Sunday Links: January 15, 2012 Edition

Somehow I have managed to keep forgetting to share a bit of good news. I've had a poem accepted for publication in an issue later this year of Bete Noire. I was very pleased to get this acceptance as this was a little piece that's gotten good reception in the past but just not found a home. Now, it has!

A new market has opened today for people interested in writing science fiction and fantasy. It's Goldfish Grimm's Spicy Fiction Sushi; it's a token-paying market but a pretty decent "token" at $10 for flash and $25 for longer stories.

I've been struggling a bit with the writing this week. I think it's partly been that a couple of the pieces I'm working on right now are ones that I feel are going to need some rather major revisions after their first drafts and I just haven't really been able to get into a "groove" with them. I know that can happen from time to time, but it would sure be nice to sit down one day soon and crank out a couple thousand easy-feeling words...

I hope that the writing week has been treating everyone well, and that the coming week is even better!

Now, for some links!

"How to Take Your Finished Manuscript to the Next Level" (Carol Despeaux at One Wild Word) - Carol writes about a technique which she has used to add a bit of extra zest to an (almost)-finished manuscript. It's an interesting idea, and I bet for some people it's a lot of fun to engage in. Plus the suggestion that you might be adding literally hundreds of "cool bits" to your manuscript is well worth considering.

"The Question You Should Ask Before You Ask What If?" (Larry Brooks at Storyfix.com) - Larry talks about how just having a neat idea isn't sufficient input to being able to create a great story. It's interesting, I re-read this one just now as I was putting together this post and, honestly, I think it may be the exact problem I'm having with one of the stories I'm working on right now. I have an idea that I think is interesting to work with but don't have the second element (the passion for the story) yet. Well worth reading.

"Self Editing: Seek and Destroy Word List #1" (Aimee L. Salter at Seeking the Write Life) - Aimee talks about working to tighten up your writing by removing "padding" words which are often unnecessary. She gives three examples and talks about how to go about taking them our of your prose.

"The Pros and Cons of Comparing Yourself to Other Writers" (K. N. Weiland guest posting at Write to Done) - One of the things that can happen when you start hanging out with (physically or virtually) other writers is comparing yourself to them. This can be bad: "How many more words has she written than me?" "He got another acceptance? Didn't he just get one last week?" etc. But it can also be good: "She had a really great story there. What can I learn from this?" etc.

"The Line Forms Where? Knowing Where to Start Your Novel" (Janice Hardy at The Other Side of the Story) - Janice talks about writing beginnings to novels here -- how to start at the right moment, neither too early nor too late.

Additionally, here's a recap of the posts from this week on my blog:

"Top 10 Films of 2011 (6-10) & Weekly #writemotivation Wrapup" - I listed my 6th-10th favorite films that I watched for the first time in 2011. (The rest of the list will be coming soon!) Also, as part of the #writemotivation project I wrote about progress on my January goals.

"There ARE Wrong Ways" - We often talk about there not being one right way to do something in writing. And that's typically true. But saying that there isn't one right way is not the same way as saying that there are no wrong ways.

"The Seinfeld Chain Revisited" - For my 100th blog post I looked back at one of my most popular posts so far and talked about how I've used The Seinfeld Chain to keep myself motivated to write every day for over four months.

Thanks for stopping by to check out the links. Monday I'll have my weekly #writemotivation status post. See you then!