Jon Gibbs hosts a weekly roundup of links to online resources for writers. What I especially like about the roundup is that the posts cover all aspects of the writing life: business, legal, craft, inspirational, emotional. We need different pieces of information at different times in our careers. It’s not just about tools; it’s also about timing. Sometimes a piece of advice won’t click until the fifth, or twenty-fifth, time I hear it—when I’m finally ready.
In Loner in the Garret: A Writer’s Companion, I focused on all stages of the writing life: from getting up the nerve to face the blank page to dealing with the consequences of publishing. I didn’t want to write a how-to book; there are plenty of good ones already on the market. I wanted to address the mind games that writers often find themselves playing: the mental blocks, the do-I-suck-or-am-I-wonderful roller coaster. I wanted to provide a source of support, the kind of support that my fellow writers and I have given one another as we navigate the tricky line between art and commerce, between the writer’s studio and the marketplace.
And so I took a break from fiction, and came up with this book. It contains all that I continue to remind myself, as I keep writing.
For more: http://jenniferrhubbard.blogspot.com/p/publications.htmlJennifer R. Hubbard (www.jenniferhubbard.com) is the author of three novels for young adults, several short stories, and a nonfiction book about writing. She lives near Philadelphia with a very understanding husband, a pile of books and chocolate, and a tyrannical cat.
Last Friday evening I joined David Levithan, Eliot Schrefer, Jennifer R. Hubbard, and Ellen Hopkins for an evening of books and talk at Children's Book World, Haverford, PA. That was then, celebrated
here.
Today I'm celebrating
Every Day, the new novel from which David read that evening. You can tell from the way a writer reads how invested he or she is in the work. David Levithan is fully invested.
He has a right to be. With
Every Day he has crafted a book with an original premise, placed a likable narrator named A at its heart, and wondered what it would be like to wake up each morning in the body of another. To be a boy, then a girl. To be angry, then peaceful. To be forsaken, to be depressed, to be the football king, to be his twin. To be all these things on the outside, a succession of traits and 'tudes, while all along holding utterly true to the inherent A-ness of A. To be an impermanent self falling permanently in love. What would
that be like? And could anyone in the world love this body-swapping soul so much that appearances won't ultimately matter?
The plot carries forward. Love is at risk. One of the borrowed bodies gets a little miffed, exposing a raw seam in the universe.
Every Day is clever, but it's more than that. It is a portal—enveloping and philosophical. It asks questions that have no answers and forces us to live with that.
Why is David Levithan so popular that he had to stand on a Friday night in a Main Line bookstore to see all the way back to the last row in the crowd? Why do his fans know his birthday, in a snap, and tout his novels with religious fervor, and send the T-shirt makers into a LeviFan frenzy? It has something to do with who David Levithan
is. It has to do with his transcending kindness, a quality that A believes (rightly) is so much more powerful than simply being nice. David Levithan writes from a moral center. He encourages his readers to think brightly, like this (the xxx's here to avoid spoiling anything for future readers):
Every person is a possibility. The hopeless romantics feel it most acutely, but even for others, the only way to keep going is to see every person as a possibility. The more I see the xxx that the world reflects back at him, the more of a possibility he seems. His possibility is grounded in the things that mean the most to me. Kindness. Creativity. Engagement in the world. Engagement in the possibilities of the people around him.
Possibility. It's almost political.
Here’s my selection of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week:
How Do You Learn to Write? (Rachelle Gardner)
(Read more ...)
Here’s my selection of interesting (and sometimes amusing) posts about writing from the last week:
(Read more ...)
While tweeting this week, I found a few nuggets. I also asked for some recommendations from the fine folks on VerlaKay’s board. Here are the results from both fishing expeditions!
Megan Bickel’s Blog – The Write-At-Home-Mom – This is a good blog for finding nuggets of info in chewable bites! She has writing advice and even contest info.
Debbie Maxwell’s Blog – Writing While the Rice Boils — I found this blog while reading one of Jill Corcoran’s tweets. (I follow her and other agents on twitter.) I read an interview, a couple of other posts and then saw one on THREES. (if you read my blog last week, you’ll know why that caught my eye!) Anyway, good blog. Tons of great info for beginners and more advanced writers.
Jennifer R. Hubbard’s Livejournal – Jennifer shares writing info, helpful hints and inspiring challenges to her readers.
Gail Carson Levine’s website – She wrote a little book called Ella Enchanted. Ever heard of it? 
Great from an author who been there, done that, and still doing it.
Those are enough for today. Slow down. Take little bites. I’ll post more next weekend!
(FTR - I did not receive any compensation for sharing the above links and info. I am not endorsing nor conding anything you find within the pages of the websites listed above. Check them out and make your own decisions.)
Filed under:
writing for children Tagged:
Betsy who cried Wolf,
creating stories that fly,
Debbie Maxwell,
Ella Enchanted,
Gail Carson Levine,
Jennifer R. Hubbard,
Megan Bickel,
The Fairy's Return,
The Wish,
Writing magic 
3 Comments on Net Nibblets and Nuggets – III, last added: 1/25/2011
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Every Day is such an amazing book. I just love the optimism of it.
I was really struck by that part about the difference between kindness and being nice as well.
it was definitely an interesting read!