A new week, another juicy batch of informal writerly learnings!

Julie Duffy explains why it’s important to create your writer’s manifesto. And it is important. Your manifesto, if carefully written, can become the basis for all your author marketing efforts. Writer Unboxed

Nancy Johnson: mining reader reviews for story gold. *Not about looking at your own reviews, but the reviews of other, similar books (think comps). You can learn a lot from looking at the reviews of other books, especially if you’ve read them and can compare your views to those of the reviewer 😉 Writer Unboxed

Donald Maass explains what establishing the “ordinary world” really means. Hint: it doesn’t have to be all about the morning routine (!) Writer Unboxed

Kathryn Magendie wants you to keep the reader reading: will we read on, or put the book down? Sometimes, it’s the little things. Writer Unboxed

K.M. Weiland shares what she learned writing Wayfarer: the ten advantages of writing a single-POV story. Helping Writers Become Authors

Christina McDonald guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog: how to grow an email newsletter starting from zero.

Becca Puglisi stops by Jami Gold’s blog to share six tips to show emotions for non-POV characters.

Meg LaTorre explains why querying writers shouldn’t write sequels. Writers Helping Writers

Chuck Wendig: on day jobs and starving artists. Terribleminds

Chris Winkle takes exception to cheap depictions of bullying. An excellent critical look at a problematic trope in fiction. Mythcreants

Elizabeth McCracken says, I’m an award-winning short story writer, and I don’t know what I’m doing, either. Comfort for those struggling with adopting process (rather than developing your own). Electric Literature

I hope you’ve gleaned some useful information from this week’s offerings.

Come back on Thursday for your weekly dose of thoughty 🙂

Until then, be well!