Here’s my selection of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week:
Should You Self-Publish? 15 Questions (Orna Ross)
Outrageous French Copyright Grab (Victoria Strauss)
Be Yourself Online (Unless Yourself is a Jerkwad) (Jody Casella)
Layering Conflict (Diana Hurwitz)
Shifting Sands (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) JON’S Pick of the Week
Six Core Issues Facing Writers Today (Alan Rinzler)
3 Ways to Improve Your Website Design (Penny Sansevieri)
How To Pitch A Self-Published Novel to A Publisher - Part One (Dr. John Yeoman)
Rules and Tools (Dave King)
Everything Marketing (Jan Blazanin)
When It Doesn't Work... (Sydney Salter)
If you found these useful, you may also like my personal selection of the most interesting blog posts from 2012, and last week’s list.
If you have a particular favorite among these, please let the author know (and me too, if you have time). Also, if you've a link to a great post that isn't here, feel free to share.

After the Write Stuff Conference at the end of March, I sat down with my good friend and fellow GLWVG member, John Evans, to ask if he’d consider setting up the Pennsylvania equivalent of NJAN (The New Jersey Authors Network).
I’m delighted to say he agreed to take on the challenge.
The Pennsylvania Authors Network (PennAN) is a free to join, free to use network of writers and authors based in (or near) the Keystone state. Members work together to put on events, usually in the form of a panel/Q&A, at libraries and other venues around Pennsylvania.
As NJAN became better known, something unexpected happened. Other organizations started approaching us, requesting we provide authors for book fairs; speakers for everything from regular, 'How I Done Wrote My Book', talks at book clubs and 55+ communities, to guests of honor for Author Luncheons, to writerly workshops and presentations (including panel/Q&A events and writing conference speakers). Once PennAn becomes more established, I have no doubt similar unexpected benefits will come to its members too.
If you’re a writer based in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, feel free to check us out. To become a member, all you need do is join the Yahoo Group.
- Current Mood:
pleased
Here’s my selection of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week:
Blurb Etiquette (Mike Duran)
Can you buy your way onto the best seller list? (April Henry aka
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Author Solutions Inc. (Victoria Strauss)
Beginning and Ending (Donald Maass)
Never, Never, Never Lose Your Work! (Rachelle Gardner)
Writing is hard. (Gwendolyn Huber)
The New Era of Self-Publishing (Allison Winn Scotch)
Info Dumps, Lectures, AYKB, and Other Author Intrusions (Jodie Renner)
Juicing Emotion (Mary Kole)
The Benefits of Having an Agent (Rachelle Gardner)
Book Marketing Is Also Murder (Phyllis Zimbler Miller)
If you found these useful, you may also like my personal selection of the most interesting blog posts from 2012, and last week’s list.
If you have a particular favorite among these, please let the author know (and me too, if you have time). Also, if you've a link to a great post that isn't here, feel free to share.

Congrats again on your finish joint runner-up in this year’s Puddle Award for Best Opening Line. What’s the name of the novel or story it comes from?
Lie Awake at Midnight ya paranormal fantasy work in progress. Title is subject to change because I can't seem to make up my mind.
Tell us a little about it.
In her own words: 'I watched my mom live in a fog after the accident that killed my stepmom. The wreck also took my brother and sister, and it left my dad in a hospital in another town for six weeks. I had my own problems aside from everything else. Who doesn't when she's almost sixteen and just finding out she'd been born into a family of vampires? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Hello. I'm Destiny Bradford, and this is my story.'
How many times did you change the opening line before you settled on ‘The number of parents I have should be illegal.’
At least four, and it's apt to change again, honestly.
Tell us about yourself.
I am a southern gothic fiction writer who grew up in the coal mining community of Woodbine in southeastern Kentucky. I have lived away from the mountains and lived deep in the mountains. My current home is in Central Kentucky with my lifepartner and our cat. I am the mother of two young men and am an avid supporter of kidney disease awareness and living organ donation awareness. The mountains, their culture, their superstitions, their particular magics, will always be in my heart and my blood.
What’s your preferred genre/wordcount?
Paranormal Fantasy, although my publisher has me pegged as Southern Gothic. I say there's a fine line there.
Are you a pantser or an outliner?
I'm actually somewhere in between. I start with a general idea and go from there. Once things are a bit more solidified in my head, then I might sketch out what the most important events are and when they occur.
What are your long term goals as a writer?
Right now that is "live through the publication process without having a nervous breakdown".
Tell us about your very first sale.
I was asked to write a short story for an anthology. I was terrified.
As a reader, does a good opening line make a difference to you?
This is where I get to say, "It really depends." No, it really does. If it's a writer I'm unfamiliar with, it matters to a degree. What matters more to me is the blurb on the back, the reviews in the front, and the pages I glimpse as I thumb through.
What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?
Douglas Clegg blogged about napping several years ago. It reminded me that even I need to take breaks. So I do. When I need one, I go rest. I don't always necessarily nap, but sometimes I just lay down and read for a while or lay down and close my eyes and rest.
What’s the worst?
"You should turn this friendship into a sexual partnership." Couldn't do because of plotline reasons, and the idea really grossed me out. This comment told me the person hadn't understood the story at all -- if she'd even read it.
What was the last story/novel you pitched/submitted?
Midnight - adult southern gothic. Published by Apex Publishing next year.
What was the last story/novel you read?
Mira Grant's Newsflesh series, including all the short stories (well, except the short that comes out this summer, of course). Good stuff there. I was in a medical clinic on Wednesday and went down to the basement, where the vending is, and flipped out a little when the elevator opened. Long, empty, bare hallways.
Do you belong to a writing/critique group? Why?/Why not?
Matter of fact, I just wrote about this. The group I talk about in the post is called Worlds of Wonder, and they're wonderful people. Writers Groups and the (New) Writer.
Where can readers find your work?
Harlan County Horrors, which I edited, scattered through my website, and in the Help anthology.
Where on the web can you be found?
http://mariadkins.com and http://facebook.com/mariadkinsfan
What do you know now, that you wish you'd known when you first started writing?
How hard it is. I can handle the isolation and the boredom (yes, there's sometimes boredom and tedium). But sometimes the writing comes hard and turns a day, week, month, or longer into pure drudgery.
Is there’s anything I didn’t ask you, that you want to answer anyway?
42.
Here’s my selection of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week:
Twitter Don'ts (Morgan Mandel)
The Psychology of Story Physics (Kerry Boytzun)
No, E-book Sales Are Not Declining (Nathan Bransford)
Beta Readers and Critique Groups (Terry Odell)
Experiments (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
Know What You’re Getting When You Have an “Editor” (Carrie Cuinn)
Getting Used to Criticism (Mark Nelson)
3 Things You Need for a Successful Book (Rachelle Gardner)
What NOT to Do When Beginning Your Novel: Advice from Literary Agents (Chuck Sambuchino)
10 Book Club Tips (Dina Santorelli)
If you found these useful, you may also like my personal selection of the most interesting blog posts from 2012, and last week’s list.
If you have a particular favorite among these, please let the author know (and me too, if you have time). Also, if you've a link to a great post that isn't here, feel free to share.
Here’s my selection of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week:
Who Owns E-book Rights From Old Publishing Contracts? (Nathan Bransford)
Writers Groups and the (New) Writer (Mari Adkins)
Writing Fast (Dean Wesley Smith)
Inspiration or Perspiration: Which is Most Important? (Susan Mary Malone)
Why Some Traditionally Published Writers Aren’t Self-Publishing (Elizabeth Spann Craig)
10 Ways Authors Respond to Bad Reviews (Which One Are You?) (Dina Santorelli)
Taxes and Writers (Rachelle Gardner)
5 Ways Writers Can Get the Most Out of Goodreads (Patrick Brown
by way of Alan Jankowski)
Publishing Does Not Want to Eat Your Heart (Maggie Stiefvater aka
15 classic science fiction and fantasy novels that publishers rejected (io9)
Structuring Your Short Story (Larry Brooks)
If you found these useful, you may also like my personal selection of the most interesting blog posts from 2012, and last week’s list.
If you have a particular favorite among these, please let the author know (and me too, if you have time). Also, if you've a link to a great post that isn't here, feel free to share.
On this day, a long time ago, in a country far, far away (where they eat those delicious Galaxy bars), I decided to stay 29.
Now, obviously, I understand time doesn’t really work like that. The unused birthday had to go somewhere, otherwise it would just be silly, which is why I gave it my oldest brother. I’ve done the same thing every year since.
So here’s to you, Michael. By my reckoning, you’re 80 years old today, and looking well on it.

As for me, I’m staying 29.
- Current Mood:
cheerful







Congratulations to
Marc Vun Kannon
winner of this year's Meager Puddle of Limelight Award for Best Opening Line.
Here are the final results:
1st place: "Aren't you a bit young to be raising the dead?" Marc Vun Kannon
Joint runner-up It all went wrong when she hit the angels. Rachel M. Thompson
Joint runner-up The number of parents I have should be illegal. Mari Adkins
4th= They thought I was you, but I wasn't. Bart Palamaro
4th= The woods called to him; they always had. Kay Kauffman (aka
kayporque)
6th I'm ok with people asking me how it feels to live without a leg. Jakob Drud (aka
jakobdrud)
7th= The dead philosopher came out of his cavern only when both the moons of Mars were below the horizon. Christine Lucas (aka
silverwerecat)
7th= Once upon a time we’d been friends, the witch and I. Rhonda Parrish (aka
rhondaparrish)
In addition to the all-important bragging rights, Marc wins a signed copy of Fur-Face and two of my I are a writer! pens, as well as an interview and/or guest spot here on An Englishman in New Jersey.
Rachel and Mari also win an interview here, where they can bask in the meager puddle of limelight my blog will provide.

