Because I am passionate about continuous improvement (seriously), I stumbled upon a great article on the BookBaby blog: “How to keep blogging simple — 5 tips for authors.”
In this article by Cari Bennette, I found some useful pointers that I plan to use to improve my blogging endeavors – maybe you will, too.
So let’s try to keep it real here: Envy really can become a significant part of the writing life.
As close friends and writing partners garner success in the literature world, you just might find yourself left behind…and sulking inside like a spoiled brat about not getting those accolades yourself. It’s only human, but you don’t need to let it impact your writing efforts or relationships adversely.
David Ebenbach provides some solid suggestions for how to deal with envy. Not to mention he coins a new sweet phrase for your personal lexicon: “Envy Jujitsu”.
This video has been making the rounds.
And I can definitely see why - this little dude's reaction to the fact that his favorite book has ended is priceless.
Bonus: The kid's t-shirt. The Snuggle is Real, and I'm glad someone finally put that in writing.
Enjoy.
I am blessed. I will have quite a bit of work that will come out soon in publications – a variety of poems, prose poems, and even a short story.
I will have work in upcoming editions of The Talking Stick, Kansas City Voices, North American Review (the first literary magazine in the United States), Obsidian, Switched-On Gutenberg, The Tishman Review, and Knut House Magazine. I appreciate all these journals and the staff that considered my work worthy to be in their publications.
I will be sure drop more info on this blog as these publications roll out. Until then, be good.
On The Millions: Nick Ripatrazone presents “Lessons from No: Writers on Their Most Formative Rejections.”
A presentation of seven writers and their most formative rejections. A solid read.
http://www.themillions.com/2015/08/lessons-from-no-writers-on-their-most-formative-rejections.html
Put together by ColorofChange.org, this video uses "Kids Who Die", the chilling poem by Langston Hughes that was intended to illuminate the wrongs of lynchings during the Jim Crow era.
This video, narrated by Danny Glover, shows how Mr. Hughes' words still hold merit today, especially when projected on the backdrop of Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprising, as well as all the other police vs. black lives tragedies that have occurred in recent times.
Please watch this video. If you are inspired or touched by it, share the link with others.
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/5127?t=1&akid=4643.82806.H-2Nus
So here’s a site that I’ve added to the rotation: Beyond Your Blog, “a site that helps bloggers get published on sites beyond their own blogs.” Interviews with editors are just one example of the resources available there.
I don’t want a style. Or I don’t want to be defined by a particular style. It’s taken years to evolve to this viewpoint, but I prefer each writing project, big or small, to invent itself without preset limits.
Once a writer determines what his or her style is, they are finished. Because then they’ve defined their own boundaries and subconsciously resist crossing them. They hear the voice of restriction resonating inside their heads louder than the voice of creativity. At that point they might as well tap out.
So I want to believe that I don’t have a style. I have poems and books and stories and undefined literary blobs that develop on their own and discover their own voice - their voice, not mine. And I want to maintain this blissful illusion until I die.
I have at least three full-length poetry-book manuscripts in various states of completion, so I am constantly evaluating how these potential books are organized. I admit it – I’m somewhat obsessed with how to make them flow better. If I were to use music as an analogy, I desperately want to make sure these books are like a classic album rather of an album full of individual hit singles.
With all my incessant tinkering in mind, I have bookmarked Nancy Chen Long's awesome blog post on "Poetry Manuscripts: Resources for Organizing a Manuscript," which links to a number of promising guides:
http://nancychenlong.blogspot.com/2014/10/resources-for-organizing-poetry.html
Here are some insightful revision tips on The Story Prize blog, from novelist and short-story writer Karen E. Bender.
http://www.thestoryprize.blogspot.com/2015/06/karen-e-benders-ten-ideas-for-revision.html
The first tip = remember that it’s better to have a few pages of something rather than no pages of fear. Brilliant stuff.
Here's an interesting read:
This just goes to prove that my thoughts of some recent music sounding just plain dumb may be spot on.
There's an old story (not sure if it is 100% true, just reciting what I learned from a book) about Soviet and British diplomats meeting in 1941, when World War Two was looking very bleak for both countries. Tensions were running high as the Germans were approaching Moscow and the Soviets were convinced the British weren't sending them enough help.
The British presented their figures on their war production and why there could be no greater help for the Soviets from them that year.
The Soviet response was, "Your figures are lies."
The meeting broke down in acrimony.
When the conference reconvened after the threat of a British walkout, the Soviets presented figures on their own war production.
The British response was, "I wonder if you could check those figures as they don't tally with the ones we have previously seen."
The conference proceeded and the Soviets admitted there had been an “error” in the calculation of some of their figures.
After the conference, the chief Soviet negotiator met with the British representative and congratulated him on the successful conclusion of negotiations. He asked him why he hadn't called the Soviet statistics lies.
“I did,” said the British negotiator.
___________________________
In writing as well as in life, the difference between honesty and brutal honesty can be the difference between winning a reluctant soul over to your side or repelling someone from your cause forever. Understand the difference, and you can call someone a liar without them even knowing it.
It’s a quandary that many writers face - how to tackle personal subjects in their writing without “oversharing” with readers.
If "oversharing" in your writing concerns you, too - and I’m aware that not everyone experiences this particular anxiety – reviewing these five tips from Erica Dreifus on The Missouri Review’s blog might be helpful.
http://www.missourireview.com/tmr-blog/2015/05/five-ways-for-writers-to-avoid-oversharing/
Marcy McKay shares with the world "11 Writing Tips That Will Change Your Life"...wisdom gleaned from a dozen published authors. Maybe these tips can help you focus your writing efforts. It's worth the read...
Alexis Landau breaks down common writing myths and invalid assumptions in this enlightening article.
“More time to write can be just as daunting as no time to write.” Christi Craig contemplates on her blog how the rare anomaly of having too much time set aside for writing can actually impede progress. She also provides some key suggestion of how to overcome this phenomenon. Worth the read.
http://christicraig.com/2015/05/20/ive-got-all-day-to-write-um-now-what/
Found on the Poets & Writers website, “this database of venues that host readings and author events includes bookstores, bars, cafes, libraries, literary arts centers, and more. Here you'll find information about how to schedule your own reading, admission fees, audience size, parking and transit information, and more. Save your selections to My P&W and populate a personal Google Map that you use to plan your own reading tour or simply keep track of your favorite reading venues.”
Very useful.
Sandy Marchetti provides some good advice on pulling together a poetry manuscript – her own, along with tidbits from other writers. Well worth the read if you are facing the challenge of compiling a poetry manuscript in your writing endeavors.
http://chloeyelenamiller.blogspot.com/2015/04/national-poetry-month-guest-blogger_20.html?m=1
The L Magazine provides some timely suggestions for spring and summer reading lists with the article “Read Me: 50 Books You’ll Want to Read This Spring and Summer.”
http://www.thelmagazine.com/2015/04/read-50-books-youll-want-read-spring-summer/
…for a poem or story or rant or whatever the hell it will end up becoming.
Please stop – these ideas are arriving too fast for me to handle, especially keeping my insomnia and attention deficit in mind. Not to mention the overtime I’ve been working. I'm becoming way too disorganized with these scraps of paper, post-it notes, pieces of napkins, whatever I can jot a phrase down on at the time.