Importance of Being Trivial. The post refers to using details in non-fiction writing, but it pertains to fiction as well.

Storytellers Unplugged made my blog roll with this post: Three Editing Tips. Originally written for NaNoWriMo writers, it's still good advice for any piece of fiction.

Agents

Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent invites us to take a look over at her side of the fence in her post/rant: Agent Query Policies: Stop the Griping!

Mixing Business with Pleasure

Quips and Tips for Successful Writers offers these 6 Ways to Promote Your Blog or Book With Your Email Signature (or even your bookstore?) while Jane Freidman at There Are No Rules posts 10 Fun Things at Writer's Digest.

Member Blogs

Diane's added a pic of one of her paintings on Pens, Paintings and Paper. She still has a houseful of sick kids and is sick herself, but still managed a post: Let it snow, let it snow in which she mentions Clare's successful book launch.

NaNoWriMo is over and you can read my thoughts on the experience over at The Three-Ring Circus: NaNoWriMo winner? There are also some great Market Directories for both fiction and non-fiction, and hopefully you'll find a secret Quick Tip by day's end.

Do you have a favourite blog that you'd like to see included in the Blog Roll-Up? Send me a link!

Blog Roll-Up: Best of the Week's Writing Blogs

Stop Making Excuses
Christine Baker Kline's blog, A Writing Life has a couple guest posts this week about making kids your excuse for not writing. Louise DeSalvo's on Why Having Kids is No Excuse and Lisa Romeo Adds Her Two Cents to the Writer-as-Parent Manifesto. Are you choosing.to rake leaves rather than write?

Social Networking
Jane Friedman of There Are No Rules posts her weekly Best Tweets for Writers. Most of these are links to some great online articles and blog posts.

Are you on LinkedIn? Freelance Folder explains why you might want to be in The Freelancer's Guide to Getting Started on LinkedIn.

Fiction Writing
On QueryTracker.net, Elana Johnson offer tips for finding your voice in Don't Use that Voice With Me!


Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent, talks about Giving Your Characters Life.Their own life, not yours.


Query Letters
Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent, suggests you Get the Big Stuff Right. He swears that agents won't reject you at the first hint of a typo.


Over at BookEnds, LLC, Jessica Faust helps you get one of the big things right: An Author's Credentials. What do you put in your author bio, especially if you don't have much to add? The good news is: it's all good news.



Just to be on the safe side, A Victoria Mixon, Editor, talks about Getting Credentials that will impress potential agents.


Book Review
On Writing Forward, Melissa Donovan discusses A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver.

Member Blogs
What Colour is Your Palette? Diane has been at a painting all this week and shares her experience over at Pens, Paints and Paper. The Ringmaster of the Three-Ring Circus has been busy writing and posts about NaNoWriMo Success.



Weekly Laugh
And finally, The Rejectionist presents the winners of the best rejection letter contest: Author-friends, We Have a Winner.

Blog Roll-Up: Best of the Week's Writing Blogs

I don't make it to our meetings very often, and sometimes I even feel like I'm doing okay on my own. And then I come across a post like this, One is a Lonely Number--Why You Need a Writing Mentor on Write to Done, and I'm reminded of not just what the group can do for me, but what I can do for the group.

Do you Tweet? Do you blog (and if you do, let me know so we can add you to our blog roll)? Should you? The Guide to Literary Agents blog answers these questions with another post from the South Carolina Writer's Conference: Literary Agents Talk Blogging, Twitter and More. If you need more incentive to check out Twitter, then head on over to Freelance-Zone.com for an explanation of how TweetMyJobs Changes the Game and Freelance Folder sends out a Call to All Freelancers to get included on a Freelance Folder.

Also, make sure you head over to There Are No Rules by Writers Digest's Jane Freidman for her list of Best Tweets for Writers. There are tweets about craft and technique, getting published, self-publishing and marketing and promotion--and more!

Are you looking for new markets for your work? Are you trying to break out as a freelance writer, or even as a short story writer? The Freelance Writing Jobs Network offers 15 Places for Freelance Writers to Find Magazine Markets (note: you can use these for fiction markets as well) and 10 Ways to Get Your Freelance Writing Foot in the Door. The Renegade Writer is offering a New FREE Teleclass: Breaking into Food Writing.

Men With Pens is hosting a special fiction writing week with posts about Creating Character Flaws and Creating a Setting. Be sure to check out the full week's posts!

If dialogue is your weak point, C. Patrick Schulze brings you a couple of posts that should help: The Hidden Secret to Dialogue and How to Punctuate Dialogue.

Rachelle Gardner has some suggestions for Writing a First Draft in honour of NaNoWriMo, and The Three-Ring Circus posts this week offer tips for writing that draft quickly. Diane, our prolific writer updates us on the progress of her work, and the Brian Henry workshop over at Pens, Paints and Paper.

Finally, if you need a little inspiration, head over to Jennifer Lawler's Finding Your Voice blog for a quick lesson in The Power of Yet. And if you prefer your inspiration in laughter, definitely check out The Official Rejectionist's Death Match of Wittery, a tongue-in-cheek contest to find the best rejection letter. Scroll down to the comments to find them.

Blog Roll-up: Best from the Week's Writing Blogs

Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent, blogs All About Backstory. Learn the right way to bring the backstory into the book.

Chuck at the Guide to Literary Agents blog presents "20 Tips on Query Letters," as told by Janet Reid (aka the Query Shark herself) of FinePrint Literary Management.

Also on the Guide to Literary Agents blog, guest blogger Lisa Katzenberger writes about How to Get an Agent's Attention. These nuggets come from the South Carolina Writers Workshop (SCWW) agent panel discussion "What Gets Our Attention."

Janet Reid was one of the agents in attendance at SCWW, and shares her Notes From the Effective Query Class at SCWW. She also reminds us all that no matter what anyone says, we ARE writers. The opinion of those who disagree is worth Less Than Zero.

Jennifer Lawler at Finding Your Voice explains why shoving your first novel in a trunk—even when you love it—is the smartest thing you can do. Find out why in Moving on to the Next Thing.

If your "Next Thing" is freelance writing, Freelance Writing Jobs will help you get started. Read about Step 1: What Will You Write. Also helpful in getting those all-important first clips is How to Make Free Writing Pay.

Diane Bator shares her computer woes and positive attitude over at her Pens, Paints and Paper blog, and at The Three-Ring Circus, I offer some Editing Tips and Editing Helpers, plus a quick Word tip to help you edit out some common word-choice foibles.

And finally, a fun quiz from The Rejectionist: Are You Batshit Crazy? ... just in case you aren't sure.

Two New Blogs to Check Out

There are two new blogs for everyone to check out:

The Three-Ring Circus is Laura LaRocca's new blog about her family/writing life.

Pens, Paints and Paper is Diane Bator's blog about her writing and artwork.

Come visit us and join the fun.