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.