Tipsday: Informal writerly learnings, March 6-12, 2022

March 15, 2022March 13, 2022 / Melanie Marttila

Welcome to tipsday, your chance to fill up on informal writerly learnings.

LA Bourgeois recommends you start with a small step. Then, E.J. Wenstrom suggests you start guest blogging to build your author platform. Sara Farmer introduces us to the pioneering, bestselling Anna Katharine Green. Then, Carol Van Den Hende explains how to engage book clubs. Heather Campbell shares five common first-draft mistakes (and how to fix them). DIY MFA

Writing second point of view. Reedsy

Greer Macallister considers writing birth, giving birth, and the internet. Jim Dempsey: the writer’s ultimate responsibility. Juliet Marillier writes the unlikely hero. Then, Kathryn Craft says secondary characters deserve a life of their own. David Corbett considers backstory as behavior: pathological maneuvers and persistent virtues. Kathryn Magendie offers a squirrel’s guide to never ever, ever, ever give up (until you must). Writer Unboxed

The art of verbing nouns. Shaelin Writes

Penny C. Sansevieri suggests a marketing revamp for your older book title. Then, Colleen M. Story poses three questions to ask yourself when writing about past trauma. Piper Bayard is writing spies: who or what is listening, and why? Writers in the Storm

Joanna Penn interviews Dharma Kelleher about self-doubt and writer’s block. The Creative Penn

Why Edgar Allan Poe isn’t just a sad boy. It’s Lit | PBS Storied

Angela Ackerman explains how to write a book when you have no idea what you’re doing. Helping Writers Become Authors

Jyotsna Sreenivasan helps you see the value of percolation. Ashleigh Renard: a thousand new email sign-ups in a week? It’s possible. Jane Friedman

Jami Gold figures out the good balance between scene and sequel. Writers Helping Writers

Over on her own blog, Jami follows up with this post: how can we recognize the difference between scene and sequel?

The disposable Black love interest. The Take

Story tropes are the building blocks of scenes. Then, they cover the five commandments of storytelling. Story Grid

Chris Winkle explains how we can beat defensiveness. Then, Oren Ashkenazi reveals how The Book of Boba Fett could have been good. Mythcreants

Kristen Lamb reveals how characters grow and change organically through their arcs.

The #cheugy problem. The Take

Kalani Pickhart provides a literary guide to understanding Ukraine, past and present. Electric Lit

Jennifer Senior interviews Margaret Atwood about envy and friendship in old age. The Atlantic

Sarah Stark says it’s time to abolish the fat villain trope. Inverse

H. Claire Taylor says indie publishing has a creep problem. Medium

Julia Métreaux wonders if Batman is a hero, or a new Mr. Hyde? JSTOR Daily

A True Story: Lucian’s absurd 2^nd century space travelogue. Open Culture

Adrienne Westenfeld explains why some famous novelists are all about Substack. Esquire

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and I hope you found something to support your current work in progress.

Until Thursday, be well and stay safe, my writerly friends 🙂

Thoughty Thursday: Popping your mental corn, Dec 26, 2021-Jan 1, 2022

January 6, 2022January 2, 2022 / Melanie Marttila

We’re a bit short on the thoughty this week. What there is, is interesting, though. Get your mental corn popping. At least a little.

Maryn McKenna: covid will become endemic. The world must decide what that means. Wired

Nishita Jha: welcome to the jungle. On the Smithsonian’s #metoo moment. Buzzfeed

The real reason we’re all so busy (and what to do about it). Dorie Clark | TEDxBoston

The European Space Agency is opening a 50-year-old Christmas present from the moon. Phys.org

Louise Lerner: to find the very highest energy ghost particles in the universe, a new detector will soar over Antarctica. SciTech Daily

The most anticipated space missions of 2022. SciShow Space

Ayesha Rascoe: it’s not science fiction. Scientists have really made robots that reproduce. NPR

Becky Ferreira reports that cavers reach the bottom of an ancient “well of hell” for the first time. Vice

Andrew Curry reveals the immense mystery older than Stonehenge. BBC

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you took away something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe; be kind and stay strong. The world needs your stories!

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Dec 6-12, 2020

December 17, 2020December 13, 2020 / Melanie Marttila

It’s thoughty Thursday, your opportunity to get your mental corn popping!

Brakkton Booker: federal investigators join probe into Casey Goodson shooting death. NPR

N’dea Yancey-Bragg reports that the Seattle police who fired pepper spray and blast balls at BLM protestors violated order, according to judge. USA Today

Liz Navratil reveals how a divided Minnesota city council votes to cut 8 million from police budget. Star Tribune

Emmanuel Acho talks to the police. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.

Hailey Fuchs: Brandon Bernard’s planned execution stirs debate over punishment for your offenders. The New York Times

Karen Hao read the AI ethics paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here’s what it says. MIT Technology Review

Luis Martinez reports that 14 senior army leaders at Fort Hood suspended or fired after broad review of sexual harassment and abuse allegations. ABC News

Colin Dwyer: Canada authorizes Pfizer vaccine. NPR

Joe takes us inside the lab that developed the covid-19 vaccine. It’s okay to be smart

Margot Sanger-Katz, Claire Cain Miller and Quoctrung Bui compiled this article on how 700 epidemiologists are living now, and what they think is next. The New York Times

Jackie Wattles explain how the Starship explosion was still a success. Spoilers: we learn from our failures. CNN

Nadia Drake introduces us to the astronauts of the Artemis Mission, eight of whom are women (!). National Geographic

Jim Daley says Earth’s orbital shifts may have triggered ancient global warming. (From Sept 2019, but still interesting.) Scientific American

Marco Hernandez and Cassandra Garrison report that the world’s biggest iceberg heads for disaster. Climate change is still happening. Reuters

Grace Eber explains how precisely arranged stones coil and surge across the land in Jon Foreman’s mesmeric works. This is Colossal

Fun, and so much better than the original. Walk Off the Earth and Harm & Ease cover Toxic.

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you found something to inspire a future creative project.

Until next tipsday, be well and stay safe, be kind, and stay strong. The world needs your stories.

Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Feb 25-March 3, 2018

March 8, 2018March 4, 2018 / Melanie Marttila

I hope you find something that gets your mental corn popping in this small mixed bag of goodies.

Rachel Giese: why masculinity needs to be the next big conversation in the #metoo movement. Chatelaine

Dr. Brian Goldman interviews women in medicine about their experiences with sexual harassment. CBC’s White Coat, Black Art.

Sarah E. Baires: white settlers buried the truth about the Midwest’s mound cities. The Smithsonian Magazine

Matthew Schuler: why creative people sometimes make no sense. Yeah, it’s from 2013, but it’s interesting, no?

Tom Simonite reports on how an AI is being used to help stroke victims. Time is brain. Wired

Ravens are evolving, but not in the way you’d expect. Mr. Science has always told me that evolution is adaptation, but not necessarily improvement. What may be perceived as a negative, may actually be positive, though. Jason Bittel for National Geographic.

This made me happy-cry: humans reunited with dogs.

And that was Thoughty Thursday for the week.

Be well until the weekend!

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Thoughty Thursday: Things that made me go hmmmm on the interwebz, Feb 18-24, 2018

March 1, 2018February 25, 2018 / Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

Here are a few links to get your mental corn popping (making creative connections).

Anna Mehler Paperny begs your attention: no, Canada does not spend more on refugees than on its seniors. It’s a big misunderstanding that needs correction. Global News

Adam Gopnik: four truths about the Florida school shooting. The New Yorker

Ed Brayton says, the problem is toxic masculinity, not mental illness. Patheos

Peter Kruger cribs from The Princess Bride. Why does the NPR station have so much propaganda against Trump? Quora

Elizabeth Chuck reports on women, harassed in medicine, await their #metoo reckoning. NBC News

Olga Khazan examines a paradox: the more gender equality, the fewer women in STEM. The Atlantic

Rachael Stephen describes the cognitive behavioural therapy method in this next instalment of her series on mental health.

Phil Plait: Osiris-X looks home from far, far away. SyFy

An amateur astronomer spots a supernova, right as it begins. Ryan F. Mandelbaum for Gizmodo.

Megan Senseney surveys hygiene practices of the middle ages. Healthy Way

Anna Lovind writes an ode to winter.

Enjoy the evocative work of women artists of the Canadian Inuit. Women Arts Blog

Chris Wright wonders, can you hack coral to save it? Outside

John Vidal: a eureka moment for the planet; we’re finally planting trees again. The Guardian

Andy Coghlan reports how trees have been seen resting their branches while they “sleep.” New Scientist

Ephrat Livni: heart of barkness. Japanese “forest medicine” is the art of using nature to heal yourself, wherever you are. Quartz

Bored Panda shares Grace Gogarty’s hilarious guide to dog breeds.

Be well until the weekend.

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 18-24, 2018

February 27, 2018February 25, 2018 / Melanie Marttila

Here are your informal writerly learnings for the week:

Elissa Field dissects Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. Writer Unboxed

Vaughn Roycroft explores the power of writing with the intent of giving your readers the feels: on writing and crying. Writer Unboxed

Heather Webb: they put your book down, but don’t take it personally. Writer Unboxed

Sara Letourneau stops by the Writers Helping Writers coaching corner: mapping your story’s setting.

Angela Ackerman says, if you want memorable characters, you should focus on the little things. Writers Helping Writers

Dan Koboldt visits Writer’s Digest: essential tips for crafting a three-book series.

Leanne Sowul asks, do your commitments reflect your priorities? DIY MFA

Brenda Joyce Patterson wants you to build rigor into your writing process. DIY MFA

Danielle Boccelli directs you to five unlikely places to find inspiration. DIY MFA

Margie Lawson helps you get emotion right on the page. Writers in the Storm

Peter Selgin guest posts on Jane Friedman’s blog. How to make the best of routine events in your fiction.

Jami Gold fills in the blanks of our writing knowledge.

Chris Winkle explains why you should avoid bigoted heroes who learn better. Mythcreants

Oren Ashkenazi lists six stories with contrived conflict (and tips on how to avoid the same mistakes). Mythcreants

Jenna Moreci: how to write while working full time/going to school/being a mother

Emily Temple presents the opinions of 31 authors on the topic of writing what you know. Literary Hub

Jenna Moreci: diversity in fiction.

Lila Shapiro shares the story of how author Keira Drake revised her YA novel after it was criticized for its racism. Was she successful? We’ll have to wait until the revised version is released in March … The Vulture

Sarah Churchwell says, it’s time for women to rewrite the story. The Guardian

David M. Perry: how will publishing deal with Lemony Snicket amid #metoo? Pacific Standard

Just because I still miss her (and probably will for the rest of my life): Ursula K. Le Guin on ageing and what beauty really means. Brain Pickings

Angela Watercutter: how Ava DuVernay became a creator of worlds. Wired

Maeve lists 21 beautiful Irish words that everyone needs in their lives. Buzzfeed

And that was Tipsday.

Be well until Thursday, when you can return for your weekly dose of thoughty 🙂

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Tipsday: Writerly Goodness found on the interwebz, Feb 11-17, 2018

February 20, 2018February 18, 2018 / Melanie Marttila

Here are your informal writerly learnings for the week:

K.M. Weiland: cohesion and resonance! Helping Writers Become Authors

Joanna Penn interviews Becca Puglisi on writing with emotion and depth of character. The Creative Penn

Daeus Lamb: theme made simple. Writers Helping Writers

September C. Fawkes says the key to writing introspection well is to show “just enough.” Writers Helping Writers

Kristen Lamb: conflict is the elixir of the muse, creating timeless stories readers can’t put down.

Sara Letourneau: a case study on love as a literary theme. DIY MFA

Join me over at DIY MFA for my latest Speculations column. The science in your science fiction: conventional space travel.

Rebecca Monterusso lists the five essentials of every scene. DIY MFA

Chris Winkle: using poetic devices. Mythcreants

Oren Ashkenazi shares six tips to make your fantasy setting more immersive. Mythcreants

Jami Gold compiles her master list of line editing skills and her master list of copy editing skills.

Porter Anderson: diversity in international publishing is not so diverse. Writer Unboxed

Michael Harris: I have forgotten how to read. The Globe and Mail

I saw the headline and thought, sweet Jesus, kid lit too? The only way we’ll overcome systemic sexual harassment is to expose it and talk about it. Like human beings. Sexual harassment in the children’s book industry. Anne Ursu for Medium.

Jim C. Hines, ally and sensible human being, writes about #metoo, denial, and backlash.

Related: James Dashner dropped by his literary agent. The New York Times

And then, Penguin Random House drops him, too. Publishers Weekly

Maria Popova remembers Ursula K. Le Guin, not as a product of, but a creator of, her time. Brain Pickings

I hope you found something to help you get to the next level.

Be well until Thursday!

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