Inspired Links – Feb 25, 2011

Hmmm, two weeks in a row I'm doing my "Inspired Links" feature … That could almost be considered regular blogging.  (Don't hold your breath that this continues!

These are some of my favorite links that I've come across in recent days.  Feel free to click or not as you like

If you have a Facebook page, you might want to check out this post by Tim Ware of "Social Media Examiner" which details eight key new features of Facebook pages.  It's a pretty detailed post – consider yourself forewarned.


For a fascinating take on the opportunities provided by social media, you must check out this pair of posts from Seth Godin.  First, he talks about how easy it is to use social media to beg the masses for favors without giving anything in return, and then he talks about the flip side – how easy it is to use social media (and Web 2.0) to give without asking anything in return.  We should each consider where we want to be on that continuum in social media.


John Wiswell wrote an interesting essay this week entitled " 7 Things I Want From Novels " that I found to be highly entertaining.  It also provides some terrific insights for both reading and writing.  What would your seven things be?  I really have no idea what mine would be but it's interesting to consider.


Stephen Parolini – aka @noveldoctor – has a wonderful new post on what happens when a writer becomes disenchanted with their novel – "The End of the Affair."


Jody Hedlund has a new post up today discussing four things that writers need to do to prepare for a professional writing career.  I can vouch for the importance of all four and would emphasize the need to do all of them before being published.  Advice similar to Jody's is how I ended up ditching my previous identity of "doublelattemama" and using my real name.  I'm hoping that those who know me only through social media will remember my name well enough so they can google for my books when the time comes


Dan Blank has a thought-provoking post on the roles of writers and publishers in the future.  He also included some haunting pictures of abandoned homes.  The net effect is to cement the idea that we don't know what publishing will look like in the future but it will likely not look as it does today.  By the way, while you're on Dan's site, check out the video interviews in the right-hand sidebar – they're terrific.


And finally, for writers of any sort of short fiction, this article over at "Write it Sideways" – "10 Resources to Help You Write a Great Short Story" – is chock full of terrific resources and tips.

If you're wondering about my methodology for compiling this list, rest assured that there isn't one.  It's simply a collection of interesting things I've come across recently that I thought might be of interest to you  Let me know what you think!