Writers' Roundup: March 19

Great convo in the comments of Monday’s post on building community around your blog. It’s worth checking out if you haven’t yet.

Some great links out there this week:

• From GalleyCat, a podcast with literary critic Laura Miller on the evolution of the book review.
• Interesting conversation at literary agent Elana Roth’s blog about whether writers should notify agents they’ve queried when they get an offer of representation.
• Do you listen to music while you write? The New York Times weighs in on selecting the right tunes.
• At Editorial Ass, Moonrat answers the question, What if your submission needs more work? Would a publisher reject, or consider helping you make it better? Also, another great post there this week: What’s a standard submission process like?
• Book Review Bingo: Make sure you don’t overuse these adjectives in your book reviews or your writing. From the Guardian’s book blog.
• I like this Letter To My 18-Year-Old Self over at In Search of Squid. (I also love the look of Heather’s site and how easy it is to read.)
• The Ten Best Things You Can Do For Your Manuscript. There’s some good advice embedded in The Intern’s snark.
• Literary agent Nathan Bransford suggests being specific about your plot to create a killer query.
• At Lady Bloggers society, an interview with yours truly about using interviews to spice up your blog.

I’m in New York City for the weekend, getting away from my computer for a few days. (And using a friend’s laptop, which is why I can’t seem to space this post as nicely as usual. See how much more difficult it is to read without white space?) Hope you’re able to do the same this weekend!