Monthly Links

Links:
Tips for creating sentences that flow 

Author exploitation

8 Keys: Mystery Vs Suspense 

A New Renaissance in Literature

Timing of your social media

3 Types of Character Arc


For fun:

http://www.demilked.com/men-and-cats-similar-poses/

Extra:

Used e-books resale- sounds like pirating. 

Chamberton books seek book club reviewers.

Interesting links

I have a few sites I came across that I feel would be helpful to others. If you already know of them- Awesome. If you don't- I hope you give them a try and see what happens.

Places to submit

Hey every one, 
I hope last week went well for you. I have a great deal to catch up on but I'm back, at least until things get crazy at school again.
Today I'm sharing places to submit to and next week comes the great writing thing I want to share from the writers conference, so be on the look out for it. This week I have a riddle and awards to share.

When you submit your work somewhere please read their guidelines carefully- they wouldn't have them if they didn't want you to adhere to them. As always make sure you have gone through several revisions before submitting your piece.


 Links:

Finishing line press


Flashquake


Bardsandsages


Happy writing!

Review- Wyoming Writer Alyson Hagy plus links

Buy Here

First a short review of Ghosts of Wyoming by Alyson Hagy (Wyoming Writer).

Hagy did a terrific job dragging the reader into stories they had to think about. Throughout most of the book, she switches from serious to comedy short pieces. The cover gives an idea of actual ghost stories of Wyoming- but this is not the case. Ghosts are both a metaphoric and real part of her short stories, but this is not a book of haunted houses.

My favorites in her collection are "Superstitions of the Indians" and "Lost Boys." The first is a comical short piece about an Indian woman and a book with a mind of its own. The main character, a grad student, is a bit dense to start, but eventually comes around to help the Book and Indian woman. The second piece haunts me with the "lost." I had to sit and really think about the ending of this short story and the events that lead up to it.

I think Hagy did a terrific job of creating ghost stories out of old Wyoming stories and part of me believes that she intended for the reader to wonder and think about each story as an individual yet as a whole in the end of the book. Her description of Wyoming weather and land is spot on. This book would be great for a sampling of what this author is capable of and the stories are short enough to read one each night before bed.


And now for links:

 I have been toying with a new site called Scribophile. I have to admit I'm really impressed with the community. The site is basically a critique and review group with very talented writers and critiquers. If you get the option go check it out. I tend to get lost in the forums (stay away from the Scrib koolaid and brownies!)


Narrative Magazine is accepting fiction and none fiction submissions to their story of the week category (pays $150 for accepted work).

 I found a new site for creating blog banners called BannerFans. I used it to create my current blog banner at the top of the page and I must say- I love the different fonts they have- plus its free.


Happy writing!

Submission deadlines

Today I'll give you a list of current places to submit and their deadlines. Please keep in mind its important to read all of their guidelines for submission before giving them your work.

www.liquid-imagination.com 
Deadline: August 31st  submissions reopen for November. 
Paying Market


 www.short-story.me/
Deadline: Open ended
 Paying Market


 www.thepedestalmagazine.com
Open for submissions August 28th
Paying Market


 www.one-story.com
Opens for submission September 1st
Paying Market

Happy writing!

Links

I have come across some great pages and sites recently which I wanted to share with you all.

The Public Query
This is an interesting idea- you can submit a query for critique here.

Novel Blurb generator
Get Those Creative Juices flowing.

Edit Minion
Paste in here to see how your doing.

Write words
A word frequency/ phrase frequency counter

Paper rater
Check grammar, plagiarism, and proofreading- free and kind of fun to use.

I'm in the middle of tests so I'm going to be sparse on commenting.
Happy writing.

Links

Hey there everyone, thought I'd share a couple links I have found.


*Want to improve your typing skills? Here is a free site with typing word games to help you hone those skills. Click Here


*In this next site you can check a word's Grammar usage.
Click here


*Linkytools/mrlinky is now, as I have found, a paid subscription. So where do we go when we want to create a blogfest with a linky?  I found a blog that dedicated an entire page to where to find free linky services with more than one option click here


Have a fairy great day!

Come check it out.

Thank you all for the luck yesterday- I don't know how well I did yet, but I think I passed. Today I'm going to tell you about 750 words. But first I have to admit, I'm hard pressed to complete a writing routine everyday. But I have found help! Its called 750words.com.


 This site gives you points for everyday you complete your 750 words- that's a great incentive. There is also little awards you can receive for making yourself do it every day. But these are not even the best parts.


The best parts are the graphs. You can type in a story idea or the start of a story or one completed and it will graph which sensory you used the most inside the story, I found I lean towards "touch" a great deal.
Then as if that wasn't enough it also graphs the mood of the piece based on words you've typed.


Finally you also see a word cloud box that tells you which words you used the most! Brilliant!
But it is a simple design, which I happen to love. I sign in, a blank box comes on my screen. I start typing. When I reach 750 words a green box comes up to let me know, then I can look at all my stats for the piece. And if i want to type more than 750 words- I can.


There is also a lock feature so no one else can see your work-password protected.


I have been using this site for a week now. I have twelve points and it has helped me start my homework papers I needed to do. I really really like this site. Now go check it out for yourself.

Links

I am a slush pile reader and I have to admit when I came across this page it took me for a loop as a writer and reader. I think any writer has something to gain from this article: "Slush" by Mike Resnick

Sticking with Slush pile stuff- are you interested in what some slush pile readers look for- take a look at this article: "Panning for Gold in the Slush"


I found a really wonderful photo blog which would just be lovely for anyone who enjoys using pictures as a prompt for writing. The details are wonderful, you wont be disappointed.365 days in pictures

Trying to figure out how to begin a story, or just need to write, look no further here is a site where they give you one word and then a curser to write as much as you can in 60 seconds then they cut you off. Try it out at One Word.com

Have a great Saturday- I will be up to my ears in finals for this weekend, so I will catch up on everybody's posts next week. Monday is my last day of this semester- and today its 77 degrees out- sighs I'm ready for a fun break from school!

around the blogs

Lynda at "Wip it" had  a very helpful post on plot and making your story better. you can check it out Here


Jessica has a blog I recently started following and I'm very impressed with her thus far. I'm highlighting her because she gave out some great information and a helpful tool on word repetition. Please check out her post Here


Over at "The other side of the story is a really helpful post for point of view and character development click Here 
and another helpful post about Goal-conflict-stakes


Clarissa Draper usually has some really good writing advice, why don't you hop on over and test yourself on adjectives...Click Here

Around the blogs

Have you missed any of these?

Rachel Morgan wrote a great post with Simile and metaphor practice. If you want to help yourself describe something better, take a look at her exercise.


 Shannon at wringing out words posted some great revision advice. check out her post on Polish and shine


Cristin at accidents and incidents has some very helpful revising advice. I'm new to her blog, but I thought this post helpful for the revising process. check out her post revising by color


From Roland I found a great post on query letters. He shows the map in this post Map the way to a winning query


PK has a pretty interesting take on dialogue with examples in her post:  Dialogues do's and don'ts


I recently found a new blog hosted by Draven Ames. his blog makes you think about many things and I like it for this reason, read his poem Quarter Lap I promise you will not be disappointed.


Nathan Bransford had a great post on Comments for blogs. check out what he had to say Here


Emily has a great guest blogging she needs help with on Goobers- basically writing blunders that people are willing to share. I think it sounds like a terrific idea so go check her post out Here  

Come Look with me...

"You learn something every day if you pay attention. " ~Ray LeBlond

I give you links! come join me in some fascinating discoveries!

 The Red head writer has graciously given us away to make buttons if you do not know how. She gives out some great step by step instructions and helpful ideas on how to make your own badges. If you would like to see more on this CLICK HERE and take a look at the rest of her sections, she helps with a great amount of blogging things!

 Emma Michaels has a wonderful post on characters that I have every intention of taking advantage of because I'm really bad with my characters LOL Click here

If you are a dog lover and wish to help out at Liz Writes, then take a look at her special post on ways to help CLICK HERE

Glimmer Trains "Standard story submission" opens up  the first of October for short stories. Its free to sign up and its free to submit...go check them out if you haven't already CLICK HERE

Mary at "How to plan, write and develop" has a great post on images with a writing exercise. CLICK HERE

If you haven't read this already or some version of it, please do take look at this post about speaking out. I myself have found myself in similar situations, and I would rather my children know it exists then pretend they live in a world where bad things never happen. CLICK HERE

 Don't forget tomorrow is the FEAST BLOGFEST if you haven't signed up and want to- go do it...I'll be participating.

Now that I have these out of the way I have a favor to ask. My 9 year old is taking a 40 book challenge. Upon this she is supposed to read Historical fiction and non-fiction- well what are some good titles of historical fiction and non-fiction for young girls that I can look up with her? Any suggestions would be helpful.