Writers' Roundup
July 17, 2009
Happy Friday! A few insightful links from this week:
- Writer Jody Hedlund explains the challenges of convincing others that writing is a valid career choice. Their reactions, she says, can result in writer’s guilt.
- What do you call yourself? Do you deserve the title of writer, author, or something entirely different? More than anything else, I still consider myself a journalist. (This post reminded me that I’m still not set on Aspiring Author as the title of this blog. Some readers say that title doesn’t give me enough credit because I’m a published journalist. I argue back that regardless of my writing credentials, I’m still aspiring to become an author. And yet, I’m always trying to think of a better title.)
- Check out this new blog called Pimp My Novel, created by a guy who works in a publisher’s sales department. He explains what happens to a book after it’s acquired by a publishing house.
After taking the last few weekends off, this Saturday and Sunday I plan to write and edit. See you Monday!
Nice assortment of links and useful info today, Alexis. 🙂
The Old Silly
Great links, as always.
When I also stumbled upon Joe Konrath’s post of How not to write a short story, I thought it was worth reading.
Thanks for doing this. It’s good to have a resource like this.
great info/links. First time here. I am also a journalist (well, I call myself a newspaper columnist -journalist sounds so….big time:) I’ll be back!
I’ve passed this way before, but I never took the time to stop and thank you for this useful resource!
On labels like writer or author: Amy Tan had a funny, sharp essay on her professional identity: ” The CliffNotes Version of My Life.” She prefers “writer” over “author” because:
“A writer writes – she writes in the present progressive tense. Whereas an author, unless she is clearly said to be ‘contemporary,’ is in the past tense, someone who once wrote, someone who no longer has to sharpen her pencil, so to speak. To me – the word author is as chilling as rigor mortis.”
At this time, I am a journalist, working on a couple of short stories.
The 43 Helpful and Terrific Blogs for Writers are great! I will bookmark the grammar blogs. Thanks for the heads up.
Bargain with the Devil
Thanks, Alexis. Great links! The 43 Helpful and Terrific Blogs for Writers is a gold mine. I’ll be perusing these all week.
~Jen