Sailboats off Greenwich. c Elissa Field (request permission for use)
I’ll keep this intro short and sweet as nothing tells you more about my week than the fact my boys and I are eager to get out and enjoy the day, after a work-week dense with revision.
Before we head out to enjoy the summer, I’ll share some of the better writing links I’ve come across this week. Two are inspiration for any creative pursuit. Three address my continued focus on editing.
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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How To Be Prolific: Guidelines for Getting It Done from Joss Whedon
It’s just an article, not a magic wand… But this Fast Company piece has been passed around amongst creative types this week, as Joss Whedon shares his best advice for what it takes to get it all done. (If you read my post yesterday, you know this is my current obsession.) Interestingly, he advises to do what I’m about to do with my kids: put fun first.
A literary agent tweeted in a chat today that 50% of manuscripts submitted to her open with one pattern of cliché, and a different pattern of cliché begins the other 50%. Clearly an exaggeration (or else she receives zero viable submissions) — but it raises a common issue: often writers are not aware they are writing cliché as the wording rings true and inventive in their mind. In this sense, I love this collection of “stealth clichés” gathered by author Rebecca Makkai on Ploughshares’ blog.
Writing Lessons at Ploughshares
This installment of the Writing Lessons feature on the Ploughshares blog touches on 2 things dear to my interests this week (editing and the Aspen Summer Words Writing Retreat) as Graham Oliver shares his experience in a workshop with David Lipsky. Another reason for including this link: for all my friends and readers who are or recently have been an MFA candidate or attended a workshop, check out the submission guidelines for Writing Lessons, here.
7 Reasons Agents Stop Reading Your First Chapter
We get it, you’re editing. Sheesh. Here’s a third editing resource: this article by Chuck Sambuchino was among the shortlist of links I included on my post yesterday to target novel weaknesses: Novel Revision – 6 Things to Edit Now.
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Are you busy with revision, too?
Want more? Click here for my full series underway: Novel Revision Strategies.
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This post by an Ottawa literary agent (on her blog, I Believe in Story) is an interesting discussion of the ins and outs of querying a “new” literary agent, including how to review background in lieu of experience.
Each week I try to end with a multimedia piece that served as inspiration for the week. No secret: I have a shameless literary crush on Colum McCann. Perhaps that leaves me biased, but I found this New York Times video inspiring and thought provoking.
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Recent posts:
Summer Reading 2013 c Elissa Field
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- What are you reading? My Summer Reading List 2013
elissa lauren field 