Reader Communities: LibraryThing
LibraryThing, which was the first social book site, allowed users to enter their own books in order to catalog their library. People signed up immediately.
Archive for the ‘Advice for New Writers’ Category
Tools for Writers: Wikis
If your writing features a richly detailed universe, full of names, places, and historical events, you may want to explore using a wiki to chronicle it. A wiki’s structure allows intricate details to be recorded in a way that both preserves it in an easy to locate fashion but also allows devoted fans to browse the longtime story of your work.
Tools for Writers: Reddit
Reddit is a social bookmarking site, allowing its users to post URLs that they think other users will enjoy. Other users can comment on or otherwise discuss the links. It is organized in terms of interests, also known as subreddits.
A Second Bite at the Apple: Termination Rights for Writers Introduction
Early in their careers, writers sometimes sign away valuable rights under less than favorable terms. This article discusses the important right of termination under US copyright law, which allows writers to reclaim such rights in their works and to try to make a better deal.
Writing With Stolen Time
There’s a difference between being a writer and wanting to be a writer. There are plenty of conversations about it, about whether payment, time spent, or day jobs land you on either one side or the other. But the consensus seems to be one major thing: writers write.
How to Be a Happy Writer
Research by psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky and others suggests that when you are in a positive state your brain performs significantly better than when you’re in a negative or neutral state. Your intelligence, creativity and energy levels all rise when you’re feeling “The Happy.”
The Joy Of Failure: Improv And Writing
How can taking an improv acting/comedy lesson improve your writing? Well, for one thing, it forces you to think differently about story.
Jealousing Is the New Writing Exercise
When I get professionally jealous it’s often an exciting thing. “Wow! I never thought of doing that. That’s amazing!” But excitement can turn into sad feelings…
Guest Post: Elusive Genius
Too often the burden of “genius” is placed on the fragile shoulders of individuals trying desperately to create, to live up to expectations, to outdo their own previous creations, and to essentially justify daring to call themselves artists (or writers, or musicians, etc.) to begin with.
Guest Post: There is no That
It’s 2130 on a Saturday night, and I’m alone in my apartment, in front of my laptop.
I can’t shake the feeling that there’s some amazing party, filled with fascinating people, somewhere nearby. Artists and intellectuals and adventurers, all mixing and charging the air with stories. I wasn’t invited.
