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Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

TGIF! I hope you all had a terrific week and made some excellent plans for the weekend! The weather appears to be doing strange things all over the country right now, so it might be a great weekend to stay inside with a good book and/or work on your current writing project. Whatever you’re up to, I hope you enjoy the links I’ve lined up for today. At the very least, they should make for some good Friday-afternoon distraction. Happy writing!

How Will I Live? Fame, Money, Day Jobs, and Fiction Writing – An interesting look at what makes the perfect day job for a writer.

Latino Spec Fiction, April 2015 – A wonderful roundup of new speculative fiction by Latino authors for those of you looking to broaden your horizons and/or diversify your to-read list.

Her Stinging Critiques Propel Young Adult Bestsellers – A profile of Julie Strauss-Gabel, an editor at Dutton Children’s Books and the power behind numerous recent successful YA titles.

Competitions for Writers, May and June 2015 – A list of upcoming contests, prizes, etc. for writers.

Vladimir Nabokov on What Makes a Good Reader – The author’s thoughts on how to get the most out of your reading.

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday! It’s a really wet day here in SoCal, complete with flash flood warnings and mud slides. The perfect day to stay in with a good book and/or a writing project. Of course, I have a rather limited supply of flashlights and candles, so I’m just going to charge up my iPad and hope the power hangs on.

In the meantime, however, I have Friday Links for you all! Some more good book recs, particularly for those of you looking for diverse reading material, plus the usual assortment of oddities. Whatever you have planned for your weekend, I wish you some good reading and writing time. Enjoy!

I Read 50 Books by People of Color This Year – One reader’s round up of a year in diverse reading.

Let’s Talk about Science Fiction Books by Women – Another good list, this time focusing on sf by female authors.

Elena Ferrante, Author of the Naples Novels, Stays Mysterious – Interview with the Italian author whose air of mystery has led to rampant speculation regarding her identity.

The Gothic Life and Times of Horace Walpole – Learn about the father of the gothic novel.

19 Short Story Competitions in 2015 – Start marking your calendars now with these contest deadlines for the upcoming year.

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Happy Friday and happy first day of NaNoWriMo! If you’re participating, I wish you the best of luck. Remember that this is just a first draft you’re writing this month. Plenty of time to revise later. In fact, please remember this fact come December 1st. While you might be tempted to start submitting your finished project, what you have at the end of NaNoWriMo is merely the framework on which you should build your final draft. Revise, revise, revise.

Even if you’re not working on a NaNo novel, there are great pep-talks available at the website to encourage you with your own project. I’ve included a few in this week’s links. Enjoy and happy writing!

Pep-talk from Rainbow Rowell – Advice from this author of two adult and two young adult novels.

Pep-talk from James Patterson – Words of wisdom from the multi-published author of numerous works of suspense.

Five Series You Probably Missed as a Kid (But Should Read as an Adult) – A great assortment.

Google Channels Pixar to Change Storytelling as We Know It – Maybe a bit of an exaggeration in the headline, but still a fascinating look at some new tech.

How to Enter the Telegraph Harvill Secker Crime Writing Competition – Written an adult mystery? Unpublished and unagented? Check out this contest.

Friday Links

Nephele Tempest

Another Friday, and with it comes a fresh selection of links. I feel I’ve been falling down on the job a bit, not offering up quite enough writing inspiration, so I’m pleased to say that this week’s list of links includes a couple that should send you off to the keyboard or have you pulling out your notebook. And of course, there are some more general links as well.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, and some quality writing and/or reading time. Enjoy!

30 June Writing Assignments – Everything from prompts to ideas for revising your current project.

Ten Things I Learned from Loving Anne of Green Gables – A charming look at the classic children’s series that had me feeling a bit nostalgic.

Quirk Books “Looking for Love” Fiction Contest – Have a novel-length love story you’re looking to publish? Is it, perhaps, a bit quirky? This contest might be for you.

Green Apple’s Mulvihill Spins “California Bookstore Day” for Indies – A clever idea to help bring traffic into independent bookstores while offering readers something special.