Blogfest!

What advice would you like to share with new authors?

These excellent authors have all contributed posts today, July 15, 2010 for the Peevish Penman blogfest.  They come from different locations, all levels of experience, and all have shared their candid advice for new writers.  Click the links, visit their articles, and don't forget to comment.




And please Tweet and share your favorites with other writers.

Congrats to everyone who participated and took the time to comment.  It's not too late to read these fascinating writers.

Writing wouldn't be worth it without other writers sharing laughs and lessons along the way.

That's Hemingway raising a toast to you>>>

（ ^_^）o自自o（^_^ ）

And that was me.

I enjoyed each and every hour spent reading and commenting on these 41 posts (12 hours).  Here are a some of the most unique:

A few truly stood out as unforgettable to me.  By comic, Clark J Brooks, SERVE THE STORY! was most unique, entertaining, and informative.  He proved his point with his post.

The Seventh Secret of Staying Motivated by Ami Hendrickson whose experience and wisdom shows AND younger writer Corbin Silverthorn's Vomiting Your First Draft both addressed the role of support in a writers career.  Well-written, these later additions to the blogfest deserve a read and a comment.

I invited Amos Keppler with a gentle bit of arm twisting to write his manifesto, Independence, for those rebels among us considering the self-publishing route.  He's written novels since at least 1973.

Other writers pointed readers toward Hemingway or Bradbury as did writer C. D. Reimer with Write, Revise, Submit, Repeat, who like Bradbury made headway publishing his short stories. 

Then there was Anne Tyler Lord!  (She doesn't know it, but she's on my list of authors whose first edition signed books I expect to support me in my old age.  I just have to get my hands on it first.)  In Dealing With The Mind Monkeys she delivered the professionalism, touch of whimsy, and unparalleled wit we regularly enjoy on her blog.

And Jamie DeBree also deserves mention before I collapse from exhaustion.  Besides being a fabulous and modest individual as well as an experienced romance author, she touched on an interesting piece of advice, which I will start my summary of the advice with:

PART ONE:  "Just pretend you are a writer. Write!  Shut up and Write! Quit dreaming.  Start with NaNoWrimo or SoCNoC.  Write more!  There'll be ups and downs.  Someone will encourage you.  Someone won't.  Just keep writing.  Stay true to your art.  Seek out writing companions, writing groups, and people who can offer critiques.  Flesh out your characters.  Make them real.  Let the words flow.  Write every day.  Pay it forward.  Spatter words on the page.  Keep writing even if it's bad.  Learn grammar and punctuation.  Practice, practice, practice.  Cut out your weak verbs.  Cut out half your words.  Submit your work.  Ignore rejections.  Write more.  Support other writers."      

 PART TWO: Sip martini on the beach and remember how hard that was.  Ahhhhh, life is good.

Thanks for participating in the blogfest.  More analysis and statistics on advice from the blogfest to come later. 


Tell us whose entry or what advice you enjoyed!  Comment below.