Monday, June 18, 2012

Stuff I'll tell you if you buy me lunch

I've gotten a lot of email from strangers lately, and not just the ones encouraging me to enlarge my penis so I can meet a horny housewife and acquire a low-rate mortgage.

They're messages from newer writers asking how to get published, and inquiring whether I ever mentor other authors. The thought of me mentoring anyone at anything is frankly, a little disturbing. I respond to all such messages with a few links and tidbits, and I'm happy to blather for an hour for those who live close enough to take me out for lunch. But regrettably, I don't have time to craft detailed career plans for everyone who asks.

What I can offer is a pretty big backlog of blog posts dispensing tips and information on writing and publication. While some of you come here just to read stories about my housemates or my socially awkward tendencies, I've also shared quite a bit of advice in the two years and four months I've been blogging.

If you look in the sidebar on the lower right, you'll see an eloquently-phrased header that says, "Stuff I've blogged about." Most of the posts I've written in 24 months have been tagged with at least one keyword ranging from "blogging" to "query letters" to "rejections and setbacks." That's a good place to start if you're interested in a particular topic.

For general writing-related advice and info, here are few posts I often share with new writers asking how I got published, how to craft a query letter, or what I've learned in my time as a published author:
You'll find oodles more like those if you search old posts for specific topics, but that's a good sampling of what I have to offer. Well, besides tips on where to find cheap Viagra and Russian brides. For that, you'll need to spend an hour alone with my spam folder.



3 comments :

Stephsco said...

COOL.

(thanks!)

Monique Liddle said...

I didn't know your blog in it's early days, but the sample posts you provided plus the links from those posts are excellent resources! The one I like the best is the Query letter in which your agent is a guest on your blog (& of course that 1st sentence). I am terribly new at all this & I'm still struggling to find a genre that fits my voice. What I learned from your query is thatyour query needs to match who you are, which ought to match the voice of your bks. I know that you have travelled a long haul & gone through much in these past few years, but you are helping your readers to learn from your experiences. You have provided very valuable information. Thanks so much Tawna.

Monique
p.s. I'm usually not this serious. But I'm exhausted & my funny bone is already sleeping!

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