I think July 15th marks the official day of summer when time seems to accelerate. Back to School ads have the audacity to infringe on summer’s sacred freedom. Slow down, summer.
At our house, it’s been a mixed urge to get in the relaxation the boys waited all year for, while I continue crunching through this novel revision. If you’re also in revisions, commiserate with me by checking out my recent Novel Revision Strategies series (link list below).
Work and relaxation still left time for some great reading this week, and some of the most interesting links are here. As always, feel free to let me know which links resonated with you and what you’d like more of, or share your own links in the comments.
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10 Tips to Avoid Clichés in Writing
If you liked Rebecca Makkai’s “Stealth Clichés” in last week’s Friday Links, you may be wondering more about clichés and how to avoid them. It got me testing to avoid a particular cliché, during which I found this piece by Peter Selgin at Writers Digest. It holds a few eye-opening points, like an activity to slow down rather than impress: “In trying to interest us, most writers abandon sincerity and, with it, authenticity.”
Why Literary Novels Take So Long to Write
This post by author, editor and ghostwriter Roz Morris resonated with me as my work with revisions the last couple weeks seemed to stretch on forever. When you have this much left to go on a book you’ve been working on for a couple years, it’s hard not to wonder, “Am I doing it wrong?” since other books can be written in less time. I had run into Roz on Twitter before finding her site, and recommend following her as she is an engaging and supportive writer: @NailYourNovel.
Introduction to Scrivener for Novelists
For those who are new to Scrivener or wondering what features it offers, this blog post by Kay Hudson is long, but a great comprehensive introduction. She offers a blend of “how to” and reflection on what has worked well for her. (For the official Scrivener site, visit Literature and Latte . You can download a trial version of Scrivener for free, which lets you use it on 30 separate days before needing to purchase.)
Don’t Let Guilt Keep You From Pursuing Your Passion
In college, I remember telling a professor I worried about trying to be a writer. “Why?” she asked. I answered, “Because great writers never have happy families.” It pulled the prof up short and we took turns listing one great writer after another who was divorced, single, without a family or whose family lamented their absence. Funny, as a mom now, um, a few years since that 20-something conversation, to realize how much of writers’ lives involves balancing their need to disappear into work against the needs of the relationships in their lives. Long lead-in to say this post by Jody Hedlund may resonate with writing parents at any point in their career.
This piece by Ali Shapiro at Ploughshares addresses a perennially popular topic here: day jobs for writers. While lots of writers work day jobs in any field, specific questions arise for writers finishing an MFA. “There’s a misconception that the MFA is like any other graduate degree—that it automatically allows a certain next step in a particular career path.” Shapiro considers academia, options outside academia, interviewing, ideal job and more.
Book Files Need 4 Crucial Checks to Succeed at Your Printer
Are you involved in the printing end of publication? This article by Joel Friedlander at The Book Designer gives a pro’s pointers of 4 technical details to address to ensure successful printing. This will appeal to those branching into self-publication, but will also be familiar to those of us who have been involved in producing freelance publications for clients or publishing literary magazines, or to anyone developing a small press.
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Recent posts:
- Novel Revision Strategies: “Hit List” of 6 Things to Edit Now
- Last week’s Friday Links for Writers 07.12.13
- Find all Friday Links posts listed on Links & Where to Find Me
- What are you reading? My Summer Reading List 2013
More from my Novel Revision Strategies series:
Baby pictures. A glimpse into harsh revisions occurring with my poor Wake, last week. (c. Elissa Field, no repro w-out written permission)
- Novel Revision Strategies: Printing for Read-Through
- Novel Revision Strategies: A Day’s Work in Pictures
- Novel Revision: 5 Issues Addressed in Edits
- Novel Revision: Work is Messy, Book May Bite
- Novel Revision: Revising a Flat Character
elissa lauren field 
Elissa, these are awesome links! I saved the Scrivener one as well as Jody’s wonderful piece on balancing writing and motherhood. (I always enjoy Jody’s posts; do you follow her blog?) I too am trying to revise this summer. I finally put all my chapters together and found that my ms is WAY TOO LONG! And I keep having those ” this is terrible” moments when I think it’s all junk and I’m crazy. But then my characters start talking again… Good luck! We’ll have to encourage each other!
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Absolutely, Julia — you have a cheering squad. Have you read the posts I just shared on revision, where I talk about using highlighting? It has SAVED me when I reread and cringed over early-written scenes. I highlight wording I like or important information, which makes it easy to know what’s fair game to cut, while focusing on the positive. It’s definitely best when the characters start talking. :) Good luck to you, too.
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I will read them- can you recommend the best way to print up the ms for revision? I like your highlighting idea. I’m gonna cut 40 k before I print ;)
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I’m laughing at myself for being just enough of a dork to have actually posted about some great strategies for printing a ms for revision. <nerd ;) Here is the link to that post. The post right after it is a pictorial of how I got started working with it. https://elissafield.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/novel-revision-strategies-printing-for-read-through/
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Dorkiness is good! I will read all this and get back to you! Thanks for sharing!
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