Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links

Ciao, amici! I’d like to apologize for being a day late with your links, but I can’t. I was delighted to visit with Don Massenzio and his readers yesterday, so I don’t mind pushing this post back a day. Besides, it gave me an extra day of links for you, and an extra day to talk with you, so it’s a win-win in my book.

I chose today’s quote because I’m under a deadline as I write this. (I hope that I’m done with that particular project by the time this post goes live.) I know the word “deadline” refers to a drop-dead date for meeting someone’s expectations, but I rather like Seth Godin’s take on it:

Deadlines have a lousy name.
Call them live-lines instead.
That’s what they are.

If I didn’t have deadlines, I wouldn’t work so hard to get these stories done. And I wouldn’t be making a living at this. Because, while I am passionate about writing, I only started pushing myself to hit certain word counts every day when I decided to take writing past the “hobby” stage and really make it matter.

Call them deadlines, call them live-lines … call them whatever you want. Just make sure you set them and hit them.

What about you? Do you thrive with deadlines, work better under pressure? Or do you prefer to work at your own pace and let the words come leisurely? I’m curious about your writing process. Let’s talk about it.

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And now, this week’s writing links:

Posts by me, about my work, or at sites I contribute to:

Me

• Pixie Forest Publishing: Love Dust
• Visiting Friends with Tortured Soul, Day 8
• Author Interview | Don Massenzio
• Steampunk Submarine Ride (I was a PASSENGER! So fun!) | Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

Story Empire

• Vignettes | Harmony Kent
• Settings | Joan Hall
• Friday Writing Question: Pets | C. S. Boyack

Romance University

• Head-Hopping | Tessa Shapcott
• Character Relationships | Anabel Cooper
• Writing a Synopsis | Laurie Schnebly Campbell

Posts by others in the industry:

• Amazon Advertising | Nicholas C. Rossis
• Share the Love and Women Writers Event | Sue Coletta
• Building a Children’s Library | Nicholas C. Rossis
• Psychology of Writing Horror | Re:Fiction
• CreateSpace to KDP in a Few Easy Steps | Nicholas C. Rossis
• Book to Audiobook | Kindlepreneur
• Four Components to Scene-Setting | Morgan Hazelwood
• Variance in Sentence Structure | Fiction University
• BookBub Ad Mistakes | BookBub
• Deep POV | K. M. Allan

And when you’re done with these links, don’t forget to check out the sidebar, where you’ll find more links to some of my favorite sites.

Have a great weekend!