I’m excited this month to introduce a new addition to my blog. If you look up at the tabs above you will see a new one titled, ‘Helpful Writing Sites and Blog Posts Masterlist’. In this master list I have gathered all the links from all the past editions of ‘Helpful Writing Sites and Blog Posts’ into one place. This way you won’t have to go searching through all the past editions to find the link you’re looking for. To make it even easier, I’ve put the links under headings, such as: ‘dialogue’, ‘openings’ and ‘queries’, so if you’re looking for information on query writing, go to the ‘queries’ section or if you want a stronger opening, go to the ‘openings’ section. From now on, whenever I do one of these monthly posts, the links will get added to the master list.
Now, onto this month’s edition:
Writing
How to Get Published: A Flowchart
A great flowchart (and checklist) on the writing process and a great way to know if you’re ready to query.
My Writing Success: The ONE Thing That Helped Me Most
Author Jody Hedlund explains the one specific thing that helped her most on her journey towards writing success.
Using their soon-to-be-published anthology of stories as examples, The Australian Literature Review outlines the elements of effective story opening lines.
Story Skeletons: Teaching Plot Structure with Picture Books
Although this post is meant to be a teaching tool for young readers/writers in the classroom, it’s a great post for writers of picture books as well. It focuses on the basic structures used in picture story books and includes examples of each structure.
Where Should a Second Chapter Start?
There’s always a big focus for writers on getting that first chapter perfect, but what about chapter two? This post looks at building a strong second chapter.
Five Ways to Show Emotion in Your Writing
Based on the book From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by Robert Olen Butler, this post looks at expressing emotion in your writing with a focus on showing vs telling.
Genre Novels – Word Count Rules, Subgenres, and Guidelines for Getting Your Book Published
A short guide to word count rules and subgenres for the various genres (fantasy, romance, historical, mystery, thriller, horror, YA, and Western).
Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)
Before you submit your work, double-check to make sure you haven’t made any of these mistakes that are easy to fix. (Sometimes this is where a critique partner can come in handy.)
NOTE: For number one, I find Wordle is a helpful website for weeding out crutch words. For number nine, reading aloud is a great way to pick up on awkward phrasing.
The Doctor is in the House – Novel Diagnostics
An exploration of common problems found in the beginning of a manuscript that can be an indicator of problems in the rest of the manuscript.
Queries/Pitches
A look at how to write an effective query in only 140 characters.
Rites of Submission: Cover Letters and Query Letters
This article includes two sample letters: an example of what not to do (including common mistakes) and a successful letter.
How I Got My Agent (Part 1: The Parts of a Good Query)
Author Susan Dennard shares advice on writing a good query letter, using her own successful query letter as an example.
Synopsis
How to Write a 1 Page Synopsis
A break down of the key elements needed for a one page synopsis. Includes worksheet.
Motivation
A reminder from author/agent Mandy Hubbard that is hard to become published, and why it is important to stick to it and not give up.
Social Media
Using these writer hashtags on Twitter is a great way to meet fellow writers. A comprehensive list of writer hashtags, including a schedule of writer chats on Twitter.
8 Sentence to Immediately Cut From Your Twitter
These 8 bio mistakes may be costing you followers and you may want to avoid them. Includes two things you may want to include instead.
Blogging Tips: Tips for Increasing Your Followers and/or Subscribers
Rachael Harrie has some great simple tips for building up a following on your writing blog.
Facebook for Authors: How to Get Started
Agent Nathan Bransford gives some helpful tips on starting up a Facebook author page.
For Fun
9 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Writers.
Very funny and very true. Pass this list on to all your non-writing friends.
Speaking of Facebook author pages, I’ve just started one of my own. You can find it here: http://www.facebook.com/JoHartAuthor or on the Facebook link on the sidebar of this blog.
Jo Hart - Author 
Hi Jo, thanks so much for the mention 🙂 You’ve got some great links here, off to check them out!
Hugs,
Rach
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No problem, Rach. It was a great post on building up blog followers. Some stuff I would never have known if I hadn’t read your post, and so simple to do. 🙂
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