Elizabeth Spann Craig's Blog, page 116

Offering Free Ebooks to Subscribers

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Warning: boring post ahead!  But since I’ve struggled with Mail Chimp and Amazon, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned about both platforms. 

Many writers offer free ebook incentives for signing up for their newsletter.  I liked the idea of the giveaway, but I knew one thing: it had to be automated. I don’t have the time to email ebooks to readers in their preferred format.

After researching, I realized that I already had the tools to be able to get the delivery process automated…I just hadn’t realized it.  Here’s what I did:

I use  Mail Chimp for newsletters.  It’s free for up to 2,000 subscribers.  (Rest assured, if you’re on other newsletter platforms, no worries, you can use automation there, too…I just don’t know how. :) )

Pull up your newsletter campaign (https://us4.admin.mailchimp.com/lists/ ) .  There’s a drop-down arrow next to “stats” and I selected “signup forms.” On the page that comes up, under “forms and response emails,” use the drop-down arrow and choose “forms”.

The forms that I used were “signup form,”  “signup thank you page”, “opt-in confirmation email”,  “confirmation thank you page” (but I changed it to “go to a link” instead of using the email on the Mail Chimp page…that’s a choice we can make on the form), and the “final welcome email”.  We can upload images to any of these forms to make them more appealing for readers, if we use the image icon in an editable field.

I created images on the free Canva site.  One was:  “sign up for my free newsletter and get a free copy of Dyeing Shame.”  I used that in the backs of some of my books.  I hyperlinked the images in the “sign up” ad to my Mail Chimp newsletter signup page: http://eepurl.com/kCy5j  . Then I downloaded the file  as an image and then uploaded it to the Mail Chimp forms.  Here are is the ad and the Mail Chimp forms:

 

 

 

I created a page on my website with the links to deliver the free ebook.  We can mark the page as public or private (page settings on WordPress).  Instead of having Mail Chimp email the “Success!” notice with the download instructions, I set up the form to go to my site:

On the site, it has instructions and links for downloading the free book in Kindle, epub, and PDF formats.

For the download links, I used .  I logged in with my Amazon login.  Then I created a “bucket” called “dyeingshame”  and uploaded 3 files: Kindle, epub, and PDF.  When I selected each file on the site, a side menu came up.  I chose ‘properties’, then ‘permissions’. Then I clicked  the green arrow for ‘add more permissions.’   I then used the drop-down menu to select ‘everyone. and saved it.  A minute later, the file was showing as public.   I copied the file url and hyperlinked it to the ‘download’ text on my webpage.

I hope everyone’s still awake.  :)  This is a post that I’ll refer back to, myself, for future reference.  I know it’s convoluted.   But it’s not quite as difficult as it might seem.

This is one thing I’ve worked on recently, marketing-wise.  What have you been working on lately?

How to offer and distribute free ebooks as incentives for readers:
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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 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

When the Beginning Isn’t the Beginning:  http://ow.ly/PMD7I @aejonesauthor

How to Create Shareworthy Twitter Images and Visuals:  http://ow.ly/PMDoD @kevanlee

Tips On Writing And Productivity:  http://ow.ly/PMDfG @thecreativepenn

10 Writing Productivity Hacks:  http://ow.ly/PMDsD @nownovel            

Create An Author Website That Shows Off Your Writer Personality:  http://ow.ly/PMD9K @writersrelief

Who Is Your Audience? http://ow.ly/PMDdc @McgannKellie

9 Ways to Use Music to Enhance Our Writing:  http://ow.ly/PJzv3 @WriterJoMalby

4 Questions Agents Ask Writers at Pitch Sessions:  http://ow.ly/PJzT4 @FictionCity

Comma Splices and Why Editors Hate Them: http://ow.ly/PJzQ7 @epbure

Conflict: The Fuel Of Our Story:  http://ow.ly/PJzIr @bob_mayer

Creative writing lessons from Patricia Highsmith:  http://ow.ly/PJzLL @samjordison

How to Know When You’re Ready to Publish:  http://ow.ly/PJA4x @bethrevis

5 Ways To Kick-Start Your New Short Story:  http://ow.ly/PJzFd @AnthonyEhlers

Tips for building vocabulary:  http://ow.ly/PJA1k from WriteWorld

10 Tips for Writing Unforgettable Villains:  http://ow.ly/PJzr6  @cblinka

5 Minutes to Writing Better Guns and Knives:  http://ow.ly/PJzAK @benjaminsobieck

Writing Spies: How to Find Bugs:  http://ow.ly/PGncA @piperbayard

Cleaning Up Our Amazon Book Page:  http://ow.ly/PJTmk

Learning From The Independent Publishing Experience: http://ow.ly/PGmQm @10minnovelist @JudeKnightBooks

The Hardest Part of Writing Good Character Arcs:  http://ow.ly/PGmvu @KMWeiland

Traits and Character:  http://ow.ly/PGm0k by Shawn Coyne

So Much Anger From Writers Online:  http://ow.ly/PKozH @Porter_Anderson

On Exceptions to Writing Rules:  http://ow.ly/PGn20 @ava_jae

Authors’ contracts and controversies:  http://ow.ly/PJAxG @Porter_Anderson @janesteen

Discovering New Frontiers in Genre:  http://ow.ly/PGnKd @artofstoriesAB

7 Tips For Writing About Trauma:  http://ow.ly/PGmqZ @kelley_clink

Numbers in Writing:  http://ow.ly/PGnjD  @Savage_Woman

#FutureChat Today: The Amazon birthday party: http://ow.ly/PJAY2 at 4pBST / 11aET (now) : @Porter_Anderson

Writing Tighter Sentences:  http://ow.ly/PGnLI @lindasclare

Confrontations between sleuths and criminals in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/PJNbi @mkinberg

Ambition, Writing Tips And Being An Indie At #ThrillerFest15: http://ow.ly/PGobm @thecreativepenn

Amazon, 20 years in:  http://ow.ly/PJAQc @Porter_Anderson @philipdsjones

How ACX Earnings Work:  http://ow.ly/PGnAj @amcbooks

How to Create Tension in Writing:  http://ow.ly/PGlX9 @nownovel

6 Techniques for Retelling Classic Stories:  http://ow.ly/PEE97 @artofstoriesAB

The Perfect Place to Write? A Field Guide to Procrastination:  http://ow.ly/PEEij @cbramkamp

How to Describe a Place:  http://ow.ly/PEFmL @JillWilliamson @goteenwriters

Tips for expanding our word count:  http://ow.ly/PEEEa from Writing Questions Answered

20 Reasons Why Nonfiction Writers Should Blog Books: http://ow.ly/PEEeI @NinaAmir

How to Pace a Crime Novel:  http://ow.ly/PEFwW @nownovel

Killing too many characters too early in the story?  http://ow.ly/PEET6 from The Writing Cafe

Do A Character Study on Yourself:  http://ow.ly/PEF64 @sowulwords @DIYMFA

The best way to plot a novel:  http://ow.ly/PEFhC @StephMorrill @goteenwriters

Research Tips:  http://ow.ly/PEEOe from Megan N. Moore

How to Create Your Own Mini Writing Retreat:  http://ow.ly/PEFbv @DIYMFA

5 Tips for Setting Description:  http://ow.ly/PEEnT by Rebekah Lee

Crippling Advice For Beginning Writers:  http://ow.ly/PCxRk  @jamesostafford

30 Ways Netflix Binge Watching Makes You A Better Writer:  http://ow.ly/PCy34 @jimwoodswrites

5 Essential Marketing Ingredients To Make You A Better Writer:  http://ow.ly/PCxSU @jimwoodswrites

How to Create a Convincing Good Guy:  http://ow.ly/PCxPb  @AJHumpage

3 Surprises You Need In A Story:  http://ow.ly/PCyrR @MiaJouBotha

Creating Captivating Characters: http://ow.ly/PCz5M @Roz_Morris @VineLeavesLJ

5 Tips to Write a Great Main Character:  http://ow.ly/PCyzU @artofstoriesAB

Naming your characters and settings: http://ow.ly/PCz56 @Roz_Morris

Tribute to the Self-absorbed Artist:  http://ow.ly/PCzgG  @mrJRPatterson @thePenleak

How to Write the Passage of Time:  http://ow.ly/PCyIQ @AJHumpage

What to Expect from a First Draft:  http://ow.ly/PCyvE @artofstoriesAB

Be Fearless: Make Your Characters Real:  http://ow.ly/PCyUh @woodwardkaren

Writing Fixes: The Weak Opening:  http://ow.ly/PCz0H @lindasclare

Why the best characters overshare (by @DrewChial ): http://ow.ly/PyOE2

4 Tips For Finding Beta Readers Right For You:  http://ow.ly/PCyVD @woodwardkaren

5 guidelines for writing strong female characters (by @CWGWriting): http://ow.ly/PyOxR

5 dimensions of character personality (by @writingeekery): http://ow.ly/PyPc3

Tips from Hollywood for improving our writing (from Barking Up the Wrong Tree):  http://ow.ly/PyNRC

Tips from writers on editing (from @JannaKaixer): http://ow.ly/PyNFi

A look at act structure through the lens of 4 character models (by @alrodz): http://ow.ly/PyO2d

Dialogue: Make it clear who’s talking (by @mariamurnane): http://ow.ly/PyOjO

Infographic on organizing a writing desk (from @DashBurst): http://ow.ly/PyPrK

Tips for short story writing and why to do it (by @MichelleRene00):  http://ow.ly/PyOUA

Why query letters should focus on plot not theme ( by @carlywatters): http://ow.ly/PyNtE

Predictable elements in crime fiction (by @mkinberg): http://ow.ly/PwRV8

5 great story twists (by @AlexSokoloff for @bang2write): http://ow.ly/PyOLm

How to write a thrilling action hero (by  Eric Owusu): http://ow.ly/PyNf6

Music for Writers: Composer @Laura_Karpman  #MusicForWriters  @Q2Music @Porter_Anderson ow.ly/PsuDn

10 Elementary Tips For Writers From Sherlock Holmes:  http://ow.ly/PvyaW @writers_write

Staying True to Your Characters: http://ow.ly/PvxSF by Annette Lyon

Fiction Writing Basics: Character Thoughts And Emotions: http://ow.ly/PvxNc @angee

150 DIY ways to market your book: http://ow.ly/PvxDq @AuthorAshleeM

Applying Myers-Briggs to Characters: http://ow.ly/PvyhE @SaraCSnider

5 Ways to Handle Characters With Different Power Levels: http://ow.ly/Pvxvi @mythcreants by Oren Ashkenazi

The epic villain breakdown: http://ow.ly/PvxXo @shesnovel

Lessons From the Terrible Writing of Sword of Shannara (Ch.1) : http://ow.ly/PvxTz by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

10 Reasons Every Fiction Writer Should Learn Technical Writing: http://ow.ly/PvxKh @RMNSediting

7 ways to describe your protagonist in 1st person POV: http://ow.ly/PvxHa @kseniaanske

All about school visits (by @diannesalerni for @alexjcavanaugh ) : http://ow.ly/PwThK

10 short stories every writer should read: http://ow.ly/PvycM @johnny_webber

A look at fame in crime fiction (by @mkinberg): http://ow.ly/PwGNp

A Call to Pens: –Writer as Social Activist: http://ow.ly/Pvyld @jan_ohara

5 Tips for Guest-Blogging Like a Pro:  http://ow.ly/PnNEM @write_tomorrow

Hit and Run Emotions:  http://ow.ly/PnNcj @DiAnnMills

Do You Find Audiobooks Too Slow?  http://ow.ly/PnMVA  @InkBitsPixels

Writing and the Pomodoro Method:  http://ow.ly/PnLji @rsmollisonread

Indie Authors: How to Get Visible in Libraries: http://ow.ly/Pvyt5 @Porter_Anderson  for @annerallen

Tips for comma usage:  http://ow.ly/PnK5A by Mary Norris @NewYorkerVideo

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Cleaning Up Our Amazon Book Page

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’m taking author Mark Dawson’s Facebook ad course.  It’s been incredibly helpful for a variety of different reasons. I’ve no affiliation with Mark—I’m just trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing on Facebook…a platform I dislike, but would like to be able to use to my advantage.  The course is closed for registration now (he’s trying to keep it manageable so that he can directly assist enrolled students), but he does have a free mini course which I also took and found useful.

One of the things the course has done is force me do certain spring cleaning tasks that I should have been doing all along.  Mark explains the concept of landing pages, for one.  If we’re running an ad to increase subscriptions to our mailing list, the landing page would be a very basic page on our website that only allows the option of either closing the window or subscribing to the newsletter. An incentive for signing up, like a free book, would be included in the deal.

The landing page when running a Facebook ad for sales generation is our book’s sales page on Amazon.  Mark recommended making sure that this page was in very good shape.  The ad that I’m getting ready to run will promote a box set of mine (this is another recommendation from Mark.)  So I had to look at the sales page as if I’d never seen it before and make sure it was ready for potential readers. 

I found that it had a long way to go.  Actually, I discovered that all of my book pages had a ways to go in terms of being attractive to potential readers.  I also learned that, sadly, it took a lot of work to spruce them up.

I’ve gone through all of my self-published book pages at this point and made changes to the book/product description, the editorial reviews, and my own “about the author.” My Penguin book pages should also be touched up, so I’ll have to handle that next. I was surprised, as a matter of fact, to see that I could tidy them up.  Since I hadn’t been the one to put them up on retail sites to begin with, it was nice to know that I could make changes to them.

Here is what I did:

Checked my “Look Inside.”  Had I ever once looked inside my look inside?  No.  As I suspected, it was chockfull with copyright info, etc.  Typical boring front matter stuff.  Mark (and others I’ve read and tweeted on the subject) explains that this is valuable real estate and should be treated as such.  I still went light on the ad copy stuff, although I did mention my newsletter and the incentive for signing up.  I moved the front matter for the box set to the back of the book to make more room for a real sample read.  I’ll do the same for the other books when I make time. We also want to make sure that this sample has no typos or formatting issues or anything else that will make readers want to stop reading.

I tweaked my book/product description through my KDP dashboard. Although I liked the descriptions I’d written, I decided that they weren’t particularly visually appealing.  The box set, in particular, was sort of a mess.  I used some very, very basic html code to make book titles in the set bold, etc.  You can look here to see the results.  Another thing I did was to use a little social proof.  Since this is a box set and, as yet, an unreviewed box set, it made sense to add up the reviews for the books that comprised the set.  Those three books had over 650 five-star reviews between them and it was dumb of me not to mention that.

So, on to social proof.  My other books have plenty of reviews so I don’t list the social proof in the first line of the book description like I did for the unreviewed box set.  I feel like readers can see the stars on their own, right at the top of the page.  So I put the social proof down in the editorial reviews section.  That’s the section that…get this…I was not using for any of my books. That’s right.  I hadn’t gotten around to it, so it was completely empty. Just FYI, if you haven’t gotten around to it either, you access it through your Amazon Author Central…go to Books and then to Editorial Reviews, then click the add button.  In the past, I’d simply let the reader reviews be the only reviews on the page.  It’s true that I hadn’t made time to fill the section out, but it’s also true that I dislike marketing, dislike social proof.  It seems like bragging and I was raised to be the modest Southern lady. It’s important to become someone different when we market.

So…say you have a series.  You can add up the four and five star reviews for all the books in your series and make that the opening line of your book description.  So I’ve got “Readers love Myrtle – over 1500 4 and 5 star reviews.”  That’s it.  That’s all we need.  The code for that is: Amazon readers love this series – over 1500 4 and 5 star reviews  If you want to check your code as you type it to see how it would look on Amazon,  Mark Dawson shares a helpful site: http://ablurb.github.io/ . I found it very useful. It also has all the tags you can share listed on the site.  I spent a good deal of time experimenting.

Next was my bio.  It was…okay.  I rewrote it to make it stronger.

Then I went through all of my self-published books and did the same thing.

It did take me a while.  But I feel like the results were worth it. Moving forward, it’ll take a lot less time to handle this because I’ll do it as I’m publishing new books.

Have you been to your book’s sale page recently?  How did it look?  What are you working on now?

 

Tips for cleaning up our Amazon book page:
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Writing a New Genre

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

After a really nice vacation to Alaska (where it wasn’t even close to the 100 degrees F we’ve had here in NC), I had a few things to deal with.  A lot of unpacking, a suitcase that decided to hang out in Dallas, TX, instead of following us home,  and a book to finish.

I’d hoped to finish the book during my vacation.  I did get a lot written, but it wasn’t quite finished.  I finally knocked out the last bit yesterday and then quickly cleaned it up to send it along to my freelance editor.

This book was an interesting project for me.  It was an attack book…one that forced me to write it.  It’s been bugging me for three years.  I’ve got several other things to work on right now, but I scheduled time to work on this one.

I’d no idea how difficult it would be to write.  I ran a couple of weeks over my self-imposed deadline.  I’m happy with the finished product, but…it was a bear to write. 

Why the book put me behind: 

The zombies.  I’ve never written zombies.  I’ve had to read a lot of zombie stuff recently.

The fact that this was a gore-free zombie book with mild thrills.  Not a lot of those out there.

The multiple POVs.  I’ve never written multiple POVs.  As I was writing them, I remembered scores of articles I’d shared on social media about challenges writers encounter with them.  Now I know what those authors meant.

The first person POVs.  I’ve never written in first person.  It was awkward at first.

The epilogue.  This book felt as if it needed one.  I’ve never written/wanted one before.

What I learned while struggling through the project: 

Although the book was difficult for me to write, I felt a lot of creative energy while writing it.  This manuscript was good for me and helped me grow in areas I needed to work on.

Zombies are like many other conflict generators….it’s not about them. It’s about what happens to and within the characters, as with any other story.

For some reason, when writing multiple POVs, there is this tremendous urge that overwhelms one to recount the story we’ve just narrated from a different viewpoint.  Resist!  Rarely is this a good move.  I knew this from a hundred articles I’ve read in the past…but somehow,  when you’re writing, it seems like an amazing idea at the time.

When writing multiple POVs, timelines become an issue.  I started tracking what day the different characters were on.  When the characters’ timelines intersected, it was important to make sure one character wasn’t on day three and another character on day five.  :)

Other things I was reminded of:

Crappy, unskilled work can be fixed during our edits.

It’s vital to schedule time to read the new genre.

It’s easy to get carried away with research.  A timer is helpful.

If we feel like we’re blathering on and on,  it’s best to start wrapping things up quickly.

Sometimes, it’s best to skip to the ending and write backward.  This helped me out tremendously.

Challenges and lessons learned from writing a new genre:
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Image: Death to the Stock Photo

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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 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Hope everyone has had a nice last couple of weeks.  I’ve enjoyed a great vacation with my family and am now getting back into the swing of things again. :)  This edition of Twitterific should include all the tweets I’d scheduled when I was gone.  Hootsuite didn’t seem to want to cough up such a large number of links, but this is my manual reconstruction of what was scheduled.  Thanks!

Auditioning a Narrator for your ACX Audiobook: http://ow.ly/PnMM2 @amcbooks

What It Was Really Like Writing Harry Potter:  http://ow.ly/PnN1x from Write Like Rowling

Writing the Multi-Platform Novel: http://ow.ly/PnMDI @HDemetrios @ingridsundberg               

Shawn Coyne on The Story Grid and Why Every Author Needs It:  http://ow.ly/PnLro @LorenKleinman

The Flabby Midsection of Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/PnLLc from The Authors’ Nook

All about liquid and gas explosions (resource for writers): http://ow.ly/PnOfK  @johngilstrap @FionaQuinnBooks

Summarizing instead of showing action:  http://ow.ly/Pj6w6  @ChristyDistler

Does Amazon Love Authors?  http://ow.ly/Pj7BH @ornaross

Writing About Guns: 10 Errors to Avoid in Your Novel:  http://ow.ly/Pj6Og @benjaminsobieck

Query Question: maps, illustrations and other visuals in novels:  http://ow.ly/Pj6SB @Janet_Reid

All About Goodreads Giveaways:  http://ow.ly/Pj7xF y @DebbieYoungBN

Top 90+ Free eBook Sites:  http://ow.ly/Pj6FC  @bkmkting

Ramp Up Tension and Pacing:  http://ow.ly/Pj7td by Rachel Scott Thomson for @CSLakin

The Complete List of Creative Distractions and Defenses Against Them:  http://ow.ly/Pj6Rg @DanBlank

Will author contract reform succeed this time? http://ow.ly/PtuAs @Porter_Anderson  @philipdsjones

Writing Fix: Reinvent Your Story:  http://ow.ly/Pj7mL @lindasclare

Email Newsletters for Authors: Get Started Guide:  http://ow.ly/Pj6s4 @JaneFriedman

Q&A On Writing, Self Publishing And Book Marketing:  http://ow.ly/Pj6Ld @thecreativepenn

How to Calculate Createspace Royalties: http://ow.ly/PhL9L @BlotsandPlots

Split Narratives: Dividing Your Story Between 2 or More Narrators:  http://ow.ly/Pj6Ij @aliventures

Is Your Story Ending ‘Right’?  http://ow.ly/PhJjj  @HeatherJacksonW

When Should a Writer Start Building a Social Media Network? http://ow.ly/PhJTC @ediemelson

Public Shaming, Cyberbullies, and the Hive Mind: Fighting ‘Censorship by Troll': http://ow.ly/PhKnG @annerallen

The Poky Little Puppy and other awful canonical children’s books:  http://ow.ly/PhKBu  @gabrielroth @slate

5 actionable social media tips for writers: http://bit.ly/1HSVhXV @ReedsyHQ @RicardoFayet

Things to know about our characters:  http://ow.ly/PhKtz by Right Writing

Making your book go viral:  http://ow.ly/PhLlZ @rxena77

5 Step Recipe To Create Your Protagonist’s Inner Circle:  http://ow.ly/PhJPr @sacha_black

10 Tips For the Beta Reading Stage:  http://ow.ly/PhJDg @sacha_black

Is Crowdfunding the Way of an Author’s Future?  http://ow.ly/PhKfJ @wherewriterswin

How to Self-Edit: Infographic:  http://ow.ly/PhK9J @nownovel

How To Ignite Your Creativity, The Artist’s Way :  http://ow.ly/PhK1U  @carol_brill  @womenwriters

What Book Jackets Teach About A Story’s Hook: http://ow.ly/PhJ2Q @HeatherJacksonW

Will Readers Find Your Protagonist Worthy?  http://ow.ly/OIZgD @angelaackerman

‘A Year of Women’? How About ‘A Year of Publishing Parity’ Instead? http://ow.ly/PnNrP  @LorraineDWilke @passivevoiceblg

How to Switch Gears and Increase Tension: http://ow.ly/OIZ4x from Read to Write Stories

Toning The Muffin-Top: The Flabby Midsection of Your Novel: http://ow.ly/OIZLR @BenSchmitt5

Pinterest for Authors: 6 Tips:  http://ow.ly/OIZsF @LornaSixsmith

17 Things Learned About Writing From Structuring a Novel In 7 Days:  http://ow.ly/OIZze @BenSchmitt5

10 Things a Writer Should Do Post-Conference:  http://ow.ly/OIZbV @AlyciaMorales

Ebook Subscriptions Q & A:  http://ow.ly/PnNiP @JAKonrath @passivevoiceblg

10 Lessons Learned While Writing a 1st Novel:  http://ow.ly/OIZkq @EmilyWenstrom

5 Fiction Faux Pas:  http://ow.ly/OIZ8G  @AndreaMerrell

Why Authors Need Bookshops:  http://ow.ly/OIZp4 @DebbieYoungBN

Choose the Right WordPress Theme for You: 10 Questions http://ow.ly/OIZiJ @JaneFriedman

What to expect from your book cover designer:  http://ow.ly/PjdJg @idobookcovers @ReedsyHQ

How to Know When to Stop Editing and Move On:  http://ow.ly/OIZes @missy_wilkinson

Novelists Need to Show AND Tell: http://ow.ly/OHzzv  @cerebralgrump

How to Turn an Idea into a Plot:  http://ow.ly/OHz4J @ava_jae

7 Writing Tips For Great Characterization:  http://ow.ly/OI4vk @bang2write

Amazon’s Personal Connection: ” Review Policies Are Nothing New” http://ow.ly/PmfXg @victoriastrauss

What Makes the Best Story? http://ow.ly/OHzug @Janice_Hardy

How to choose the right viewpoint and narrator: http://ow.ly/PjdDc @KristenStieffel @ReedsyHQ

Revising Mundane Content:  http://ow.ly/OHABY @Savage_Woman

Praising a publisher in a query: http://ow.ly/OHznD @Janet_Reid

3 Ways In Which Gardening Inspires Writing:  http://ow.ly/OHzTO  @rsmollisonread

Choosing a Genre: http://ow.ly/OHzZ3 @kristenlambtx

Is Online Life Real Life? Ask E.L. James. No, Ask @ChuckWendig :  http://ow.ly/Pjbzz @Porter_Anderson

How to Use MailChimp to Grow Your Brand:  http://ow.ly/OI3Uf @byReginaTV

How Self-Published Authors Can Distribute to Libraries:  http://ow.ly/PiKJF @Porter_Anderson @JaneFriedman  @libraryself_e

Editing in Layers: 7 Things to Search For In Your Manuscript:  http://ow.ly/OI4a7 @stephmorrill @GoTeenWriters

73 Ways To Become A Better Writer: http://ow.ly/OI4sT by Mark Jaksch @writetodone

How to Secure a Traditional Book Deal By Self-Publishing:  http://ow.ly/OHzey @JaneFriedman

Publishing: can subscriptions take the heat?  http://ow.ly/PiKez @Porter_Anderson @HughHowey

Test That Scene: Is it Essential or Filler?  http://ow.ly/OFW1m @HeatherJacksonW

How Expressive Writing Can Improve Our Emotional and Physical Health:  http://ow.ly/OFWu4  @paisleyhansen @womenwriters

Author Websites: 5 Ways to Create Loyal Readers:  http://ow.ly/Pjdzd  @ReedsyHQ

Embracing Paradox as a Writer:  http://ow.ly/OFWRH @kcraftwriter

The Back-up Antagonist:  http://ow.ly/OFW4d @robinrwrites

The Rule of Three in Writing:  http://ow.ly/PiLA2 @AnnieDaylon

An agent on challenges involved with self-publishing: http://ow.ly/PiJue @Porter_Anderson @jenazantian

On police jargon:  http://ow.ly/OFWFH @LeeLofland

How to Distribute Non-ACX Audiobooks: http://ow.ly/OFWhy @amcbooks

How writers of endangered languages are embracing sci-fi – Ideas:  http://ow.ly/OFW6K @brittkpeterson

5 Simple Ways to Take Your Manuscript from Unsolicited to Solicited: http://ow.ly/OFVY3 by Kyla Bagnall

6 Writing Techniques Learned at Storymasters:  http://ow.ly/OFW9z  @brunsdavid

5 Ways to Stretch Your Word Count:  http://ow.ly/OFWBy  @MCristianoWrite

5 Ways to Track Your Sales Without Amazon KDP’s Dashboard:  http://ow.ly/OFWe4 @amcbooks

Top 10 Scrivener Features for Writers:  http://ow.ly/OFWNG @Gwen_Hernandez

3 Steps to Problem-Solving in Storytelling:  http://ow.ly/OD5UM @farrtom @whisperproject

Resolutions and Writing: Getting Back on Track: http://ow.ly/OD5Au @BethCato

6 Narrator Types: Infographic:  http://ow.ly/OD65m @nownovel

Do You Write Like a Reader?  http://ow.ly/OD5vp @gmori

Tips for Winning a Short Story Contest: http://ow.ly/OD5Hq @farrtom @whisperproject

Writing Crime Fiction: 7 Elements of Gripping Suspense:  http://ow.ly/OD5Yi @nownovel

Breaking Bad Pilot Beat Sheet by Geoff Harris: http://ow.ly/OD4tk

Making An Incredible Character Arc Credible:  http://ow.ly/OD59Y @ScreenplayHowTo  by Steve Lam

Why Modern Technology Hates Suspense Writers:  http://ow.ly/OD5pz @StuartRWest

Mo Willems on Writing for Children and Other Unembarrassed People:  http://ow.ly/OD50g @jurgenwolff

The Poor Pessimist’s Guide to Not Writing:  http://ow.ly/OD4AI @wordwhores @jeffekennedy

A site that helps keep up with book ranking:  http://ow.ly/OD6IM  @111publishing

Developmental question: conflicting feedback http://ow.ly/OCevw @Janet_Reid

Using Goodreads as an author: http://ow.ly/OCdW8 @HelenaFairfax

Generate Early Interest in Your Book by Asking Questions and Getting Feedback:  http://ow.ly/OCcXL @booklaunchdemon

5 rules of writing romance:  http://ow.ly/OCdoC  @nicholesevern

Tips for getting our site ready for editors and agents:  http://ow.ly/OCdcs @nicholesevern

How to Use Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest to Build Your Platform:  http://ow.ly/OCcDJ  @booklaunchdemon

Where to Submit Short Stories: 25 Magazines and Online Publications: http://ow.ly/OCe6h @thewritelife

Want to Build an Email List? 7 Newsletter Platforms to Choose From:  http://ow.ly/OCeqY @lisatella

Facebook Basics for Writers:  http://ow.ly/OCd98 @EdieMelson

3 Ways to Save Money as a Writer:  http://ow.ly/OCd2y @LoriHatcher2  @ediemelson

Our blogs should be as well written as our novels: http://ow.ly/OCeBO  @CalebPirtle

How Indie Authors Pick Keywords: http://ow.ly/OCdME @kayelleallen

If Your Novel Needs More Urgency and Momentum, Ask These 7 Questions:  http://ow.ly/OB8Hk @katrinschumann

Is Your Book a Young Adult Romance? Infographic:  http://ow.ly/OB95i by Mollie B

So You Want to Write For, or Publish (or both) An Anthology? http://ow.ly/OB8Dl @CLSWINNEY @MorganStJames

How to Avoid a Sagging Middle:  http://ow.ly/OB9nc @BetterScribe

How to write dialogue that’s convincing and full of life:  http://ow.ly/OB93x @Roz_Morris

Plotting a Steampunk Scene:  http://ow.ly/OB8Ta by Cogpunk Steamscribe

Writing And Finance: A Complex Juggling Act: http://ow.ly/OB90E by Eve Pearce

Mapping Character Change Using Psychological Theory:  http://ow.ly/OB8Zn @grumpyrabbit

The phenomenon of celebrity fiction:  http://ow.ly/OB9aO by John Vanderslice

6 Emotional Spices For Drama:  http://ow.ly/OB8Q2  @JohnKrone_com

3 Secrets of Sentence Length Power:  http://ow.ly/OB8RQ @JohnKrone_com

Revision Made Simple in 10 Steps:  http://ow.ly/OB8Ll @nadinekenney @grubwriters

2 Keys to Creating Compelling Characters:  http://ow.ly/OApSi @michaelschilf

Emotional Wounds Thesaurus: Suffering From A Learning Disability:  http://ow.ly/OApTq @beccapuglisi

Adding Tension to Your Novel Writing:  http://ow.ly/OApnB @writerslifeorg

5 title mistakes that kill Amazon sales:  http://ow.ly/OApGe @karonthackston

The Index Card Method and Story Structure Grid: http://ow.ly/OApOT @AlexSokoloff

How 1 writer published 4 Books in 2 Years : http://ow.ly/OApLB  @marymcnear @womenwriters

The importance of proofreading blog posts: http://ow.ly/OApwO @BloggingBistro

Bestselling Author? Prove It!  http://ow.ly/OApJP @WhitneyDineen @womenwriters

Stay updated on publishing topics for writers at #FutureChat. 11am ET/4 pm BST (now). @Porter_Anderson

8 Reasons Why Good Books are Rejected by Agents:  http://ow.ly/OApuC @robiniwrites

From Memories to Memoirs: Balancing Story and Reflection: http://ow.ly/OApDg @writingthrulife

Writing Fiction: Lessons Learned from Game of Thrones: http://ow.ly/OAptG @WritersLifeOrg

Dialogue in Memoir:  http://ow.ly/OApzK @writingthrulife

3 Tips for Plotting with a Pantser: http://ow.ly/OzZ7zn by BK Vogt

Story: 4 Key Elements: http://ow.ly/OzZ42  @michaelschilf

What to Ask a Freelance Editor:  http://ow.ly/OzYMx @Savage_Woman

Top 10 rural noir novels:  http://ow.ly/OzYNS by Tom Bouman @guardianbooks

The Right Tool for the Job: Logline:  http://ow.ly/OzYWM @ChrisMandeville

False Summits and How to Get to the Top Anyway:  http://ow.ly/OzYQS  @harryonthebrink

How Judgmental Are Your Characters?  http://ow.ly/OzYTE @Janice_Hardy

On Getting Lost:  http://ow.ly/OzYUo @danijshapiro

3 Tools to Make Great Images:  http://ow.ly/OzYSH @Cara_Putman

3 Ways to Start Your Novel http://ow.ly/OzYLh @RuthanneReid

The dreaded competitive title analysis:  http://ow.ly/OzYVm  @j_finkelstein

4 Ways to Prepare for a Book Launch Even if You Aren’t Published Yet: http://ow.ly/OzYRT @Janice_Hardy

Email Marketing For Authors and Writers:   http://bit.ly/1F6FeQo @JFBookman

6 Writing Techniques Learned at Storymasters:  http://ow.ly/OwLbC @brunsdavid

9 Secrets to Selling More Books:   http://bit.ly/1FR56pY @bookgal

The pitfall of false suspense:  http://ow.ly/OwL5R @KMWeiland

How to Get Local Bookstores to Carry Our Books:    http://bit.ly/1ApUbBr @nblackburn01

David Mitchell on How to Write: Neglect Everything Else” http://ow.ly/OwLwy @theatlantic”

3 Reasons to Take a Break From Our Writing:  http://bit.ly/1F6DiXX @EmilyWenstrom

Editing Software Tools For Writers http://bit.ly/1GyPwy9 via @wvancamp

10 Tips for Choosing the Right Book Title in the E-Age:  http://bit.ly/1ApPtnq @annerallen

Plotting to Save Writing Time:  http://bit.ly/1Bm4rWt by Michelle Ule

How To Write A Killer Cover Letter to Publishers http://bit.ly/1Aq3hhK via @WritersEdit

What’s Your Book Marketing Plan? 6 Crucial Steps to Include – http://bit.ly/1F6Eqeh @MaggieLangrick

Can you reduce your book to 3 words and 3 lines?  http://ow.ly/OuOIA @betsyashton

How do I Edit my Own Writing? 5 Steps: http://ow.ly/OuOgB @nownovel

Using Tricks From Other Writers:  http://ow.ly/OuOwY  @KAMcCleary

Why readers gravitate toward scenes over narrative:  http://ow.ly/OuO3X @lindasclare

Outlining on Excel:  http://ow.ly/OuOqS @KatZhang

Top 5 Challenges Faced by Writers:  http://ow.ly/OuP8Y @TheProseApp

6 Ways to Use the New Facebook Video to Create More Engagement:  http://ow.ly/OuOWo @bookgal

Keeping the Key Event and 1st Plot Point Straight:  http://ow.ly/OuOzj @KMWeiland

Begin Your Novel with Action: A Good Rule?  http://ow.ly/OuO1t @JeffGerke @JaneFriedman

Neil Gaiman On Making Good Art:  http://ow.ly/OuOma @DonnaRadley

How to Sell Your Screenplay (for Absolute Beginners):  http://ow.ly/OuP0l @JaneFriedman

5 Ways To Evaluate Your Feedback:  http://ow.ly/OuOS7 @zoeyclark @bang2write

4 Steps That Can Keep Writers From Dismal Failure:  http://ow.ly/Ossyk @jodyhedlund

Dry Eye and The Writer:  http://ow.ly/Oss4I @doramachado

Writers hear the same question: What else you got?  http://ow.ly/OsssI @CalebPirtle

The Zen of Organized Writing: 5 Steps to Take Today: http://ow.ly/Ost3x by Bryan Collins

4 Nonfiction Points of View:  http://ow.ly/OssjL by Shawn Coyne

10 Meaningful Practices for Every Writer :  http://ow.ly/OssBB by Melissa Clark

Music In Writing: Using Music To Layer Characters:  http://ow.ly/OsrOV @MiaJouBotha

The Rule of Three:  http://ow.ly/OssMh by Kim English

20 things learned from writing full-time for 3 years:  http://ow.ly/OssXs  @kseniaanske

A Writer Rethinks Her Morning Pages:  http://ow.ly/Oss8M @msbookish

Adventures in Co-Writing:  http://ow.ly/OsseT  @jenmalonewrites

What Indie Authors Can Do about the Book Industry’s Discrimination Problem:  http://ow.ly/OsrUZ  @brooke_warner

Awards Profiteers: How Writers Can Recognize and Avoid Them: http://ow.ly/OnX0W @victoriastrauss

Radical revision: blow up and rebuild your novel:  http://ow.ly/OnXHl @chrisrobley

Why Support Literary Writing?  http://ow.ly/OnXaI @RohanQuine

What’s in a finished novel should represent a mere fraction of our ideas:  http://ow.ly/OnY9A @NathanBransford

A Successful Book Launch Event: 5 Simple Steps:  http://ow.ly/OnZU3  @MuseInks

Not All Hybrid Publishers Are Created Equal:  http://ow.ly/OnYpr @JaneFriedman  @PublishersWkly

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

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 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

I’m going to take a short summer blog break and will go dark until July 12th, when I’ll return with an extended Twitterific. :)  Early wishes for a Happy Independence Day for my blog readers in the States.

The Pseudonyms of Icons (infographic):  http://ow.ly/OaSGD @galleycat by Maryann Yin

Music For Writers: @vanderaanet ‘Hovering Flight’ http://ow.ly/OC8UZ @Porter_Anderson

Disembodied Dialogue:  http://ow.ly/OgoGR @CaitSpivey

Tips to Tighten Our Scenes:  http://ow.ly/OgoRX @patverducci

4 tips to turn you into an objective editor:  http://ow.ly/OgoAO @standoutbooks

Can publishing use a little mindfulness?  http://ow.ly/OC9co  @rohan_21awake @Porter_Anderson

Break Your Story:  Index Card Style: http://ow.ly/Ogp5U @patverducci

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing about the Military:  http://ow.ly/OgoXb @brunsdavid and JR Olson

Naming a Memorable Character:  http://ow.ly/OgoIl @tmtysinger

5 Common Questions About Being a Screenwriter:  http://ow.ly/OgoEC @elbuder @indiewire

How 1 Author Embraced Story Structure Without Sacrificing Creativity:  http://ow.ly/OgoPk @meredithresnick

Keep Your Main Character Visible:  http://ow.ly/Ogp2W @CaitSpivey

The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing:  http://ow.ly/OEEwd @ceciliaedits

 

10 Tips for Creating Winning Characters:  http://ow.ly/OgoME  @skouguell @scriptmag

How to get good publicity out of bad book reviews:  http://ow.ly/OgoCY @kotorcomics

Faked evidence in crime fiction:  http://ow.ly/OCsqf @mkinberg

Show, Don’t Tell: What to Show and What to Tell: http://ow.ly/Ogp0g @lindasclare

Want to Write Well? Learn to Research: http://ow.ly/Oh4zf @byStevenRamirez

Is Self-Publishing Audiobooks A Sound Investment? http://ow.ly/Oh4Cm @roncallari

Writers’ Rituals and Why They Work:  http://ow.ly/Oh4F3  @RobinStorey1

1 Writer’s Development Slate:  http://ow.ly/Oh4Hs @rsmollisonread

The crazy life of writers:  http://ow.ly/Oh4MZ @ellisshuman

How to Proofread on a Kindle: 5 Easy Steps:  http://ow.ly/Oh4SE @CKmacleodwriter

Public Speaking Tips:  http://ow.ly/Oh4Zq @laurashabott

4 Tips to Write a Better Character Portrait:  http://ow.ly/Oh50H @monicamclark

4 Expert Tips for Self-Publishing Comic Books:  http://ow.ly/Oh57O @trevoramueller @K8Tilton

How to build your writer’s platform:  http://ow.ly/Oh5wg @GeoffHughes01

How Writers Can Get More From Facebook:  http://ow.ly/Oh5EZ  @WriteOnTrack_L

10 Ways to Find Your Ideal Audience on Twitter:  http://ow.ly/Oh5Sr @EricaVerrillo

5 Steps for Researching Literary Agents:  http://ow.ly/OEEy8  @ceciliaedits

Self-Publishing Scams: Keep the ‘Self’ in Self-Publishing:  http://ow.ly/OiDiG @daveBricker

How Writing a Journal Prepared 1 Writer to Write a Novel:  http://ow.ly/OiHPq  @LauraNDiamond1

Gatekeepers for Indie Publishing:  http://ow.ly/OiHtk @HughHowey

4 Steps to Developing a Solid Story Premise:  http://ow.ly/OiBW4  @farrtom

Routines and Why We Can Stop Longing for “the” Creative Zap:  http://ow.ly/OiBug @CreativeKatrina

The Audacity of Prose:  http://ow.ly/OiIIY @ChigozieObioma

Business Musings: Whining:  http://ow.ly/OiBE9 @kristinerusch

How to Tell if Your Idea for an eBook or Course Is a Profitable One : http://ow.ly/OiGyU  @problogger

Authors: Should You Join A Box Set?  http://ow.ly/OiHbV @tobywneal

Setting Up Amazon Author pages:  http://ow.ly/OiHlX @tonyriches

5 Reasons Why It’s Great To Be A Writer Today: http://ow.ly/OiCL2 @DysLiteracy

How often do readers want our newsletters? Readers respond in the comments of this post:  http://ow.ly/OkiH3 @WordWenches8

Invented language lessons from George RR Martin: http://ow.ly/OkhSR @alisonflood

SELF-e Gets Indie Books Into Library Catalogs:  http://ow.ly/OEIUm @Porter_Anderson @libraryself_e

The Writer’s Formula to a Captivating Setting:  http://ow.ly/Okhqc @joebunting

Stay updated on publishing topics for writers at #FutureChat. 11am ET/4 pm BST (now). @Porter_Anderson

How Art Can Heal Anxiety:  http://ow.ly/OkhOM  @McKellaSawyer

Naming chapters: pros and cons:  http://ow.ly/OkhuE @glencstrathy

A Look At Points Of View:  http://ow.ly/OkjEO by Aaron Miles for @fantasyfaction

Everyman: a character fit for the next 500 years:  http://ow.ly/OkhyN  by John Dugdale @guardianbooks

Delivering your message with a meme: http://ow.ly/OkjZY @jamesrcallan

When our plots seem vague:  http://ow.ly/OkkSN @glencstrathy

Restarting a Stalled Plot with a Character Interview:  http://ow.ly/OkhJW @JeanHenryMead

The 50 Best Apps and Resources For Writers: http://ow.ly/Oki1X @TheExpertEditor

SELF-e Gets Indie Books Into Library Catalogs: http://ow.ly/OEJ0b @Porter_Anderson @libraryself_e

Are Literary Journals in Trouble?  http://ow.ly/OkjHp @JaneFriedman

Clear the Decks to Inspire Creativity:  http://ow.ly/Om9Jq @DeeWhiteAuthor

Must-visit sci-fi websites for writers:  http://ow.ly/Om9CL @nownovel

8 Compelling Themes for Dystopian Settings:  http://ow.ly/Omb9Z by David Mesick @mythcreants

3 Literary Devices to Make Your Prose Sing:  http://ow.ly/Om9NN @Janice_Hardy

Social Media Manners – 20 Basic Rules For Good Netiquette:  http://ow.ly/Oma2t @writers_write

Blogging Mistakes Made by Authors:  http://ow.ly/Om9A0 @EdieMelson

Don’t Muzzle (or Muffle) Your Writing Voice:  http://ow.ly/Omaat  @TomBentleyNow

Writing Powerful Scenes and Stories with Just 2 Characters:  http://ow.ly/Oman7 @heatherburch

8 Steps to Discover Your Perfect Writing Process:  http://ow.ly/Om9t3 @sacha_black

Character Development Worksheet:  http://ow.ly/OmaHQ from Legit Writing Tips

On participating in a box set for charity: http://ow.ly/Om9S9 @Brenda_Novak

Why Authors Should Never Buy Amazon Reader Reviews:  http://ow.ly/OmaxL @annerallen

The Doubt Monsters of Writing Book Two:  http://ow.ly/OnXVi  @s_lovett @DIYMFA

Crime Writers: The Language Of Police: Cop Slang:  http://ow.ly/OnYL1 @LeeLofland

How to flesh out a character:  http://ow.ly/OnYjq @nathanbransford

Powers of Three: On the Tricolonic Title:  http://ow.ly/OnXmQ  @IvanKreilkamp @The_Millions

How to Pitch a Literary Agent at a Conference:  http://ow.ly/OnYDX @monicamclark

Developing Themes In Your Stories: The Premise: http://ow.ly/OnXMs  @SaraL_Writer

4 Tips for Developing Your Voice: http://ow.ly/OEEpr @ceciliaedits

Crime fiction: making the scene resemble a suicide: http://ow.ly/OCsfQ @mkinberg

Writing a killer hook:  http://ow.ly/OCcwp @SueColetta1

3 Reasons Why Your Writing Never Works Out The Way You Planned:  http://ow.ly/OaUYk @rsmollisonread

Dialogue Tags:  http://ow.ly/OaTfo  @Jen_328

Virtual Reality For Writers:  http://ow.ly/OaXvS @AboutThisLater  @thecreativepenn

Mistakes 1 editor has seen: http://ow.ly/OaT51  @nicholesevern

Facebook vs. Amazon: Does a Buy” Button Make the Social-Media Site a Rival to the Retailer?  http://ow.ly/OD7jy @themotleyfool”

Tips for Writing With Long Distance Partners:  http://ow.ly/OC7aw @MorganStJames

14 Dos and Don’ts for Author-Bloggers:  http://ow.ly/OaVDT @annerallen

Typing on a Dvorak Keyboard:  http://ow.ly/OaVxi @SeptCFawkes

How to Import Your Novel Research Into Scrivener:  http://ow.ly/OaVpb @shesnovel

Tips for Eliminating Crutch Words:  http://ow.ly/OCrEd @JessicaPMorrell

How to Develop Realistic Characters:  http://ow.ly/OaUyg by Suzanne Purkins

Good Agents Audit Royalty Statements:  http://ow.ly/OaXd3 @AgentKristinNLA

Anatomy of a Best-Selling Story: Opposition:  http://ow.ly/OaTnJ @kristenlambtx

4 Signs of an Unhealthy Agent-Author Relationship: http://ow.ly/O7iO0 @ChuckSambuchino

Build Your Platform With Flash Fiction:  http://ow.ly/O7hPS @_AliciaAudrey

How to Find the Right Critique Group for You:  http://ow.ly/O7h9z  @InkedVoices

7 Lessons to Learn When Writing a Book: http://ow.ly/O7ilf @redslice

The 10 Rules of Write Club:  http://ow.ly/O7hgZ @MetroMagNZ by Simon Wilson

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

SELF-e Gets Indie Books Into Library Catalogs

by Porter Anderson, @Porter_Anderson

The American Library Association’s (ALA) 2015 Annual Conference & Exhibition opened yesterday, Thursday (25th June, #alaac15), in San Francisco with something unprecedented being offered at this year’s gathering: Library SELF-e’s first-ever national curated collection is now ready, an array of 200 indie ebooks that librarians can peruse and consider carrying for their patrons to check out and read.

Big thanks to Elizabeth for letting me jump onto her blog today to tell you about it.

As originally endorsed by indie bestsellers Hugh Howey and CJ Lyons, Library SELF-e is one of the breakthroughs many independent authors have hoped to see.

Until now, self-publishers have been generally stymied in trying to get their work into libraries. And that’s not because librarians weren’t interested in self-published work. No, it’s because there’s so much of it. My Bookseller colleagues and I in London recently estimated that the US alone is producing between 450,000 and 600,000+ new indie titles annually. Do you have time to read all those books? Neither do librarians.

What SELF-e does is give interested indie authors a way to cut through that fog of words and offer their books directly to library collections — at no cost to the author. I’ve agreed to work with Library SELF-e to get the word out to writers for exactly that reason: Here is a new, national-class service that promotes authors at no cost to them and in a critical forum formerly out of reach to indies — our libraries. One key criterion for me: This is available not only to US authors but to anyone, anywhere, writing in English.

The big moment being celebrated by SELF-e co-producers Library Journal and BiblioLabs’ BiblioBoard this weekend in San Francisco is the arrival of the first Library Journal SELF-e Select. This is the curated collection of some 200 indie ebooks that the nation’s librarians now can consider adding to their collections for patrons to check out — without limits: no maximum numbers of checkouts.

Cozies, She Wrote

I now can reveal to you that Elizabeth Spann Craig is one of the best-represented authors in the new collection: no fewer than six of her cozies are there — congratulations, Ms. C! (My favorite title in this group: A Body at Book Club.

Here are the six Elizabeth Spann Craig titles included in Library Journal’s first SELF-e Select national curated collection of self-published works for librarians.

Very quickly, here is how Library SELF-e works. (There’s much more material at the site, of course, including this excellent page of questions to use in deciding whether SELF-e is right for you.)

(1) When you submit your ebook to the SELF-e system (it’s quick and easy), a team of editors at Library Journal evaluates it.

(2) You can choose to have it automatically included in your state’s anthology for local librarians to discover and consider offering. That one is guaranteed: everybody gets in, and that anthology is provided free of charge top your local libraries.

(3) If you’re not based in the United States, SELF-e and our US librarians still want to know about your work: you simply submit your ebooks and choose the “Outside of US” option as your “state.” (Yes, we’ve basically created the 51st state in the union and it’s all about books. I have no problem with that, do you?)

(4) The big goal is to be selected by Library Journal’s evaluators for its SELF-e Select collection — this is the best of the best submitted. Libraries will be subscribing for the chance to see just which authors and which books are being put forward this way for their special consideration. That’s how the program is paid for: libraries pay to gain access to these curated collections.

(5) There’s currently a competition on, too, that might be something you want to consider: If you’re writing romance, mystery, science-fiction or fantasy, you can note as you submit that you’d like to be entered for a $1,000 prize in your genre ($4,000 total for the four genres), and the deadline is August 31. Here are complete details.

(Note: If you’ve already submitted to SELF-e and would like to be considered for a prize, let me know and I can get the word over to the SELF-e team.)

Issues and Answers

Obviously quite new on the scene, Library SELF-e is not for every author. That, again, is what its “Is SELF-e right for me?” page is about.

Here, for example, are a few points to bear in mind:

You must have the electronic rights to an ebook you submit. This can include traditionally published authors who are getting the e-rights for their backlists, of course, as well as self-published writers.
You will not be paid royalties when books are checked out by library patrons. SELF-e is designed to generate libraries’ discoverability potential for writers, not a revenue stream.
Let’s say that your self-published work finds a strong readership response and a traditional publisher offers you a contract you’d like to take. You’re not stuck. You can cancel your participation in SELF-e and libraries carrying your work will remove their copies within a specified time frame.

You may find that SELF-e’s biggest asset for you is the help it’s giving libraries that want to interface with their local writers. Instead of having to say an automatic “no” when indie authors ask if they can get their ebooks into the collection, librarians with SELF-e are able to direct authors to the program for submission through the BiblioLabs SELF-e system. The books then come through to the libraries in their state anthologies.

Mitchell Davis

Mitchell Davis, chief business officer with BiblioLabs, told Library Journal’s Meredith Schwartz about the local author-librarian relationship this way:

In the last 15 years…millions of books [were] self-published. Librarians know there are good books in there, but they don’t have the bandwidth to sort through [them]. So it seemed like a perfect marriage for Library Journal to become a readers’ advisory service for self-published books. I think that solves a really huge problem for librarians: it lets them make self-published books available with confidence and without a lot of hassle. It also solves a problem [when] local authors want their book in their local library and libraries have had to turn [them] away. Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) told us they were getting multiple emails a week and would have to say no. SELF-e lets the librarian say yes and engage their writing community more viscerally.

Next Steps

To follow Elizabeth and other authors in using SELF-e to reach library readers, keep an eye on this map. It shows you where submissions are being made (gray), where indie anthologies are already out (blue), and where they’re being put together next (red).

And bear in mind that your own local library does not have to be a SELF-e subscribing library for you to submit. You can certainly be represented in your state anthology, if you’d like, and you can have a chance to be in the ongoing releases of national-level Library Journal SELF-e. If you’d like to be in touch with me about SELF-e, drop me a line at my site or a comment here on today’s post.

Meanwhile, if you’re working in romance, mystery, science-fiction, or fantasy, you can have your submission entered into Library Journal’s 2015 Self-Published eBook Awards. Don’t forget that 31 August deadline and best of luck!

Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) is a journalist and consultant in publishing. He is The Bookseller’s (London) Associate Editor in charge of The FutureBook. He is a featured writer with Thought Catalog (New York), which carries his reports, commentary, and frequent Music for Writers interviews with composers and musicians. And he’s a regular contributor of “Provocations in Publishing” with Writer Unboxed. Through his consultancy, Porter Anderson Media, Porter covers, programs, and speaks at publishing conferences and other events in Europe and the US, and works with various companies and players in publishing, such as Library SELF-e, Frankfurt Book Fair’s Business Club, and authors. You can follow his editorial output at Porter Anderson Media, and via this RSS link.

SELF-e gets self-pubbed ebooks into library catalogs (via @Porter_Anderson):
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Writing With Long Distance Partners

by Morgan St. James, @MorganStJames

When I’m asked about writing with a co-author, two questions top the list every time. How do you write long distance? How do you work with another writer?

I find many people assume co-authors each write complete chapters or each write one of the main characters. For many co-authors that is true. Participants at conferences, writers’ groups and readings are always interested in my answer. My sister Phyllice Bradner was the first co-author I worked with. When we began to write together in the late 1990’s, both of us were published writers in other genres with our own credits and strengths. She lived in Alaska and I lived in Los Angeles. And, neither of us had tried our hand at fiction before.

Nevertheless, we launched the Silver Sisters Mysteries series. We make it known that our protagonists Goldie and Godiva, 50-year-old identical silver-haired Mae West lookalikes, are loosely based upon our own personalities.

What people may not be aware of is that Phyllice isn’t the only partner I write with now. Phyllice and I have written three books long distance with a fourth in the works. I’ve written three books with Dennis N. Griffin and one with Caroline Rowe, plus books I’ve written on my own. So, my answer covers not only how I write with Phyllice, but with other authors with whom I’ve collaborated. My stock answer when asked, “How do you write with a co-author?” is, “It should depend upon who you are writing with and what you are writing.”

When Phyllice and I began writing together in the late 90s, email wasn’t used by many individuals and we used faxes, which was daunting at best. Every edit had to be retyped. Sometimes we had marathon phone calls where one of us would enter edits on the manuscript, and we always had at least one session where we read chapters aloud to each other. Phone bills were huge because unlimited long distance plans were also just evolving. THANK GOODNESS FOR TODAY’S EMAIL AND UNLIMITED PHONE PLANS!

Unless you definitely want the reader to know where one author left off and the other took over, there are many ways to create a seamless manuscript that appears to have been written by a single author whether it is fiction or nonfiction.

Always remember that as similar as you may think you and your co-author are, each is an individual with a different pace, personality and expertise. By setting ground rules for the collaboration right at the beginning you can tap into your partner’s strengths and agree how to handle it if you disagree. Let’s face it. We all have our differences and that can lead to conflicts. Establishing fairly comprehensive guidelines in the beginning will help to avoid unpleasantness or inefficiency down the road. While it is easier if the authors are in the same locale, when Denny and I wrote “La Bella Mafia,” Bella Capo’s shocking true story, I was in Los Angeles, Denny was in Las Vegas and later New York, and Bella who was still in hiding, was in “parts unknown.” Despite the distances, the book is seamless.

Consider the writing style of your co-author.

For example, while I cut my teeth on magazine articles, having written many “how to” articles as well as some in-depth studies and a few true short stories that won awards, Phyllice received several Alaska Press Club awards and other accolades as a journalist and graphic designer, was the print specialist for the Alaska Department of Tourism and created award-winning political print pieces. Our expertise covered various facets of writing, none of which were fiction. We both had to learn the hard way that what was stock-in-trade for what we had published represented taboo for fiction in many cases. In the case of Denny, he began with writing fiction and evolved to becoming a true crime writer. With his background in law enforcement, he was always on the alert when it came to procedures depicted in the book. Caroline was not a writer, but went through the experience with me that triggered the concept for our book “Ripoff,” so she was an idea person.

These experiences led to being aware of what you do and don’t know and not being afraid to admit it. Also, when emails don’t seem to be doing the trick for something in particular, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call your co-author. Often more questions arise and the experience is different than banging the keys and hitting the SEND button.

My experience with Phyllice was unique.

Different writing styles and experiences can sometimes lead to conflict or disconnect. What happens when one churns out page after page while the other writes very slowly. In our case, I’m the one who writes very quickly and often click into “automatic writing,” while Phyllice massages every word and sentence to get it exactly right. My sense of humor is quite good, but hers is over-the-top.

That led to our first set of ground rules. Something easy to deal with when sending drafts and edits back and forth, now by email which is so much easier. The emerging writing team of St. James and Bradner, sisters who didn’t know each other very well when we began writing together because she moved to Alaska when she was only twenty, definitely possessed strengths in different areas. So we agreed after we our in person, Skype or telephone development meetings to plot the book, I would write the drafts and send them to her. She applied her editing skills and quirky sense of humor and sent them back. If I agreed, it went into the composite first draft manuscript. If not, we went through more rounds. My experiences with Denny and Caroline were different. Denny and I split writing chapters and were able to write in the same style. Then we had phone edit sessions. For “Ripoff,” I wrote the entire manuscript and Caroline fed in ideas.

This won’t work for everyone, and as I said I do write in different manners with different writing partners. Having identified these each partner’s traits, it isn’t hard to establish a framework for the long distance partnership.

Writing the first draft.

Often this process involves chapters going back and forth a few times. As each one is approved by both of you, paste it into the master. That way you can keep an eye on the running word count as it relates to your target word count for the whole book. Being aware of word counts can save a lot of cuts or padding later.

As a last step, schedule “out-loud” read-throughs and do them in person if possible. If it is possible one partner can travel to the city of the other and it becomes a little working vacation. If that is out of the question, with unlimited long distance on most plans it isn’t hard to have marathon phone sessions. Headphones in place or speakerphone activated, these conversations might last up to as long as five hours. Don’t set yourself a time limit for the call. If you are “on a roll” it helps to keep going. If you are tired, watching the hands on the clock until they reach the appointed time won’t result in your best effort. Reading out loud catches many things you don’t see while reading from the computer or a printout. You also catch more errors while reading a printout or print proof than on the computer.

How many drafts and how many times should you read it out loud?

Again, this depends upon who you are writing with and how much editing either of you do while the drafts are being developed. If you write with someone like my sister, often first drafts are as polished as fourth or fifth drafts of others. The test is when it sounds right and neither have objections or criticism. It is also helpful to enlist a friend who is a reader and will be very honest about their reactions. Ask them to read the first draft and the final draft. We tend to see everything through the eyes of an author when reading our own work, but readers will see different things and have different reactions.

When we are finally satisfied that we have polished the manuscript, and our editor is also satisfied, it’s time to either submit to your publisher or self-publish.

***

A frequent panelist, moderator, speaker and radio talk show host, Morgan St. James also presents a variety of workshops and has written over 600 published articles for the Los Angeles and Las Vegas editions of Examiner.com. She publishes the free bi-monthly eZine “Writers’ Tricks of the Trade.”

With 14 books to her credit, in addition to writing her own novels like “Betrayed” and “Confessions of a Cougar,” as well as “Writers’ Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABCs of Writing Fiction,” a handbook for writers at all stages of their careers, Morgan and her sister Phyllice Bradner co-author the award-winning Silver Sisters Mystery series. “A Corpse in the Soup” was named Best Mystery Audio Book in 2007 by USA Book News, the 3rd book, “Vanishing Act in Vegas,” recently released, and they are currently working on the 4th book in the series, “Diamonds in the Dumpster.”

She collaborated with true crime writer Dennis N. Griffin to write “La Bella Mafia,” the shocking but inspirational true story as told by Bella Capo, and the just released funny crime fiction “Bumping Off Fat Vinny.”

Many of Morgan’s award-winning short stories appear in her single author anthology, “The MAFIA FUNERAL and Other Short Stories” available as an audio book in addition to the paperback and Kindle editions. She has also contributed stories to various anthologies featuring multiple authors including two Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Memberships include Greater Los Angeles Writers Society, Sisters in Crime, , Henderson Writers Group and Las Vegas Writers Group and she is on the board of Southern Nevada Writers.

For more information visit: www.morganstjames-author.com,

and http://writerstricksofthetrade.blogspot.com

Workshop Downloads:

Crafting Twists and Dropping Clues
Pump Up Your Personality

Tips from writer @MorganStJames for writing with long distance partners.
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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 30,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Descriptions:  http://ow.ly/O435A and http://ow.ly/O435N by Nils Ödlund  @mythicscribes

Writing Prompts To Kick Off Your Commercial Fiction:  http://ow.ly/O42ti @angee

5 Google Docs shortcuts for more efficient editing:  http://ow.ly/O7ir8 by Michael Ansaldo @pcworld

Knowing When You’re Ready to Publish:  http://ow.ly/O7hZ5  @Philip_Overby @mythicscribes

Writing Tips for 1st Person POV:  http://ow.ly/O7gVS @robinrwrites

10 facts about the bestseller lists (infographic): http://ow.ly/O7gti @bookgal   

How Actions Determine Character & Arc:  http://ow.ly/O7gJi  @HookedOnNoir

How to give constructive criticism to other writers:  http://ow.ly/O7gnG @nownovel

How Travel Helps Writers:  http://ow.ly/O41SL by Sonia Thompson

5 Fantasy Character Types:  http://ow.ly/O41BN @nownovel

A wrong cover and a revamp: case study of rebranding an indie novel: http://ow.ly/O43yF @Roz_Morris

How to Write Deep POV and Bring Your Characters to Life:  http://ow.ly/O41zC @cherylrwrites

Let Your Writing Bloom: 3 Tips:  http://ow.ly/O42kL @chicklitgurrl

3 Wrong Assumptions about Agents: http://ow.ly/O42A5 @JanetKGrant

Conveying Character Emotion:  http://ow.ly/O42EW by Chris Winkle @mythcreants

What to Do if You Hate Your Book:  http://ow.ly/O42oB @AmberSkyeF

How to Build a Marketing List:  http://ow.ly/O43CJ @DIYMFA

Stuck on a Scene? Just Say No. http://ow.ly/O41Fj @Janice_Hardy

How to Self-Edit: Infographic:  http://ow.ly/O0Yc6 @nownovel

Writing the Falling Action:  http://ow.ly/O0Xed  @enderawiggin

Tips for better dialogue:  http://ow.ly/O0YfP by Art Holcomb @storyfix

Getting Motivated To Write:  http://ow.ly/O0XYQ @woodwardkaren

Author Self Promotion: 6 Things to Remember:  http://ow.ly/O0Y9Z @elspethwrites

Does Post-Apocalyptic Literature Have A (Non-Dystopian) Future? http://ow.ly/O0Xs2  @jason_m_heller @NPR

7 Reasons Why Aspiring Authors Fail to Publish:  http://ow.ly/O0XD4 by Michael Neff

8 Blunders to Edit From Our Writing:  http://ow.ly/O0Y2o @mrJRPatterson @thePenleak

5 Lessons Learned a Year After Publishing the First Book:  http://ow.ly/O0XjA @WriterAbroad

Author stress?  On mindfulness, promo, and publishing at #FutureChat: 4pBST / 11aET (now). @Porter_Anderson

How to Craft a Character Goal For Your Hero:  http://ow.ly/O0XUQ @shesnovel

How big is self-publishing?  Very big: http://ow.ly/OwBKF @Porter_Anderson @HughHowey #FutureChat

How can you fix a lackluster scene in your story? http://ow.ly/O0XPr @shalvatzis

How to sell out at a book signing without being a celebrity:  http://ow.ly/O0Y72 @janesutter

How Much Emphasis Should We Use? http://ow.ly/NZSjW  by Heidi M. Thomas

5 Tips for Going on an Offline Book Tour:  http://ow.ly/NZS9S @Book_Arch

5 Ways to Brace For the Harsh Truths of the Author Career:  http://ow.ly/NZSv0  @amcbooks

Query Question: withdrawing a query:  http://ow.ly/NZSpy @Janet_Reid

How to Plan a Box-set :  http://ow.ly/NZScj  @janerossdale @womenwriters

Writing character change:  http://ow.ly/NZSAH  @DonMaass

Amazon’s New KDP Per-Page Payments: A Closer Look:  http://ow.ly/OuVsY @Porter_Anderson @HughHowey

What Literary Agents Want to See Before Signing With a Writer:  http://ow.ly/NZSzG @Writers_Circle

Poetry at Work: The Poetry of Retirement:  http://ow.ly/NZSeD @gyoung9751

When Your Scene is Dragging: 6 Ways to Add Tension:  http://ow.ly/NZSxK @anna_elliott

How to Create Character Motivations To Rivet Readers:  http://ow.ly/NZSsW @ShesNovel

The difference between editing and proofreading:  http://ow.ly/NZS4c @LeahMcClellan

10 Tips for Great Research Interviews:  http://ow.ly/NZS8u @WritingSisters

2 Keys to Writing a Menacing Antagonist:  http://ow.ly/NWA9r @RuthanneReid

Selling your Book: 2 Steps Toward Success:  http://ow.ly/NWA6J by Deb Toor

Why are YA books about politics always dystopian?  http://ow.ly/NWAep @GdnChildrensBks

Why One Note is Helpful for Writers:  http://ow.ly/NWAaz @janice_hardy

Plotting Fiction: How To Create Richer Stories:  http://ow.ly/OstjA @angee

Slang Resources:  http://ow.ly/NWAro from Legit Writing Tips

5 Common Story Openings Done Wrong:  http://ow.ly/NWAmz @robinrwrites

You Aren’t Too Tired to Write:  http://ow.ly/NWAgX @ninaamir

3 Ways to Effectively Reveal Backstory in Your Writing :  http://ow.ly/NWAvX @whisperproject

Protecting Your Copyrights Online:  http://ow.ly/NWApF @susanspann

Balance Strength With Vulnerability:  http://ow.ly/NWAnO @jamigold

5 Tips for Tailoring Your Social Media Presence:  http://ow.ly/NWAfQ @Cara_Putman

Writing during a walk:  http://ow.ly/NWAiG by Jodi Webb

Scriptwriting: 50 Reasons Why Your Query Letter Sucks: http://ow.ly/NUHVW @dannymanus @scriptmag

Music In Writing: Pacing:  http://ow.ly/NUHmh @MiaJouBotha

3 Ways to Design the Perfect Title:  http://ow.ly/NUGLO @RogerDColby

Querying Goofs:  http://ow.ly/NUHJz  @writerdiaries

5 Ways Writers Can Steel Themselves Against Online Haters: http://ow.ly/NUGT9 @brooke_warner

What Should We Do If We’re Sick of Our Story? http://ow.ly/NUHpR @jamigold

How Much of Yourself and Others Should Your Writing Expose? http://ow.ly/NUG8a  @cdtunstall @thePenleak

The Age-Old Cynicism Surrounding the Dream of Book Writing:  http://ow.ly/NUGvg @JaneFriedman

Want to Succeed in Self-Publishing? Watch the Money: Tips from an Indie Author http://ow.ly/NUHbT @drucilla733 @freebirdmojo

The 3 Types of Reader Inside Every Writer:  http://ow.ly/NUGf5 @BenJLancaster @thePenleak

Is Self-Publishing A Good Option For Black Women Writers?  http://ow.ly/NUHzq by Lauren McEwen @madamenoire

Writing and Reading for Pleasure: Can You Teach Yourself to Write?  http://ow.ly/NUGEb by Douglas Burcham @theindiepubmag

You Don’t Have to Get it Right the First Time:  http://ow.ly/NUHNq @ava_jae

10 Things Learned From Kids About Writing a Book:  http://ow.ly/NT0Iv @ARScattergood

An agent on blurbs:  http://ow.ly/NT0oY @literaticat

10 Commonly Misused Words in Writing:  http://ow.ly/NSYei @TheRyanLanz

All you need to know about #BEA2015 by @ADStarrling: http://ow.ly/Omjsm

Importance of sequence:  http://ow.ly/NSYFs by April Macadam

Grammar Tip: Be Careful with Tenses: http://ow.ly/NSYwA @mariamurnane

The 7-Step Plan to Grow Your Author Network: http://ow.ly/NSZWu  @amcbooks

Empathy In Writing:  http://ow.ly/NSZMz @rsmollisonread

Author Branding: How to Get Started:  http://ow.ly/NT0bR Savage_W @oman

10 Tips For Daily Writing:  http://ow.ly/NT1eo  @AineGreaney

Writing Micro-concepts http://ow.ly/NT1od @SeptCFawkes

Short story writer @Pattinaseabbott ‘s challenges when writing a novel: http://ow.ly/OkfiD

9 Tips for Hosting Book Contests:  http://ow.ly/NSYQM @KimberleyGrabas

How to Get Readers into Your Story —and Keep Them There:  http://ow.ly/NT10f @lindasclare

10 tips for writing a synopsis:  http://ow.ly/NQps6 @loriagoldstein

Self-Publishing Resource Guide:  http://ow.ly/NQpKb @BlotsandPlots

How to Widen Your Funnel with Reddit, LinkedIn, Goodreads, and LibraryThing:   http://ow.ly/NQq9w  @booklaunchdemon

How to Use Advanced Facebook Ad Targeting: http://ow.ly/NQpRs @KLinwright

How to Set Up an Inviting Author Website:  http://ow.ly/NQq5E  @booklaunchdemon

Have you discovered your character’s true world? http://ow.ly/NQpCP  @WritingTxDame

Top writing links from last week:
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Writing When It’s Difficult to Write

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I pride myself on being a productive writer.  I keep to my deadlines, both self-imposed and contractual.  I write each day and meet my goals.

It’s rare I get knocked off track.  But I sure did this week. We had a water main break. Backhoes trenched from the street to our house to replace broken pipes.  We had no water.  Gardenia bushes were dug up (right when they were blooming!) Sewer lines were accidentally dinged with the backhoe (ugh).  To add insult to injury, the break was on our side, not the city’s side, so the repairs were on our dime.

And we had house guests. :)  I felt sorry for them.  Heck, I felt sorry for me. 

Yeah, I haven’t gotten much done…on the progression of the actual manuscript.

But what I do when these types of things pop up, and for most of us they will, is to do other work on the book or for my business.   If I ever think I’m running behind, I start losing motivation.

Here are  ways I stay productive and organized during a major disruption:

Although outlining definitely qualifies as a creative activity, it seems to tap into my left brain a bit.  Maybe it’s the planning aspect of it all.  This may not be a major outline…it may be lists of highlights I’d like to hit the next writing day.

Promo-related activities. Newsletters, social media updates, ads, etc.

Research.  This could mean story research or learning a new skill.  I’m currently learning how to format my own material and how to create Facebook ads.

It may even mean editing, which I don’t ordinarily do during a first draft.  But it’s far easier for me to edit than write when I’m swamped.

When I’ve got a lot going on, it’s almost as if my brain is humming with so many different ideas for what to do next that I can freeze up.  In this case,  brain dumping  tasks can help me be more productive (and sleep at night).  These lists cover everything from book-related tasks to errands to anything else I need to take care of.

In the same vein, prioritizing tasks can be helpful when it feels as if everything needs to be done at once and I’m already behind.

The water is back on, the trench is filled in, and they’ve put down grass seed and straw.  Despite the setback, I feel as if I’m going to pick back up again with no problems.  Let’s hope.

How do you handle major disruptions to your writing schedule?

Tips for writing when faced with major disruptions:
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