Writers' Attitudes Matter

How embarrassing! I invited everyone to join me in The Writer's Chatroom yesterday, and then I showed up late. Mea culpa! However, the part I caught was a great lesson in writerly behavior and attitude. One dude who claimed to be a successful writer was insulting the others, trashing Steven King (I mean THE KING!) and generally making an A$$ of himself.

I guess if you want to continue the myth of "The Lonely Writer" that's as good a way as any other to ensure you'll be alone. At least his company is not welcome in a gathering of writers and those who aspire to become writers. Or probably editors, either. The fact that we sometimes critique each others' work, does not open the door to criticizing the rest of others' lives.

The big take-away for me was a reinforcement of the truth that the way we talk about other people reveals much more about ourselves than them. Calling others "failures" if they don't write full time, suggests a self-loathing equal to that of Hunter S. Thompson. The way we talk about ourselves to ourselves and others also influences our happiness and success. Find something nice to say, or at least think, about someone else today. Then find something nice to say about yourself.

SmartLinks Amazing Technology for Writers

A new-to-me company, Adaptive Blue, is offering "smart links" and SmartLink Widgets to enhance blogs and websites. They come in a variety of flavors (stocks, music, wine, movies), but we'll focus on the one for books. SmartLinks for Books shows an example (image to the right) of the results of clicking on a blue arrow (like this one ) embedded in your text, using the widget to:

* Get a preview of the cover and description
* Choose from book sites like Amazon, B&N, etc.
* Find it in the local library via WorldCat
* Bookmark using a favorite service
* Post book link to Facebook or Twitter
* Access the best reviews from around the web
* Find similar books by subject and customer picks
* Find more books by the same author
* Lookup author's bio and web links

If you scroll down to the lower part of the page, you'll see a visual of a different type of book widget and a link to the widget page itself. Prepare yourself to be amazed, confused, and perhaps overwhelmed at first. The versatility of this technology blows me away! Two other resources on using this tool are the BlueBlog and the Book Widget Gallery.

To Fraser, whomever you are, thanks for the email introducing me to this amazing service.

If any of you readers are already using a SmartLinks widget to enhance your online writing, please let us know about your experiences and implementation.

Are Book Signings so Yesterday?

Last Sunday's chat with writers' publicist, P.J. Nunn, of BreakThrough Promotions, the featured guest in The Writer's Chatroom, proved quite enlightening. I was able to clear up a point of confusion circulating among new authors. That is, whether or not signings (in bookstores) are becoming passe and valueless. Yes and no is the answer. The Big Six (major traditional publishers) are booking fewer signing tours, and when they do, it's really to gain the attention of local media outlets for the author. A signing, I knew, is most effective when it is part of an "event" orchestrated for publicity purposes.

However, Ms. Nunn pointed out, book signings are an important tactic for getting a book into bookstores. I'm guessing she was talking in terms of authors published by smaller and independent houses. Perhaps it also applies to self-publishers, although for placement in major chains, a book must be available for order through Baker and Taylor, usually.

You often hear about bookstore owners "hand selling", promoting a particular book in their store and community. Some authors must similarly "hand sell" their books to independents, and the signing/event remains a tantalizing tidbit to offer store owners. It's good for the book, good for the store and good for the author. Sort of like recycling.

Dangerous Freelance Jobs

When most of us hear or see the word freelance, we think of an independent writer. Hark back to its medieval usage and recall that a lance is a pointy instrument of mayhem. Surgeons use lances to cut into bodies. Thus, a free lancer can be a dangerous person, like the one sought recently on Craigslist. When at least three respondents for a "freelance job" discovered the advertiser wanted a "hit man", they notified law enforcement.

When I sampled Craigslist writing/editing jobs, they gave no joy. I suspect the free web service is better suited to selling objects or hiring than to finding work. In the future I'll scan any jobs that mention "freelance" more carefully.

More efficient ways to find writing work is to use a consolidator, like Alexander Kohl's newly-minted "RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/FreelanceWritingCareer) with the latest freelance writing jobs that are available online. It compiles the opportunities from 25 different websites. Interested writers can also subscribe via email and receive a daily email with the newest available projects" he told me in an email message. The feed service is part of Kohl's website, Freelance-writing-careers.

P&E Readers Poll Results

I don't know whether to Woo! Hoo! or Boo! Hoo! A Writer's Edge tied for 14th place out of 18 writers' resource websites in this year's poll at Preditors & Editors (see Writer Resource Results for what I mean). I'm happy, because I didn't know about the competition until this year, and got off to a feeble, late start campaigning. Thank you, thank you all who voted for us! Next year, I hope I can remember that voting begins on the first of January. Then perhaps we, too, can win the coveted first place badge, which went to a website equally unknown to me: Latinidad, actually a newsletter distributed through a Yahoo! Group.

Introducing BitterSweets

Bittersweets® - Valentine Candy for the Rest of Us

Like the ubiquitous candy conversation hearts, Bittersweets® are made of flavored, chalky-tasting sugar and sport a message on their face. But unlike other candy hearts, ours are stamped with bitter musings and mockeries perfectly suited to the dejected spirits of those who will spend the holiday alone, or wishing they were.

Now available in THREE unique collections- "Dejected", "Dysfunctional", and "Dumped"- with each featuring up to 37 unique sayings each!

"Dejected" sayings include:

I MISS MY EX | PEAKED AT 17 | MAIL ORDER |
I CRY ON Q | U C MY BLOG? | LOSS LEADER |
MOMMY ISSUES | DIGNITY FREE | DORK MAGNET
WE HAD PLANS | MAIL ORDER | SETTLE 4LESS ...

Available in six different flavors, including: Banana Chalk, Grape Dust, Nappy-Citric, You-Call-This-Lime?, Pink Sand and Fossilized Antacid.

Chat With a Publicist

This Sunday at 7 p.m. EST you'll have a rare opportunity to participate or lurk in a chat with a writers' publicist, P.J. Nunn, of BreakThrough Promotions. She'll be the featured guest at the The Writer's Chatroom, providing publicity and P.R. tips as well as special free gifts for attendees. Click on "Enter Chatroom". It may take a moment to load. Type in the name you wish to be known by, and click "Login". No password needed. When you get there, tell 'em Georganna sent you!

Baby Step Around Writer's Block

Remember the movie "What About Bob?" In it Bill Murray practices his psychiatrist's therapeutic technique of "Baby Steps". The neurotic character "Bob" is anxious to ... do anything. If he were a writer, he would have the biggest block, Writer's Block I mean, of all time. He would fear inserting a page into the typewriter (he would be too afraid to own a computer)! "What About Bob?" is a very funny movie with a seriously useful, if subtle, message about overcoming obstacles.

A writing block can occur at any point in a project. The newer (to you) or larger the job, the more likely it will rise up near the start of the process. More experienced writers are often bogged down in the middle when everything seems in chaos, and it is, and they wonder if they'll ever be able to sort it out. Writers who fear failure or success, whether they know it or not, will balk towards the end. They edit or rewrite endlessly or complain, "I can't find a good ending."

Baby steps, very small actions, can move you toward a part of your creative enterprise. Baby steps also build good writing habits. Examples of baby steps that a writer can take:

• prepare a 30-90 seconds description of your project
• write in a different format
• outline or write a synopsis
• organize your material
• write a "trial" part
• brainstorm with friends
• write in increasing time increments
  

Have you tried taking baby steps to successfully walk yourself through a writing project? Feel free to share them with us.

Writers Falling Behind

The life of a freelancer strongly resembles the cliche about feast or famine. Jobs seems to come in packs of three and similarly problems arrive in duplicates. When both coincide, a kind of madness ensues. I know I'm behind in harvesting the goodies from my email box. Please be patient Fraser from Adaptive Blue, Alexander at Freelance Writing Career, Liz at Answers.com's new Widget Factory (see one down in the right column, delivering a word of the day ... see the new right column!) I'll write about all of your services soon.

Today I wanted to direct readers' attentions to a new but hidden feature at A Writer's Edge. In the Profile at the page top is a much reduced navigation menu for the site. One selection says "Subscribe". Clicking on the link takes you to a sign-up page at FeedBurner, a service that delivers an RSS feed modified to your particular feed reader. (You can also just sign up at your reader service for "http://feeds.feedburner.com/writers-edge/EElx".

Even more exciting, and I blush to reveal I was unaware of this, FeedBlitz also makes this blog available by email. I discovered this when I scoured a sample of the FeedBurner version of a post and found a link that says "Subscribe by email", which took me to this page where you can also sign up to receive posts by Skype, AOL and Twitter! I think I am supposed to put a sign-up on the main page ... something else I'm behind in doing.

New Pages of Good Reading

Here is what NEWPAGES.COM has to say about itself:

Good Reading Starts Here! News, information and guides to independent bookstores, independent publishers, literary magazines, alternative periodicals, independent record labels, alternative newsweeklies and more.

Especially rich is their guide to "the best" literary magazines in print right now. The full listing page for each individual magazine offers a wealth of information about the publication, including a link to its website (if available).

I'd like to see a search engine for this database, but you can get listings alphabetically on the complete list page. The alpha listing on the guide page mentioned is only to sponsors.

Learning to Write from John Baker

British author John Baker wrote a series of 31 articles about learning creative writing in his blog. They began in June 2006 with Learning to Write I - John Baker’s Blog. At the end of that first piece are links to the other 30 articles, ending with one in June 2007. You don't absolutely need to read them in order, and I wouldn't dare to reproduce each tidbit here, but this is a handy list of the links to all the juicy parts:

Table of contents for Learning To Write from John Baker's Blog

1. Learning to Write I
2. Learning to Write II
3. Learning to Write III
4. Learning to Write IV
5. Learning to Write V
6. Learning to Write VI
7. Learning to Write VII
8. Learning to Write VIII
9. Learning to Write IX
10. Learning to Write X
11. Learning to Write XI
12. Learning to Write XII
13. Learning to Write XIII
14. Learning to Write XIV
15. Learning to Write XV
16. Learning to Write XVI
17. Learning to Write XVII
18. Learning to Write XVIII
19. Learning to Write XIX
20. Learning to Write XX
21. Learning to Write XXI
22. Learning to Write XXII
23. Learning to Write XXIII
24. Learning to Write XXIV
25. Learning to Write XXV
26. Learning to Write XXVI
27. Learning to Write XXVII
28. Learning to Write XXVIII
29. Learning to Write XXIX
30. Learning to Write XXX
31. Learning to Write XXXI

Word Play for Writers

I wish I could afford to include HBO in my cable TV lineup, because I would have liked to have seen the series "The Wire". Or, at least I want to view the segment in which the the city editor "Gus" shouts to the newsroom:

"Anybody threatening to commit an act of daily journalism?"

When I saw this quotation mentioned in a real-life newspaper, my mind went immediately to blogging, rather than the newsroom. Here, in this blog, is where I commit an act of journalism daily. Some may quibble about the term "journalism" being applied to what I write and surely to what many others dribble or spew into the cybershphere. But the phrase "act of daily journalism" really resonated. So did using the verb "commit", because that's what a blog feels like to me, a commitment. And some bloggers do wield their electronic clubs like weapons, while others feel threatened by them, but let's not go there today.

Committing to write a daily blog post is a way to approach tackling a larger project such as a novel. It can also pull you away from a Writer's Block. If you're serious about becoming a professional, paid by someone else to perform acts of any kind of regular writing, a blog with some substance demonstrates reliability and dependability. A blog proves you can handle an assignment ... in a small manner. It's a beginning. We all start the writing life unpublished. Don't let yours end that way.

Writing out a Recession

Gasp! Yes, the financial pundits are promulgating the "R" word, daring to utter that daunting epithet "recession" out loud. If you've lived long enough, you may just sigh and stop thinking about running off to the tropics on a nice vacation, delay plans to purchase a new car this year, or just drop your nose a little closer to the grindstone. Younger people tend to tense up when they hear the mysterious "R" word, mainly because they don't know exactly how it might affect them.

Let's make it personal. A recession is a slow down in the overall economy. Fewer jobs, more layoffs, smaller pay increases (if any), budget cuts and most of all: a reduction in advertising. You may think you're safe as a freelancer. None of those factors can affect you, can they? When business is bad, companies cut out nonessential expenses, and the first to go is usually advertising. Seems counter intuitive, but that's a fact of life. Less advertising means less revenue for publishers, which leads to fewer pages for writers to fill.

I've never forgotten a page I saw in 1973 taped to a newsroom wall of the Dayton Daily News:

The country was in a recession at the time. I'd been laid off from The Miami Herald and wanted to move back home to Ohio. No go. No jobs for journalists.

When the usual writing jobs dry up, competition increases and editors are less likely to take chances on newcomers. Time to think sideways and find niches you can fill that aren't dependent on advertising income. If you have a good grasp of the mechanics of writing and live near a university, students always need editing help with their papers, theses and dissertations. N.B.: I did not say, "Write their papers." Some other potential money-makers:

1. resume preparation
2. writing for nonprofits (which doesn't mean they can't afford to pay you)
3. ghostwriting memoirs for seniors (market at retirement centers by giving a free class)

Start thinking about it now. What other recession-proof writing jobs can you come up with? Share them with us in a comment.

Silly Billing

Sorry if you came for a laugh on Silly Saturday. Nothing struck me funny this week, especially the payment demand received by snailmail from a company which shall remain nameless (because I don't want to inadvertently send them any business by mistake). This NAMELESS.NET company purports to be a "domain listing service". The bill uncannily resembles the monthly statement from my water company. It purports to cover:

"DOMAIN NAME SUBMISSION TO 25 MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES
EIGHT KEYWORD/PHRASE LISTINGS
QUARTERLY SEARCH ENGINE SUBMISSIONS"

We were neither amused nor impressed at the audacity of these people to bill a website design firm for such simple SEO activities that would actually harm a website's search engine placement.

The kicker is this phrase from the payment instructions: "Submission instructions will be sent to you when payment is processed." I can tell you how to submit a website to Google, MSN and Yahoo, which is all you need to know! And only do it once or risk your website being delisted for the nuisance factor.

Blank Page Writer's Block

You've been chugging along, cranking out, well, whatever it is that you do involving words strung together, probably for profit. Maybe you've been at it for a few weeks or even quite a few years with successes spurring you on. Perhaps you've never even experienced a "temporary creativity interruption" in your life. You start a new project and POW! [comic book eruption]. Nothing happens. Usually writing happens, but this time you sit there and stare at the blank page.

Now, all the naysayers who deny Writer's Block even exists will tell you to apply seat of pants to seat of chair and write. To stop being lazy and looking for excuses. Just do it. Blah, blah, blah. It's all baaaaad advice because you have been producing, you did show up, you are perspiring (by now, it's possibly from panic.) And most of all, you have been doing it. You're obviously not lazy and you weren't looking for an excuse not to write, or you wouldn't have shown up atthe appointed time and place all ready to go AS USUAL. Your expectation was that things would go on the same as always, but this is a different experience and calls for a different tactics.

Many other advisers (myself included, at times) will suggest that you take a break, maybe visit museums, cross-pollinate with other arts, take a walk or even take a few days off from writing. These quick fixes work when the writer discovers she doesn't know enough about medieval basket weaving or he is stressed out by the new twins. IF you can analyze your state and determine no lack of knowledge or planning is holding you up and no emotional or psychological cause has plugged up your font of creativity, THEN I have a radical suggestion:

Put writing on a hiatus. Take a sabbatical. Make it a real vacation from this type of work, but don't throw it out of your life, just ease your pot of now simmering creative juice to one of the back burners. If you need immediate income, take a temporary job (at its worst, you'll be exposed to new characters, dialog and plot ideas). And that's what you can always tell busybodies who snoop into your business -- "I'm doing research for a new article/book/website."

While your mind is relatively empty, it's time to recharge the batteries of your senses. Notice the fragrances, colors, sounds, tastes and touches all around you. Focus on one sense at a time, then the zeitgeist, near and far. Be good to yourself, indulge and play, maybe even revisit childhood activities. Try something new and expand your horizons. And do it all as long as you need to. You're opening a door and who knows what will stroll in? Maybe your missing muse, or maybe a whole new life.

Research Words in Dictionaries

Say you're looking up a word via Google's definition search function or at Answers.com or even in a wiki. Chances are that some of the meanings supplied will come from other places, often referred to by abbreviations. If you want to be precise with a reference, or track down a word's meaning in a particular source, knowing what the abbreviations mean will help your search. The "D" always stands for 'dictionary'. Here are some of them:

• AHD (American Heritage)


• AHD3 (American Heritage, 3rd ed.)


• COD (Concise Oxford)


• MEU (Modern English Usage)


• MWCD (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate)


• OED (Oxford English Dictionary)


• NODE (New Oxford Dictionary of English)


• NSOED (New Shorter Oxford English)


• RHDEL (Random House ... English Language)


• RHHDAS (Random House Historical ... American Slang)


• RHWCD (Random House Webster's College)


• RHWUD (Random House Webster's Unabridged)


• SOED (Shorter Oxford English)


• W3NID (Webster's Third New International)

Anyone who's viewed my Amazon Wish List knows I lust for the OED. It's been on my list since the beginning when I discovered one can buy it in a 20-Volume Set form, rather than the humongous single book often found in libraries. (I'd always wondered what I would put it on if I had one.) Why do I drool over the it? I think novelist David Foster Wallace says it best:

"Listen: the OED is priceless. The only disadvantage it's got is that the entries are so interesting and chocked with subsidiary info that sometimes what was originally supposed to be a quick one-word dash to the dictionary becomes a two-hour perusal of cross-references and ramifications and etymologies and the sorts of illustrative sentences that make your saliva flow with sheer interest."

Good Blogging for Writers

Did I remember to tell you that Writer's Digest editor Maria Schneider added A Writer's Edge to her exclusive Project 20/20:

So here's the deal: There are 20 Fridays left in 2007. Starting next Friday, I'm going to highlight one writer's blog each week then add it to my guaranteed-to-be-fabulous blogroll.

I'm looking for blogs that:
• are dedicated to the topic of writing and/or publishing
• are updated frequently
• are owned and maintained by private individuals

from The Writer's Perspective

After completing her 20-link blogroll, Maria has gathered together 20 Tips for Good Blogging. Being the ed of the leading serial publication for writers, you can bet that she produced these tips with writers in mind. We may disagree on some of the aspects of blogging, but, hey--there are no RULES, only guidelines suggested by experience. Sort of like in creative writing, right?

Shopdropped a Good Book Lately?

The next time you stroll through a book store--and please, do support the brick-and-mortar variations of Amazon--you may come across a free book. It might not be labeled as such, but if you try to check it out, the clerk won't be able to ring it up and could ask, "Did you get this here?"

You will be a beneficiary of shopdropping: a growing practice of authors leaving their books lying about in places likely book buyers gather. Michael Quinion calls it a "guerrilla-art movement" akin to "culture jamming"--subverting competitors' advertising to your own benefit. In this case, however, the author use their own products to promote themselves and market the product. Sort of BookCrossing for a marketing purpose. I see nothing wrong with that.

This is my kind of free sample! I'd be delighted to find uncatalogued treasures on my library shelves. How about you?

Delineate Characters by Dilemma

One way to show your characters (rather than tell readers about them) is by their dilemmas. I'm not referring to the crisis of your story, but rather to the obstacles they wrestle with to reach the climax of the tale. For example:

• When I was a youngish mother, I told others, "I'm too old for AFDC and too young for Social Security." This minor joke revealed financial concerns.

• A similar dilemma that many middle-class families face is being too well-off for their children to qualify for assistance and enrichment programs in schools and too poor to afford private schooling.

• Currently, I struggle with issues like failing eyesight, hearing, and I forget the others. I visit the optometrist who tells me I need a minor adjustment in my corrective lenses, but when she shows me the improvement a new prescription would make -- I see no difference! I joke that it's good our vision goes at the same time we quit caring about dust in the corners!

Adjust your characters' dilemmas to fit age, gender, geographic location, society, the era in which they live, etc. Revealing what your characters worry about can not only delineate them, but also establish scenes, settings and a tone for your work. Dilemmas are usually either/or situations in which both solutions to a problem are less than satisfactory.

Rising Non-Awards

Remember how I ranted about the non-awards being pass throughout the blogging community? It has really gotten out of hand. Now they fill at least six pages of ten links each in the Technorati account for A Writer's Edge. Sure, my "authority" level is rising with all these phony posts, but just wait for the crash when they all expire eventually! Please note: I do value the individual, meaningful badges designated by such people as Beth and Lillie and appreciate the holiday greetings from people who I know read this blog.

Wendell Dryden in New Bruswick picked up on my rant in his blog, "qualities communities literacy". He concluded:

Awards are tricky things... to give or receive.

Maybe the secret is to remember that awards need to point to the work we do, and never become the work itself.

I traced back the hokey trend's beginning (for me) to this ignominious award I was not happy to receive on December 7th:

That pretty much says it all.

Writing on the Bloggy Knol

Last month Udi Manber, VP Engineering for Google, revealed in the company's official blog a new project aimed at authors. Still in beta, and apparently nonpaying, the megatech is Encouraging people to contribute knowledge in the form of articles on their specialties. Clicking on the image below takes viewers to an example of a "knol". It's only an image, however, so don't bother clicking on anything that looks like a link. The very hush-hush beta testing is also by invitation only.

At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word "knol" as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we'll do the rest.

Exactly which sector of the Internet this new project threatens is unclear and a matter of great speculation among industry watchers. One theory is that the company's "Pages" project is flagging, and "Knol" will simply prop it up with more tools a la Blogger. After all, a web page is just a web page. Or perhaps Blogger is losing out to Word Press, which offers more plug ins and flexibility in blog design as well as easier integration into complete websites.

Fake Out of a Writer's Block

"Fake it 'til you make it" is one of many mottoes that twelve-step self-help programs offer to assist people in changing their lives. It's one that I instinctively recoiled from, despising falsity in any form. Ah, but I didn't understand what "faking it" really meant. In the context perhaps "mimic" would be more accurate, but it doesn't rhyme with "make", and the purpose in devising these jingles is to ingrain them into a person's psyche.

To my mind, a key aspect in faking it is to know what "it" is. If you've been struggling with a temporary creative interruption (Writer's Block) for some time, you may have forgotten how it looks and feels to be a productive writer. Believe it or not, drunks have to learn how to behave as sober people.

Maybe you feel stymied at how to become a writer (take on a new role) or you're a writer in a slump (need to relearn, reinforce good writing habits). Start with or go back to basics. You're first a writer in your own mind.

• Stand in front of a mirror and repeat aloud, "I am a writer." Try it out with the emphasis on each different word. Add some gestures, if they help. Find the form that fits you: one you feel comfortable saying and makes you feel good about yourself. Mine is, "I am A WRITER!", loud and proud, smiling, head held high. Repeat the phrase ten times as often as you can remember to daily . I plaster PostIt notes on my bathroom mirror for help with such aspirations.

• Keep the focus on yourself, and don't try to compete or compare your productivity with others'. Generate your joy from your own creativity (although it's fine to rejoice for fellow writers and to draw inspiration from their work).

Then it's time for more actions. What does a writer do?

• Drain your brain for writing ideas and goals, but be realistic. Don't expect to complete monolithic endeavors if you're just starting out. If you do aim for a wide target, like writing a novel, break it down into bite-size chunks. If you want to be a self-published poet but know nothing about publishing or poetry--take a class.

• Establish your writing time, too. No matter how little it is, stick to the schedule. Make it a top priority in your life. Write SOMETHING, even if it is just practicing queries or cover letters. They make be "fake" letters, but they are also stepping stones to success.

Amazon's Best Books of 2007

At this time of year, traditional material for regular nonfiction writers are either "Top or Best ..." or "Resolutions". I try to live just one day at a time, instead of proclaiming annual resolutions . If I am in a change process, that's about as long as I can focus or handle. I do, however, believe in setting goals and offered a system for reaching them last month.

I wasn't going to give in to the "tops" tug until I ran across this page at Amazon: Amazon.com: Best of 2007: Books. It is most handy because in addition to the editors' top picks (with no explanation of the selection process), Amazon lists Customer Favorites, the "100 topselling books on Amazon.com during 2007. (Ranked according to customer orders through October. Only books published for the first time in 2007 are eligible.)" At last, a measure with a metric rather than whimsical evanescent criteria. "Top selling" I can understand, even if Amazon has contracted the words into one. There's still time for you to vote on that page for your favorite from among the top 25 best sellers of the year.

Back on the main page of Best Books of 2007, bonuses are the breakdowns of Customer Favorites into 30 "top ten" categories, (find the list in the right column). That's enough sections to enable market research for anyone considering writing a book. What's more, you can also study similar rankings for the last sevan years! (See box at the bottom of the left column.)

Preditors & Editors Poll

The annual Preditors & Editors Readers Poll is happening until January 15th. You can write in a vote for A Writer's Edge by clicking on the link below:


An email to finalize your vote will be sent when you submit the form. Please add predpoll_noreply@critique.org to your approved senders list to receive the email. Because you may only vote once in each category, a subsequent vote in the same category will override your prior vote. A Writer's Edge qualifies as a "Writers' Resource/Information/News Source".

The management thanks you!

New Year, New Look

Obvious to those who visit the website, we have a new layout. Finally! It looks a bit vacant, compared to the previous one jam-packed with ornamentation and excessive linkage. Speaking of links, the reciprocal ones are still around and the link to them will reappear soon. The list will be updated as before with the oldest friends at the top. However, newer ones will first appear on the main page before being added. I've still a lot of tinkering to do, adding in necessary material (hang on WebRing, the code is coming!)

Another change illustrated in the previous graf is more linkage within posts instead of in the sidebars where viewers' eyes tend to just slide across, and readers by feed and email never see. Have no fear, page readers, I refuse to insert those annoying pop ups for keywords, really more ads than advice.

Tell me how you like the new look: more space, less clutter. Better? Miss the mess?

AWE's a Winner!

Remember that funny list of nine words and one phrase I posted about last month? It was for a contest sponsored by Answers.com, the nice people who provide meanings for words underlined in red here. I didn't half try to throw the words listed into a coherent sentence (the contest called for 750 words or less), and yet I'm honored that they have mentioned A Writer's Edge. Answers.com has links to the rest of the winners who probably wrote much more understandable entries.

Dubious Blogger Awards

A shady practice may have begun long before The Blog Fairy started handing out her lovely Blue Ribbon Blogger awards:
and then suddenly (to some of us) passed on into the fairy heavens:Since the time that Blog Fairy anonymously tapped me through MyBlogLog, A Writer's Edge or I have received a few more awards from people I know, ones I call my "Internet Friends". Suspicion crept in, however, when I began to receive ones with instructions to link back to the givers, and sometimes to an originator, as well as to a certain amount of new awardees. I bristled, as always, at being told what to do. I can think for myself, thank you very much!

Perhaps I was naive from the get-go, but I think I've watched this formerly generous and meaningful practice degenerate into just another shallow attempt to obtain link backs (obviated by Google's revision of the PageRank algorithm). It's a silly, blatant form of viral marketing that reached the ultimate (I hope) this holiday with bloggers passing around growing lists of blogs ostensibly as seasonal greetings. Call me Grinch, but I refused to participate.

Yes, I suppose the same process occurred with the "top women blogging on writing" or whatever that list was. I recall the moment I quit following those links and realized people were just passing on someone else's recommendations without personally evaluating the writers or the blogs. It was nice to be included at the beginning of the pyramid (it's always good to be near the top!) But like any pyramid scheme, it turns into a valueless scam very quickly. And I don't think it fools any half-savvy readers.

Am I hot or what?

Writing Real Characters

Envision a picket line with Scarlett O'Hara, Sherlock Holmes, and Lazarus Long carrying signs, "Characters are People too!" Fictional depictions demand an emotional life that is similar to what you and I experience. People in the grip of strong emotions do not always behave in ways that makes logical sense. But they do make emotional sense. For that to happen in fiction writing, it helps to understand the psychology of humans.

A good example of an action making only emotional sense happened to me in 2006 when my mother died suddenly. I performed a hasty sorting and shipped most of her household goods to my home (2000 miles away). Once all the "stuff" entered my house, I shoved it into cupboards.

Thus, 18 months later, I find Mama's can of asparagus in the pantry. "I hate canned asparagus," I tell a friend. "Why did I keep this?"

She shrugs and offers, "Because it was your mothers?" Like all the rest of the junk I can now get rid of, it represents my mother too quickly snatched away. We have many unresolved issues. Surrounding myself with her belongings softened the blow and allowed me to cope with grief at my own pace.

Simple little touches like this will show your character's psychological makeup far better than telling readers, "She couldn't bear to let go of her mother, and that's why she kept the canned asparagus, which she hates." Grammatically correct and flat to read.

Free Books to Help Writers

John Kremer of bookmarket.com runs another website of great service and use to writers: Free Books for All. The nonfiction sections available include:

1. Free Business, Economics, Personal Finance, and Computer Books
2. Free How-to Books: Art, Beauty, Cookbooks, Crafts, Entertainment, Gardening, Health, Home, Movies, Music, Parenting, Relationships, Travel, Sports
3. Free Memoirs, Biographies, Quotable Books, Writing/Publishing, and Reference
4. Free Spiritual, Religious, Mind/Body/Spirit, and Self-Help Books
5. Free Ecology, History, Philosophy, Politics, Science, and Social Issues Books

Don't skip perusing the Business page. There you'll find a collection of Seth Godin's wisdom on blogging and viral marketing. Sure, these books are available around the 'net, but here they are all in one spot. Free for the taking!

Tips for New Bloggers

[Groan!] I think I broke my new blog layout. However, in the process, I've discovered a great new resource, Tips for New Bloggers. As usual, I don't recall how I arrived on Kumar's blogstep, begging for direction, but there it was, step by step, slowly I turn into a more competent writer of xhtml. I should add that the term "New Bloggers" refers to Blogger.com's "new" templates which are long out of beta and now de rigueur there.

Another Writer's Block Repair

I see I've managed to lose the background to this page. What a challenge! I'm trying to switch from a two-column to a three-column template, HTML to xhtml markup language, and Old Blogger to New Blogger--all in One Swell Foop! Unfortunately, I avoided learning xhtml, seeking to hone my CSS skills, then resting on my fat assets. Wrong! A writer, even those who write the behind-the-scene coding for web pages, must keep learning. So, here I grow. And although little shows on this page yet, like the duck floating serenely on a pond, I'm paddling madly below the surface!