It has been forever since I did one of these posts; I think all the way back in September. After noticing some exceptional posts for writers floating around twitter, and the new facelift to the blog, I decided it was time to bring This Week in Writing back. Did you miss some of these? I have collected a lot in the past couple of weeks, hoping to do another post like this – here we are! I’ll try to get more regular about this again, since I always get comments and emails that these are great because they are missed by some.

On Agents/Editors/Querying:

• Why Every Self-Publishing Author Needs an Editor
• Hiring a Freelance Editor: A Step-by-Step Guide
• Submissions 101: Keep the Kids out of Your Author Bio
• How to vet an independent (freelance) editor
• Why it might take an agent a while to reply to your submission 
• Agents: Remember them? 
• The Importance of Reversion Clauses in Book Contracts

On Character Development & Dialog:

• Creating Believable and Well Rounded Characters (Writing for Success)
• The Starburst Method: The Character Grid
• How (Not) to Write Great Characters
• Creating characters that “jump off the page” will be covered here.
• Finding the True Protagonist of Your Story
• 8 Tips for Naming Characters
• Tips for writing villains
• How do you get away with basing characters on people you know? 
• The Key Ingredient for Dramatic Tension–Understanding the Antagonist
• Here’s some interesting thoughts about writing strong female characters

On Genre Specifics:

• What contemporary fiction do you recommend for high school students?
• YA Highway: Expectations Within Genres 
• Here are a few tips on getting materials together for a travel writing article.
• The YA Genre Is Killing Itself
• Oh, Mother, Where Art Thou? Connie Brockway on Moms in Romance Novels.
• Race in YA from a Biracial Perspective — Guest Blogger Jean-Paul Bass Weighs in on the Issue 
• Some Notes Towards a Working Definition of Steampunk
• The 10 Commandments of Thrillers: The Article That Inspired John Grisham

On Publishing:

• The Secrets To Ebook Publishing Success. A Must-Read For Authors.
• Taking critique like a pro
• It’s a Business– Is Amazon an Enemy?  Or a potential ally?
• If you are a self-publisher you NEED to know about metadata. Here’s a super sexy intro.
• Wade Rouse explains How He Got Published
• Has Publishing Become a Kinky Game? Ruth Harris Talks about Writer Masochism and How to Cure It 
• Big Six Publishing is Dead–Welcome the Massive Three
• Self-Publishing Basics: Introduction to Metadata — The Book Designer

On Marketing:

• 5 secrets of getting free publicity – Sales Machine – CBS News 
• 4 Simple Steps to Creating a Vanity URL for Your Amazon Author Central Page 
• Ebooks–Pricing, Visibilty & Experimentation
• The ebook pricing monster has been slumbering in recent months
• Launching a successful blog tour
• Useful Tools and Websites to Help You Improve Your Grammar 
• Ebook Pricing: How Much Should I Sell My Book For?
• Book Marketing: Why I Gave Up Trying to Build a Big Social Media Following
• If you are about to design your own book cover, please read this first
• Author Branding: The You That Is Everywhere 

On Revision/Editing:

• How to Convert an Adjective to an Adverb 
• Writing and deadlines 
• Self-Editing Your Novel (Writing for Success)
• 36 Adjectives Describing Light

On Outlining & Plotting:

• When you get stuck
• Writing in the Third Person
• Tips for ending chapters with a bang
• 10 Things I Learned While Writing a Sequel
• 5 steps for testing your opening scene
• Are Your Scene Breaks Rude?
• 4 Simple Ways to Create a Well-Written Ebook
• Setting the Mood with your First Lines
• Perfecting Your First Page: 3 Tasks or Exercises
• Want your readers to find it impossible to put down your book? 4 tips to keep them reading

On Social Networking/Blogging & Other Online Stuffs:

• To Link or Not to Link Your FB & Twitter Posts
• Pinterest for Authors: How to Promote Your Writing on the Fastest Growing Website Ever
• Facebook or Twitter, Which Is Better for Book Promotion?
• YA Authors on Pinterest
• Jody Hedlund explains why writers need to use Pinterest
• 5 free ways to monitor your brand on Twitter
• 10 Twitter best practices for journalists…or anyone
• 12 ways Twitter makes you a better writer
• Has The Internet Made You Into A Pretend Writer? via BubbleCow

On Writing in General:

• Writing For Success: Don’t start the story at the beginning 
• How to Find Your Daily Writing Motivation: A guest post by James Chartrand of Men with Pens… 
• It’s Time to Start Your Novel: Here’s Why 
• Pushing Past Procrastination, by Melissa Foster 
• Want to be a professional writer? Act like one. 
• The importance of keeping a notebook
• Writing a novel that people want to read.
• Finding Ways to Find and Manage the Time

On Everything Else (including new, cool things, inspiration, creativity, free things and funny stuff):

• Self-Published Author Lands a book deal after 125 years! 
• A free directory of ebook pros–for covers, editing, formatting, & more
• A Writer’s Enemy: Feeling Like A Fraud
• Target to stop selling Kindles, citing “conflict of interest”
• Use the YouTube Time Machine to research your book or writing project

Did I miss anything? I’m sure I did. Please leave a comment with a link so others can find it!

Added this week: If you are interested in getting your own posts included, the best way to get me to notice you is for you to tweet me the link. I visit sites daily looking for new articles to post on twitter. I primarily use Twitter to find awesome articles – it’s full of them.

Have a great weekend, and come back next week for more! 

Until recently. Don’t get me wrong, I still think this way. Every day I look forward to networking and chatting with the other writers I’ve met on Twitter and on Triberr. (and quite occasionally on Facebook but I really, really hate FB now.) Networking with my friendly, fellow writers, is still very much a part of my day.

However, I’ve noticed something more recently. I had the unpleasant experience of congregating with a bunch of authors that don’t see it like I do at all. In fact, they come across as arrogant, self promoting, and with an in it for themselves only attitude. This makes me sad. Aren’t we all focused on the same goals and dreams? Aren’t we all looking for exactly the same outcome? Or at least similar outcomes? This post isn’t about this group of angry/self promoting authors though, this post is about how you can pay it forward, and keep helping others if that is what you really want from this too.

1. Retweet other writers. This is such an easy one. It requires a click of a button. Hit that retweet button and show the love. When you see a post that is helpful or just really good, go ahead, retweet it. It takes a second. I’m always surprised when someone I don’t even know RT’s my stuff, but I have made many a friend this way.

2. Shoutout their accomplishments. Don’t keep it to yourself when you are impressed with something. If you admire a writer or author or you are particularly proud of their accomplishment or maybe you just want to say hi, then for goodness sake, shout out to them. “Hey @irishwords, I am so proud of you, 1000 words on your WIP is simply awesome!” If you remember NOT to put their twitter id first, others will see this go through your stream and perhaps maybe that person will gain a new follower out of it. (Sorry Declan if you don’t get any new followers out of it! ha)

3. Talk about them. I swear, with as often as I talk about some of my great twitter friends, you’d think I meet with them several times a week and have coffee. My children know several of my twitter writer friends by name, because I talk about them so often. But I don’t have coffee with them, I have never even met most of them. But I talk about them anyway. Guess what happens when I do that? Friends and family get curious, want to know more, and often times wind up buying their book. Yes, it has happened several times.

4. Refer others. Yes, I know in some ways this is the same as #3, but it’s not. I’m talking about referring strangers. Example: Recently I was in B&N and there was a lady looking for a new book to read. She had just asked the store clerk if she had any recommendations. The store clerk gave her titles to big name books and went on her merry way. I made my way over to her and gave her several suggestions of some fantastic books, and assuring her I had read them and they were good.

She bought two from one author and one from another – based on MY suggestions. (@joannaslan – it’s easy to sell your books, they take place here and us locals like books that are … local. Plus they are just plain good.) (@sarahdessen – she said she’d already read one by you and picked up another, go figure – you’re an amazing author) … So see, I was able to sell three books to a stranger because I took the time to tell her about them. For the record, I talked about several authors, those are just the books she chose to get. I’ve done this on twitter and Facebook too, and definitely in person on many, many occasions. P.S. Results are not typical (I don’t ALWAYS get them to buy the books I suggest, I got super lucky that day)

5. Buy their books. If you are a writer, you have to be a reader. I know I tend to pick up books by my twitter friends, much more frequently than I pick up the newest New York Times Best Seller. I like supporting them. I like reading them. Plus, you can get books for fairly cheap on Amazon a good majority of the time. Support fellow authors, because I bet if you do that, they’ll support you right back.

6. Review them. If you read the book, review it. You can either write a short blurb on Amazon, Goodreads or even write a blog post about it. Or write a blog post about several recent books you read, offering a short review on each of them. But at any rate, write something about them, it gets others curious. Reviews are like gold to an author. Especially one just starting out.

7. Make friends. This seems like such a simple idea. The problem is, there are so many writers out there that are all about self promotion and not interested in making friends and networking. I think that is sad. So make friends, network with them, toss around ideas, learn from them. It’s not difficult. It’s so easy.

What do you do to spread the love and pay it forward?

In ALPHABETICAL order:

#ac
#amediting
#amrevising
#amwriting
#amwritingparty
#articles
#askagent
#askeditor
#askintern
#askpub
#authors
#copywriting
#editgoal
#examiner
#faithlitchat
#fiction
#fridayflash
#histfict
#journalchat
#journchat
#kidlitchat
#litchat
#memoir
#memoirchat
#micropoetry
#mommyswriting
#myWANA
#nanowrimo
#nonfiction
#oneshotwednesday
#pblitchat
#publishing
#pubtip
#pubwrite
#scifichat
#screenwriting
#scribechat
#scriptchat
#scriptfrenzy
#selfpublishing
#sixwords
#storycraft
#storystarters
#thepennydreadful
#TuesdaySerial
#weblit
#wip
#wordmongering
#writechat
#writegoal
#writetip
#writetips
#writer
#writers
#writers_life
#writerwednesday
#writing
#writingtips
#ya
#yalit
#yalitchat
#140poem
#3WW
#6WordStory

Feel free to add any that you know about that were forgotten, down in the comment field. It was not intentional.

On Agents & Editors:

• How An Agent Works With a Self Published Author
• Facing Agents and Publishers
• Query Letters – Do You Have Personality?
• What Not To Say in a Cover Letter

On Writing:

• Little Darlings and Why They Must Die
• Writer’s Are Worth It
• Writing Out of Order
• Does Your Story Have a Hook or Merely a Gimmick
• 12 Ways to Get Rid of Writing Roadblocks
• Beta Match – are You Looking for a Critique Partner or Beta Reader
• The Writer’s 9 Stages of Fear
• Action Drives Reaction
• Writing Beautiful and Unique Snowflakes
• There’s More To eBooks Than Mobi And ePub
• 8 Ways NOT to Describe Your Main Character
• 10 Simple Ways to Support Authors You Love
  
• Staying Out of the Story
• Make ‘Em Cheer for Your Characters

On Freelance Writing:

• 8 Ways To Be a More Sustainability-Minded Travel Writer
• Why You Should Build Your Freelance Career on Your Own Domain
• How Using Subcontractors For Projects Can Earn You More Money

On Genre Specifics:

• 5 Fast Differences Between YA and MG
• The Top 10 Things a Romance Publicist Hopes For

On Revision/Editing:

• Revision Advice
• Tackling Revisions

On Outlining & Plotting:

• YA Author Julie Cross: How I Write
  

On Writing Related News:

• Authors Sign a Petition Against Harper-Collins Library Ebook Policies
• Book Covers That Didn’t Make It
• The “Self Pub is Crap” Debate

WriteRoom – This little app is a nice, easy to use writing program to keep distractions at bay and just get it done. It is dubbed as a screen writing app, but it can be used for regular writing too. The one thing I can’t figure out, is why it is a five dollar app. when there are a few other programs out there that do the same thing, for less. It’s not a bad app, justs seems a little on the pricey side for what it offers – which incidentally is, a focused environment for writing, full screen edit mode, syncing capabilities and white on black. Price: $4.99

Writing Tool Kit – One of my favorite apps for writers. It has plot type explanations, writing definitions, prepositions lists, dialogue lists, hundreds of questions designed to move your creativity, and virtually infinite possibilities with the character and scenarios generators, plus more! One of the greatest apps ever designed for writers, so much power in one little app. The company that brings you this app (Socially Conscience Software), had several apps that would be useful to a writer or help with writer’s block, writing, etc. You should definitely check them out and at least try them out. Price: $3.99

DraftPad is a simple notepad application which is a lot like a single sheet of paper. You can use it to write a draft for emailing, blog posting/ commenting, Googling, noveling, or any other writing tasks which are hard to do within a small textbox on the iPhone or iPod. DraftPad is a free app, which are getting rare these days. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles but if you are looking for free, and a place to simply write – here it is. There are few apps that have the simplicity this program offers, however I could find no syncing capabilities so what I noticed is that you would have to rewrite. Price: Free

100 Words to Make You Sound Smart is a great app for writers who wish to expand their vocabulary. What makes this app awesome, is that it isn’t full of crazy words that nobody knows, but rather chock full of words that increase your vocabulary, make you sound smart but are every day words that many people will understand. Price: $2.99

I have a huge list of more, and will be sharing them soon. But in the meantime, feel free to check out these great apps. Many of them that cost money also offer the option of a free edition, so be sure to check on that. Feel free to list your favorites in the comments and let me know what you think!

http://community.sparknotes.com/2010/10/15/what-literary-characters-would-be-for-halloween

I also found these cool ideas for actual Literary Halloween Costumes.

First, there is a costume contest taking place here.

Last year, there was this post naming some great literary costume ideas.

I found these cute ideas for kids, but figured adults could use them too.

This particular post has a few that I hadn’t seen anywhere else for some Book Character Costumes.

If you are part of a couple and looking for couples costume ideas, here are a few His and Hers Literary Halloween Costumes.

There are also these literary Halloween costumes from the New Yorker which are compiled from Flickr. Nice for visual ideas.

If you want to just buy a costume and not making something on your own, here are a bunch of Book and Movie character Halloween Costumes.

Here and Here are some more ideas for Book Character Costumes.

So, with all that out of the way – what are you going to be for Halloween? (it does not have to be Literary!) LOL

Oh, and one other question – what does the photo up there make you think of?

How much weight do you put in your title while you are writing?

Curious to see if your title could become a best seller? For fun, try the Lulu Titlescorer to find out. http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php

You can also pit two titles against each other and see which is the better title. http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/fight.php

So I ran my title from last year – and it had a 79.6% chance of becoming a best seller. That would be nice. Pretty good odds. lol

This years only has a 22.9% chance. That’s okay – it’s a working title. I can come up with something better, I’m sure of it.

So have you run your title through Lulu’s titlescorer? What’s your score?

You can also post your own stories, though I am still learning how that all works. There is some kind of point system that I wish I could be clearer about, but its still a little unknown to me, but I plan to figure it all out.

The site encourages authors of all levels. You can post your stories and you retain the copyright to all of your work. You can join writing groups, participate in contests, and all of this for FREE.

There are other options for membership available too that have upgraded features, but it appears that a regular old FREE membership is actually all you need.

According to the site 3266 authors visited this week, and they read 23,008 stories.
There are 67,022 total authors with 197,125 stories and 937,162 comments! Not bad.

Are there other sites like this that are the same or better? Tell me about them. Are you a member of storywrite?

What is writeoncon?

WriteOnCon is an Online Children’s Writers Conference (rated MC-18, for Main Characters under 18 only) created by writers, for writers.

When: Tuesday – Thursday, August 10 – 12, 2010

Where: http://www.writeoncon.com

Cost: Free!

Who: That’s the best part—it’s for EVERYONE!

The problem is, I have to wait until August. But registration begins July 1, 2010.

In the meantime, there’s a forum that you can utilize to get to know everyone – let’s liven the place up a bit over there.

Are you attending writeoncon?

Thank you my wonderful followers for being so patient with me over the past two weeks. Mike is doing so much better, and we start his Cardiac Rehabilitation this upcoming week, so I have a feeling it is only uphill from here. Thank you  so much for all the wonderful thoughts and prayers, we feel them surrounding us and I am so blessed to know such awesome people. Thank you.

I am enjoying this new format a lot for the Tweets for Writers. It makes it a lot easier to search for tweets and posts that are relevant to my writing friends. Is there a category I have forgotten to cover or a category you wish I had here? Let me know in the comments and I will add it next week.

If you are interested in older posts of Favorite Tweets for Writers you can either search the blog with the search box on the right or try looking under Tweets for Writers.

Agents/Querying/Submission

• After you get the agent: revisions. Linda Sienkiewicz http://ht.ly/20wje
• Literary agent who specializes in crime fiction shares query pitfalls - http://tinyurl.com/d5mat2
• What 81% of agents expect on the first page http://dld.bz/hwgh
• Finding the Power in Rejections – http://nataniabarron.com/2010/06/20/finding-the-power-in-rejection/
• What I Learned From the Query Process – http://bit.ly/df5iF4

Blogging

• Creating Your Author/Book Website: The How http://bit.ly/d6dHLo

Book Promotion

• Book Marketing Simplified http://bit.ly/bk2AA
• Following the book trailers http://dld.bz/hwfj
• Are Book Bloggers Becoming Like the Radio DJs of the 50s and 60s? http://bit.ly/asZkR8

Character Development

• How to Portray an Inspiring Leader – http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/86
• How Do You Style a Character’s Thoughts in Writing? -http://bit.ly/cw7fmd
• How NOT to WRITE Character EMOTIONS – http://bit.ly/aIlStm
• “Who Said What? – Identifying Dialogue Speakers”http://tinyurl.com/36eaq72
• A Checklist for Developing Your Hero and Heroine -http://tinyurl.com/2f3c668
• Anne Tyler’s Tips on Writing Strong (yet Flawed) Characters http://bit.ly/9ToHrk
• Why Stakes Work – http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/why-stakes-work
• “Info Dumps Don’t Belong in Dialogue” http://tinyurl.com/rbfh86
• “Do You Know What Your Character Wants? Part 2″http://tinyurl.com/m6dlyd
• “Do You Know What Your Character Wants? Part 1″http://tinyurl.com/m6dlyd
• A BETTER Way to INTERVIEW Characters? - http://bit.ly/cmLAWH

Copyright

• Ask a Lawyer: Should I Copyright my Title? http://bit.ly/bMXkwj

Editing/Revision

• My newest: “What a 12-Year-Old Kid Drawing Mazes Can Teach You about Fixing Rough Drafts”http://bit.ly/arrVRb
• 10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling – The Oatmeal http://bit.ly/5Y8rfE
• Learn from “Jennifer stood there, quietly ovulating” and other terrible sentences ~ http://bit.ly/9n3OMY (that sentence made me literally laugh out loud.)
• Vary the ending clauses in your sentences: http://dld.bz/hbbQ
• Are you too close to your manuscript? http://ht.ly/20Gpw
• Why I Don’t Care About Grammar (and Why You Should Stop Worrying) http://ow.ly/17Pd94

Freelance Writing

• Writing is Sharing Your Expertise http://ow.ly/17LlGB
• 101 Essential Freelancing Resources | FreelanceSwitchhttp://su.pr/1Z49HL
• How to Know What to Charge as a Freelance Writer http://ht.ly/17Mn5w
• Can Writers Get Creative With Facts? http://dld.bz/hwfK
• Interested in freelance writing? Here’s what you need to know, first:http://dld.bz/hAd7

Genre/Writing Type Specific

• The Art of Memoir Writing … and Who Cares? http://bit.ly/9Q4ZlM
• How Poeming is Like Dating - http://bit.ly/ckOG6r

Inspiration/Creativity/Organization

• 7 Wonderful Ways To Wake Up More Creative – A Big Creative Yes http://bit.ly/dwj5UF
• 8 Places to Find Inspiration http://dld.bz/hwuv
• Double Dog Dare You – Writing Goals – http://briaspage.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/ddd/
• Get Simple – Online Folders – http://briaspage.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/gs-folders/

Publishing

• Are You Ready to Publish Your Novel? - http://nyti.ms/d81OUS
• The end of publishing industry? THINK AGAIN!!! http://bit.ly/aB4ucs Watch until THE END. Great video!
• 5 Lies Unpublished Writers Tell Themselves (and the Truths That Can Get Them Published) http://ow.ly/17LrpG
• Working in Publishing v. Writing http://ow.ly/1qC6kO
• Basic Help with Contracts - http://ow.ly/2078M
• Publishing moves in favour of the author http://dld.bz/hweZ
• Victims of the Future http://bit.ly/9PnSd2

Resources/Apps for Writers

• 17 creative iPhone apps for writers and designers http://dld.bz/gJUb
• One writer’s reasons for getting an iPad.http://bit.ly/9nng0s

Script Writing

• Key Elements to Plot Structure http://ow.ly/1ZTJk

Self Publishing

• Publishing journey from ebooks to Pbooks http://dld.bz/hwh7

Social Media and other Programs for Writers

• Make time for your creative self. Writer’s retreat in Bali http://dld.bz/hx4F
• Two helpful books if you believe that writing can be taught (blog post): http://is.gd/cTA6C
• 5 Fitness Tips for Writers– http://bit.ly/aasmW4
• Reasons To Go to Conferences Part 1 – http://bit.ly/aDBzJy
• Reasons to go to conferences part 2 – http://bit.ly/bwsW3O

Writing Process

• 50 Excellent Writing Activities to Cultivate Your Creativity and Craft http://goo.gl/fb/8MOR0
• Writing realistic injuries http://su.pr/3VmeRq
• The New Author: Silence or Noise http://bit.ly/aqQ68U
• What is the FIRST thing you need to do when you decide to write a book? http://bit.ly/a1HdHs
• Four Steps to Finding Your Ideal Writing Voice http://dld.bz/hwkf
• Write your novel an hour a day http://dld.bz/gWcH
• “Change Is Key to Powerful Story Arcs” http://tinyurl.com/29l49bs
• The value of dedicated writing spacehttp://bit.ly/bBsA9t
• The Writer’s Life: Getting In The Mood - http://ow.ly/1YMmF

Writing for Children/YA/Middle Grade

• Kid Magazine Writers: Get the latest news, info and tips on writing for kids here - http://kidmagwriters.com/
• YA Girls: The Case of Gender Fender Bender - http://emiliajoyce.blogspot.com/2010/06/ya-girls-case-of-gender-fender-bender.html

And just because this is my list, I am including:

Hilarious Stuff That Makes Me Giggle (and that I can almost relate to!)

• Jen’s Parody of “I Got a Feeling” – Writers will love this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvXesHWBrGQ
• Why Men and Women Shouldn’t Write Stories Together… http://tinyurl.com/m6dlyd

If you know of a tweet/post I might have missed this week, please feel free to leave the link in the comments. Next week’s will be even bigger – how do I know? I already have more on next week’s than I have all together on this weeks and it has only been two days!