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Friday Links: The Leap Year Edition

Nephele Tempest

This week’s Friday Links decided to leap over to Saturday, courtesy of my insane schedule. I considered skipping the post entirely, but I missed last week and guilty feelings won out. No great unifying theme, however. Just a bunch of things I’ve come across and found interesting, informative, and/or entertaining.

Is anyone doing something special with the extra day this year? I love the idea of considering February 29th a bonus day–one you get to spend at will. I’m devoting my day to a project that I’ve been trying to squeeze into my regular calendar for way too long. Fingers crossed I can make some huge progress.

Wishing you a wonderful Leap Day, whatever you choose to do. Enjoy!

This Week’s Links:

Wired’s 13 Must-Read Books for Spring. – Some fun titles to consider adding to your TBR.

The New Wave of Fantasy: How Millennial Authors Are Transforming the Genre. – A quick round table with four prominent young fantasy writers.

The Man Responsible for Cut/Copy/Paste Has Died. – A brief acknowledgement for the passing of Larry Tesler, who made the lives of many writers easier.

Author’s Guild Releases Grim 5-Page Report on “The Profession of the Author in the 21st Century.” – Not great news, but really, it’s never been great news.

A Library Story. They Say Everyone Has One. – A lovely, uplifting read about the good libraries do.

Open Access Image Libraries: A Handy List. – A helpful roundup of the libraries currently making collections of images available for open use through their websites.

Confessions of a Hate Reader, or Bad Writing Habits I Picked Up from Bad Criticism. – Takes a look at the difficulties of creating with a laundry list of “shouldn’t”s in one’s brain.

 

Friday Links: Holiday Insanity Edition

Nephele Tempest

Holiday insanity seems to have struck full force, so this week’s Friday Links are more fly-by than focused. Everyone apparently realized over the last few days that there’s about a week of business left before people vanish for the break, so all the work needs to be done. Right. Now. This means meetings, phone calls, and extremely-late-night reading sessions.

A few quick announcements before I move on to the links for the week. First, in case you missed it on Twitter, I will be closing to new submissions as of tomorrow, December 15th, through January (more or less). I’m trying to slow the deluge going into the holidays, and then I hope to catch up reading existing submissions. I’m still behind from our switchover to Query Manager. I love the new system,  but juggling two sets of submissions has been challenging. I hope to get through the backlog from the old system so I’m just down to one set of projects to read. Currently, I plan to reopen to submissions around the end of next month. I’ll post here and on Twitter when I’ve got a precise date.

Also, the December Writing Challenge continues! If you’ve missed some days, don’t sweat it. Just get back to writing and make an effort to set aside at least a small window of time for your work each day. You can do it, and you’ll be so happy come January that you didn’t get completely out of the writing habit.

Finally, we’re coming up on the time of year for setting new goals. I’ll be talking about goal-setting next week here on the blog, so start thinking about what you might want to accomplish in 2019.

And with that, I will move on to this week’s links. I hope that you find them entertaining, and a good break from the holiday insanity. Enjoy, and happy writing!

This Week’s Links:

A True Utopia: An Interview with N.K. Jemisin. – This lovely interview over at The Paris Review blog discusses short fiction vs. novel writing, what Jemisin envisions for the future, and more.

Tin House Magazine’s 20th Anniversary Issue Will Be Its Last. – Tin House announces the end of an era. Full focus will shift to their book publishing division and their workshops.

How a Cover Letter Can Help You Get Published. – Great tips, many of which hold true whether you’re submitting to periodicals or to agents/editors.

Kate DiCamillo, Chronicler of the Hard Truths of Youth. – NPR interviews the author about her honest approach to children’s fiction.

A Tour of a Writer’s London Sitting Room. – Take a peek into the world of author Ben Schott.

13 Libraries Book Lovers Need to Follow on Instagram. – A great assortment of library accounts, though just the tip of the iceberg.

Friday Links: SFF Edition

Nephele Tempest

In the wake of last weekend’s Hugo Awards, an SFF edition of Friday Links feels like a fun way to go. Not everything is science fiction or fantasy related, but a good chunk leans that way, including a nice wrap up of the Hugos themselves.

View of milky way through the treetops

My week was crazy in general, so I apologize if this week’s links run a little shorter than usual. I feel like we’re rushing headlong into September, and I’m not ready. I theorize that once we hit Labor Day, the rest of the year churns faster than usual. Not scientific, but it feels real.

So on that note, I leave you with some fun links to entertain and inspire you. Wishing you a wonderful weekend, filled with books and excellent writing time. Enjoy!

SFF Edition:

Hugo Awards: Women Clean Up as N.K. Jemisin Wins Best Novel Again. – A nice look at the list of winners, including N.K. Jemisin and her history-making three-peat winning the Best Novel award.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Is the Best Place on the Internet. – A fun discussion and brief history of the online resource.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. – The amazing resource referenced above.

Day in the Life of a Book Editor: Caroline Bleeke of Flatiron Books. – A peek at what the job of an editor entails.

The Weirdest Libraries Around the World. – A fun look at some offbeat libraries in unlikely locations.

Aliette de Bodars Recommends: Four Fantasy Books from Alternate Worlds. – Some great recs for stories with less frequently seen influences.

15 Highly Anticipated New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for Fall. – Pretty much as described.

Friday Links: Writing Foundations

Nephele Tempest

Every writer’s work develops from their writing foundations, their earliest impressions as young writers and readers. Although new experiences always add to the writer’s perspective, nothing is so formative as those first encounters. This week’s links focus on the usual range of topics, but several include interviews with authors talking about their writing identity and early influences. Consider your own favorite books that inspired you to write, or life events that might affect your writing themes. Sometimes knowing the questions that fascinate you can help you dig more deeply into the story you wish to tell.

As always, I hope this week’s links leave you feeling excited to write. Wishing you a wonderful weekend, with some time to read, write,  and maybe to investigate your own writing foundations. Enjoy!

This week’s links:

On the 13 Words that Made Me a Writer. – Author Sofia Samatar talks about her youthful obsession with fantasy and how it inspired her.

When Your Imposter Syndrome Is Out of Control. – Everyone feels unsure about themselves at some point. A great reading list to help fight self-doubt.

The Crack Squad of Librarians Who Track Down Half-Forgotten Books. – A look at those talented folks who help find that book you can’t quite remember.

Jason Reynolds: “What’s Unusual about My Story Is that I Became a Writer.” – The multi-published author discusses how his early experiences led him to write books that wouldn’t bore his audience.

Writing Wisdom from Guest Author Maureen Goo. – The YA author talks about her approach to writing.

Five Books about Unconventional Pirates. – Because I have a pirate thing, okay? And everyone’s TBR stack should have a pirate book on it.

Reading Horror Can Arm Us Against a Horrifying World. – NPR looks at horror as a way to make sense of reality.

Friday Links: Writing from Different Perspectives

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday! There’s another hot, sunny weekend on the horizon, and I fully intend to spend the majority of it indoors with my nose in a book. Why? Because this weekend is the 24 in 48 Readathon, one of my favorite events of the year, and it is my excuse to get a lot of reading done and not feel guilty about putting off the laundry or ignoring my other weekend chores. The readathon kicks off midnight ET on Saturday morning and runs through the end of Sunday, and there’s still time to sign up in you want to join in the fun.

Before I get to reading, however, I need to get some more work done, so I will be leaving you here with this week’s Friday Links so I can go be productive. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, filled with reading and writing and all good things. Enjoy!

Known Alias: How Stephen King Was Outed as Richard Bachman – An interesting look at how the famous author’s pseudonym became public.

Are We So Unwilling to Take Sylvia Plath at Her Word – In light of recent revelations regarding Plath’s relationship with husband Ted Hughes, important questions as to whether the information was really new, and what that says about how women are treated.

Sherman Alexie’s Heartbreaking Reason for Pausing His Book Tour – A bit of a ghost story.

Rebecca Solnit on a Childhood of Reading and Wandering – A love letter to libraries and the areas around them.

Difference Is an Asset: Writing in a Second Language – How a challenge can shift a writer’s perspective.

6 Reasons Aspiring Writers Should Act More Like Musicians – A touch harsh, perhaps, but still offers some basic, down-to-earth advice regarding putting one’s nose to the grindstone and getting the work done.

 

Friday Links: Writing Is Rewriting

Nephele Tempest

This has been a week of distractions, with a million shiny (and not-so-shiny) things popping up at every turn to demand my attention. Not only can that make it difficult to finish whatever tasks were originally on your to-do list, but it’s exhausting. So my current plan for the weekend involves getting this post up, sending out a few emails, and then unplugging for the most part until Monday morning. At least from the internet and its constant bombardment from social media and the like. I think I have a date with the beach, a book, and a big floppy hat. And possibly print outs of a few dozen submissions.

Maybe you plan to unplug as well, but if not, here are this week’s Friday Links to keep you entertained and possibly inspire some creative time. Several of these are particularly useful if you’re in or approaching the rewrite/editing stage. Enjoy, and happy writing!

The Five Bes to Being a Better Beta Buddy – Some great tips for giving feedback to your writing critique partners.

When You’re Ready to Move from Summer Reading to Summer Writing – Some short-term writing retreats to check out on your summer vacation, or to inspire you to check out what else might be out there.

Joseph Kanon: There Is No Better Place to Write than the Library – The author shares his love for writing in the New York Public Library, and why he finds it makes the perfect office.

California Soul: A Literary Guide to SoCal Beach Towns – A list of beachy locales with a bit of an edge, straight from the pages of fiction.

The Legend of an Editor – A look inside the work practices of Robert Silver of The New York Review of Books, and the legend he left behind.

Roxane Gay Is the Hardest Working Woman in Letters – An interview with the author on the release of her new memoir, Hunger.

10 Tips for Becoming a Better Editor – Pretty much what it says on the package.

Friday Links: Summer Reads to Inspire Your Writing

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great week and that you have some time set aside this weekend for reading and writerly things. With all the end-of-school and graduation talk the last few weeks, plus the chatter of summer vacation plans, it’s easy to slack off on your writing goals. But remember, by the end of this month we’ll be halfway through 2017, so if you had some grand aspirations for the year — things you wanted to accomplish or milestones to hit — be sure to schedule a little work time along with the fun.

That said, I do have some great reading recs in this week’s Friday Links, along with everything else, so I hope you find something inspiring and/or informative that will keep your own creativity pumping along. Enjoy, and happy writing!

Our Story – There’s a brand new app on the way to help you find diverse books to read. It launches online on June 15th, with mobile apps on the way as well.

Jennifer Weiner: From Small-Town Beat Reporter to Big-City Columnist – A peek at the author’s journalistic background and how she got her start.

These Are the Essential Comics to Read after You’ve Watched Wonder Woman – A great roundup of both classics and newer runs to help you get your Wonder Woman fix.

New York Today: A City Library on the Subway – Learn how to access free ebooks from the New York Public Library for the next six weeks on a special New York subway car (and also in the stations).

100 Must-Read Novels Set in London – You may not be able to zip off to London to show your support for the city in the wake of the latest terrorist attack, but you can always grab one of these great titles to visit in spirit.

Amita Trasi and Cecilia Galante on Writing Young Characters – Two authors share their thoughts on the importance of writing from a younger perspective.

Friday Links for the Holiday Weekend

Nephele Tempest

No great words of wisdom this week. For those who celebrate, we’re at the end of Holy Week, today being Good Friday and Sunday being Easter. So here is a nice assortment of links for anyone who feels like checking them out. Whatever your beliefs, I wish you a wonderful weekend and a bit of whatever makes you smile, whether that’s writing time, a good book, family celebrations, or a bit of everything. Enjoy!

A Brief Literary History of Robots – Mostly because I couldn’t resist the first image, but also for the fun reading list.

George Saunders: What Writers Really Do When They Write – One writer’s take on process.

Don’t Be a Dick: Colum McCann’s Advice for Young Writers – Some great tips, delivered with humor.

Julie Ann Walker: “I’m a Feminist and I Write Romance” – A smart look at why these two things are not mutually exclusive.

NPR on Tumblr – Some great vintage images shared in honor of National Library Week.

Salinger’s Nightmare – An unemployed actor’s attempt to acquire permission to adapt The Catcher in the Rye.

Kurt Vonnegut’s Greatest Writing Advice – Tips that still shine, ten years after the author’s death.

Friday Links: Creative Outlets for Difficult Days

Nephele Tempest

It’s been a tense week filled with terrible news, here in the U.S. The sort that makes you want to hold your loved ones a little closer and try to be a little kinder to everyone you meet, even as you wonder how there can be so much pointless hatred out there. I hope this week’s links provide a little distraction and maybe some inspiration. Creating something meaningful isn’t the worst way to try to combat the ugliness in the world. Of course, sometimes the world drains you of every creative impulse, in which case escaping into a good book can offer a brief respite, if that’s what you seek.

Wishing you all a safe, sane, enjoyable weekend.

On the Genius of Yuri Herrera’s Character Names – One translator looks at the meaning behind an author’s choices.

12 Bookstores Every Reader Should Visit in Their Lifetime – Some gorgeous photos to inspire your next book-related travel plans.

Why Setting a Historical Romance Outside of England Is Risky Business – The strange reality of sales figures in this particular sub-genre.

Modern Witches Are So Much More Than Just Mothers/Maidens/Crones – A look at more recent roles for this standard archetypal character.

The Great Second-Half 2016 Book Preview – A rundown of a huge number of highly anticipated titles due to release during the second half of the year. By no means exhaustive, but it has something to tempt just about everyone.

Life Behind the Stacks: The Secret Apartments of New York Libraries – A peek into the world of the former library caretakers of NYC.

10 Mistakes (Almost) Every Rookie Writer Makes: Part 2 – A continuation from the previous list, with some great tips to keep in mind.

Friday Links: Sparking Creative Whimsy

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., coming on the heels of another busy week. Thanks to everyone who came out and pitched during the Twitter Pitch Fest on Wednesday, and to everyone else who spread the word, cheered on the writers who were pitching, or was just generally excited during the event. We had a fabulous time and saw so many amazing pitches over the 8-hour window. I know we’re going to be busy reading for quite a while.

For those of you who didn’t hear about the pitch fest until too late, weren’t quite ready to pitch your manuscript, or couldn’t quite imagine pitching in 140 characters or less, please remember that The Knight Agency is open to general submissions, and we’re always happy to read your queries. Please check out our submission guidelines for complete details.

Now on to this week’s links! I’ve got a pretty broad assortment, including some whimsy in honor of the holiday. Whether you’re hanging out at the beach or poolside, picnicking or kicking back at home, I hope you all have a lovely time this weekend and manage to squeeze in a bit of personal creative time. Even if you set aside your writing project, take some photos or try your hand at sketching, bake something delicious or play in your garden. You’ll be surprised at what sorts of inspiration pop up when you’re occupied with other things. You might even generate some fresh ideas to help push your goals forward in this second half of the year. Enjoy!

All Stories Are the Same – On the constants of dramatic storytelling.

5 Writing Tips to Creating a Page Turner – Author Eileen Cook offers a great checklist for making sure you keep your reader hooked.

Habitually Chic: A Little Life – Bookshelf envy, which I share with you all. Scroll down to see author Hanya Yanagihara’s amazing book collection.

The Obsessively Detailed Map of American Literature’s Most Epic Road Trips – Fun for planning a summer road trip, even if it’s just of the armchair variety.

10 Lessons Learned from My First Grown-Up Writing Job – One writer shares some hard-earned knowledge.

OED Birthday Word Generator – Find out what word originated around the year you were born.

Putting Borges’ Infinite Library on the Internet – A look at how the concept behind Borges’ story about the Library of Babel translates to the web.