And here is another week’s worth of informal writerly learnings.

Jane Friedman says, author income surveys are misleading and flawed—and they focus on the wrong message for writers. Jane kindly offers a TL;DR summary up front, but it’s worthwhile reading her whole post. Verra interesting.

K.M. Weiland asks you to judge yourself less, trust yourself more, and write better stories. Helping Writers Become Authors

Rachael Stephen offers her tips on self-care for writers (and humans).

 

Tamar Sloan helps you level up your character’s wound. Writers Helping Writers

Elise Holland explains how to writer your best cover letter. DIY MFA

Fae Rowan brings us part one of a series: five conflict-making choices for your characters. This one’s about the need for control.  And here’s part two: conceit and coveting. Writers in the Storm

Black, white, gray, rainbow: what is heroism now? Donald Maass on Writer Unboxed.

Anna Elliott is keeping her hustle joyful. Writer Unboxed

Natalia Sylvester offers her thoughts on writing a novel that people call political. Writer Unboxed

Jo Eberhardt delves into the challenge of writing dialog separated by a common language. Writer Unboxed

Jim C. Hines gathers contributions from the speakers of different languages. Why? Because, rather than being able to ask for a beer or a toilet anywhere in the world, Jim wants to know how to ask people for their permission to pet their dogs. A very important linguistics post about petting dogs.

Ryan Van Cleave applies Stephen Covey’s seven habits for writers’ groups. Fiction University

Chris Winkle discusses creating a magic system for superpowers. Then, Oren Ashkenazi looks at five story elements that worked in one story but not in another. Mythcreants

Gabriela Pereira interviews Jeff and Ann Vandermeer on the Writer’s Digest podcast: anthologies, the genre fiction divide, and deep reading.

Wynona Earp returns. It’s not the greatest series ever made, but it’s fun, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I’m kind of in love with the grrl power.

 

And this looks good: The House with the Clock in its Walls

 

And that was Tipsday.

Be well until Thursday when you can return for some thoughty.