Resource Thursdays: Writing it Out

I found Writing it Out, the blog of Beth Revis, kid lit writer and high school teacher because she awarded another one of my favorite blogs, Literary Rambles, the Blog of the Month award.  Isn’t it funny how that happens – one blog leads to another and another and soon enough you’re twelve pages away from where you started.  The good news is, Writing it Out is tons of fun.  Beth posts her thoughts on writing, teaching, and publishing.  She talks about her writing journey and for me it’s always nice to hear how someone else is getting through the process.  Some of my favorite parts of her blog though, are the humorous anecdotes from her classroom experience.  Please read.  They’re hilarious.

Resource Thursdays: Edith Cohn’s blog

In a fantastic show of good timing, the always lovely Edith Cohn sent me an email to tell me about the author interview she’s featuring on her blog.  Edith shares her interview with Young Adult author Jo Knowles, and it’s the first of hopefully many author interviews.  Edith is herself a fantastic writer, and her blog features her thoughts on reading, writing, and the publishing industry.  Please go check it out and tell her how much she rocks.

Resource Thursdays: Holly Black

I am a huge fan of good surprises.  Often, some of the best surprises are meeting people who make you think about the real or fictional world in a different way.  At the SCBWI conference I was surprised and delighted to meet Holly Black.  Holly, along with Tony DiTerlizzi, is the author of the Spiderwick Chronicles and YA fantasy Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside.  After dinner one night, a few friends and I got a mini lesson from Holly on fantasy plotting.  Though I don’t write fantasy, the things she talked about definitely apply to other types of books and I was super pumped.

Holly also has a ton of great information on her website about writing and research.  It’s really fun to read, so be sure to check it out.  Don’t forget to read her books too!  I finished Tithe:  A Modern Faerie Tale a little while ago and was so hooked I now have the rest of the series on order.  Read.  Enjoy.  Repeat.

Exhausted

I feel guilty for not updating this blog for the past few days, though it appears my husband has been busy behind the scenes posting old photographs of me.  I feel so absoluletly tired and excited and inspired by the SCBWI Summer Conference, which was truly an amazing experience.  I don’t do too well without sleep, and while the adreneline kept me going this past weekend, my body is now in catch-up mode.  I’ll give you more details on what I learned over the next few days, but for now I’ll leave you with this: the biggest piece of advice I heard over and over was to write what you love.  Write the story only you can write, the story you have to write.  The rest will come.

Resource Thursdays: SCBWI Conference Blog

Tomorrow starts the four day whirlwind that is the SCBWI Summer Conference, and I am beyond excited.  With so many amazing faculty members and so many interesting workshops, I’m having a hard time figuring out which sessions to attend.  Sadly I haven’t yet figured out how to be everywhere at once, but luckily for you and me, there’s the SCBWI Conference Blog.  This team blog, featuring contributions from Alice Pope, Lee Wind, Suzanne Young, Paula Yoo, Jolie Stekly, and Jaime Temairik will be the place to go for faculty interviews, conference highlights, and a run down of the events.  I’ll be catching up after the conference by reading the blog, but I’ll be signing off my own blog for the next few days.  I hope you enjoy the weekend!

Resource Thursdays: Day By Day Writer

I came across the blog of Day By Day Writer while browsing around yesterday, and really liked it.  Written by Samantha Clark, the blog talks about the day to day life of a writer.  She’s sort of in the same situation as me, as her tag line says, “balancing work. life, and the desire to create.”  Well said.  What I love about the blog is seeing someone else’s point of view as she goes through the writing process – what keeps her motivated, her take on submissions, rejections, and the market.  Samantha also has author interviews and links to lots of informative articles and posts out there in internetland.  This may not be a site by “industry experts” but it’s motivation.  That’s enough resource for me.

Resource Thursdays: The Purple Crayon

You know what makes me happy?  Reeses Peanut Butter cups, getting chapters done, and, oh yeah, comprehensive writing resources.  You may not get the peanut butter cups from your visit, but you sure will get a ton of information out of The Purple Crayon.  This website, run by children’s book editor Harold Underdown, is a treasure trove of good stuff.  The site started out as Harold’s own material, and now includes references from other industry experts.  From manuscript basics to avoiding the slush pile, the site has articles for writers at every stage of the game.  I also love that it’s easily searchable, which can help make navigating the many pages a lot easier.

Resource Thursdays: AgentQuery

Whew!  Is it Thursday already?  This week has rushed by in a blur, and I’m looking forward to the weekend.  For the past few weeks my schedule has been: go to work, on lunch break research SCBWI Summer Conference faculty, finish work, get home, eat dinner/walk dog/hang out with husband, go to the library, type away at WIP, come home and read books by conference faculty (and whoever else strikes my fancy), sleep, repeat.  It’s been fun but tiring.  As I’ve been going through the researching portion of my process, I came across AgentQuery.  Writer’s Digest just named AgentQuery one of the Best Websites for Writers for the fifth year in a row.  Clearly they’re on to something.

AgentQuery is a large database of literary agents, and what’s great about it is that it offers an agent search.  You can narrow down agents by the type of queries they accept, books the represent, etc.  The site also offers really useful information on the publishing process and agents.  It also lists a bunch of other resources for writers.  Overall, it’s worth spending some time if you’re in the search for the right agent, or if you just want to learn more about the business.

Resource Thursdays: Literary Rambles

Yay!  While doing research on the faculty of the SCBWI Summer Conference, I came across the Literary Rambles blog, run by Casey, an aspiring writer.  Casey has spent awhile learning as much as possible about the publishing business, and it completely shows on her site.  I found her site because her Agent Spotlight section happens to feature a number of agents about whom I am currently doing research.  Pretty cool, huh?  In addition to being a fun read, Literary Rambles is thoroughly researched and well-written.  I’ve just found a new favorite blog to stalk.

Resource Thursdays: Verla Kay

For anyone who wants to write for children (and get published!) Verla Kay’s website is a must.  Bursting with pages and pages of information on craft and trade, it will take you days to pour through the site.  Verla is a very successful children’s book author and she is eager to share what she’s learned from her publishing journeys.  In addition to a static webpage, Verla also writes a blog and every word comes from the heart.  Her site is probably best known, however, for its Blueboards – message boards where readers, writers, and illustrators share their favorite stories, advice about writing and the business side of things, and their news.  There’s too much to write about here so please please check it out.