Article and Book Resources for Writers

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It takes skill, ideas, and creativity. It takes more, though, and that's why you need to know about Writer's Bag books about:

Writing Skills
Book Proposals
Marketing
Blogging

and More...

Make a list from these resources and borrow or buy anywhere. Or, use our convenient links.Whatever you do, it's fun to keep growing as a writer, even if it's scary sometimes. BTW, Writer's Bag features outstanding Mystery writing, too, with a few books by successful mystery writers.

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Made for Goodness

 
A group I belong to has started to discuss Desmond and Mpho Tutu's father-daughter collaboration, Made for Goodness: and why this makes all the difference.

Chapter one comments around the discussion table included Tutu's style, which was summed up something like this: "He writes in such simple and easy-to-understand ways, yet he says such profound things." 


Publisher's Weekly says on the book page on Amazon.com: "Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu... could write a grocery list and people would get something out of it." *

Trying to write like that is a tougher effort than it first seems to be. Developing abilities to present nourishing food with clarity and simplicity is harder than preparing equally enjoyable, tasty, healthy and digestible meals. Every time.

Here is a link to taste some of the book, including first pages: The difference goodness makes.

* Publisher's Weekly. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Related articles

• Desmond Tutu ends public career (bbc.co.uk)
• South Africa's chief rabbi defends Tutu (jta.org)
• South African Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu to retire from public life in October at 79 (foxnews.com)
• Obama praises 'moral titan' Desmond Tutu on his retirement (cnn.com)

Tired of Being Tired, Writer?

On January 1, you're all charged up. January 10-15 and you're down in the dumps. About writing. About blogging. About marketing and selling books. In February, it's likely to be the same, and on...and on.

Does that cycle sound familiar to you? Are you not in that group? What is your secret? I'd like to know, 'cause I don't feel it all the time. Questioning or doubting if anyone is out there reading...that happens a lot. "Is anybody there? Does anybody care?" Did you hear that song in the movie 1776? Those feelings spilled out in a letter from George Washington at Valley Forge to the Founding Fathers meeting in a hot Philadelphia room. General Washington's messenger sang the letter. Not easy to be the bearer of discouraging news.

Those at Valley Forge and in Philadelphia in 1776 were establishing a new government, to become the most outstanding in the world. We're not doing that. But we're doing something. What is it? What are we doing? Why? Want a clear view of your mission now? Get started, and God bless you. All of us need to establish and review why we are writing, the mission that drives us, in its overview and its specific parts.

Yes, we want others to care. We don't write to put our thoughts in a closet or a pail dropped down a well. The main thing always is, however, how much do we care about our mission, what it is, and how we're working to push it forward. 

    

In Inbox later this evening, today's January 10, 2011 post by Roy Lessin, Meet Me in the Meadow.

Going to Market this Year

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Ernest Hemingway, fiction serialized and marketed by Scribner's Magazine

PREVIEW OF LINKS IN THIS ARTICLE:

Ed Cyzewski's blog-information

Writer's Bag-books to buy-writing

Query and Seven Key Book Proposal-solid tips 
A Newbie's Guide to Publishing

Marketing is to the author what presentation and good taste are to the best cooks and chefs.


   Here's a link to one of the best overviews re: query and book proposal for nonfiction on the Internet. I've titled it: Query and Seven Key Book Proposal Parts (A-G). Note the URL address when you follow the link. See "marketing" in there? Authors market themselves and their books from the beginning of contact with editors. And, if self-publishing, you need to wearvan editor's hat. Get outside help if you need it for objective reactions. Hire someone to assess your query, proposal, and sample chapters with a professional eye, if you are unsure. Do not ask a friend or family member for help with this part.

   What if you're self-publishing? What if you're going to publish as e-book? (See USA Today, front page, "E-book sales hit new highs," 1/5/11)? Follow the process and try to answer this question: If I did not know me, would I be interested as an editor in going further with this author's work?

   Visit Writer's Bag for books about queries, proposals, and marketing, plus other important resources for professional writing. Visit Ed Cyzewski's blog for good information and advice. Go to Newbie's , recently learned about on Facebook (Thanks for being there, Lorilyn)!


   Wishing you advancement and good marketing as a published writer this year!

Related articles

A Self-Publishing Adventure Wraps Up (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)

Submitting Your Work to Publishers (brighthub.com)

Five Writers Talk About Their Book Editors (theawl.com)