Questions for Writers

Reminder: Jean Henry Mead's book tour for A Village Shattered began on Monday. You can join the tour today and read about Ms. Mead's reporting background. Be sure to enter the freee book contest by leaving a comment. At the end of the tour, Ms. Mead will draw a winner from all the people who left comments during the tour.

Congratulations! All NaNo participants who reached your goals during November, take a moment to give yourselves a great big pat on the back before you begin the editing process. For those of you, like me, who have more writing to do - keep writing until your work is complete.

On Wednesdays, I usually provide information for writers - a link to a useful website, a great writing quote, personal learning experience, etc. Today, I'm asking writers to help me. I've been asked to write two blog posts about self-help books for a group blog - one on writing books and one on editing books. I started the article on writing books and started wondering - how do other authors evaluate the value of theses books. There are hundreds of them out there. Surely everyone doesn't use the same evaluation system I use. So, here are my questions for you:

Writing Books

• What makes a good writing instruction book?
• Do you have a favorite - one you return to over and over? What is the title and why is it your favorite?
• How many writing books (rough estimate) to you currently have in your possession?

Editing Books

• Do you find self-editing guides useful?
• Do you have a favorite editing book? What is the title?
• How many reference books do you typically use during the editing process? What are they?

Please use the comments link to share your thoughts - even if you only answer one of the questions. If it is okay for me to quote you in my articles, please leave a link to your blog or website.

Thanks a bunch.

Great Resources for Writers

Day 31 has arrived! I didn't think I'd make it, but I did! Thirty-one straight days of blogging from someone who couldn't imagine even creating a blog. I think I squeezed a year's worth of mistakes into a single month. Not a bad start.

I won't be blogging every day now that the challenge is over, but I'll be here several times a week bringing news of good books, writing techniques, etc. etc. If there is something in particular you'd like to read about, please use the comment link below to make a request.

I don't want to end the month without thanking Dani Greer and the other blog-a-dayers for this wonderful experience. Many of their blogs have landed in my list of favorite blogs.

Have you noticed my list of favorite blog sites off to the right? Ever wonder why they are my favorites? Many are in the list because they provide great advice and tips to authors.

Some, like Velda Brotherton offer great tips on the process of writing and tips to improve writing. Today's post is about including the senses in your scenes.

Teagan Oliver offers other views on writing. Recently she tooks us on a tour of the hero's journey.

LJ Sellers, who is a tallented writer and editor, offers tips on both writing and editing. Today she shares some simple edits that make for stronger, clearer storytelling.

Over at BlogBookTours, Dani Greer works hard to help us create and maintain effective blogs and to use those blogs to market our books.

Helen Ginger, besides having great taste in blog page designs, provides all sorts of tips from writing to marketing. She often hosts guest bloggers with expertise in specific areas.

Some sites are a mixed bag. Pauline Baird Jones has a blog and website that offer much helpful information for both readers and writers.

I learn something everytime I visit these sites. If you are interested in writing or the business of writing, you may want to check them out too.

I've learned quite a bit from the August blog-a-day challenge and plan to put much of it to work immediately. I'm a member of the Houston writing group, The Final Twist. We publish an annual anthology of mystery stories. This year's book, A Death in Texas, is due out October 10. To celebrate, the sixteen authors represented in A Death in Texas will use The Final Twist's group blog to showcase what the group has to offer. Every day in September a different author will blog about writing, the business of writing, or simply provide a sample story. (A blog a day - sound familiar?) This will all lead up to the official release party at Katy Budget Books in Houston on October 10, 2008.

Hope to see you at the blog and KBB.

The Key by Pauline Baird Jones

I've had The Key on my list of books to review for a few months now. The problem I've had - the book was so enjoyable that everything I wrote seemed inadequate. Now Dream Realm Awards has done my job for me by naming The Key the 2007 winner in the Speculative Fiction Romance category.

I heartily concur. Congratulations Ms. Jones!

In The Key, we follow Sara Donovan to a distant galaxy where Sara and her shipmates find themselves in middle of a bitter civil war. As the story unfolds, Sara encounters multiple alien cultures, engages in space battles, discovers a hidden city, and learns a great deal about herself. Underlying all the action and intrigue is Sara's growing attraction to an incredibly hot alien with secrets of his own.

I don't generally seek science fiction, fantasy, or romance stories. Books in these genres must come to me as recommendations from trusted sources. After several people suggested I would enjoy The Key, I picked it up - and then couldn't put it down until the last word. Anyone in the market for a fun read should check out this book - just be careful when you start it as you just may find yourself staying up all night to finish.

Writers looking to improve their craft may also want to check out Ms. Jones web page for writers - Adventures in Writing. Ms. Jones is quite generous about sharing her substantial knowledge.

Blog a Day Challenge

Dani Greer, founder of the Yahoo! Group blogbooktours (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blogbooktours/) is a wonderful, generous woman. She founded the Yahoo! Group so she could share her considerable blogging knowledge with writers. She wanted to teach us how to use blogs to let readers know our work exists.

I joined the group several months ago and have been 'lurking'. I didn't know I was lurking, I thought I was keeping quiet until I was sure I had something valuable to contribute. But Yahoo! Groups have a language of their own. People who only participate by taking - never contributing - are lurkers. Sadly, I was a lurker.

A few weeks ago, Ms. Greer decided to give us lurkers a good kick in the, well, you know. She threw down the gaunlet in the form of a challenge - write a blog a day for thirty-one consecutive days. Wonderful! Brilliant! An opportunity for lurkers to get off the bench and into the game. Okay, so it sounded more wonderful, brilliant, and exciting when the start was two weeks away. Now, 2.5 hours before the first deadline, I'm wondering if I'm out of my mind.