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Monday, March 11, 2013

Links for the Writer's Mind and Soul

Over the course of the last few weeks I found some links I would like to bring to your attention. So I hoarded them until they amounted to enough I thought would warrant a blog post, because I'm selfish like that.

*Chuck Wendig gives you a no-fail method for producing and then revising a novel. It's not a method, it's a schedule for those of you already thinking you don't want to tinker with something that isn't broken (which should be what I think, but instead I'm all "What if I could make it better????")

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/02/20/how-to-push-past-the-bullshit-and-write-that-goddamn-novel-a-very-simple-no-fuckery-writing-plan-to-get-shit-done/

And then for editing:

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/02/26/how-to-karate-your-novel-and-edit-that-motherfucker-hard-a-no-foolin-fix-that-shit-editing-plan-to-finish-the-goddamn-job/

These are good plans, people. One thing I think the "write every day" axiom is trying to tell you is to make writing a habit.

It used to be getting the dishes done was a hard task. Every time I opened the dishwasher my son decided to a) climb in, b) pick up whatever I just put in, usually a large kitchen knife, c) some combination of a and b. So I got smart. I started to do the dishes while he was trapped in his high chair eating.

Now, it's a habit. He's in his highchair, I'm doing the dishes. It works out really well.

Point is, if you make writing part of your daily or weekly routine, it gets easier to find the time.

*John Scalzi has some awesome links, all of them summed up in this post. There's a horrible boilerplate contract going around for Random House's digital imprints Alibi and Hydra, and you would do well to read all the posts Scalzi links in the post I am about to link to you. I don't think all writers can be experts in contract law, but I also think it behooves us to have an inkling of what good and bad is. This is your career, after all. Not anyone else's. 

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/03/10/new-writers-ebook-publishers-and-the-power-to-negotiate/

*And finally, what post of links would be completely without something cat related? Rena has some adorable (and frightening) cats that demands your attention. 

http://drfaeriegodmother.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-steaming-hot-side-of-tea-theft.html