Riley Adams's Blog, page 69

November 10, 2018

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 48,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Have you visited the WKB lately? Check out the new redesign where you can browse by category, and sign up for free writing articles, on topics you choose, delivered to your email inbox! Sign up for the Hiveword newsletter here.

Business / Miscellaneous

Is Collaborative Writing on the rise? And Making the Most of It: @msheatherwebb @WriterUnboxed

5 Freelance Writing Tips: @robertleebrewer @WritersDigest

Two Vital Questions to Ask Yourself About Writing: by Diane Tibert

For Indie Publishers: When and Why to Work with a Trade Book Distributor: @joebiel_ @JaneFriedman

How to understand readability stats: @pubcoach

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Sharjah Book Fair Opens With Spectacle, Ceremony: @Porter_Anderson

The UK’s Sunday Times/PFD Award for Younger Writers Shortlists Four Debuts: @girlhermes @LauraSFreeman @FJMoz @adamweymouth by @Porter_Anderson @YoungWriterYear

Hay Festival Announces New Events in Peru and Chile: @Porter_Anderson

Canada’s 2018 Cundill History Prize Finalists: Authors and Climate in Context: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

At Sharjah, London Book Fair Plans Market Focus Indonesia: @Porter_Anderson @BritishCouncil

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

3 Ways to Reach Your Writing Goals: @AlyssaColeLit @NaNoWriMo

How to Use Scrivener for NaNoWriMo: @Gwen_Hernandez @JamiGold

16.67 Ways to Juice Your Daily NaNoWriMo Word Count: @theladygreer @WriterUnboxed @NaNoWriMo

6 Ways to Balance NaNoWriMo and Your Life: by Gianna Maria @NaNoWriMo

The Spouse’s Guide to NaNoWriMo: Juggling Life and Writing in November: by Thomas Hardy @Janice_Hardy

30 Tips for Conquering Your 30-Day Writing Challenge: by @JessZafarris @WritersDigest @PiSquare @Metal_and_Earth @ganymeder

How to Break the Rules for the Best NaNoWriMo Ever: @weems503

National Novel Writing Month — 4 Tips to Help You Laser-Focus on Your Writing: @_TJ_Rigg @NaNoWriMo

How to Write More Words: Winning at NaNo: @MegLaTorre @AngelaAckerman @NaNoWriMo

Write Your NaNoWriMo in a Flash: @Lindasclare

“My body is conspiring against me winning NaNo”: @Vampyr14 @OpAwesome6

11 Tips to Beat Procrastination and Get that Novel Drafted: @AnnieNeugebauer @LitReactor

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on November 10, 2018 21:02

November 8, 2018

Adapting Writing Routines

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

It’s kind of interesting when you’ve been blogging as long as I have. Recently, I looked back over some of the posts from 2009 and 2010. My writing routine was very different back then and definitely something that was a work in progress. My guest post on Kaye Barley’s Meanderings and Muses blog explains how best to entertain children and get writing done (hint: bring their friends along).

In fact, many of my posts involved writing on the go. I learned to be very flexible with when and where I wrote…the whole point was to meet my goals however I could manage it.

It was, honestly, a crazy time. I was under contract for a couple of different series to Penguin and working on a 3rd for myself. My day, however, was very structured around my children’s activities and school days. I fit my writing around my children and it worked out really well.

Now my ‘children’ are 21 and 17. My son is away at college and my daughter soon will be. Even with one bird still in the nest, my daughter is rarely here. She no longer needs rides anywhere and her school schedule this year involves a dual-enrollment program (part of her day at high school, part of her day at a local college).

My kids’ schedules provided the framework of my writing day. Structure was forced on me by carpool times for both school (two different schools because of the age difference of my children) and for various afterschool sports, clubs, etc.

When you choose your own schedule, you can be spoiled for choice. This is definitely the case for those of us going through empty nest syndrome, and I’m imagining it’s the same for those of us who have recently retired.

Can you have too much time to write? I think that can be a problem, for sure. Before, I had to be extremely focused and protective of my writing time and was sure to squeeze it into any available free spot in my day. Ultimately, this trained me to be very productive. I wrote in carpool lines and while waiting for my children to come out of Scouts or cheer practice.

I realized about a year ago that I needed to rethink how I approached my writing day. Here are my tips for rethinking a routine:

Evaluate what still works. I kept some elements that always worked really well for me. I knew that I always feel better when I am up earlier than anyone else and can knock out most, if not all, of my goal then. This still worked for me, so I kept it.

Reassess word count goals and goals per session. Are you still hitting your goals? Should you make your first writing session longer instead of trying to jumpstart the process again later in the day? For me, this was the answer (or most of it). While I was still somewhat in the writing zone, it made sense for me to lengthen my first session of the day.

Consider when best to add another writing session. When are you most productive? For me, I realized another short session in the morning would work best. I write at 5 a.m. for the first session so I definitely wasn’t feeling burned out at 10 a.m., hours later. But that’s still a time when I have a lot of energy.

Evaluate the new routine. Are you making more progress? Or should you make some tweaks to the new routine and reassess?

For further reading:

Has Your Writing Routine Become a Writing Rut? by Suzannah Windsor Freeman. This article involves a routine that’s been broken up by a baby.

5 Signs You Need to Break Up Your Writing Routine by Colleen M. Story. Indicators that we need to consider adapting our routines.

7 Useful Tips for Establishing a Writing Routine by Claire Bradshaw. Great advice for anyone trying to start a routine or change one.

Do you have a writing routine? If so, is it different now from the way it used to be? Was it hard to adapt?

Adapting Writing Routines:
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Photo credit: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND

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Published on November 08, 2018 21:02

November 4, 2018

Fitting in a New Project

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I usually just jump right into new projects without thinking a lot about it. I follow my outlines and I write what I’ve told myself to write each day. The big advantage is that these are long-running series and I’m writing another installment. I know the characters better than I know some family members. I would recognize my settings if I happened to drive through them on a road trip.

But starting a completely new and different project is different. For one, it’s not guaranteed to be a success, which makes it risky. I know if I write another Southern Quilting mystery or another Myrtle Clover mystery that I will receive X amount of income from it. With a new project, it could completely bomb.

Starting a new project is also different because it’s so time consuming. When you write series, you already have developed characters and a well-established story world. It takes half the time to write. When you’re writing something new, everything is new.

To lessen the risk of the new project, I write one revenue-generating project in the morning and work on the new project in the afternoon. It works out really well, unless the series are similar… in which case, there’s sometimes accidental cross-pollination that has to be edited out later.

In some ways, it’s almost fun writing two things at once. You never get bored, that’s for sure. Get stuck in one section? You have another story that needs you to work on it. Not in the mood to write humor? Maybe your other book needs a dramatic scene written. And you’re much less likely to want to write a Shiny New Thing instead of sticking with your current books.

The hardest part, for me, of writing two projects at once is just getting started with project two. That’s mostly for the two reasons above: the risk and the time suck. There are ways to help get past that mental block, though.

First, break down the second project into manageable bits. Your time in setup counts as much as your time writing the story. It usually takes me about a week to outline a book, but it takes longer for a different genre or for a new series. So create an editorial calendar where you plan to work on the outline for 10 days and research for 3 days, etc.

Then, set the bar pretty low in terms of goals. That might sound counterintuitive, but when you’re trying to keep a project from getting overwhelming, racking up a string of smaller successes can really help with motivation.

For further reading on working on multiple projects, see:

Matt Bird’s post, “How to Write Every Day: Work on Multiple Projects”

Kelsie Engen’s post, “Multitasking Required.”

Jodi Meadows’ post, “Working on Multiple Projects”

Joanna Maciejewska’s post, “Writing Multiple Projects, Pros and Cons”

Have you worked on multiple projects at once? How did that work?

Fitting in a New Project While Working on Another:
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Published on November 04, 2018 21:02

November 3, 2018

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Business / Miscellaneous

Despite the Odds, a New Independent Bookstore Opens in Paris: ‘ICI’: @oliviasnaije

Taking Care of Business: The Writer’s Edition: @writersstation @WriterUnboxed

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

London Book Fair and the Publishers Association Plan a Third Inclusivity Conference: @Porter_Anderson @LondonBookFair @ThatKerryHudson

Gearing Up for Getting Out: The Conference Experience: @DavidCorbett_CA

Sharjah’s Professional Publishing Program: ‘Livelihoods Are at Stake’: @pubperspectives @Porter_Anderson

The UK’s National Book Awards Announce Shopping Season Shortlists: @Porter_Anderson @natbookawards @ZoeTheBall

Stressing Local Publishers’ Importance at Sharjah: Setzer, Al Hammadi: @Porter_Anderson

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

7 Self-Care Tips for Surviving @NaNoWriMo by Erin Townsend

Writing – How to Get Ready for @NaNoWriMo & Why: @DebbieYoungBN @IndieAuthorALLI

The Way to Really Get Ready for NaNoWriMo: @LiveWriteThrive

5 Tips for NaNoWriMo Success: @KelsieEngen

National Novel Writing Month: NaNo 101: The Basics for First-Time Wrimos: @NaNoWriMo

Top 6 Tips for NaNoWriMo: @PaulaSMunier @CareerAuthors

Your Quintessential NaNoWriMo Prep Guide (With Freebies and Resource Lists): @shaylaleeraquel

6 Scary-Good Tricks to Help You Write a Book in a Month: @NinaAmir @NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month — To Research or Not to Research: by Jill Shirley @NaNoWriMo

Plotting tips for writers in time for @NaNoWriMo :

Creativity and Inspiration / First Novels

The Debut Novelist’s Guide to Battling Imposter Syndrome: @treebirds @lithub

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

31 Horrifying Writing Prompts to Help You Scare the Bejesus out of Yourself This Halloween: @HughesAuthor

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

Find New Books Based on Where They’re Set With This Tool: @Emily @lifehacker

On Plath’s Birthday: 10 of the Best Sylvia Plath Poems Everyone Should Read: @InterestingLit

9 Novels in Which Houses Have a Life of Their Own: by Melanie Hobson @lithub

Rediscover Your Avid Inner Reader: @JennyHansenCA

8 Great Science Fiction Reads for the Techno-Skeptic: @mattstaggs @unboundworlds

Asimov’s Guide To Shakespeare Exists, and You Need It: @galaxyalex @tordotcom

The Race Against Time Thriller: @StephofLegends

Some Like It Dark: Terror in Translation: @_heathercleary

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

What Do You Want to Write But Haven’t Yet? @JamiGold

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Nobody Told Me That Writing and Parenting Are (Basically) The Same: @misshellinga @NaNoWriMo

Author Mindset: Your Road Map To Winning Creative Battles: @thecreativepenn @timgrahl

When the Wreckage Is in the Writer: On Creating Death and Disaster: @EthanChatagnier @The_Millions

How to Reboot Personally or Professionally: @WriteOnOnline

How to Use Your Favorite Books to Determine Your Future: @colleen_m_story

8 Moments When You Swear You’ll Never Write Again: @IndieReader

How to Tell Your Truth as a Biracial Writer and Why It’s Vital: @adibkhorram @SignatureReads

Title Your Inspirational Memoir With Our Handy Chart (Humor): @ElectricLit

The 5 Ghosts that Haunt Writers and How to Bust ‘Em: @colleen_m_story

Inside the Mind of an Author Writing a Book: @joebunting

Genres / Horror

20 Essential Crime and Horror Crossovers: @GiveMeYourTeeth @CrimeReads

How To Write Bloodcurdling Horror: Your Halloween Starter Kit: @Bang2write

Secrets of the Horror Genre: by Rachelle Ramirez @StoryGrid

13 Must-Read Books for Aspiring Horror Writers: @ReedsyHQ

17 Ways To Write A Terrifyingly Good Horror Story: @woodwardkaren

“The Serial Killer is Our Great Modern Demon”: by Darryl Jones @CrimeReads

Inspiration for Horror Writers and the Macabrely-Minded: @kirabutler

Genres / Mystery

When One of Your Mystery Series is More Popular Than Others: @mkinberg

Stephen King: Crime Writer: @GiveMeYourTeeth @CrimeReads

Consumer Protection as an Element in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Genres / Non-Fiction

How To Find The Story In Your Non-fiction Project: by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks

Promo / Blogging

The Basics of Successful Blogging: @EdieMelson

Less Common Interview Questions for Blog Author Interviews: @ZoeMMcCarthy

9 Scariest Things About Blogging: @EdieMelson

Promo / Book Reviews

How to Ethically Get the Reviews You Want: @WritersConnect3 @TheIWSG

Promo / Miscellaneous

Book release checklist: @jodimeadows

Promo / Social Media Tips

Are You Ready to Add More Social Media to Your Platform? @EJWenstrom @DIYMFA

Writers: 3 Tips for Better Promo on Goodreads from @ChrysFey :

25 Tips for Posting on Social Media: @CaballoFrances

Publishing / Miscellaneous

How Do We Measure Commercial Success in Books? by Richard Charkin @pubperspectives

New Blake Freeman Johnson Media: ‘An Original Cyber Publishing Concept’: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

Sample Permissions Letter: by Stephanie Chandler @NonfictionAssoc

Publishing / News / Amazon

“The arrival of ‘Warmer’—7 new works of short fiction on …climate change—signals Amazon Original Stories’ interest in social relevance and speed to market”: @Porter_Anderson @AmazonPub

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Industry Notes: Publishing Scotland’s Translation Fund; Switzerland’s Peter Lang: @Porter_Anderson @PeterLangGroup

PRH Takes Majority Stake in Brazil’s Grupo Companhia das Letras: @Porter_Anderson @penguinrandom

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

Proofreading designed page proofs: @LouiseHarnby

A Tip for Twitter Pitches: Have a Manuscript Ready: @Janet_Reid

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

Get a publishing deal by avoiding these common book proposal mistakes: @GhostwriterJG @sandrabeckwith

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

Writers Dish on Rejection: @pubcoach

Publishing / Process / Translation

Ottaway Winner: Chad Post on Translation’s ‘Expanding Audience’: @Porter_Anderson @chadwpost

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Find Empathy in Your Openings: @KayKeppler

Does This Opening Bore or Interest You to Read More? @TigerXGlobal

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

9 Best Enemy Duos Who Just Care About Each Other So Much (But Will Never Tell): @use_theforce_em @tordotcom

Writing Great Villains: Tips: @evans_writer @RMFWriters

Create Killer Twists: Learn How to Redeem Your Villain: @sacha_black

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

How to Build a Character Arc: @CherylProWriter

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

The Opposite is Possible Theory of Character Development: @DIYMFA

Finding Your Character’s Blind Spot: @diannmills @WriterUnboxed

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

How to approach writing a villain protagonist? @GoIntoTheStory

Heroic Traits and Their Faults: from Clever Girl Helps

Writing Craft / Endings

Cliffhangers: Is the Suspense Worth It? by Katherine Marciniak @PassiveVoiceBlg

Writing Craft / Flashback and Back Story

The Brilliance of Backstory Slip-Ins: @MargieLawson

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

6 Things Writers Can Learn From The Handmaid’s Tale: @Bang2write

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

How to Make Stories Allegorical: @AJHumpage

Deconstructing Best Sellers in Your Niche Genre: @LiveWriteThrive

When to Use Summary to Move Your Story Along: @writingthrulife

3 Tips for Writing a Story That’s Better Than Its Flaws: @KMWeiland

Are We All Gaslighters? @sarah_zettel @CrimeReads

Promise Fresh Perspective to Readers: @kcraftwriter

Writing Craft / POV

Choosing POV for a Story: @plotlinehotline

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Writers, we are doing it backwards: @speechwriterguy

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Research

A Primer on Cults for Writers: by Ban @mythicscribes

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

5 Tips for Writing Group Success: @LMacNaughton

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

When to Leave Out the ‘That’: @KAServian1 @RomanceUniv

Beyond the Easy Gesture in Fiction: @LindaKSienkwicz

Writing Craft / World-Building

World Building with the Celestial Objects of our Solar System: @MelanieMarttila @DIYMFA

Writing Tools / Apps

How to View Multiple Documents At Once In Scrivener: @kristen_kieffer

How to Format an Ebook in Scrivener 3: @KristinaAuthor

Writing Tools / Books

10 Books to help you feel like a real writer when you’re discouraged: @JanetBoyer @annerallen

Writing Tools / Resources

A New Character Name Generator: The Ultimate Bank of 1,000,000+ Names: @ReedsyHQ

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on November 03, 2018 21:02

November 1, 2018

Delivering Scares in Cozies and Other Genres

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Hope everyone had a good Halloween. Apparently I still have scary stuff on the brain. :)

The subjective nature of fear:

I’m not usually a fan of being terrified when I read or watch something. And I think I have a very low-threshold in terms of what’s scary. I recommended the first “Halloween” movie to my father last month (he’d never seen it). He was glad he watched it because he now understands a lot of pop-culture references. But he didn’t think it was scary . . . and the film scared me to death. I think the scariest moment was at the very beginning of the movie when two girls were walking home from school in broad daylight and one of them, and the viewer, sees a creepy man wearing a mask by a row of bushes. It bothered me because it came out of nowhere: it wasn’t even nighttime. And it took place in a public (which I equate to safe) location.

My high school senior daughter had to watch “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” last week at a school film club for extra credit for a sociology class (I know, I was baffled, too, ha). Before she left, I warned her that it was very scary. She came back to tell me that it wasn’t scary . . . it was disturbing.

So I struck out twice on what was scary. To two different generations.

Knowing reader expectations for what’s scary in your genre:

I don’t think it matters too much that I’m such a chicken when it comes to scary books and movies. That’s because I understand that I’m on the same wavelength with my readers. Once when I was writing a book for the Memphis Barbeque series and scared myself in the process (the only time I’ve done this except when writing my zombie book). I immediately realized the scene was too dark and needed to be toned down.

For cozies, I think the expectation is more for tension than fear. Cozies are generally an escape. Tense moments are fine. But too much darkness and drawn-out scares are probably more fitting for other genres. Of course writers can write however they want…but to be more of a commercial match for the audience, it’s a good idea to keep reader expectations in mind.

The premise of cozies is “the killer among us.” That, to me, is scary enough. Unlike some genres, the cozy mystery presents the murderer as someone in our neighborhood, our family, our quilt guild, our church.

Maybe you write for a genre that has some latitude with its scares. For further reading on delivering fright, read:

“How to Tell Scary Stories, from the Co-Creator of ‘American Horror Story‘ : 8 tips from Brad Falchuk via Joe Berkowitz

“Writing Scary Scenes”: tips from writer Rayne Hall

“How to Write a Scary Scene“: by Susan Dennard

How tolerant are you of being scared? How scary are your books?

Delivering Genre-Appropriate Scares to Your Readers:
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Photo credit: Pensiero on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND

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Published on November 01, 2018 21:02

October 28, 2018

3 More Things You Should Do on Goodreads

by Chrys Fey, @ChrysFey

Back in June Elizabeth graciously had me as a guest on her wonderful blog for 3 Things You’re Probably Not Doing on Goodreads that You Should. Shortly after that post went live, I thought of 3 more things you could do on Goodreads and wanted to do a follow-up post here. So, are you ready for 3 additional tips that are easy to do and can be beneficial to you and your books?

Well, here they are!

Upload YouTube Videos

Do you create videos about your books for a YouTube channel? Have you ever done a recorded reading or a book trailer? Great! Now you can post those to Goodreads.

Step 1: All you need is the full URL to the video on YouTube. Copy it and head over to your Goodreads profile.

Step 2: On the left side of your profile, beneath your followers, you’ll see a section for videos. Click “add new.”

Step 3: On the page that pops up, paste the full YouTube URL for the video into the spot asking for the “Video URL.”

Step 4: Insert a title and description.

Step 5: Fill out tags, using commas to separate them. You could use your author name, your book’s title, your series’ title, your characters’ names, and keywords that you’d use to describe your book’s genre/category on Amazon.

Other Tag Ideas: reading, author reading, book trailer, book series, readers.

You can even use popular hashtags from Instagram and Twitter for books and readers, but without the actual hashtag symbol. Ex: bibliophiles, bookworm

Step 6: Choose the type of video. Your options are: trailer, interview, reading, speech, and other.

Step 7: Select which one of your books the video is about.

Step 8: Click “save.”

Now your video is up for Goodreads members to view. Not only will it be on your profile in the sidebar, but also on your book’s Goodreads page as a bonus for readers. Only two videos are visible at a time, but all can be found by clicking “see more.” When you view all videos. there’s a counter that shows the number of views of your videos have received.

See: 10 Things You Can Do on Your Author YouTube Channel

Add Your Series’ Book Titles to Book Descriptions

This is a tip I also recommend for all of the description sections for books on Amazon. If you have a series/trilogy, add the list of book titles for that series/trilogy in the description of each book’s Goodreads page below the blurb.

For example:

Series Name:

Book 1 Title

Book 2 Title

Book 3 Title

This is great for readers who stumble upon your book or stop in to check it out. By putting this list beneath the blurb, you are helping readers who may want to know the order of books. As a reader, I know it can be a pain to discover the order of books. And as an author, it’s free advertising.

TIP: You can also ask Goodreads Librarians to create a series page so that on your profile there will be a section titled “Series by (Author Name).” The name of your series will be accompanied with the cover images of your books and an average rating. Readers can then click on it to see the order of books and a few details about each book. But you have to join the Goodreads Librarians group first, which is as easy as clicking a button.

Create Your Own Quotes

Scroll down on your Goodreads profile to the quote section beneath your recent updates. This is where you’ll find quotes you might’ve liked on Goodreads. If it’s empty, that just means you haven’t liked any quotes yet. But you can now! And you can make your own.

Click “Quotes by [Your Author Name.]” You’ll be taken to a new page. In the upper right-hand corner, click “Add A Quote.” Then you can fill in a quote, choose which book it comes from, and add tags (keywords).

Is there a bit of dialogue one of your characters says that reveals emotion, characterization, or hints at the plotline? What about narrative? Did you write a nice descriptive paragraph that stuns you with how good it is? Take those lines from your book and turn them into quotes. When you do, they will show up on your profile and on your book’s page where readers can like them and have them displayed in their favorite quotes section. And when they do that, their friends could see those quotes, too, and become intrigued. That’s what we want, right? Of course, it is!

With these 3 extra tips, I hope you’ve found ways to spice up your Goodreads profile and book pages, especially if you don’t usually use or go to Goodreads. Now is the time to take action and full advantage of this great platform.

Share: Your Goodreads tips.

For more information like this check out:

Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication by Chrys Fey

BIO: Chrys Fey is the author of Write with Fey: 10 Sparks to Guide You from Idea to Publication. Catch the sparks you need to write, edit, publish, and market your book! From writing your novel to prepping for publication and beyond, you’ll find sparks on every page, including 100 bonus marketing tips. Fey is an editor for Dancing Lemur Press and runs the Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s Goodreads book club. She is also the author of the Disaster Crimes series. Visit her blog, Write with Fey, for more tips. @ChrysFey www.ChrysFey.com

Writers: 3 Tips for Better Promo on Goodreads from @ChrysFey :
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Published on October 28, 2018 21:02

October 27, 2018

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Business / Miscellaneous

It’s Time For Your Fall Platform Inventory: @cksyme

How to successfully pitch The New York Times (or anyone else): @TimHerrera @nytimes

How Star Wars writer Chuck Wendig’s tweets got him fired by Marvel: @ChuckWendig @comicriffs

How Being an Opportunist Helps Build Your Writing Career: @WendyHJones @IndieAuthorALLI

Business Musings: Barnes & Noble: @KristineRusch

Chasing Book Trends … or Not: by Dana Isaacson @CareerAuthors

Doubling Down On What You Love And Opportunities When Publishing Wide: @thecreativepenn

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Frankfurter Buchmesse Film Awards, Goethe-Institut’s Uwe Johnson Series: @Porter_Anderson @Book_Fair @GI_NewYork

US National Endowment for the Arts’ ‘Big Read’ Program Adds New Books: @Porter_Anderson @NEABigRead

The UK’s Inaugural Women Poets’ Prize Shortlists Nine Writers: @Porter_Anderson @B_Littlefair @HRHopkins @alice_hiller @jennaclake @PoeticJemz @clairecollison1

Frankfurter Buchmesse 2018: “Energy was high, deals were plentiful, and business was serious”: @Porter_Anderson @LenaStjernstrom @Amy_Joyner @MagalieSFSG @annasolerpont

Sharjah’s 2018 Professional Program Features More Than 350 Rights Trading Participants: @Porter_Anderson

Rights Roundup: A Post-Frankfurt Look at a Range of Titles and Rights Sales: @Porter_Anderson @pubperspectives

AAP Opens 2019 PROSE Awards to Entries; National Book Awards Host Is Nick Offerman: @Porter_Anderson @Nick_Offerman @nationalbook

Author Benyamin’s ‘Jasmine Days’ Wins Inaugural JCB Prize for Literature in India: @Porter_Anderson @TheJCBPrize @juggernautbooks

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

The October Panic: @cathychall @womenonwriting

Eight Reasons to Participate In NaNoWriMo: @kristen_kieffer

Reasons to Skip NaNoWriMo: @the_writing_pal

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Cozy British Mysteries—How They’ve Inspired 1 Writer: @VClinebarton @WomenWriters

The Heart to Start Your Creative Journey: @kadavy @JeffGoins

6 Ways Creative Writing Prompts Can Move You Toward Your Goal: @cathysbaker @EdieMelson

Move Past a Creative Rut: @DanBlank

How to Get Ideas for Your Writing: @Wordstrumpet

In Case of Inspiration Emergency: Revisit Your Childhood Favorites: @NaNoWriMo

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Quotes

Quotes on Writing: Everyone from Alexander Pope to Eeyore: @BE_Sanderson

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration / Reading as Writers

8 Totally Eighties Horror & Science Fiction Books: @mattstaggs @unboundworlds

Finding Books to Read and Tracking Our Reading as Writers:

Five Books That Give Voice To Artificial Intelligence: @tansyrr @enoughsnark @tordotcom

Reading as a Writer: Shifting from Private to Public:

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Seven Life Lessons Learned From Tracking Time: @sowulwords @DIYMFA

How to Find Time to Write When You’re a Caregiver: @colleen_m_story

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Help for Being Stuck: @DonMaass

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

Pick One Thing – How and Why to Have a Singular Focus: @kikimojo

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

11 Ways for Writers to Sleep Better at Night: @TCKPublishing

25 Truths About the Work of Writing: @theladygreer @WriterUnboxed

12 Quotes About Procrastination: @TomBlunt @SignatureReads

How Long Should It Take to Write a Book? @MerilynSimonds @JaneFriedman

5 Reasons This Is The Best Time To Be A Creator: @sara_crawford @thecreativepenn

The myth of the reclusive author: @GuardianBooks

Get More Done with a Plan: @jillkemerer

The In-Between Stages of Writing: @NataliaSylv @WriterUnboxed

How to Adjust Your Writing Process and Embrace Your Writing Season: @weems503

Why Every Writer Should Have a Dog: @CameronShenassa @ElectricLit

Genres / Fantasy

A Fantasy Geek’s Guide to YouTube: Weapons and Warfare: @RMarpole @FantasyFaction

Bullet Journaling as a Fantasy Writer: @jennlyonsauthor @tordotcom

Genres / Historical

How to Write Historical Fiction That Comes Alive: @JimmyWriter @CareerAuthors

Genres / Horror

How to Create a Monster That Terrifies Your Readers: @sarahstypos

Genres / Miscellaneous

Top 10 Elements of Gothic Literature: @InvaluableLive

Genres / Mystery

How to Write Mystery: 6 Ways to Create Suspense: @nownovel

Disappearances as Elements in Crime Fiction: @mkinberg

Genres / Picture Books

Advice For Young Writers from a Picture Book Author and Illustrator: @inkyelbows @BlushingFawn @a_offermann

Genres / Science Fiction

What Makes the Monstrous? @pauljessup

Doing the Math: Aliens and Advanced Tech in Science Fiction: @jamesdnicoll @tordotcom

Genres / Screenwriting

Breaking the 4th Wall in Scene Description: @GoIntoTheStory

Screenwriting: The Ultimate Story Checklist: Selma: @CockeyedCaravan

Screenwriting: “I Don’t Know Anyone in Hollywood” – 5 Ways to Network as an Outsider: @dougeboch

Five Ways Aspiring Screenwriters Can Get an Agent’s Attention: @mhfilmz @hopeclark

Screenwriting: Manufacturing a Bigger Midpoint Disaster in “Selma”: @CockeyedCaravan

Promo / Blogging

Tips for Better Blog Posts: @writing_tips

Promo / Crowdfunding

Seven Keys To Crowdfunding on GoFundMe: @madeleinedodge @BookBaby

Promo / Metadata

Nailing Your Metadata: Categories: by Vincent B. Davis @A3writers

Promo / Miscellaneous

7 Ways to Turbocharge Your Ebook Marketing: @markcoker @WritersDigest

Your Book’s Unique Selling Proposition Begins with You: @PaulaSMunier

Promo / Speaking

How Writers Can Overcome Their Fear of Public Speaking: @BetsyGFasbinder @JaneFriedman

7 Presentation Tips for Speaking Online in a Virtual World: @gigirosenberg

Promo / Video

5 Things to Do Before Releasing a YouTube Video: by Mella Music

Promo / Websites

10 Ways to Build Traffic to Your Author Website or Blog: @JaneFriedman

Publishing / Miscellaneous

How to Publish Regularly, Even If You Lack Writing Confidence: @soniasimone @copyblogger

PEN America Sues Donald Trump: ‘Standing Up to These Encroachments’ @Porter_Anderson @PENamerican

Readers Begin Voting Today on SyFy Pilots of @wattpad’s ‘Expiration Date’ : @Porter_Anderson @AshleighGardner

Changing The Book Format Game: Augmented Reality, Gameified Books, and More: @helpfulsnowman @LitReactor

HarperCollins Launches YA Novel on Snapchat: @HarperCollins @emkantor

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Gaël Faye: Rap Artist to Bestselling Author in France: @oliviasnaije @GaelFaye @pubperspectives

Industry Notes: Elsevier Contributes Book Aid’s Millionth Volume, Simon & Schuster Restructures Touchstone: @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

If You Know How to Date, You Know How to Find a Literary Agent: by Jennifer Baker @ElectricLit

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Book Cover Typography: Book Cover Fonts and More: @DaveChesson

Publishing / Process / Translation

Chinese bot translates 300-page book from English to Chinese in 30 seconds with 95% accuracy: @TNPS10

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Character Development: Recognizing a Flat Character: from Writing Questions Answered

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Referee: @beccapuglisi

Writing Craft / Conflict

5 Conflict-making Choices Characters Can Make: @FaeRowen

Writing Craft / Diversity

5 Harmful Representations of Disability and What to Try Instead: @writing_alchemy @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Drafts

Why You Should Finish Your First Draft As Quickly As Possible: @FredBobJohn

When is my story finished? @mrushingwalker @StoryGrid

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Another 3 Writing Myths You Should Feel Free To Ignore: by Rebecca Langley @standoutbooks

7 Clever Strategies for Harnessing Coincidences in Fiction: @readstevenjames

How to Give Your Readers Unforgettable Moments: @jamesscottbell

Writing Craft / POV

Tips for Multiple Viewpoint Characters: @SnowflakeGuy

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Outlining

How to outline a book without killing the fun of writing it: @Roz_Morris

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

Using the Foolscap to Draft Your Next Novel: @winteralley @StoryGrid

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Story Concept

5 Reasons Why Your Story Idea Doesn’t Stand Out: @LA_Screenwriter

6 More Creative Ways to Strengthen Your Story Idea: @joslynchase_ @write_practice

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

10 Kinds of Critique Groups that Can Drive you Batty: @annerallen @TheIWSG

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

How to Make Your Descriptions Less Boring: by Bucket Siler

400+ Words to Describe Hands: A Word List for Writers: @KathySteinemann

Writing Craft / Tropes

5 Ways to Subvert Character Clichés and Archetypes: by Casimir Stone @ReedsyHQ @nownovel

Writing Craft / Word Crafting

The Power of a Single Word. 4 Tips for Stronger Writing: @KathySteinemann @annerallen

Writing Tools / Apps

How to Work Within The Scrivener Interface: @kristen_kieffer

Uncategorized

Publisher Hodder & Stoughton Marks a Century and a Half of Books: @rogertagholm @pubperspectives

The top writing links from last week are on Twitterific:
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Published on October 27, 2018 21:02

October 25, 2018

Reading as a Writer: Shifting from Private to Public

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

For a long time, I avoided Goodreads altogether. It’s the kind of place that makes me uncomfortable as a writer and so I figured I shouldn’t be on the site at all.

But I’ve found that I can completely avoid my own books on Goodreads as long as I don’t deliberately look them up. And Goodreads has a lot to offer for readers.

I decided at first that I didn’t particularly want to share what I wrote as my author profile on the site. That’s mostly because I didn’t want to say if I didn’t enjoy a book…as Elizabeth S. Craig, Writer. And I didn’t necessarily want to share what I liked, either and have it be a public endorsement. Mainly what I wanted was a place to track my books, authors I enjoyed, and my reading life and find recommendations. So I set up an anonymous account there.

As time went on, I began to feel a little more comfortable about sharing what I was reading. And I’m not sure why: I’m a horrid reviewer (better at book blurbs). It started with my inclusion of what I was reading in my reader newsletter that goes out when I have a release. I found that when I wrote a few short sentences about several recently-read books, I had a very positive reader response. Readers were actually emailing me back about what they were reading, too.

Then BookBub started a recommendation program where they emailed readers your book picks…a nice way to keep in readers’ minds in the interim between books. As long as the reviews I wrote were short, they were fine. :)

Finally, I’ve just started posting some of what I’m reading on my author profile on Goodreads (either books that I’ve just finished and enjoyed, or books that I’m pretty sure I can give a positive review).

I only mention books that I’ve enjoyed. That’s just my own rule of thumb. I want to help my readers discover books that I think they’ll like.

Because so many readers have asked me in the past to recommend other cozy series to them, I also feel the need in my newsletter and on BookBub to explain that the titles I’m recommending are not cozies. I usually can’t read books in my genre while I’m writing them and considering the fact that I’m always in the process of writing a cozy, I rarely read them.

In a lot of ways, and in case you couldn’t tell from this post, reading as an author is a little awkward. But it’s becoming more comfortable for me.

For ideas on what to read, check out the Reading as Writers category on the free Writerskb.com.

For further reading on being a reader and a writer, see:

5 Tips for Reading as a Writer by Andi Cumbo-Floyd

Is it Fair for Authors to Review Other Authors? By Kristen Lamb

3 Reading Tips for Writers from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers

As a writer, do you publicly share what you’re reading and how you like it? Do you ever give books negative reviews?

Thoughts on the Public Nature of Reading as a Writer:
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Published on October 25, 2018 21:02

October 21, 2018

Entertainment as Inspiration: Books

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve made a point to more than double the amount of reading this year than the year before. As with my consumption of film, music, and TV, I’ve tried to expand into new genres as a reader, hoping to better-inform my writing.

This has been made easier, once again, by keeping up with a TBR list (to be read) and by tracking what I’m reading.

Finding books to read:

I get a good number of suggestions from friends (both online and in person). But I’ve also found these things useful:

Goodreads. It’s not nearly as scary as a reader as it is for a writer. Here I track what I read, make private notes on the stories, and rate them to remind myself how I enjoyed them. I also follow reviewers whose tastes overlap with my own. Or sometimes I end up in a sort of rabbit hole of recommendations there.

Book challenges. This has been a useful way to branch into other genres. This year I’ve used Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge and I’ve taken some of the suggestions in this post of from Katie McLain.

Newsletters. I have found good recommendations for (mostly) nonfiction from Austin Kleon‘s newsletter and the Farnum Street newsletter.

Website: I’ve discovered lots of good books through Largehearted Boy’s year-end compilation of best books lists.

Tracking Reading

I’m doing my tracking through Goodreads (not my author profile there). This way I can make private notes on various books, remind myself how I liked it, and find out from Goodreads when authors I enjoy have new or upcoming releases.

How do you find what you read? Do you keep track of it?

Finding Books to Read and Tracking Our Reading:
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Published on October 21, 2018 21:01