curation

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, October 11-17, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 4 Comments

Have I told you how much I enjoy sharing all this Writerly Goodness? I LURVES it!

Roz Morris points out that gender is not the only agenda when considering equality in publishing.

Sheila Williams, editor for Asimov’s since 2004, guest posts on the Women in Science Fiction blog.

K.M. Weiland continues her NaNoWriMo prep posts with six tasks you’ll love yourself for checking off your NaNo pre-writing list.

Katie answers one of the most frequent questions to come across her desk: what’s the hardest part of a novel to write?

If your protagonist is always right, readers will hate her (or him). K.M. Weiland.

I lurve Chuck Wendig when he writes posts like this one: go big, go weird, go you, and fuck fear right in the ear.

This. Is. SO. True. And, so sad. The Kubler-Ross model of grief applied to editing and rewriting. Chuck Wendig. Terribleminds.

Last week, K.M. Weiland compared weak plot points to dimpled or hanging chads. This week, David Corbett looks at the Iran nuclear deal as an example of four corner conflict. Writer Unboxed.

Donald Maass writes about the magnanimity of the author on Writer Unboxed.

Porter Anderson looks at Amazon Crossings on Writer Unboxed.

Want to get your book published? Start here. Jane Friedman.

Man Booker Prize winner, Marlon James’s first book was rejected nearly 80 times. Hope for us all, people. The Guardian.

Will the Amazon scandal with phoney authors and fake reviewers result in a resurgence in print book sales? The Memo.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch tackles the latest Author Earnings report (cause she was a little late addressing the last one).

Has Sabaa Tahir written the next Game of Thrones? The Huffington Post.

Helen Marshall (whose short fiction collection Gifts for the one who comes after has been nominated for nearly every applicable award, and won at least one) is interviewed on the This is Horror podcast.

How’s this for book porn?

The earliest documented use of fuck (so far) discovered. The Daily Mail.

Flavorwire showcases a video game based on Murakami’s magical realism.

Wise Ink shares eight infographics every writer needs.

Buzzfeed presents jokes for book nerds.

Maisy Williams made her debut on Doctor Who this past week. It was a good episode. Space.

Emily Asher-Perrin wishes Hollywood would stop doing these five things. Tor.com.

Top up your tank and get writing!

See you Thursday.

Tipsday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, October 4-10, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

Another wonderful week of Writerly Goodness.

Roz Morris takes a snap-shot from her self-editing masterclass: Do you have a plot, or a premise? I’m currently reading Larry Brooks’s Story Physics, and this is one of his big issues 🙂

K.M. Weiland offers seven ways NaNoWriMo can help you be a better writer all year long.

The Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) isn’t just for figuring out who you are. Katie shows how you can use it to analyze your characters. BTW, I’m an INTJ, if you wanted to know.

Katie posted later in the week about ‘the call’ and the questions you want to ask when considering an offer of representation.

It was a good week for Katie: Why weak plot points are like the Bush-Gore vote-counting debacle.

Jordan Rosenfeld and Martha Alderson team up on Writer Unboxed to review master scene types for page-turning plots.

Lisa Cron makes her long-awaited (and triumphant) return to Writer Unboxed with this post. Who knows more about story: writers or The Pentagon?

Catherine Ryan Howard shares her year of amazing productivity. This was the post that got me Muse-Ink last Saturday.

Benjamin Sobieck guest posts on Christine Frazier’s The Better Novel Project to talk about how to write fantasy weapons.

Ben Thompson gives us a two part post in response to the NYT article that reported the faltering of ebook sales in the face of strengthening print sales. Disconfirming ebooks, and Are ebooks declining, or just the publishers?

Kristine Kathryn Rusch takes a look at the latest Author Earnings report.

Jane Friedman shares five observations on the evolution of author business models.

Lachesism. From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

iDiva presents some women science fiction authors you should read.

I’m looking forward to checking out Jessica Jones. Here’s the preview on i09.

Come on back for a short and sweet Thoughty Thursday.

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Sept 27-Oct 3, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

Somber and reflective tonight. I turned on the furnace for the first time this fall. *sob*

T squared is bringing the mixed bag. I was challenged to find some kind of logical organization. I kind of gave up. Sorry, but you never know, it might encourage those creative connections.

We have an election coming up in a couple of weeks. I’ve tried not to post too much political stuff, but this is an important issue in Canada, and one that many people still don’t fully understand. Federal NDP candidate, Tom Mulcair, wants scientists to speak their minds. The Toronto Star.

President Obama challenged the media to compare terrorism-related deaths and gun-related deaths. So, Vox did.

Last weekend, there was a supermoon eclipse, or blood moon. Of course, just at we were getting to the good part, it got cloudy 😦

Here’s my consolation: Gizmodo shares their best images of the supermoon eclipse.

And then, Sudbury got hit by a couple of earthquakes, which I didn’t experience at all. CBC.

The Good News Network reports that deforestation in the Amazon has dropped by 90% in the last ten years.

i09 lists the five scariest cults in modern history.

SciShow looks at the real world of forensics:

Red dresses focus attention on Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women. The Huffington Post.

Other people’s reproductive plans are NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. CBC.

Veritasium wonders, is glass a liquid?

Why Neil deGrasse Tyson is the smartest man on television. The Rolling Stone.

Vi Hart on “Happy Birthday” day:

Why self-care is central to Anna Lovind’s creative life. Annapurna Living.

In light of the Amazon expose, IKEA and Facebook are looking at a shorter work week. CNN.

Ask a Mortician takes a look at medieval zombies:

Here’s a fun bit of satire from The New Yorker: Earth endangered by a new strain of fact-resistant humans (!)

Have you been inspired? If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments 🙂

See you again on Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, September 20-26, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

Strap your thinking caps on people!

Anna Lovind asks, what fears do you have to face to commit to making your dream a reality?

Sir Ken Robinson explores creativity in teaching. Mind/Shift.

Elizabeth Gilbert on the connection between creativity and curiosity. The Science of Us.

The Canadian Supreme Court rules that we have the right to doctor-assisted suicide. A victory for compassion. The Globe and Mail.

One scientist proposes that starting work before 10 am is tantamount to torture. Personally, I’d be inclined to agree, but from the comments when I posted this to Facebook, everyone has their peak times, and many people start their work days early. The Plaid Zebra.

Four ways to recognize gaslighting. Everyday Feminism.

Why your new mantra for inner peace should be “I don’t care.” Elephant Journal.

The one practice you need to be truly happy. MindBodyGreen.

99u presents the four productivity styles.

Music from Anne Boleyn’s songbook is performed for the first time in 500 years. itv.com

A whale fossil was discovered in the mountains. How cool is that? i09.

The secret lives of horses. Scientific American.

How the Dark Net is going mainstream. Jamie Bartlett’s TED Talk.

More proof presented that galaxy-spanning super civilizations do not exist in the local universe. i09.

Hubble captures an incredible image of an exploding star. IFLS.

Cyanobacteria could be the key to colonizing (and terraforming) Mars. Gizmodo.

It’s always good to keep your scientific terms straight. Hypothesis, theory, and law. It’s Okay to be Smart.

Creativity is about seeing interesting and unexpected connections between apparently disparate things. I’ve given you the raw material. Now get thoughty with it.

See you Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, September 13-19, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

Moar awesome in this curation.

Dan Blank is searching for Tim Cook’s energy bar on 99u. Tips on conserving time and energy for the important stuff.

Your attitude is more important than your IQ. Quartz.

Mindfulness on the rocks. Sudbury’s labyrinth featured on CBC.

Someone explains that Beauty and the Beast is really about intolerance and bullying. Tickld.

Margaret MacPherson finds strength in vulnerability during her summer of sickness. The Globe and Mail.

Elite Daily shares 41 mental health resources you can use when you can’t afford a therapist.

The Black Dot Campaign: a very important initiative in support of victims of domestic abuse. Bustle.

What happens when women aren’t consulted on “girl toy” creation and marketing. GeekXGirls.

Want to keep a secret? Give it to a tree (or bury it beneath). Medieval skeleton found in the roots of a fallen tree. i09.

SF authors take note: Twelve ways humanity could destroy the solar system. i09.

Vertical farming: A solution to the dustbowl future presented by Interstellar? i09.

Nova’s Secret Lives of Scientists features Mayim Bialik (Amy of The Big Bang Theory):

Check out the whole series on YouTube. Lots of cool ladies of science like Jane Goodall 🙂 And, of course, the guys . . . Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Alan Cumming shares his experience losing a pet and what it taught him. I so love this. We did a lot of the same things for Nuala. The Globe and Mail.

A few weeks ago, I shared a dolphin surfing on a whale. Now the seals are in on it! The Boston Globe.

I’ve showed these to you before, but it’s just so cool. In Morocco, the goats live in trees:

Hope some of this inspired some great ideas. That’s the whole point behind Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn for . . . some time now 😀

I should be able to get my shit together for more than pictures this weekend.

See you Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, September 13-19, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila

I can barely contain myself! This week’s Writerly Goodness is so . . . GOOD.

So, first Lorraine Devon Wilke publishes this article in The Huffington Post: Dear self-published author, do not write four books a year.

Then all this happened:

Larry Correia dissected and lampooned the article.

Chuck Wendig responded with, Dear any-kind-of-published author: write as much as you want.

And even John Scalzi felt compelled to post, how many books you should write in a year.

</Rant on>It all comes down to the individual. Write as much, or as little, as you want/need to. It was an interesting controversy, however, and worth the read. Wendig mentions the Stephen King article I shared a few weeks ago along with a few others on the topic. Never lose sight of your goals and don’t let stuff like this distract you. Read it and take what you need from it. The rest is noise. Interesting noise, but noise, nonetheless. </Rant off>

K.M. Weiland shares eight paragraph mistakes you may not know you’re making. These are good 🙂

How the poor choice of your character’s goal can kill your novel. Katie’s Friday vlog. Yes, she changed her schedule, like, a month ago, and I’m just getting used to it now . . . Make of that what you will.

Jane Friedman gets back to basics: writing the synopsis.

Bonnie Randall posts on Janice Hardy’s Fiction University about rejection and how to deal with it. I love this, because it’s basically my take on the experience.

Our fractured days: Steven Pressfield offers advice about staying on schedule when life (or other things) happens.

Gwen Hernandez joins Writer Unboxed with this post: Nine (or more) things I love about Scrivener.

Kameron Hurley asks what will you sacrifice and offers a review of The Traitor Baru Cormorant.

Later in the week, Kameron tackled cold publishing equations.

Porter Anderson weighs in on the latest Authors Earnings Report.

Mira Jacob writes about her experience with diversity (or lack thereof) in American publishing for Buzzfeed.

Usually, VSauce would appear on the Thoughty Thursday roundup, but this week, Michael was talking about language, linguistics, and math. IT’S AWESOME!

And the poetry of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is back. Here are two lovely entires:

This is part of why I stopped at getting my MA (and still, in many ways regret going that far). The shit graduate studies asks you to vomit out in the name of “higher” education. Tickld.

Ursula K. Le Guin speaks to myth, modernism, and why she’s suspicious of the MFA. Salon.

Margaret Atwood waxes political and literary on the topic of our (un)freedom. The Guardian.

Aja Romano of the Daily Dot presents “dreadpunk” as a new subgenre. It seems like good ole Gothic to me. Do we really have to redefine these things? What do you think?

Electric Lit shares this poster about yoga for writers.

Buzzfeed presents 21 signs that prove booksellers are clever 🙂

Dogs and books! Two of my favourite things together! The cute! Bustle.

Eeee! Wasn’t this a tasty week? Yes. I equate writing craft and book porn to consumables 🙂 Nom. Nom. Nom.

See you Thursday!

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, September 6-12, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Making up for last week (!)

And happy Friday (yeah, I’m posting this late . . .)!

Brené Brown writes about the physics of vulnerability and what resilient people have in common. Brainpickings.

How Katrina turned a psychiatrist into a coroner. The Atlantic.

Why some people are left-handed. Brainpickings.

Upworthy presents a comic that accurately sums up depression and anxiety and the uphill battle of living with them.

You are home. The Bloggess offers a lovely video and message in honour of World Suicide Prevention Day.

Bianca Sparacino explores how we ruin our lives without realizing it. Thought Catalog.

Everyday fantasia: the world of synesthesia. The American Psychological Association.

Your brain is particularly vulnerable to trauma at two distinct ages. Quartz.

Brainpickings shares Carl Sagan’s thoughts on the meaning of life.

Tornados on the sun? Yup. As long as they’re plasma tornados 🙂 IFLS.

The Daily Dot presents the twelve best science shows on YouTube. I follow several of these 🙂

Here are a couple of them now.

Is body shaming helpful? ASAP Thought.

And SciShow answers the question, why don’t spiders stick to their own webs?

Why people’s opinions of you aren’t real:

Homo Naledi, a new species in human lineage, is found in a South African cave. The New York Times.

The White Wolf Pack shares ten fascinating facts about ravens.

And my musical find of the week is Iron & Wine – Boy with a coin:

Have fun, and I’ll see you on Saturday.

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, September 6-12, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

May I present your Writerly Goodness for the week:

K.M. Weiland continues her most common writing mistakes series with part 44: too many participle phrases.

Katie encourages writers to let Toy Story show you the key to subtle character development.

Vaughan Roycroft has series aspirations and looks at Robin Hobbs’ Assassin series in this post: Drawn to the long arc.

Porter Anderson refers to Roz Morris and Joanna Penn’s posts in this piece for Writer Unboxed: Looking for truth in the time of hype.

Writing begins with forgiveness: Why one of the most common pieces of writing advice is wrong. Daniel José Older for Seven Scribes.

The creative life interviews: Laura Belgray and talking shrimp. Anna Lovind.

New Zealand bans award-winning teen novel after outcry from Christian group. Really, Kiwis? I thought we were past this kind of stuff. The Guardian.

Then again . . . Henrietta Lacks biographer, Rebecca Skloot, responds to concerned parent about ‘porn’ allegation. The Guardian.

A new Author’s Guild survey reveals that the majority of authors are earning below the poverty line. Publishers Weekly.

Mike Hernandez writes about constructing cultural taboos in this helpful worldbuilding post for Mythcreants.

Helen Maslin presents her top ten literary castles and country houses. The Guardian.

Hope the week started off well.

I’ll see you with a load of thoughty videos on Thursday 🙂

Tipsday

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, August 30-September 5, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Sorry guys, it was all about the writing this week. Still, I hope you get a few creative ideas from this week’s offerings.

Brainpickings pays tribute to Oliver Sacks: love, lunacy, and a life fully lived.

How kindness became out forbidden pleasure. Brainpickings.

Will the ten worst jobs in history give you any ideas? History Extra.

These ten close-up shots of dragonflies are amazing. Mental Floss.

Tickld shares 30 facts that sound like BS but are actually true.

KLM’s lost and found service:

Thanks for stopping by.

See you on Saturday!

Thoughty Thursday

Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, August 30-September 5, 2015

/ Melanie Marttila / 2 Comments

W00t! This past week was all about the writerly goodness!

K.M. Weiland explains how to write a sequel that’s even better than the first book.

Are your plot and theme working together? Helping writers become authors.

Katie gives us a virtual tour of her writing space.

Why you should look into the psychology of writing and the cognitive science of the perfect writing routine. Brainpickings.

In the wake of his post on the mistakes of inexperienced writers, Chuck Wendig wrote on the subject of your discouragement.

How to be a successful writer: stop comparing yourself to everyone else. The Write Life.

Vaughan Roycroft explored how to rekindle your motivation on Writer Unboxed.

Then, Kristan Hoffman wrote about getting over the hump. Writer Unboxed.

Gabriela Pereira shares her mindfulness manifesto on the DIYMFA podcast.

Mike Swift writes about the singularity of voice for Writer Unboxed.

Joanna Penn points out five problems you should avoid in your first novel.

Chris Winkle lists 44 words to seek and destroy in your draft. Mythcreants.

Ginger Moran shares the four S’s of sustained creativity on Tim Grahl’s blog.

Steven Pressfield writes about resistance and hooks. In this context, hooks refer to the provocative comments readers make for and against you and/or your book.

Christine Frazier deconstructs back cover copy to help you writer your blurb. The Better Novel Project.

Bonnie Randall offers her book signing cheat sheet to those who wish to stay sane while everyone ignores them. Janice Hardy’s Fiction University.

Agent Carly Watters offers writing diversity campaigns, resources, terms, and tells you how to read between your lines.

Writers talk about the complexity of race. The Guardian.

Neil Gaiman: my parents didn’t have any . . . rules about what I couldn’t read. The Guardian.

J.R.R. Tolkien expounds on fairy tales, language, the psychology of fantasy, and why there’s no such thing as writing for children. Brainpickings.

The fun stuff: brain fart, bants, and fur baby added to the Oxford online dictionary. Writers Write.

Quirk Books found these ten music videos based on literature.

I hope something here helps to support your creative life.

I’ll be back on Thursday with a teeny tiny bit of thoughty.

See you then!

Tipsday