Mash-up of Magnificence #2

by Jenny Hansen

Have you read all the links in Part 1 yet? We’ve been busy at work for you here at Writers in the Storm and I’m delighted to get to share so many fantastic links with you. There are such amazing resources out for writers right now…it’s hard to keep up, isn’t it?

The news here at WITS:

Tara Taylor Quinn’s blog tour was a huge success with great comments from the readers. We’re so happy she stopped by. The lucky winner of Tara’s book, It Happened on Maple Street, is Jackie S. who commented on April 9^th. We’re going to send an email but, in case you stop by, Jackie, feel free to send us one first at WritersInTheStorm@gmail.com with your mailing address. We want to get you reading this fabulous book as soon as possible!

We’re planning to see Linda O. Johnston sometime in the next month as well to celebrate her latest release, Beaglemania. Stay tuned for more details with exact dates.

The next contest – Name That Story – will debut on May 2nd. We’re hashing out the final details as we speak.

On to the Mash-up of Magnificence, Part Deux…

We’ve exempted Fae Rowen and D.A. Watt from mash-up picks this time. Fae is touring wonderful gardens, as well as the Bayou, in New Orleans and D.A. is in the middle of the dreaded Day Job Hunt. Ugh.

Fae’s series, From the Safari Journal has been an amazing read – the photos are incredible. Especially if you’ve never done an African safari, click here to read Part 1, which discusses the Masai Warrior who safeguarded Fae from the local lion population. Part 2 of the series discusses her safari accommodations and shows a great photo of a one-ton cape buffalo. My personal favorite is Part 3, which posted this last weekend. Fae’s group drove around sleeping lions, watched cheetah’s eyeball a herd of unsuspecting wildebeasts and encountered a rare pair of dikdiks. (I’ll bet you can’t say THAT without laughing.)

Laura Drake, Sharla Rae and I have plenty of links to keep you busy. Below are the top blogs that impacted each of us over the last few weeks – we hope you’ll jump in and comment with your latest faves.

Laura’s Picks

• Explain, Exemplify. Translation: Cut It Out! – from Rebecca Rasmussen on Writer Unboxed gives great descriptive examples of show-don’t-tell.
• The Dark Side of the New Age of Self-Publishing – Fascinating: Scam or Good Advertising?
• Think of me as a conduit, not a gatekeeper – Agent Jenny Bent on the changes in the industry
• Agent Kristen Nelson gives great advice regarding queries
• More brilliance from agent Donald Maass
• Very insightful look at what publishers have to do to add value in the future

Sharla’s Picks

• Romantic Times Conference wrap up & Pics
• 4 tips to creating an online presence – by Laura Kaye on Once Written, Twice Shy
• Create Compelling Titles – from the FF&P Chapter Blog
• How to write and publish the almost perfect book – by marketing expert, Penny Sansevieri
• The Ingredients of a Perfect Writer’s Blog – from KindeWriters
• 7 ways to learn from Conan’s twittering – from Mary Demuth

My Picks

To include Tara’s guest blog (which was amazing) and my blog on Editing vs. Proofreading in the list of three would be cheating, but I didn’t want to leave them out. Both had a profound impact on me. My other picks were:

• The Struggle for a Rising Plotline – from Stephanie Cowell at Writer Unboxed…really great blog who those pantsers that tend to write first and shake out the plot later.
• Top 100 Creative Writing Blogs – I was here on BestCollegesOnline for an hour!
• How To Amp Up Sexual Tension in Your Story – anyone who’s been following for a while knows I really, really needed this!
• Fiction Novel Writing–The First Step Makes All the Difference – this is a great blog when you’ve got those blank page jitters.
• Know Your Audience—Writing a Synopsis – a great blog from Darlene Quinn

What articles/blogs have been lighting YOU on fire lately?

Till next time,
Jenny