Writers' Roundup: February 5

I am so close to finishing* my manuscript that I’m giddy. Giddy! It helps that I love revising; turns out this is my favorite part of the process. Everything is right there on the page and all I have to do is make it better!

But. Enough of me being overly excited (especially since the hard part — getting this sucker published — hasn’t even begun). Links!

• Literary agent Kristin offers some good insight into Why Prologues Often Don’t Work. Make sure yours doesn’t fall into one of these categories!

• An Op-Ed in the New York Times by Jenny Finney Boylan on Salinger and the public life of writers. Boylan was a professor of mine at Colby College! Woot!

• At The Murdock Editing Blog, advice about including enough but not too much backstory in memoir. “Trust the reader to find his or her own connections,” the editor writes.

• Tips on writing the Competitive Analysis section of your book proposal, from literary agent Chip MacGregor. Thinking about the purpose of this section helps, he says.

• A guest post at Guide to Literary Agents on tips for Author Platform and the Debut of your Book. Broken down by fiction and non-fiction, and for memoir I’d say you could do it all.

• Lisa Romeo says she gets more writing done when she has less time. Me too.

• This Awesome Foundation grant might be worth applying for. Via Mira’s List.

• Some good examples of log lines and book summaries at Literary Rambles. Also links on how to write them.

• Why some memoirs are better as fiction, from The Daily Beast. Not sure I buy this, but it’s food for thought.

• Great post on Writer Unboxed about How to get a book deal while avoiding the slush pile. “Find a way to create your own success,” Jane Friedman writes.

Have a great weekend, y’all!

*When I say finished, I mean as good as I can make it, ready to be sent out to agents. We all know that if I land an agent and publisher, I’ll probably face many more revisions.