Blog Treasures 7-23

Welcome to my weekly roundup of the best Treasures I’ve found on the blogsphere during the past week. Glad you stopped by, enjoy!

On Publishing and Social Media

I’m going to start us off this week with a fantastic post for writers looking to diversify (and possibly step away from a day job). Ali Luke (Aliventures) shares her secrets in How I Make a Living as an Online Writer (and How You Could Too).

Randy Ingermanson of the Advanced Fiction Writing Blog answers a question that plagues many writers, How Many Scenes Does Your Novel Need?

Knowing what can harm our chances of success as a writer is essential if we want to succeed. Larry Brooks, author of Story Engineering brings us 5 Creative Flaws That Will Expose Your Lack of Storytelling Experience.

New York Times Bestseller, Bob Mayer recently traveled to Thrillerfest. While there he garnered a wealth of insight into the current state of the publishing industry and shares it with us in eBooks as the new mass market paperback and don’t be Buridan’s Ass.

A Round of Words in 80 Days is in full swing, but it is never too late to join! If you’ve considered ROW80 as a way to set writing goals but haven’t yet joined, check out this post by Nancy Poehlmann: Why ROW80? Why Not?

The presentation of your blog can often decide if people stay or revisit your site. Kristen Lamb brings us 10 Tips for Blogging Awesomeness – Blog Housekeeping.

When it comes to our blogs how much is too much and do short posts truly make an impact on our readers? Jami Gold explores this topic in What’s Your Blogging Style?

Ever wonder why so few men join or participate in book clubs? Booklist Online gives us some possible answers and solutions to this question in Why So Few Men Join Book Groups.

James Killick brings us 10 essential factors that show us How to write critiques that don’t kill.

What increases our potential and what destroys it are questions everyone, not just writers, should be asking. Jonathan Fields takes a powerful look at this subject in Creative Kryptonite and the Death of Productivity.

Is your Work-In-Progress yelling at you to stop dusting the same corner, repeatedly? Kathy Owen brings us some other fun ways we use to avoid getting our work done in Procrastination Methods.

On the Craft of Writing

So you have a great sounding book idea but will it sustain a novel? Kristen Lamb explores this topic in Testing the Idea – Is it Strong Enough to Make a Novel?

If you’re nearing the end of your book or ready for a final edit before submission how can you ensure you don’t miss anything important? Roz Morris, author of Nail Your Novel, has some excellent suggestions for us in Nearly Finished? Make Yourself a Critical List.

Elizabeth Craig (a.k.a. Riley Adams & the Writers Knowledge Base) brings us several great pieces this week. Why We Practice Our Writing takes a look at how we can gauge our growth as writers over time. Guest poster Karen Walker looks at a subject that is near and dear to every writer in how to Find Balance While Juggling Life.

The fantastic Janice Hardy virtually runs a writers workshop on her site every day. Her site is one of my favorite haunts. Here is a sampling of this weeks incredible tips and advice that can be found at Janice’s site: Nope, Not Buying It: How Do We Maintain Believability in Our Work? and Scene Goals! Are You Making Them Too Obvious? How do our characters emotional states affect the way a scene develops? Janice delves into this topic in Using the Emotional State of Your Characters to Craft Better Scenes.

Every week the Bookshelf Muse brings us more and more useful tips and resources to help writers of all types. This week they added: Character Traits: Ambitious and Weather Thesaurus: Wind.

Kait Nolan is the incredible founder of the ROW80 challenge, multi-published author and a versatile blogger. Due to her intense schedule, she is dedicated to efficiency. Discover some of her wisdom in Know When to Multitask.

Fun Sites and Fan Fiction

Mary Jo Gibson of This Write Life traveled recently to visit the famed Chicago Art Institute. She brings us some of the incredible art she found that day and more in: The Museum Experience. Mary Jo also did a fantastic expose this week on the greatest art forger you never heard of Reinhold Vasters-Artisan or Forger. The art alone is worth a look!

Two of my favorite myths are dragons and vampires. Shea MacLeod of Everything’s Better With Dragons brings us the Idiot’s Guide to Vampirism. I wonder what a Vampiric Dragon would be like…

I love when I can bring all of you things that are both free and high quality. This week I’m pleased to present an opportunity for a Free Short Story, “In the Mirror” by the fantastic Robin Lythgoe

Is Criminology the study of Crime? Or Not? Find out in this exploration of the subject by Manon Eileen in What is Criminology and What is Crime?

There were quite a few movies, some new, some old, reviewed this week. Here are a couple for your pleasure from Gloria Oliver, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 and Captain America.

Having trouble sleeping at night because you’re in mourning over the semi official passing of the Harry Potter series? Piper Bayard has some suggestions for how to handle the grief in Moving Past Potter.

Amanda Rudd does some of the best television series reviews and over views I’ve ever seen. This week she brings us Eureka and Alphas and A Brief History of Doctor Who, Part 1 and Part 2.

Tiffany A. White explores this years Emmy selections and welcomes us to the FabOoolous Tamberny Awards as she asks, Who do You Think Should Win? Cast your vote before July 29th! Tiffany also brings us an excellent over view of some of the top shows on SyFy TV.

That’s all for this week. Be sure to check back on Wednesday as we go in search of some of the incredible and mysterious treasures of the ancient world in my Designing from Bones series.

Peaceful Journeys!