Hey there, Muse-chasers. We’ve been a bit quiet over here on the blog, since life got a bit, well, hectic (which is really saying something considering the last year…), and we needed to focus on other things. But we’re still here, still dreaming and writing and revising and reading and wishing (and revising again…). We hope you’re keeping well, wherever you are, and we wanted to share a good old Link Salad of some resources we’ve loved lately from around the interwebs.
📚 If you’re on Twitter, check out this comprehensive list of Twitter pitch parties in which to try your luck. (May the algorithm odds be ever in your favor!) But seriously, these pitch contests are fantastic for meeting new writer friends, beta readers, and CPs, so dive in and get involved if you’re curious. Their dates throughout the year, along with all the bigger writing contests, can also serve as great deadlines to aim for with your writing projects.
📚 This heartfelt post by KJ Charles delves into how they wrote (and rewrote) a book during the last dumpster-fire of a year, and how they were able to work with and through their indecision and anxiety.
📚 Adrienne Young, a queen of YA fiction, gave a fabulous talk at YALLWEST about the importance of your first page—nay, your first line—in hooking your reader, and she lays out a helpful checklist of things to incorporate and focus on. If you navigate to Adrienne’s Instagram page (where she shares tips and behind-the-scenes snapshots of her super aspirational writer life) you can find the printout/PDF of the checklist, which we’ll definitely be referring to from now on!
📚 As if we didn’t already have a mountain of incredible new books to get lost in, this in-depth overview by Christina Orlando will get you pumped for all the new and upcoming Sci-Fi and Fantasy books coming out this year and into next! Yay books!!
📚 This blog post at A Book and Chai has an amazing schedule of all the new Asian books releasing through the rest of this year! We are SO excited for these—time to make some room on our TBRs to fit all these amazing stories…
📚 What goes into building an author website? Which platform works best? Should you run a blog or a mailing list? When is the best time to launch it? Kristen Kieffer offers some solid advice on creating one that meets all your fancies.
📚 And if you’re in the drafting or editing trenches, it can be hard to be objective about your work when you’re neck-deep in your manuscript. To counter that, author and ex-literary agent Nathan Bransford has a handy checklist of all the things you need to look out for and the questions you need to ask yourself while snip-snipping away at your manuscript, or at any stage of the writing process you may be in.
📚 And if you have a book about to be launched, congrats! We all know it’s not enough to write a book; marketing is the next beast to tackle, especially in this day and age where digital marketing holds as much — if not more — clout than traditional marketing. Literary agent Kate McKean offers some insight on what part of marketing falls under the author, and what the publisher can help with.
Seen anything interesting lately? Let us know in the comments what’s been brightening up your days, and what’s been inspiring you!
Muse in Pocket, Pen in Hand 