Sometimes, this writing gig can get pretty terrifying, what with horror stories of word counts, deadlines, writer’s block, rejection, failure, etc etc etc.
You know what they say: To get rid of your fears, confront them. Or you can vicariously eradicate them from the comfort of your own home or office with these scary tales of writerly survival and other Halloweenie links.
- Jim Ruland writes about that time a famous writer agreed to blurb his book and then changed their mind in his post, When Blurbs Go Bad.
- 6 Ways Social Media Doesn’t Help You Get Published. This post by Twitterific literary agent Carly Watters might have you hitting DELETE on all of the things. Aw, don’t harsh on yourself too bad. Remember what Maya Angelou taught us: when you know better, do better.
- One thing authors shouldn’t be scared of: diversity. Author and illustrator MariNaomi asks some of her cartoonist friends how they think writers can create more believable characters of color in her post Writing People of Color (if you happen to be a person of another color).
- Matt Bell and Anne Valente went into the dark, dark woods. And in those dark, dark woods, they told their dark, dark tales. And in those dark, dark tales… It’s more thrilling to imagine them discussing their favorite tales from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark in the woods around a campfire instead of over email or in a coffeehouse. Unless their laptops or the coffeehouse are haunted. Then, cool.
- Librarian Kelly Jensen offers her suggestions for how to get your spook on with these YA Horror picks.
- Neil Gaiman on his hero, the mother of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. BOW DOWN TO THE QUEEN, PEASANTS.