3 Resources That Have Really Helped Me As A Writer

There are so many great resources available in this online age it's almost impossible to keep track, or feel like you're getting it all in. I hate the thought of having my progress impeded because of misinformation or simply not being aware of the proper tools and resources.

Now, I'm still looking for all the great resources out there, and part of the point of this is to get ideas from you guys. But I thought I'd share some of the things that have been the most helpful for me and then get some of your best resources.

1. Reading blogs. This is perhaps an obvious one, but one of the most helpful things for me in terms of learning about this business has been reading blogs. I started this blog in 2009 and the blogs I've read seriously since that time have guided me on this whole writing journey. I couldn't possibly list all the wonderful, amazing blogs that have been such informative and inspirational resources for me, but some of the best include Anne R. Allen's blog, TerribleMinds from Chuck Wendig, Writer Unboxed, Jane Friedman's blog, and Write to Done. 

2. Writing Excuses. I've mentioned the Writing Excuses podcast on this blog a couple times, but it truly has been one of the most helpful and inspiring resources for me. Reading articles about writing is great, but to actually hear a group of successful writers talk, question, and joke about this life of a writer really sticks with you. And even though each of them are speculative fiction writers, they talk about every aspect of being a writer, from crafting characters to querying agents to balancing marketing and writing. I can't even express how worth a listen it is. I would also highly recommend The Writing Show with Paula B. and Mur Lafferty's I Should Be Writing.

3. Going to Meetups. I suppose "writer meetups" includes conferences, but it doesn't have to be that big or dramatic (i.e. expensive). If you look around, you'll be surprised how many options there are for getting together with fellow writers. Here in Vegas, for example, the RWA has a small monthly meeting at a local library, and there are multiple writing groups that also meet regularly. Check out Meetup.com for your area and see what options you've got. Even when the topic at hand isn't one of particular interest to me personally, I always feel inspired and rejuvenated just hanging out and networking with other local writers.

There you have it. These things have perhaps helped me on my writing journey more than any other resource and I hope they can help you too. What resources have been particularly useful to you?

Sarah Allen

Writing Short Stories and Making Pictures

To add some tools to our writers tool belt, I wanted to highlight two great blog posts from the last week.

Modern internet browsers are accustomed to two things: short text, and images. Friends will often send me links to articles and fan-fiction and such, and I often don't have the patience for long text on a computer screen. I'm used to quick, often bullet-pointed blog posts. I spend quite a bit of time on Tumblr, which is very image based. And I'm a true internet child, because when I get to long textual posts, I usually just scroll past.

I'm not trying to pass a value judgement on this browsing culture. I think there are good things about it and bad things about it, but its important to be aware of our cultural psychology and how we can best participate in that conversation and introduce people to ourselves and our books.

And we do that with short writing and images.

So, first, here is a post from the consistently wise Anne R. Allen giving 12 reasons to write short stories. If you think short fiction isn't worth your time, Anne will change your mind. Each reason she gives is reason enough to work on short stories. After writing books, I submit that short stories are the best way writers can build their careers, and Anne will tell you why.

As far as images, here is a great list of image resources from Author Marketing Experts. I would also add PicMonkey or iPiccy. I know we writers don't work in images, we work in words, but I am a firm believer in expanding our venues and skills as much as possible. These resources will help you do that with images, even for those of us with no artistic skill to speak of.

Hope these resources help. Write on!

Sarah Allen

Top 7 Podcasts for Writers

I've been gorging on podcasts lately. Mostly while I'm at work. I have felt so informed and entertained and inspired by these podcasts I just had to share, particularly because I really feel like podcasts are one of the best ways to keep the creative juices flowing throughout the day.

So without further ado, here, in no particular order, are my top 7 podcasts for writers.

1. The Writing Show with Paula B: This was definitely my first podcast love. In college I spent basically a whole semester listening to this podcast while I did homework. Paula is wise and genuine and she gets some great tips and advice from the people she interviews.

2. K. M. Weiland's Podcast: This is a new one for me, but if you're looking for the nitty-gritty, grammar basic writing advice, this is the place to go. It is very informative and can help you get a good, solid grip on good sentence construction.

3. New Yorker Fiction Podcast: No getting around it, the New Yorker is the big guns. If you want a feel of the literary community, this might be a good place to go. I'll be honest, I think sometimes the language can be a bit academic and even hoity-toity, but often its just really interesting and inspiring.

4. Writing Excuses: This podcast is just plain fun, and particularly helpful for those writing science fiction and fantasy. It features a group of fun writers (including Brandon Sanderson) chatting about different aspects of writing. It's entertaining and short, because, as their motto goes, "You're in a hurry, and we're not that smart."

5. I Should Be Writing: This is definitely a writing podcast classic. You get all areas of writing covered here, from crafting tips to interviews to all sorts of awesomeness. Definitely worth subscribing too, and definitely worth digging through the archives.

6. The Q and A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith: Ok, when I discovered this podcast a few weeks ago, I spent every hour at work listening to it until I'd gone through the whole thing. This podcast is focused on screenplays, and basically entails hour long interviews with seriously amazing screenwriters (from movies you might recognized like, ya know, Frozen and Iron Man 3). I'm a little movie obsessed, which added to my enjoyment, but the lessons in here for writers of all kinds are not to be missed.

7. Welcome to Night Vale: Okay. Okay. Like, really guys, I can't express to you my level of admiration and obsession. This is the current podcast I'm blitzing through, and its gotten to the point where I'm badgering not only my roommate but my former roommates until they finally give in and try it out. And of course end up loving it. I mean, I can actually understand it not being everyone's style. But it is wacky, and amazing, and bizarre, and creepy, and profound, and please do yourself a favor and at least give it a shot, because if its something you like, its something that you will really like.

Any other podcasts you think I should add to this list? 

Sarah Allen

An Insane Awesome List of Resources for Writers

So, this incredibly amazing list was brought to my attention and so I had to share it with you all.

And here it is :)

Check it out. I haven't had a chance yet to go through each item and check them out individually, but I plan to.

In other news, I finally succumbed and started Buffy the Vampire Slayer last night. Maybe slightly dated, but my first impression is that it's basically text-book perfect plotting and raising stakes. (Get it...Stakes...) But yeah, Joss Whedon is pretty much reigning king of television storytelling. And it gets talked about a lot how feminism friendly that show is, and how awesome it is to have such kick-butt female leads, and I was like, yeah, but now that I've actually watched it, I'm like, YEAH!!!

Anyway, it's pretty awesome. And I'll leave you with a song that takes my breath away every freaking time.

And have a good weekend everybody!

Sarah

Some Awesome TED Talks

I learn so much from TED. I think its one of the greatest things the internet has given us. So here's some of my recent favorites:

I hope these help and inspire you as much as they did me!

Sarah Allen

I shouldn't have, but I did.

I took my little sister to the mall the other day to get a Build-a-Bear and then she asked to go into the Disney store. I already had Pooh Bear and Mickey, but I saw Kermit and Sully and I just couldn't help myself. I'm in the middle of job hunting and really shouldn't be making frivolous purchases, but sometimes a girl needs friends. Especially in the middle of job hunting.

So yeah, that is one thing I do when I'm in minimal-writing-limbo period.

The other thing I do is watch a lot of TED and VSauce.

Did you know that in a perfect world, mirrors reflect every color, but in our less-than-perfect world, they are the slightest bit green?

Did you know that one year after either winning the lottery or losing function of their legs, the lottery winners and paraplegics reported equal levels of happiness with their lives?

Did you know that yawning is contagious because of emotional empathy, as well as a herd instinct from our earlier years, and that autistic kids and other socioemotional handicapped people exhibit much less contagious yawning?

Did you know that when Toy Story was first pitched to Tom Hanks, he said "You don't want me to sing, do you?" Not surprising, given that the successful children's films of the time were Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast.

Basically I've been spending a lot of time having my mind blown. And applying for jobs. But also having my mind blown.

What blows your mind?

Sarah Allen

Neil Gaiman's incredible commencement speech for artists

This has been making the rounds the past little while, and maybe you've seen it. I didn't want to take the chance, though, that one person who stopped by today had missed it.

Don't miss this.



Anyone. ANYONE trying to make a living and a career in any kind of creative, artistic field should consider this speech a necessity. It put things so wonderfully into perspective for me.

I think probably my favorite part is Gaiman's analogy of his goal of being a successful author, all the things he had in his mind that he wanted to do, as a mountain. Any opportunity he came across, any decision he made, was made based on whether it would take him closer to that mountain or not. I absolutely love that analogy and way of thinking about things. It's going to be my decision making motto from now on.

So now that you've watched his speech, what are your thoughts?

Sarah Allen

TED Talks for Writers

Ok, so I know these are long. I really was going to come up with my own thoughts based on these three talks, but they're just too good not to pass on. If you have to wait till your boss isn't looking, or even till you're home later tonight, so be it. But watch. You won't regret it.

Andrew Stanton: Writer for Pixar

Amy Tan

Elizabeth Gilbert

Anyone else have some good TED talk recommendations, or just know of some good writerly vids?

Sarah Allen

Christmas Made Easy, Part 2: Russian Teacakes

These are a tradition in my family, and well worth the effort.

Ingredients: 

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

¾ cup finely chopped nuts

¼ teaspoon salt

Powdered sugar

Instructions:

-Heat oven to 400ºF.

-Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, nuts and salt until dough holds together.

-Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

-Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool slightly on wire rack.

-Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar; cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

*Makes 4 dozen cookies

*Changes: In my family we nix the nuts, and instead wrap the dough around a Hershey's kiss before we bake it. That way its like a little present when you bite into it. My mom buys tons of different flavors like mint, cherry, hot cocoa, candy-cane, and of course regular chocolate. It's become quite a game to see which flavor we get. It's important to wrap the dough fully around the chocolate so its completely covered, but not too much bigger either. Too big, too much dough, too small, the chocolate melts through when you bake. That's why we don't do Rolo's anymore, although those were my favorite. This is what we do for my entire ward, meaning we do it for two days straight. We put on Christmas movies and do an assembly line with the littlest unwrapping kisses, mom and sister mixing dough, and the rest of us rolling the dough around the chocolate. Then we wrap each cookie in tin-foil, bag them, and deliver them around the neighborhood.

Last year we made over 1600. 

Sarah Allen

Five Cookbooks for Writers

So we all know what tomorrow is. Stuff our faces day. To help with the stuffing, here are 5 cook books made especially for writers and readers:

The Write Ingredients

The New Great American Writers Cookbook

Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen

The Book Lover's Cook Book

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

Pretty fun, huh? I'm definitely not one for cooking, but I think if I had a few of these it might make it a little more fun for me. I may actually invest in that.

Do you know of any cookbooks for writerly people? What are your favorite general cookbooks and recipes? Any that you're going to be using tomorrow?

Sarah Allen

5 Writing Tools to Carry in a Conspiring Universe

Is it just me, or do you feel like every time you start a new project, the universe conspires against you to take away all the time you thought you had to work on it. You finally get started, and then you look on your calender and realize that the next several days are a string of doctors appointments, meetings, helping your friend move, the Hare Krishna Festival of Colors, and you wonder where your time went. The past few days have been like that for me, just when I got started on my new WIP.

So what do you do? Being busy doesn't just happen at the beginning of projects, it happens all the time. Many of us are balancing jobs, parenting, school, and all the other things going on in our lives with our writing and writing careers. How do we balance the two?

1) Carry a notebook. That way, when you're sitting at your kids kindergarten waiting for school to get out, you can pull out the notebook and jot down a few sentences. You can outline the next chapter of your novel while sitting in the lobby of the doctors office.

2) Carry a book. You could fit in a good page or so while filling up the car at the gas station. To be a good writer you must be a good reader, and I imagine that sneaking bits of writing time helps your brain keep at high functionality throughout the day, just like sneaking crackers or apple slices helps move things efficiently through your digestive system. Poetry and short story collections and literary magazines are particularly suited for this.

3) Carry business cards. Take the time for some guerilla marketing. Sneak a card into one of the magazines on the coffee table at the doctors office. Give your card or even a copy of your book to your kids teacher or school librarian. Whatever you think might work.

4) Carry a planner. With writing time tightly squeezed, its useful to plan ahead and know exactly when you will be able to actually sit down and write. Even if its just ten minute chunks. And then, once you know when you'll be at your computer, while you are out and about, plan ahead and know where and how your going to start up again when you get back. That way you will minimize the unproductive staring-at-the-screen time.

5) Carry an iPhone. Or something like it, if possible. That way you can update your blog or Facebook fan page while sitting at the lecture you didn't want to go to in the first place. Get your emailing and social networking done while you're on lunch break, and then when you get home and finally have your own time, you can use it for the actual writing instead of having to catch up on all the businessy type things.


Life will still be crazy and busy, no doubt, but carrying and efficiently using these tools can help maximize your writing productivity. Are there any other tools you think might be useful?

Sarah Allen

Creative Writing Podcasts

I thought I'd compile a list of some of the best creative writing blogs for those times when your cleaning, working, driving, walking, or whatever and just want to listen to some good advice about writing. Here you go!

The Writing Show
Writers On Writing
The Secrets
Barnes and Noble podcasts
Washington Post Book World Podcast
I Should Be Writing
Write Where You Belong

Sarah Allen