Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links

Ciao, amici! What a week! My release date was moved up… by five months! And I’ve been scrambling. I just revealed my new pen name and the first cover in my new series. Now I’m trying to get some marketing pieces done and guest spots lined up.

I never do NaNoWriMo because it happens in the same month as Thanksgiving. I need significant prep-time for holidays. Now I find myself trying to promote a book in the same week as Easter! (After I write this, I have to go to the store, then bake my ham and make three kinds of potato salad. Tomorrow is cheesecake and homemade sauce. Saturday we have our meal, as we have travel issues to work around. And of course there’s cleaning and laundry, and Mass on Sunday…)

I remember when I used to be over-prepared for everything. Lately, I’ve become the Queen of Catch-Up. I don’t like it. I’m the kind of person who gets ready for everything well in advance, plans for every possible contingency, has backups for my backups. Not so, this time. I’m on cruise control, panicking over getting where I need to be but unable to steer the course. The wheels are in motion. I’m along for the ride.

But none of that matters. I’ll get done what I get done. The book’s coming out, regardless. And that’s the really exciting part. I have a book coming out! That’s why I thought this quote by Neil Gaiman was so appropriate:

The world always seems brighter
when you’ve just made something
that wasn’t there before.

I did that. I made something new. Something I hope the world finds as interesting as I do. Time will tell; I can fret over that later (and I will). Now is the time to celebrate bringing a new story into the world. And I think we can all celebrate when something positive, something bright, happens.

My week was busy, but it was also bright. And I can’t ask for more than that.

I hope you had a bright week, too. Why don’t you take a few minutes to share a bit of your good news with the rest of us? You know what to do…

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And now, this week’s writing links:

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

Me

• THE GATE Cover Reveal

Story Empire

• Is Cursive Dead? | Mae Clair
• Using IFTTT with Twitter | Harmony Kent
• Friday Writing Question: Draft or Edit? | Mae Clair

Posts by others in the industry:

• User-Friendly Blogs | Myths of the Mirror
• Smell Your Story | The Kill Zone
• Four Classic Conflict Types | Fiction University
• How to Hook Your Readers | The Creative Penn
• Occupational Thesaurus: Coroner | Writers Helping Writers
• 20-Step Guide to Writing a Novel (plus giveaway) | The Write Practice
• Anymore or Any More | Nicholas C. Rossis
• 21 Questions to Help Sell Books | Just Publishing Advice
• Why Conflict is Hard in Romance | Fiction University
• Researching Settings | Re:Fiction
• Amazon Book Category Changes | K-Lytics
• Writing Realistic Teenagers in YA | Fiction University
• What Rivets Readers | Writers Helping Writers
• Read Like a Writer to Boost Your Writing Skills | The Write Practice
• Character Arc in Six Stages | Live Write Thrive
• Narrow Your Focus/Raise the Stakes | Fiction University
• 5 Ways to Market Audiobooks | Jane Friedman
• Iconic Characters | Writing Forward
• How to Build an Author Platform | David Gaughran
• Writing Believable Conspiracies for Thrillers | The Kill Zone
• Consulting Experts for Novel Research | Standout Books
• Amazon Ads Case Study | Kindlepreneur
• It’s Okay to Hate Your Work | The Write Practice
• Motifs | Well-Storied

To make you smile:

• Bibliophile Humor | Bluebird of Bitterness
• Sunday Funnies | Bluebird of Bitterness
• Monday Funnies | The Storyreading Ape
• Dear IRS | Bluebird of Bitterness
• Lucy and Twiggy See Changes | John W. Howell

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 week! Arrivederci!