Friday, February 28, 2014

Some of My Favorite Blogs for Writers

In the years I've been writing with a purpose - aka, writing ever day to perfect my craft, whether it be novel writing, editing, blogging, outlining, et cetera - I've found some really great blogs on the subject that have helped me in one way or another.

Today, I'd like to share some of my favorite blogs for writers.

Here are my top 2...

Query Shark "How To Write Query Letters ... or, really, how to revise query letters so they actually work"

I've followed this blog and read every.single.post from it's inception and have learned quite a bit on who to write a query letter. You'd think it's easy to just write 2 or 3 paragraphs describing your plot and character after managing to write 100,000 words. But, as I've found, being long winded is a novelists' gift. Being short, sweet and to the point? Quite different if you don't know just how to craft it. But this blog isn't about only the how to's. It also has the don't do's which I think is sometimes more helpful. And it's humorous to boot, so check it out and see if you can fine tune your query letter with it's help.


Miss Snark's First Victim "A blog for aspiring authors"


Again, I've followed this blog for years. It hosts all sorts of critique sessions online in the form of contests. "Secret Agent" contests are just that. If you are one of the 50 entries submitted, not only will you receive comments on your entry (about 250 words) from fellow aspiring writers, but you'll also be in the midst of a real life literary agent who, although a secret, might very well request more material from you. If they are looking something like what you've written. Never know ;) There's also the "Bakers Dozen" contest once or twice a year when there's 13 agents lurking around the submissions. There are quite a few success stories from this blog. Check it out!