Loving the Internet

Oh, my, I have discovered so many excellent writing blogs in the past few weeks that I'm going to have to follow Jon Paul's example and start a weekly Link Love feature.

By the way, can I just say, that I love your name?  "Jon Paul." It's like my favorite Star Trek Captain, Jean Luc.  Only you have more hair.  And you fly in an atmosphere.  And how cool is it that you are a really manly man who also writes and is reading Twilight? I just had to say that you are like the most awesome dude ever.  My regards to the Drill Sargent.  Your Fiction Writer's Battle Plan over at Where Sky Meets Ground is awesome.

Thank you, Jon Paul, for your service to our country.

Next up is Sierra Godfrey who was brave enough to put up her own checklist of writing problems.  They are eerily like mine.  For example, having characters smile too often.  Check it out, and also look at some of the other great content on her website.  Where does she find time to do it?

From Sierra's blog I found the link to Anne R. Allen's post titled Seeking Zoticus Weatherwax: Tips for Naming Fictional Characters.  Apparently, I didn't really have to create my own fictional language to name my characters. Too late.

Bane of Anubis has an absolutely hysterical You-Tube video of a British kid reading Twilight out loud. While being hilarious, it also highlights some of the things we should not do when writing.  My apologies to Stephanie Meyer.  Anyone (including myself) who thinks we can write a better book, better hurry up and prove it.

Roni at Fiction Groupie has an excellent post up about Point of View Advantages and Pitfalls.  Very timely stuff, as I am revising right now and I actually started culling some of the errors she mentioned out of the chapter I am currently working on immediately after reading her post.

Also, check out her Tuesday and Thursday Beta Club posts, where you can critique or be critiqued. Excellent feedback going on there. My excerpt is up in May sometime.

For fun, drop by Come In Character for this weekend's First Line Challenge writing prompt.  You can respond as yourself, or as one of your characters.

And if you enjoyed the First Page Blogfest, check out the Last Line Blogfest coming on May 1st.

That's it for today.  Lots of good stuff happening out there. Why didn't I find these blogs two years ago, when I was struggling so much with just finding the courage and will to write?  I got so discouraged hanging out at agent blogs, where all you hear is that your stuff's not good enough and the publishing industry is dying and you might as well just curl up in the corner with a bag of chocolate chips and forget it.

Oh, oh!  I almost forgot... you won't believe this.  Last weekend, after I had that post up about boiling your story down to a short pitch, I actually met someone who owns a small movie production company who wanted to know what my story was about and if I had a screenplay he could see.  Now, I don't think he was serious, and even if he was I don't think I would give it to him without researching his company and having an agent and all that, but I was thrilled to be able to tell him what my book was about.  It felt good.  It felt professional.