Is it just me, or is the year flying by? This week is mainly focused on the writing side. Maybe it’s a sign, or more likely that I had very little time to search things out, and coincidentally, I’m knee deep in a massive edit.
Editing
Here is a nice list of four common problems manuscripts have, along with examples and resources to explore them in more depth:
http://joanyedwards.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/look-for-four-writing-errors-when-you-revise/
Life
This is about a scientific study, but the use of swear words to aid communication seems to me to be a life issue. Here’s the article that caught my attention:
http://www.livescience.com/health/doctors-hospital-swearing-patient-trust-100928.html
And here’s a related blog post I wrote years ago (warning it’s long) about the purpose of “bad language” and the potential for consequences if the use is suppressed:
http://margaretfisk.mmfcf.com/blog/?p=365
Publishing
Not sure where I stand on the questions raised in this blog post, but I think the questions need asking all the same, whatever the answers are or should be:
http://utahchildrenswriters.blogspot.com/2010/09/too-close-to-edge.html
Submitting
An analysis of the commonalities between “how I got my agent stories” that offers some good tips for the submission process:
http://transplantportation.com/2010/09/28/breaking-by-the-rules/
Writing
How deeply you feel what your characters are experiencing influences how deeply your readers will dive in with you, but that very emotion can work against you. Here’s a look at why and how to make it work:
http://writeforyourlife.net/distress-focus-writing
Dear Margaret,
I am honored that you listed my blog post about four common problems manuscripts have in your blog.
Do something good for yourself today.
Yr welcome. I read a bunch of things on the Web each week. The ones that strike me as particularly useful or interesting, I pass on to my blog readers. Thank you for contributing something that will benefit the group mind that is the Internet :).