The end of the month is here, so it’s time for my monthly round-up of helpful writing sites and blog posts.
The Writing Process
Stories That Cross Borders and Boundaries
Tips for writing multicultural fiction.
Keeping Pace: Maintaining Momentum in Fiction
This article is based on a session from Aussiecon4. An in-depth look at creating effective pacing in your novel.
Heather McCorkle offers a few tips and tricks for keeping track of you character details so you don’t end up with inconsistencies.
5 Ways to Make Your Novel Unforgettable
Editor A. Victoria Mixon lists the main elements of getting to the climax of your novel in an engaging and unforgettable way.
The Worst Mistake A Writer Can Make
I know this is something I’m guilty of doing. I sit hunched over at my computer for hours at a time and I wonder why I get a sore back and neck. This is a post all writers should read and remember. Some great advice for those of us who spend a lot of time writing at our computers.
Picture Books
The Top 3 Considerations and Top 3 Pitfalls of Children’s Picture Books
Although this post is primarily aimed at those self-publishing picture books, there are some valid points in this post for all picture book writers to consider.
A great an in-depth overview on the various elements that go into writing a picture book. I love the diagram included at the end.
Casey McCormick has compiled a post on appropriate word counts for picture books based on her knowledge as an agent intern and research (she lists her sources at the end of the post if you want to check them out).
It’s nice to see some posts on writing pb queries starting to surface around the web. When I wrote my post on pb queries a while back there weren’t many posts specifically relating to pb queries at all. Thank-you Query Shark for ripping apart a pb query this month!
Kidlit agent Mary Kole has also posted on pb queries this month. She describes how pb queries need to be simple and gives an example. (Where were these insightful posts two months ago when I was writing my pb query?)
Pitching
A short simple post on how to craft a logline for your novel.
Writing a Logline/The One-Sentence Pitch
This post goes a little more in-depth into writing a logline. It sets out the elements of a hook line and gives examples.
Social Media
Should Writers Talk About Their Rejections
A post tackling the issue of how much a writer should share of their rejections on social media.
10 Ways to Create a Better ‘About Page’ for Your Blog
If a publisher or agent comes across your blog and checks out your ‘About Page’ you want to present yourself in the most effective way possible. This post tells you how you can do just that.
Just for Fun
A funny (and embarrassingly true) look at the journey of a writer.
Against Promotional Author Photographs
I laughed when I read this post as I recognised all the ‘author poses’ listed. As well as being a funny look at the typical ‘author pose’, it also made me determined to make sure I come up with something original when I do my own ‘author pose’ one day!
There’s a bit of a focus on picture books this month, but hopefully there is something here for writers from all genres/stages of writing.
Jo Hart - Author 
Wow, I wish I didn’t have an appointment with my manuscript right now – I really want to start browsing through these sites. Thanks, Jo!
By the way, did you see the short article by Ann Patchett that Nathan Bransford linked to yesterday? I loved that.
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No I haven’t seen that one, I’ll have to check it out.
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Really useful Jo thanks a lot! It is so important to look back at the useful info you need for the stage that you are at with an ms. It’s so easy to put them in favourites or a folder and leave them there.
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Thanks for the collection of links! I can’t personally stress the “writer’s worst mistake” article enough, after having spent a lot of time and money on physical therapy earlier this year for a spinal problem caused by poor posture when sitting up writing late into the night 😉 Try to make your work space ergonomically friendly!
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