Well met, my fellow questers of the written word! I be-est Belinda Wryte Genre, whom thou
mayest remember as the cousin to Betty Wryte-Good. Once again, I am filling in for her, as she
continues prostrate after a difficult holiday season. (It’s her back. I told her she shouldn’t attempt
to carry that two hundred pound squash into the dining room all by herself, but she does like to
make an effect at family Christmas dinners.)
You may be fascinated to learn that I’ve switched genres from science fiction to fantasy. I
am currently deeply embroiled in my new novel, Jack Pumpkinham and the Ring of Fungi. I’m
sure it’s going to be absolutely smashing--wait until you read the bit where Jack throws the
Flaming Pumpkin of Yore at Radicchio the Deceiver. But like all writers, I occasionally find
myself suffering from doubts, or even laying on the floor blubbering “I can’t do this! What does
‘cruciferous’ mean?” To help confront the writing blues, here’s an assortment of useful links.
Word Hippo, at www.wordhippo.com is a nifty little site that allows you to find rhyming
words, tells you how to pronounce some of the more difficult ones, or even find words going by
the number of letters they contain. Cool! Then there’s www.teleread.com, the home of Teleread,
a frequently-updated site that specializes in information about the writing business world and
trends in the publishing industry, which is always useful to keep abreast of. Sometimes it’s also
nice to hear about the business world from a successful author’s own mouth, which is why I also
include The Wathershed Chronicles, at www.watershedchronicle.wordpress.com. It’s run by Dan
Meadows, who gives pretty savvy publishing advice for new authors.
If you’re considering self-publishing (and who isn’t, these days?) you might want to hop
over to Digital Books World at www.digitalbookworld.com for some handy advice about how
the market’s trending. A slightly more focused look into e-publishing is also provided at Let’s
Get Digital, at www.davidgaughran.wordpress.com. For the perspective of someone who’s been
there, visit self-published author Joe Konrath’s site. He’s electronically published over three
million books worldwide, and he hands out helpful advice at www.jakonrath.com. E-reading is
growing steadily these days. All data indicates it will eclipse paper books within a couple years.
But don’t believe me; head to Good EReader at www.goodereader.com to check out the opinions
of folk who are passionate about it.
Maybe you’d like to attend a writing conference, or even try for a job in the field. In that
case, I recommend you try The Bookseller at www.thebookseller.com which has links for both
of these as well as a plethora of articles about writing. Book Riot (www.bookriot.com) is a
slightly cheekier, more irreverent version of The Bookseller if you need a dose of humor to
soothe your writing-jangled nerves.
In the end, it’s all about getting your words out in front of an audience. So, for those who
aren’t ready to try it themselves, or who just want to sell a single poem or short story, I include a
new and marvelous site to try your luck catching an editor’s eye. It’s called The Submission
Grinder, and it’s located at www.diabolicalplots.com. Here you can define a search according to
a slew of options--the style of your piece, its length, and, of course, its genre—and get in return a
list of magazines or book publishers who are looking for exactly what you’re writing. How
awesome is that?
Well, author-readers, the best of luck to every one of thee! I must now make haste off to
continue the adventures of Knight Captain Pumpkinham. I left him in a sticky situation with the
Evil Wicket of Cabbageport, and I have to figure a way to get him out of it before the minions of
Celeryborne chop him into slaw. Betty should have recovered from her squash-induced backache
by next issue, so for now I’ll give her a “hello” from all of you and make her promise not to lift
anymore oversized gourds.
Until we meet again--happy writing, my little zucchinis!