Every day, as a writer, I get up and get online and check out different things –blogs, news, email, etc…  I spend a good amount of time on the computer every day. On the days I’m lucky enough to actually write, it never fails that I visit each one of these five sites.

1) Dictionary.com

Along with this site comes thesaurus.com. A writer’s best friend. Whether I’m working on my novel, a short story, or an article, this site is invaluable to me. You’re all smart; no explanation needed, right?!

2) Webmonkey.com

This site is an HTML cheatsheet. Of course a writer wouldn’t need this for a story or novel, but every writer should have it bookmarked and use it. Why? Because every writer should have a blog. I’ve preached about platforms before, so I won’t prattle on here.
Blog owners need to know how to do links and font sizes and colors and such to make their posts more appealing to the reader’s eye. Webmonkey is only one of many sites that has a page of these cheats.

3) Flogging the Quill

This may be another one that you’re asking, ‘why?’ about. Well, it’s because Ray points out the obvious about the work people send in to him. And he’s nice about it. Other writers weigh in as well.
New posts are put up only three times a week, but blog readers visit daily. There is always something new to learn about editing, revising, and what readers want. This site helps teach us what works and what doesn’t in our own writing.

4) Twitter

Yup. That’s right. Twitter. Reason being, all of the people I follow are either writers/authors, agents, editors, or publishers. I get some great advice and tweet about what I’m up to and it lights a fire—gives me drive. Every time I used to get on Twitter, I ended up writing more than days I didn’t. So now, I visit the site daily. The “#” searches are great and I’ve solved many a problem just by chatting.

5. News site of your own choosing.

I have my own preference, but I don’t want this to get political. The news site is my homepage on my phone and I always visit it for a reality check. Get out of my own head for a bit. Writing is my world, but there is another world out there… Plus, one can gather many ideas from the news — art imitates life, right? Or is that the other way around?

Anyway, there you have it. Those are the sites I look at daily, and I think you should, as well. Are there others that you’d like to add to the list??

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Since winning her first writing competition at a young age, Eden Tyler, has only fallen more in love with the written word. She uses her English, Psychology, and Sociology backgrounds to create depth to her own stories and novels while contributing to and running websites about writing. This is what fulfills her, along with working as Co-Editor for Fuel Your Writing, but she also enjoys the freelance work that puts food on the table (and that ever-essential roof overhead) for her family.

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It’s no secret I spend hours and hours in front of my computer. There are a few blogs I don’t miss every day, and I wanted to share them with you here.

Kiersten Writes all sorts of hilarious things, but she’s first on this list for me because she got a three book deal with Harper Teen this week. So let’s all raise our mead in a manly huzzah for her! (What? You guys don’t drink mead for breakfast? It’s got protein people…)

Rhonda Stapleton is too cute for words, and her website. It’s so pleasing to my eye. It’s like the fashionista of author blogs.

And then there’s Scott Westerfeld. He’s given up electricity for good, and now uses steam to power his website. That’s enough for me to be in <3 with him, but he wrote Uglies too. Tally Youngblood–I sort of want to be her.

If you love Zombies, then you’re in good company over at the snarfalicious home of Carrie Harris. She’s also the founder of the (semi) secret order of the blog ninja. Someday I will be a member of the order. It’s only a matter of time.

I am newly enamored with Lara Zielin. She’s just a fun girl, and I can’t wait for her next novel, Promgate.

Natalie writes over at Between Fact and Fiction, and that makes her automatically cool, but she does something else–she draws! Her drawings are absolutely adorable, and I am in love with them all.

I absolutely adore Beth Revis. It’s a little evil of me, but I kind of can’t wait for school to start so she can share her hilarious stories with us again!

If there’s one girl’s story I can’t wait to see published, it’s Rebecca Sutton. She has a story so cool and fabulous that if I could convince her to write the sequel right now… I totally would.

Different people have different gifts, and Sara Tribble has the gift story telling. This girl has the COOLEST ideas for books… she is always coming up with the best stories and I had to let you guys meet her!

I’ve read Stacia Kane’s next book already. Let me just tell you that it’s beyond fabulous… and this girl is a genius.

And, of course, we can’t forget the slush princess herself–Jodi Meadows. Seriously, this girl’s story makes me freak out every time I get in the bathtub!

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This week, I was lucky enough to have editor and author, Ray Rhamey, decide if my work was worthy of a read. Was my writing up to par? Could I make him turn the page?

I allowed Ray and others to decide if I had a strong enough beginning to make them read on. The first sixteen lines of both my prologue and my first chapter were posted on his website, Flogging the Quill (FtQ), for all the (internet) world to see and judge.

Was this bravery or stupidity?
I think I was brave—for what it’s worth…
One cannot gain without first giving up something, right? In this case, and in Sarah’s (who did the same thing a few weeks ago), something great came of the risk.

I learned that while my writing is strong in and of itself (basically no grammatical errors), I could stand to improve. And I knew that. But now I know how—or at least have different suggestions on hand to work with … since I’ve learned to take all feedback with a grain of salt.

Going into this critique, I knew my first chapter wasn’t going to pass the test, but was fairly sure my prologue would. Eh, it was half and half for both, barely—sort of. Ray turned the page of my prologue. He read on in the first chapter strictly because of the prologue. But he did say my work was something he would’ve liked to have read more of… So who knows?
All I know for sure is that my doubts about my first chapter were founded, and that even though my prologue seemed great, it could use improvement. More clarification. More of a sense of the evil involved. Just more, you know?

With Ray’s phenomenal notes he sent me and what was posted on the page by both him and other writers, I already have a far better version of the prologue. But he’s so phenomenal in how he edits that he didn’t take away my voice. It’s still my work—my words, my style, my pacing, my cadence, my everything—but more. It’s more good. Yes, I did just write that. OK, so my prologue is better (is that better?).

If any of you feel like checking it out, have at it, but just know my work has already improved.
I suppose the point of this post is to make others aware (although you should already know!) of the fabulous Mr. Rhamey’s site and book and his excellent advice.
But I also want to see how you all feel about editors and others critiquing your work. We’ve had two critiques on here, so this also my way of questioning what you’ve thought of those!
Is it too risky to throw yourself to the world, where you can possibly lose yourself in the process? Can you lose your voice and your plan for the story?
Or is it an invaluable tool that everyone should take advantage of?
My vote is for the latter.
How about y’all?

{Oh, and what about a first page critique – first sixteen lines? We’ve done the first five sentences and the first 500 words plus query, if one was available—but what about the first ~230 words? (The first page of an average paperback.) Can you get readers to read on to that oh-so-important second page??}

Thoughts….

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Since winning her first writing competition at a young age, Eden Tyler, has only fallen more in love with the written word. She uses her English, Psychology, and Sociology backgrounds to create depth to her own stories and novels while contributing to and running websites about writing. This is what fulfills her, along with working as Co-Editor for Fuel Your Writing, but she also enjoys the freelance work that puts food on the table (and that ever-essential roof overhead) for her family.

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This post was written for small business owners and sales personnel, so why is it published on a writing website? Because that’s exactly what we need to be in order to sale ourselves to an agent, publisher, and ultimately to the public at large. Take what you can.

Thank you, Diane, for sharing your knowledge with us.

Diane earned a BS in Social Science from Michigan State University and received her coaching certification from The Coach Training Alliance.

As a certified, professional coach and president of Seize This Day Coaching, Diane works with people starting their own business, salespeople who need and want to improve their skills, and business owners who want to master challenges and realize greater success. She is also co-founder of Seize True Success, a coaching practice dedicated to helping franchisees grow and prosper.

Diane helps businesses and organizations operate more constructively and profitably. She evaluates, encourages, and guides her clients. Working with as few as one person to as many as 100+, Diane creates an environment that is cooperative and interactive.

Coupled with her business acumen are strong intuitive skills and a genuine desire to help other people realize their potential.

Diane is a COSE Mindspring editor and writer for www.examiner.com. She is also a member of the Top Sales Experts panel at www.topsalesexperts.com. Diane is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms.
To learn more about her coaching practices please visit www.seizethisdaycoaching.com or www.seizetruesuccess.com

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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I’ve been rather concerned about my platform as of late. To be quite honest, I wasn’t aware until a couple weeks ago that I even needed one. I’m thankful I was already well on my way to creating one, though, or else I would have been overwhelmed by the insane amounts of information out there about platforms and brands.

A few days ago, I came across www.dirjournal.com while searching for an image on Google. (I needed a Twitter logo to put on my personal blog to announce I had finally joined.) Well, this site I found is rather interesting and informative — it’s called DirJournal Marketing Articles and is all about “Design Trends, Internet Marketing, SEO, [and] Social Media Marketing.” Thankfully, three authors on the site, including Lisa Barone, were kind enough to break it down in about four articles. In turn, I’m going to attempt to make it simple for you all, as well, so you can go about creating your platform or making it even bigger and better than it already is. Here’s hoping I can make it a little less overwhelming for you. I will start this week with Lisa’s article, and then next week, I’ll delve deeper. Initially, I was going to put all the information into one blog, but as I began writing, I quickly realized that this is a serial article. So stay tuned.

First thing’s first. What is a platform? And why do we, as writers, need a platform, or brand?
Well, put simply, it’s how you are represented on the internet, and you need one so that people know who you are. Most likely, no one is going to read books written by an author who hasn’t made what s/he is all about readily available. You want people to know you and your work. And you want to show yourself in the best light possible. It’s also important that the information you put out there is garnering a lot of attention.

So, if you don’t already have a blog or a home page, get one. That should be #1 on your list. I have a WordPress blog and I recently purchased the domain name edentylerwriter.com for only $14.97/yr. Rather affordable, I believe. And well worth the money because when others do a Google search for your name, it will be easier for them to find you this way. Be vain. It’s worth it.
Next step is to set up a Google profile. Every time I do a search for “Eden Tyler,” my Google Profile shows up at the bottom of the first page, without fail. On this profile, you are able to tell potential readers anything and everything you’d like them to know about yourself, and you can also set up links to all of the websites you are involved with, or own. Most of us most likely have one of these already, as even this site has a ‘following’ which you can join through the use of your own Google profile.
After you’ve accomplished the two most important things, you now should join as many social networking sites as you can. These include LinkedIn, Naymz, and Facebook, among others. Make sure you seem as professional as possible when using these sites and join up with others in your chosen career path. Network and learn. Of course you can have fun, too. Twitter is a little less formal and doesn’t have to be used just for writing contacts. Nor does Facebook. But sites such as LinkedIn are a lot more professional. In fact, Lisa set aside an entire section of her article just for LinkedIn. She feels it’s that important to have a profile on the site because it ranks rather highly during Google searches. I have not set up a profile on the site yet, but it’s my next order of business. I believe it’s one of the first two or three results that pop up when searching my name. Unfortunately, there is already a semi-famous Eden Tyler (a male, NYC-based director), so his information shows up rather than mine. This needs to be fixed. Pronto!

One last step, which I will explain in further detail next Friday, is to guest blog as often as the opportunity is made available to you. Don’t be afraid to ask site owners if they need any help. Send in examples of your work and see what the responses are. The worst that can happen is people say, “No.” But it could also be a nice and easy way to get your name out there. Acquire some followers. Usually, these aren’t paying gigs, but we’re not quite to that point yet. Baby steps.

Hope this helps you all arrive a little closer to your writing goals. See you next week for another installment.

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Since winning her first writing competition at a young age, Eden Tyler, has only fallen more in love with the written word. She uses her English, Psychology, and Sociology backgrounds to create depth to her own stories and novels while contributing to and running websites about writing. This is what fulfills her, along with working as Co-Editor for Fuel Your Writing, but she also enjoys the freelance work that puts food on the table (and that ever-essential roof overhead) for her family.

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Oh, I know this looks like I am about to give you some tutorial… but nope.

I’m asking you, dear reader… how?

Here I sit starting at a query, and I know the story is a good one. I know it has a good hook, a great conflict, and frakkin awesome characters. So how do I summarize it and get an agent to read it?

A month or so ago Nathan Bransford did an agent for a day experiment on his blog.

Basically, there were 50 queries, and your task was to go through and decide which ones were actually published books. I got about three into the list and realized something. Queries are kind of boring, and they shouldn’t be!

Now, I’m frustrated because I don’t want to bore with my query. How can I hook them reader?

How can I get the voice of my smackin story into these two teeny tiny paragraphs?

How do you do it? I am dying to know!

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