Your Health!

Welcome to Slàinte Sundays where I give a toast to those posts I enjoyed during the week. Without further ado:

Quite a lot on craft this week…

David N. Walker describes how important the antagonist is and how varied he, she or it can be. Very helpful and informative.

Jami Gold visited Writers in the Storm and explained the key elements in evolving your story from a simple thought or idea into a real, honest-to-goodness novel. A really awesome post!

Cate Woods shows us how we need to dig a little deeper to find our own hidden gems. Sometimes all it takes is a little, or a lot, of pruning – or ok, maybe bust out the weed wacker – to see the truly fantastic parts of our stories and how to nurture them and help them grow. Thought provoking, a must read.

Kristen Lamb never fails to deliver and this time is no exception. In this post, Kristen explains how we can add dimension to our settings, and how our settings can help show the story. Marvelous as always, I suggest subscribing if you haven’t already.

Tiffany Lawson Inman a.k.a. Naked Editor visited Jenny Hansen’s blog and offered great insight and analysis on Voice. Definitely a must read…right now. Tiffany also taught the many aspects of writing action, and broke it down so even I could follow. Read this one right after the other one…now.

James Killick asks Are you writing for the right medium? A question we should all take a moment to ask ourselves, and then evaluate our answers. Very interesting post.

Sharla Rae at Writers in the Storm gave valuable tips and advice on researching your historical novel. I found this information very useful, and don’t worry – there’s a link to Part 1 in the post. Or you can go here. 😉

Elena Aitken offers wonderful advice on time management – highly useful! Great post.

Whew! Ok, let’s see what other gems I found this week.

On publishing…

Steena Holmes offers great tips and advice on self-publishing – part 1 and part 2.

Kait Nolan explains why it’s so important for authors to publish on as many platforms as possible. Very informative!

On networking…

When I think of networking, the very first person to pop in my head is Kristen Lamb. Did you know she’s not only a writer, but also a teacher and a doctor? In her series, Dr. Twuth, she prescribes the perfect remedies for our ailing platforms. Check out her latest post here.

Again, Kristen Lamb gives us, pretty much on a silver plate, everything we need to know to build the most successful author platform. Another must read right now.

Roni Loren, the Fiction Groupie, asks a question that immediately depressed and frustrated me. Is blogging dead? After all the hard work I’ve been putting into this, it damn well better not be! LOL What are your thoughts on this?

Kait Nolan informs us of the pros and cons of The Back Matter Swap.

On life…

Marion Spicher talks about the power of positive thinking.

Piper Bayard asks quite the thought, and discussion, provoking question – Which one are you?

Diana Murdock shares very deep and personal insights in her post about forgiveness.

Jillian Dodd‘s post makes you think twice when she asks, Is it ok to lie to your love?

Bridgette Booth reminds us of the clues we girls can sometimes leave when we’re in over our heads and head over heels for those boys, in talking about Sense and Sensibility by the incomparable, Jane Austen.

…and here’s a few fun ones for ya!

Carrie Spencer shows us that there really are people out there who are crazier than the Crazy Cat Lady.

Natalie Hartford found yet another super cool and useful toy – one you should never leave the campsite without.

Gene Lempp describes the ancient island of Cyprus, from “its humble beginnings to its richly layered culture built by conquest and strife.” Fascinating!

Elena Aitken reminds us that, when it comes to parenting, we’re SO not alone…and thank god for that!

Shea MacLeod offers a clip from Ancient Aliens. Really cool, check it out.

In honor of my husband, who’s obsessed with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, I had to share this awesome post by my pal Barbara McDowell. Journey back to the time of flannel shirts, torn jeans, doc martens and moody, angry teens…those were the good old days…

Ok…yeah…I think that’ll do it. 😉

To everyone in this post (because there are just too many people on here to list, and I’ve got a wip to work on)…

Slàinte…your health!