Writing Tools and Information
So it seems we all plagiarize, whether we set out to or not. Interesting. This New York Times article on cryptomnesia explains the science that drives secret copycat within us all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/science/cryptomnesia-demi-lovato-plagiarism.html?_r=0
From Poets & Writers: At the University of Pittsburgh, poets Dawn Lundy Martin, Terrance Hayes, and Yona Harvey recently established the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics -- a creative think tank dedicated to studying, archiving, and promoting the work of African American poets.
Writing with Color is a blog that helps authors to avoid tropes and stereotypes when writing characters of various races, ethnicities, and religions.
Lincoln Michel's article "Everything You Wanted to Know About Book Sales (but Were Afraid to Ask)" over on Electric Literature is a solid read. It provides what is probably the closest any of us will get to a decent explanation of the vagaries of book-sale definitions and numbers. Check it out…
Jean Ho’s NPR piece, “Diversity In Book Publishing Isn’t Just About Writers — Marketing Matters, Too,” brings up another facet in the need for increased diversity within the literary world. A good read.
From The New York Times blog: How reading books corresponds to living a longer life. Just another benefit of reading. Sweet.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2016/08/03/read-books-live-longer/?_r=0&refere
In Writers Recommend, poet Lo Kwa Mei-en describes what she does when she cannot write a single word:
"I have taken to picking up a book from my past that I have been hungering to reread and typing it out word for word, at a speed slow enough to feel the words relating to each other and hear new things in their music that I had not heard before. I will retype another's book until I feel love and not despair."
From the BookBaby Blog: 21 Tips to Beat Writer’s Block.
Some wonderful tactics that can be employed for when your motivation or ideas for writing dry up. #14 and #15 are standard protocol for me.
Here's a great read that I found on TheAtlantic.com: “American Literature Needs Indie Presses.”
There’s a lot to appreciate about this insightful article by Nathan Scott McNamara which focuses on the role indie presses now have in the literary world. Check it out…
“Hockey mom” and “Scooby Snack” are just two of the new words in the Oxford English Dictionary. I don’t know…it all seems a bit much to me. Slang is slang for a reason.
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-icymi-dictionary-20160707-snap-story.htm
Another awesome piece from Lit Hub: Kim Liao’s “Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year” explains how the path to writing success is paved with rejection notices. This one changed my perspective on submitting work to journals.
http://lithub.com/why-you-should-aim-for-100-rejections-a-year/
As a practicing writer, one of the more critical decisions you will face is deciding where to submit your work.
Check out this new piece by Erika Dreifus on Literary Hub called “13 Questions to Ask Before Submitting to a Literary Journal.” It provides some sound advice on what you should look for as you’re searching for potential “homes” for your writing.
http://lithub.com/13-questions-to-ask-before-submitting-to-a-literary-journal/
Don't miss this excellent piece by Zinzi Clemmons on Literary Hub today: "What It Means To Be an Inclusive Literary Journal."
http://lithub.com/what-it-means-to-be-an-inclusive-literar…/
From New Republic: Alex Shepard discusses what could happen if Barnes & Noble were to fold.
Spoiler alert – it is not a positive prediction.
Eva Langston has a new article, “10 Words to Trim from Your Writing,” up on the Beyond Your Blog website. It’s a valid list of words you can reduce or eliminate from your writing to make it more effective.
#2 is my crutch word of choice, especially when I’m writing fiction.
http://www.beyondyourblog.com/10-words-to-trim-from-your-writing/
From The New Yorker: Ceridwen Dovey investigates bibliotherapy. Can reading make us happier?
I think so. :)
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier
From Writer’s Digest, a guide on how to deal with criticism in order to evolve as a writer: “4 Ways to Take Criticism Like a Pro,” by Tanaz Bhathena.
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/4-ways-to-take-criticism-like-a-pro
This essay by Gabino Iglesias on Dead End Follies brings some heat to the literary establishment: Online Literary Magazines and their (Intense) Diversity Problem.
http://www.deadendfollies.com/blog/online-literary-magazines-diversity-problem
From a fiction standpoint, I’m a flash fiction/short story writer. As a result, I’ve often been confronted with the question, “But where’s your novel?”
So although I’m far from being a famous short story writer, I can identify with Amber Sparks’ article on Electric Literature: “Let Us Now Praise Famous Short Story Writers (And Demand They Write a Novel).”
Check out this feature on from Lit Hub: The Unsung Heroes of the Poetry World.
A feature on some of the hardworking folks who keep some of the small presses afloat. Interesting read.