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Nominations for Top Writing Blogs

Write To Done is having its “Nominate Your Favorite Writing Blog: 6th Annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest”. It’s is turning into a fascinating list of blogs, many of which, I want to go explore. Go see. While there, would you nominate Fiction Notes for this contest?

Here’s how:

• Leave a comment with Darcy Pattison’s Fiction Notes at http://www.darcypattison.com. (Cut and paste, if it helps.)
• You must include a comment on why Fiction Notes deserves to be in the Top 10 Blogs for Writers, or the nomination doesn’t count.

DEADLINE: December 10, 2011.
Yes, I need you to nominate this blog, because to be considered, a a blog must be nominated more than once and the more the merrier. Hey–thanks. I appreciate each and every one of you.

NEW EBOOK Available on Nook Kindle PDF Now an iBook

Bookingly Yours has posted a guest post from me about The Wayfinder.
How could we Find our way home? How do we Find our way?

NonFiction BookBlast Sunday, June 26, 2011. 8-10 am. ALA Conference in NOLA.

Rita Reviews has posted a review of The WAyfinder, read it here. “Lady Kala and Winchal are a unique duo.”

NonFiction BookBlast Sunday, June 26, 2011. 8-10 am. ALA Conference in NOLA.

I’m stepping out on a limb here. I’m declaring that I will start a novel today, with the goal of knocking out a full draft by May 15, my own sorta of NaNoWriMo, trying to get a draft done quickly. Word count today: 0

Cheer me on!

LH Walker has some great photos of a shrunken manuscript. Click on the photos to see it larger.

Greg Pincus, of The Happy Accident, invited me to write a post about book trailers. Here it is: Librarians and Teachers Love Book Trailers. Come read it and please leave a comment!

Two more chapters revised. Up to 27,454 words, 12 chapters. It’s progress.

It's Here.

What’s your Twitter Name?
List it in the comments and I’ll follow you!
Or follow me @FictionNotes and I’ll follow you back.

It's Here.

Read my guest post on Cynsations blog, “Darcy Pattison on Creating Book Trailers.” Thanks, Cynthia, for hosting me!

It's Here.

President Obama is getting published: his 40-page children’s picture book, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to my Daughters will have an initial print run of half a million copies when it is released on November 16.

It's Here.

I was just interviewed on The Creative Penn podcast about my Book Trailer Manual.

To listen, go here:
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/09/03/how-to-use-book-trailers-effectively-interview-with-darcy-pattison/

It's Here.

My article, 5 Ways to Use Book Trailers to Drive Sales, is now available on Jane Friedman’s Writer’s Digest blog, There Are No Rules.

COMING AUGUST 15:. The Book Trailer Manual. Click to read about it.

COMING AUGUST 15:. The Book Trailer Manual. Click to read about it.

My article, “Where Are We? Using Setting & Description in Creative, Yet Useful Ways,” is live on WOW! Women on Writing. It’s a great online mag, you should take a look.

I’m off to Idaho for a Novel Revision Retreat, so no postings the rest of this week.

See my Speaking Schedule.

Visit Our EBOOK STORE!

How to Write a Picture Book. Ebook, immediate download. $10.

A Week-long Question for You

Please complete this question in the comments:

I want to learn how to . . . .

Your answer can relate to writing or to life!

How to Write a Picture Book. Ebook, immediate download. $10.

How to Write a Picture Book. Ebook, immediate download. $10.

I’ve updated my Events Schedule on my website. Click here to see the 2010 schedule, which includes four Novel Revision Retreats, two writing conferences and eight summer professional development sessions for teachers. Click here for more information on asking Darcy to speak at your event. I’m now scheduling for 2011.

Elizabeth Bluemle of Publisher’s Weekly magazine has complied a list of 2010 children’s books with starred reviews so far this year. There were 182 titles with at least one starred review; only 3 titles received stars from five different places.

Revise with confidence.

My interview with non-fiction author, Carla McClafferty is now up on the Wow-Women on Writing website. Carla answers questions about how she develops her non-fiction trade books by using the idea of high-concepts.

How to Write a Picture Book. Ebook, immediate download. $10.

How to Write a Picture Book. Ebook, immediate download. $10.

OK, here’s a question for you. As authors/writers – what iPhone app would you love to have? What data do you wish you could retrieve instantly? If you could have any kind of iPhone app, what would you want? ALSO, what are your favorite apps? What are you addicted to?

Shrunken Manuscript Technique Helps Visualize Problems

Following my directions for shrinking, marking and evaluating a novel, here are some recent examples:

• MJ Diems shrank her Precious and says, “Color coding a single spaced 8pt draft by setting and character is hard work, people! All that capping and uncapping. But it means I get to spend quality time with My Precious.”
• Joyce Ray spots weaknesses in her novel. Hurrah! No sagging middle.
• Ann Finkelstein Shrank, Vacuumed, Colored, Laid out and Evaluated with a creative key that includes an emotional scale of Yawn, Squirm, Bite Nails and Heart Pounds.

I saw my first Droid this weekend, the new competitor for the iPhone. It had an ebook app and I was amazed at how easy it was to read on the Droid. I expected it to be tedious, hard to distinguish the small letters, etc. Surprisingly, it was clear, the fonts were nice and easy to read and there was a nice enough amount of text on one screen that I wasn’t totally frustrated. I still like the netbook screen better for reading, but the Droid was surprisingly nice. I’ll have to read The Wayfinder on it and see what I think.

Each year Writer’s Digest names the “101 Best Websites” for writers. You’ll see this notice everywhere for the next few days, because the deadline for nominations is January 1, 2010. While I hope you’ll nominate Fiction Notes, you might also want to stop by Alltop list of writing related blogs and take a fresh look around; I’ve found some interesting blogs that I’ve missed before. Send your nomination to WD at [email protected] with “101 Best Websites” in the subject line by January 1, 2010.

Related posts:

1. 101 Websites
2. Winter Writing with Kids
3. big v. small

Thanks to all who sent me notes of sympathy or encouragement on the loss of my mother last week. There were too many to respond to each personally, but I want you to know how much it meant to me. Thanks.

Related posts:

1. In Memorium

“In baseball, you only get thre swings and you’re out. In rewriting, you get almost as many swings as you want and you kno, sooner or later, you’ll hit the ball.” — Neil Simon, playwright

Related posts:

1. Never Strike Out!

Recommended Books about PLOT

Anyone Trying to be Funny *

If you want the Hero’s Journey, but need to be Funny. *

Anyone with a Great Idea, but No Plot *

Fantasy writers *

Weak plotters *

Beginning Writers *

Writers whose Novels Lack Focus *

Anyone who Needs to see the Big Picture *

Anyone who Needs a Structured Approach *

Long Novels with a Slow Pace *

Anyone who Wants a Fast Pace *

Related posts:

1. Plot: Characters v. Patterns
2. 4 More Plot Variations
3. Plot: My personal approach